Lend Lease

[druiaghtagh]

Renetly heard that the final payment from UK to US on Lend Lease was only made a couple of years ago, were we screwed over this , any background please

[WoWo]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lend-Lease

[Tichfield]

Far from being "screwed" we actually got it "on the cheap" compared with commercial terms.

[kempie]

..."got it on the cheap" but framed in such a way as to undermine the value of the Pound Sterling.

The sudden termination of Lend-Lease led to the Anglo-American Loan, the conditions of which damaged the UK economy to such a degree that post-war food rationing was more stringent than during the war.

[jno]

expensive but perhaps worth it? The alternative was less attractive.

[Tichfield]

Certainly the terms were somewhat less beneficial than those attached to the funds the USA poured into Western Germany after the end of WW2.

But without the USA "aid" to the UK, Germany would probably have won the war....not a nice prospest at all.

Anyway, it's all water under the bridge now so it's a bit acedemic.

[jake-the-peg]

Don't know about that Tichfield

Lend-Lease came in in 1941 after the Battle of Britain was over and Hitler had turned his attention elsewhere.

Without it both sides would likely have fought themselves into a stalemate

[jno]

this wasn't quite so obvious at the time, though, otherwise it wouldn't have been entered into. I doubt America foresaw the end of the war with great clarity either.

[weggiewabbit]

I think we have a lot to thank FDR for.

[jaxs66]

I read that churchill and roosevelt onboard the prince of wales, in 1941 before pearl harbour, churchill said " give us the tools, and we will finish the job', and a 99 year arrangement for aid was acquired by churchill, still the sums cannot be correct as i heard the same that the lend lease finished a few years ago!!