The Allies in the North: Delivery of Lend-Lease Cargo to the Northern Ports of the Soviet Union (1941–1945)

The most important area of cooperation between the Big Three countries in 1941–1945 is considered: military and economic aid to the Soviet Union under the Lend-Lease program. The northern route for cargo delivery was the most difficult to implement, was an area of intense military action, and cost the Allies the greatest losses. The leaders of the Allied countries, W. Churchill and F. Roosevelt, organized the deliveries; Canada provided significant assistance. The special role of Churchill is shown in organizing deliveries during the period of the First Lend-Lease Protocol and in ensuring transportation along the northern route as a whole in 1941–1945. The significant contribution of the Soviet side to ensuring the delivery and acceptance of cargo is noted. Documents from the Russian State Archive of Economics on the activities of the USSR People’s Commissariat of Foreign Trade in the Soviet northern ports on the acceptance and distribution of Lend-Lease cargo are analyzed.