May 9 was World War II Victory Day in Europe, and one of the decisive factors leading to the victory of the world’s peace-seeking nations was the effective cooperation of the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition.
Today, after the passage of 80 years, it is vital once again to recall this unique episode, when the Allied countries, despite sharply divergent governing structures and ideologies, managed to reach agreement on a shared global imperative — to present a unified front against the powers that promulgated fascism and militarism.
A great example of the war cooperation between two great nations is the wartime Lend-Lease Agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union, signed in Washington, D.C., on June 11, 1942, that allowed the two countries to provide mutual assistance in fighting a war against aggression. One of the unique examples of such cooperation was the establishment of the Alaska–Siberia Air Route (ALSIB), on which approximately 8,000 combat and transport aircraft were delivered from the United States of America to the Soviet–German warfronts between September 1942 and October 1945.
Soviet and American pilots flew the Alaska–Siberia Air Route to deliver combat planes halfway around the world, traversing more than 12 time zones, from Great Falls, Montana, to the Russian warfronts. Much of the route lay over remote and roadless wilderness where pilots made their way in stages from the safety of one hastily built airfield to the next.
Alaska served as the exchange location for transferring the planes to the Soviet Union. United States Army Air Corps pilots from the 7th Ferrying Group and Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPs) flew combat planes from their points of manufacture in the U.S. to Great Falls, Montana, where male pilots of the 7th Ferrying Group flew them across Canada to Ladd Army Airfield, now Fort Wainwright, near Fairbanks, Alaska. From there, pilots of the USSR’s Air Force flew the planes over western Alaska and across Siberia to the warfronts.
Due to severe weather conditions, mechanical problems, and other adverse circumstances, 133 of these airplanes crashed in North America and 44 went down in Siberia along the Alaska–Siberia Air Route. During their time of service, 38 WASPs died and many more were wounded in the line of duty in the United States while delivering planes to Great Falls.
In the process of transferring aircraft in Alaska, Soviets and Americans get acquainted, and many became sincere friends, carrying on in friendship for the rest of their lives what had begun as a purely strategic alliance. The friendship and cooperation between the two nations during this period of history is now little remembered in the wake of 45 years of ill will fostered during the Cold War (1946 to 1991), and recent resurging tensions between Russia and the United States. Yet, in many ways, our two countries continue to rediscover the benefits of cooperation, as the rebuilding of economic and social bridges continues. Today, therefore, it is important to remind Alaskans and other peace-seeking citizens of the U.S. Lend-Lease Program and Soviet-American wartime cooperation of the 1940s.
Beyond the achievement of victory in World War II, the Alaska–Siberia Lend-Lease Program established a tradition of cooperation across the Bering Strait that continues to this day in the form of various intergovernmental agreements, including the Shared Beringian Heritage Program of the U.S. National Park Service, and numerous ongoing people-to-people cultural and economic exchanges.
At the present time, both in Russia and the United States, much research has been conducted and many documentary films, books, scholarly works, and popular articles have been released that shed light on the U.S. Lend-Lease Program, including the unique Alaska–Siberia Air ferry route, which was unprecedented in world history prior to World War II and has not been duplicated since.
Undoubtedly, the program played a vital part in the defeat of Nazi Germany and its Axis powers. The architects of the hallmark Lend-Lease Agreement and Protocols and conceived the ALSIB route, deserve modern-day accolades, as do the American and Russian veterans who risked their lives to ensure the Lend-Lease deliveries were completed.
In a letter dated March 22, 2001, to Alaska U.S. Sens. Ted Stevens and Frank Murkowski in support of the construction of the WWII Alaska-Siberia Lend-Lease Memorial in Fairbanks, Stanley B. Gwizdak, Jr., then acting chairman of the Interior Veterans’ Coalition of Alaska, wrote:
“It is important, I believe, for the Russian and American people to recall and to celebrate a common heroic effort in combating a treacherous enemy during a daunting and terrible time when the outcome of that war was very much in doubt for both of us. This was not just the effort of Armies, Navies and Air Forces, but also the entire mobilization of both nations industrially, politically and spiritually. Our group still has those who remember this war….”
The heroism and cooperation of American and Soviet pilots who flew Lend-Lease combat aircraft from the United States to the Soviet Union during World War II, and of all who participated in this endeavor, will always be remembered.
