Allied technological cooperation during World War II

The Second World War was not won by one nation, the Allies not only had to cooperate while fighting on the ground but pooling of technological resources in weaponry, aircraft and new technologies was also a key reason for the Allied victory in Western European, Eastern European, African and the Pacific campaigns. This article aims to outline the various ways in which the allies cooperated including the American lend lease scheme and hybrid weapons such as the Sherman Firefly.

Small Arms

Small Arms really began to be shared after the fall of Spain, most of the ‘sharing’ being one sided as America was not yet directly involved in the conflict and thus all the movement of food was from the United States to the United Kingdom. Vast numbers of U.S small arms and ammunition were bought or supplied under lend lease and arrived in Britain to re-equip the British Army which had left large proportion of small arms as well as heavy equipment in France after Operation Dynamo. The creation of the Home Guard (Local Defence Volunteers at this time) also put a great demand on small arms supplies forcing units to train with broom handles and makeshift Pikes using lengths of piping and old bayonets. The weapons supplied for the British army were the famous Thompson submachine gun, Colt .45 M1911 pistol and the Colt .45 M1917 revolver. The Home Guard received M1919 .30 Machineguns in small numbers, M1918 .30 Browning Automatic Rifles again in limited numbers and P17 .30 Enfield Rifles (the British .303 P14 version also being issued).

Slightly later in the war the M1919 .30 Machinegun (commonly known as the 30-cal) and the M2HB .50 Machinegun entered service with British Infantry and as anti-aircraft machine guns on British tanks and notably with the SAS on their heavily armed Jeeps.

Britain did supply small arms to Russia, the ubiquitous 9mm Sten Submachine gun was supplied to Russian partisan troops.

Artillery

The British made use of many American towed artillery pieces during the war, the M2 105 mm howitzers, M1A1 75mm Pack Howitzers, 155 mm guns (Long Toms) are but a few. These weapons were again supplied under lend-lease or bought outright. Tank/Tank Destroyer American mounted artillery used by the British included the 37 mm M5/M6 Gun "(General Stuart and General Grant/Lee)", 75mm M2 Gun "(General Grant/Lee)", 75 mm M3 Gun "(General Grant/Lee and General Sherman)", 76 mm Gun M1 "(General Sherman)" and 3" Gun M7 "(3in SP, Wolverine)".

The Americans in this instance did use a British artillery piece, the Ordnance QF 6-pounder 7cwt anti-tank gun. The U.S realized at the start of the war that their own 37 mm Gun M3 would soon be obsolete and thus they produced a license built version of the QF 6-pounder under the designation 57 mm Gun M1.

Both 76 mm and 75 mm guns were provided through tanks to the Russians by the U.S and the British tanks sent were armed with both the Ordnance QF 2-pounder and the Ordnance QF 6-pounder.

Tanks and other vehicles

Probably the most well-known tank of the Second World War in Anglophone countries is the Medium Tank M4, used in all theaters it was a versatile reliable design and easy to produce. Thus huge numbers were made and huge numbers were provided to both Britain and Russia under lend-lease; despite official opinions the Medium Tank M4 was well liked by some Russian tankers, while others called it "the best tank for peacetime service". When Britain received the tank, it was given the designation Sherman and this is where the name of the "Sherman tank" came from - the U.K. naming its U.S.-built tanks after American Civil War generals. Both the British and the Russians re-armed their M4s with their own tank guns. The Russians re-armed a very small number with the standard 76 mm F-34 tank gun but so much 75 mm ammunition was supplied that the conversions were not widespread. The British conversion is much more well known as the Sherman Firefly, mounting the potent Ordnance QF 17-pounder anti-tank gun in the standard turret with a new mantlet and the radio moved to an armoured box welded to the turret bustle. These conversions both show how a blend of both countries weaponry was desirable though unfortunately despite the Americans building a few 17-pounder Fireflies from new they never went into quantitative production and did not see action. The Firefly thus remains a purely British variant of the Sherman.

The British also designed two other Sherman variants know as the Crab, a mine flailing tank, the mine flail being powered by the tanks own engine and the DD Sherman, the DD standing for "Duplex Drive". The DD was a swimming tank, a flotation screen gave buoyancy and two propellers powered by the tanks engine gave propulsion in the water. On reaching land the screens could be dropped and the tank could fight in the regular manner. The DD was used by both British and American forces during Operation Overlord. The DD had impressed General Eisenhower during demonstrations and was readily accepted. It was another key example of combining technologies. Unfortunately for the Americans they did not accept the Crab which could have saved many Engineers lives by clearing mines under fire but also under armour. ARVs (Armoured Recovery Vehicles) were also converted from Shermans by the British as well as the specialist BARV (Beach Armoured Recovery Vehicle) designed to push-off landing craft and salvage vehicles which would otherwise have been lost.

The British also supplied tanks to Russia in the form of the Matilda, Valentine and Churchill infantry tanks. Soviet tank soldiers liked Valentine for its reliability, cross country performance respectively and low silouette. The opinion about Matilda and Churchill was quite low considering their weak 40-mm guns (without HE shells) and inability to operate in harsh winter and offroad conditions.

Deliveries of M3 half-tracks from USA to USSR were a major benefactor to mechanized Red Army units. Soviet industry did not produce any armoured personnel carriers at all, so lend-leased American vehicles were in great demand for fast movement of troops in front-line conditions. While M3s gave only limited protection, the common trucks had not any protection at all. Moreover, the big part of Red Army trucks were American Studebakers, which were highly evaluated by Russian chaffeurs. After the war, Russian designers paid a lot of attention to create their own 6x6 army truck and the Studebaker was the sample for this development.

Aircraft

In addition to being originally designed to a British specification for use by the RAF, the famous P-51 Mustang would not have been the excellent fighter that it was without British technology in the form of the equally famous Rolls-Royce Merlin aero-engine. It is another excellent example of technological cooperation, in this case American airframe, British engine. The P-51 was also used in small numbers by the British. In addition to the British making use of American planes the U.S also made use of some Supermarine Spitfires based in the U.K and Mediterranean, as well as using Bristol Beaufighters in the Mediterranean, and de Havilland Mosquitoes based in the U.K.

Britain supplied Hawker Hurricanes to Russia early in the war to try and help the Red Airforce defend itself against the then technologically superior Luftwaffe.

Frank Whittle travelled to the US in 1942 to help General Electric start jet engine production.

References

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See also

*M4 Sherman variants
*Lend-Lease Sherman tanks
*Tizard Mission
*Manhattan Project
*Cavity magnetron
*Radiation Laboratory
*Proximity fuze
*British Purchasing Commission
*List of World War II electronic warfare equipment
*Bletchley Park
*Ultra
*Operations research
*Gyro gunsight
*History of radar