DELIVERY OF LEND LEASE CARGOES TO THE USSR NORTHERN PORTS (1941-1945)
The USSR Government Purchasing Commission (GPC) in the USA of the National Commissariat of Foreign Trade (NCFT) was responsible for booking, dispatching and transport cargo to the Soviet Union. The article studies the cargos’ destiny after their arrival to the USSR using a concrete historical analysis of GPC archival documents. Continuous delays in delivery of cargoes took place at the early supplying period, especially in the Northern route due to heavy losses in route. Cargo arrival supervision was carried on by NCFT Engineer Department. Reports of NCFT authorized persons, ports and customs statements give characteristics of freight condition, nomenclature, quality, as well as plans of their distribution and re-distribution due to losses. Reports describing cargoes used such terms as “crashed during the enemy raid”, “damaged with storm”, “got wet with water”. Cargoes were sorted according to departments including the group “undistributed cargoes” and “cargoes of ‘Lenvneshtrans‘ which included goods for besieged Leningrad. Starting with the17th convoy, freight documents processing was made in points of ship unloading, and delays in paperwork stopped. Documents on PQ-17 convoy disclose specific “fraud” of institutions with one of the best Lend lease goods - canned meat. National Commissar of Foreign Trade A.I. Mikoyan confirmed proposals to allot meat products first of all to Leningrad (2000 tons), and to the nearest fronts. He himself suppressed the departments’ abuses, a case to sell in Arkhangelsk soap sent as a gift from the Red Cross, ordered to pass that soap to fronts. Customs acts revealed various kinds of violations, among which the most widespread was “cargo didn’t arrive”; they fixed shortcomings in freight wrapping and arrangement while loading the ship, facts of theft, especially of foods from damaged containers. According to GPC data, over the whole period of Lend Lease shipping in total 2743 ships were sent to the Soviet Union (17 349 thousand ton cargo). Losses of ships as a result of enemy activities or the other reasons for this period comprised 2, 6 %, or 76 ships with 455 thousand ton cargo.