At this turbulent time, humanity is waiting for next “ALSIB-like” war cooperation and unity among peace-seeking nations, standing together against brutal aggressors and terrorist organizations. Indeed, we can use another “ALSIB” as a global alliance against terrorism and regional conflicts!
Alexander Dolitsky was born and raised in Kiev in the former Soviet Union. He received an M.A. in history from Kiev Pedagogical Institute, Ukraine in 1976; an M.A. in anthropology and archaeology from Brown University in 1983; and enrolled in the Ph.D. program in anthropology at Bryn Mawr College from 1983 to 1985, where he was also lecturer in the Russian Center. In the USSR, he was a social studies teacher for three years and an archaeologist for five years for the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences. In 1978, he settled in the United States. Dolitsky visited Alaska for the first time in 1981, while conducting field research for graduate school at Brown. He then settled first in Sitka in 1985 and then in Juneau in 1986. From 1985 to 1987, he was U.S. Forest Service archaeologist and social scientist. He was an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Russian Studies at the University of Alaska Southeast from 1985 to 1999; Social Studies Instructor at the Alyeska Central School, Alaska Department of Education and Yukon-Koyukuk School District from 1988 to 2006; and Director of the Alaska-Siberia Research Center from 1990 to 2022. From 2006 to 2010, Alexander Dolitsky served as a Delegate of the Russian Federation in the United States for the Russian Compatriots program. He has done 30 field studies in various areas of the former Soviet Union (including Siberia), Central Asia, South America, Eastern Europe and the United States (including Alaska). Dolitsky was a lecturer on the World Discoverer, Spirit of Oceanus, and Clipper Odyssey vessels in the Arctic and Sub-Arctic regions. He was a Project Manager for the WWII Alaska-Siberia Lend Lease Memorial, which was erected in Fairbanks in 2006. Dolitsky has published extensively in the fields of anthropology, history, archaeology and ethnography. His more recent publications include Fairy Tales and Myths of the Bering Strait Chukchi, Ancient Tales of Kamchatka, Tales and Legends of the Yupik Eskimos of Siberia, Old Russia in Modern America: Living Traditions of the Russian Old Believers in Alaska, Allies in Wartime: The Alaska-Siberia Airway During World War II, Spirit of the Siberian Tiger: Folktales of the Russian Far East, Living Wisdom of the Russian Far East: Tales and Legends from Chukotka and Alaska, and Pipeline to Russia: The Alaska-Siberia Air Route in World War II.
This is a very sanitized history of our necessary augmentation of the Soviet Union during WWII. Stalin was a murderous demagogue who starved millions of Ukranians and eliminated “enemies” on a daily basis. We provided extensive logistical support. The Soviets provided nothing except cannon fodder. This Russian emigre reports how wonderful this relationship was while the Soviets interned a Doolittle crew for the entire war. They were only allies of convenience. Incidentally, emigre, your history is incorrect. There was no “Air Corps” after no later than March 1942. It was the Army Air Force with an equal standing to the other services. Someone needs to fact check your drivel.
“The Soviets provided nothing except cannon fodder.” Is inconsistent with reality. Stalin, a Georgian, was certainly a brutal dictator. He was in power for 29 years in a nation over 1,000 years old.
The Russian people, including their dozens of minority ethnic peoples, are who defeated the Wermacht. Between the military casualties, and civilians approximately 30 million died. This was the ultimate sacrifice to protect their nation.
The Russians produced the most able generals in WWII, who destroyed the German Army. We did not launch the Normandy invasion until after Kursk I, wherein the offensive capability of Germany was shattered. We waited while the Russians did the heavy lifting.
Our country was not destroyed and we did not lose millions of civilians. Providing weapons and munitions, and particularly food was the most valued lend lease item, as much of the farmland in Russia was occupied and a shortage of labor to harvest crops. They bled and died, defeating the Germans as every other foreign invader who has attempted to subdue their country.
Kursk II is the latest failed invasion of Russia by the American commanded Ukraine Army which was destroyed in the same fields as the Germans. During the extensive shelling the bodies of Ukraine soldiers and American mercenaries were mixed with remains of their German predecessors, along the old trench lines.
Russians fight to the death for their nation and families, and our leaders should have known better than to invade them.
