Ever since the Cold War, many Soviet and Russian politicians and academics have downplayed the role that U.S.-provided weapons and supplies played in the Red Army's ultimately victorious campaign against Hitler's Germany. But there is substantial evidence that the huge influx of materiel made an irreplaceable contribution, as many figures during the war acknowledged. Speaking at the Tehran conference in November 1943, Soviet dictator Josef Stalin said: "Without the machines provided by Lend-Lease, we would have lost the war."