Good article. We need reminding of the fact we were once allies who I’m certain can probably still agree on a few shared goals. I’d like to see the Trump-Putin summit occur in one of the original WW2 hangers that were constructed and used to support the Lend-Lease Program at Ladd Field (Ft. Wainwright) or Allen Army Airfield (formerly Big Delta Airfield) on Ft. Greely and are still in use today.
As always, I totally enjoy your written accounts and thoughts on important issues of our time and in the past!
Excellent piece and very timely. A history lesson rarely taught, yet so sorely needed!
Thank you
Ninety-nine truths to sell you one crippling lie. This is how they do.
We have never been allies with Russia. During WWII, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”. It was a temporary cooperation to defeat a common enemy. Romney was correct in 2008, and Putin proved it.
The pathological obsession of our permanent government and the oligarchs who fund them to regime change and again be able to exploit the resources and human capital of Russia has created existential national security threats to our country.
We are not a neutral party, we created the Kiev regime, built a massive army in the poorest and most corrupt nation in Europe and are in an active lost war against Russia.
The consequences of American servicemen targeting and launching missiles and drones into Russia, attacking an arm of their strategic nuclear force during “negotiations” along with assassinations and terror attacks like Crocus City Hall could lead to a nuclear exchange. Not to mention stealing hundreds of billions of assets and cash.
The sanctions and tariffs have unified BRICS and our Dollar is losing its’ place as the global economic currency.
It would be far better to work with Russia on peace and stability architectures, nuclear arms treaties, economic projects, and joint research. Unrestricted travel and treating Russians with the same respect we expect.
It is amusing reading the occasional barbed comments concerning the fact Alex is an immigrant. As though the US is not a nation of immigrants. Some like Alex enrich the social and educational resources for our country in comparison to the tens of millions our Uniparty paid to transport into our country in an ad hoc manner. Destroying the social fabric.
The most amusing are the outside people whose families have been here in Alaska less than a hundred years. Lecturing others, yet they still speak and think as outside people.
No Americans have been killed fighting Russia, and no Americans directed the drone attack on the Russian airbases. I’m certain we supplied them with information, but give credit where it is due – the Ukrainians did it. I like the idea of global cooperation, but it takes much more than one nation of “enlightened” opinions to make it happen. I’ve been in Alaska almost 40 years – and an American for all my 69 whose family was involved in national “intelligence”. We spy, we compete, we provoke, we fight when we have to – because if we don’t, we become victims. This is the world we live in because of human depravity – sin. So please, stop blaming and complaining. We can work toward better, but don’t hold your breath.
While I disagree with a lot of Alexander’s interpretations, I respect his perspective.
Russia and the US are natural allies and current neighbors. It is only a matter of time before we are again. Cheers –
Many good facts, and I like the sentiment. That said, it began well before that.
‘https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1935/may/visit-russian-squadrons-1863
It’s a shame that Mr Dolitsky never mentions the other side of “Lend-Lease”. Other than the deliberate lie implicit in the name (there was no “lend”, no “lease”; it was “give” and “donate”), much more than aircraft was sent to Stalin through Great Falls.
Read “From Major Jordan’s Diaries”, by George Racey Jordan. Unfortunately long out-of-print (and available on Amazon at exorbitant prices) Major Jordan (stationed at Great Falls during the war) reveals how atomic materials, and much more, were shipped to the USSR.
FDR and his aid Harry Hopkins were admirers and supporters of Stalin and through their actions propped up the soviet regime during (and long after) WWII.
Please tell the whole story, not the sanitized version.
There you go again with your foreign, pinko propaganda, Alex.
Countless better historians than you including Pat Buchanan and so many others have made an iron-clad case that WW2 was completely avoidable and as you know well, the Soviets and their Bolshevik forebears ghoulishly liquidated tens of millions Eastern Europeans, mostly Christians, in furtherance of the commie agenda you’re shamefully waiving your pompoms for.
This “alliance” you’re so giddy over never should have happened. It’s a terribly tragic fact of history rather something good and decent as your warped story tries to mislead readers.
Remember, Russia and Germany were first allies until Hitler’s double-crossed and invaded the Eastern Front into Russia. Both Communism and Nazism occupy the Leftist side of the political aisle as socialism and the Democrat Party.
I get all misty-eyed thinking about what might have been as an outgrowth of our cooperation with a regime that killed more of its own people than the Nazis did.