Trade between the USSR and the Nazis

Very often you hear about the fact that Stalin raised Hitler - he trained the officers of the Luftwaffe (military aviation) and Panzerwaffe (tank troops), supplied Germany with raw materials for the production of weapons and food, and provided military assistance in operations. So was the Soviet Union a true friend and ally of Germany, or did someone intentionally distort the facts by simply pulling the proposal out of context? In the article “The USSR and Germany - myths: who taught whom”, the lie (or half-truth, who likes what) was considered that the USSR was training German military personnel.

         Myth: The Soviet Union fully met the needs of fascist Germany in raw materials and food, and I.V. Stalin outwitted himself by arming Germany. Some claim that every second German tank was made of Soviet metal.

           If desired, you can find a lot of variations on the same topic. There was only one promise - Stalin specifically provided Hitler to start a war with his people.

The fruitful cooperation of the USSR and Germany began as early as the 1920s. The two rogue countries began to cooperate. After Hitler came to power, all cooperation was very quickly curtailed. The reason for this was very simple - Hitler's plans to destroy the Slavs and conquer living space in the East were supported in the West - Great Britain and France, but could not be met with the same enthusiasm in the USSR.

During the times of the Weimar Republic, trade between the USSR and Germany increased every year. And in 1932, the last year of the Weimar Republic, reached 896 million German marks. At the same time, exports from the USSR amounted to 17.5%, and imports to the USSR - 46.5%. With the advent of the Nazis, the situation changed dramatically. Commodity circulation between the countries began to fall sharply, so that by 1938 it would drop to 6.3% and 4.6%, respectively.

The economic system in fascist Germany provided for the ownership of large corporations by private individuals with a share of state ownership. But large industrialists did not want to lose sales markets in the USSR. Therefore, in 1935, an agreement was concluded between the two countries on the provision of a loan of 200 million marks to the Soviet Union for the purchase of German goods by the Soviet Union. The loan was granted with a deferred payment of 5 years. Deliveries of goods from the USSR in repayment of the loan were supposed to begin at the end of 1940, and end in 1943. But ... the current political situation itself eliminated the Soviet obligations to Germany. In total, a little more than 151 million marks were delivered under the 1935 loan. All goods supplied from Germany were high-tech products - electrical products, equipment for the oil and chemical industries, motor vehicles and much more. Technical assistance was also paid for by this loan - Soviet specialists studied the technology of producing German armor for battleships, got acquainted with new models of military equipment: airplanes and tanks. It got to the point that Soviet specialists familiarized themselves with the drawings of the Bismarck battleship.

Raw materials were supplied to Germany from the USSR. That's just the volume of this raw material was not very large, to say the least. So, in 1935, 2.7 thousand tons of iron ore (1.9% of purchased by Germany), 491.9 thousand tons of oil products and oil (13% of purchased), 3.4 thousand tons of cotton (1% of purchased) were delivered ) The main turnover of Germany was with other countries. Mostly with the USA and the UK.

   The following years, from 1936 to 1939, were characterized by a gradual attenuation of economic relations. And only on August 15, 1939, the German ambassador to the USSR F. Schulenburg proposed to the foreign сommissar V. Molotov discuss the problems of Soviet-German relations, to improve. This proposal came against the backdrop of the cessation of Anglo-French-Soviet negotiations on the creation of a collective security system in Europe. On August 17, Schulenburg and Molotov met. At the meeting, the People's Commissar emphasized the need to first establish economic relations. The ambassador was handed a note:

“The USSR Government believes that the first step towards such an improvement in relations between the USSR and Germany could be the conclusion of a trade and credit agreement”

The result was the conclusion on August 19, 1939 of the German-Soviet trade agreement.By agreement, Germany provided the USSR with another loan in the amount of 200 million marks at 5% per annum for the purchase of German goods. The protocol concluded later is confidential (by no means confidential, as many claim) the protocol indicates a return of 0.5% per annum, which may be used for new purchases of goods (or may not be used). It was necessary to pay for the loan also with goods, or rather raw materials. According to the agreement, 3 lists were compiled - list “A” (equipment supplied from Germany on credit), list “B” (equipment delivered from Germany to the USSR through free export from the USSR) and list “C” (goods sourced from the USSR).

List “A” included: lathes for turning half-rounds, heavy rotary machines, machinery, various cranes: from overhead to floating, compressors, installations for the chemical industry, which are types of weapons, and much more.

List “B” included: various machines for the heavy industry, duralumin, semi-finished products from heavy and light iron, weapons, chemical products, products of German industry, and more.

List “B” included: agricultural products (mainly feed) in the amount of 31 million marks; forest products (forest) in the amount of 74 million marks; industrial products (the most valuable was platinum in the amount of 2 million marks and manganese ore in the amount of 3.8 million marks) in the amount of 75 million marks. The most unusual products for Germany were: fish bubbles, fluff and feather, cotton waste, fish waste, rags for spinning and horse hair.

According to the trade agreement of August 19, 1939, the backlog of Germany from supplies from the USSR could not be more than 20%. And the Soviet Union showed a rather tough position in this. As soon as the German side delayed the shipment of goods, the Soviet Union stopped trains going to the West with goods.

Only after the conclusion of the German-Soviet trade agreement did the leadership of the USSR agree to the signing of a non-aggression pact between the countries.

On February 11, 1940 and January 10, 1941, additional agreements were concluded between the USSR and Germany that expanded the trade agreement. To fulfill the conditions, Germany delivered to the USSR (from weapons for the Navy): the unfinished heavy cruiser Luttsov, which was renamed Petropavlovsk "And was commissioned already during the war (used in the defense of Leningrad, German shells fired from German guns fell on the heads of German soldiers); 88 mm submarine gun; drawings of 406- and 280-mm three-gun ship towers; five samples of mines; bombers for anti-submarine bombs with ammunition; anti-mine knife for mines; and much more.

The ground forces received two heavy 211 mm field howitzers, a battery of 105 mm anti-aircraft guns with ammunition, a T-III medium tank, 3 half-tracked tractors, fire control devices, rangefinders, and spotlights.

The Soviet aviation received the most from Germany: Heinkel-100 (He-100) - 5 units, Junkers-88 (Ju-88) - 2 units, Dornier-215 (Do-215) - 2 units, “Brucker V.I. -131” (Vi-131) and “Brucker V.I. -133” (Vi-133) - 6 pieces, “Focke-Wulf” (FW-58) - 3 pieces, “Junkers- 207 "(Ju-207) - 2 pieces," Messerschmitt-109 "(BM09E) - 5 pieces," Messerschmitt-110 "(Me-110) - 5 pieces. All types of aircraft were supplied with spare motors and spare parts. All planes were sent to study at the research institute.

In addition to military equipment that was produced in Germany in the USSR, more than 6,500 different machine tools were delivered only in 1940.

September 1, 1939 Germany began the war with Poland. Working hands for the production of weapons were at that time on a special account. German industry was forced to put pressure on the military leadership to demobilize highly skilled workers and workers in short supply from the army.

The production of T-III medium tanks and the subsequent production of T-IV tanks were not carried out in full, since the factories produced equipment for the USSR. Germany did not have time to completely rearm its tank troops by the time the war with the USSR began.

Since the end of the 80s of the last century, we constantly hear that on the eve of the war Germany completely stopped deliveries, and Stalin, in order to please Hitler, continued to drive trains with precious grain to the West. Although the situation was rather the opposite. In April-June 1941, deliveries from Germany to the USSR significantly exceeded the return.

The result of trade and economic relations between Germany and the USSR:

From the USSR, million marks: Delivered goods from August 1939 to June 1941 - 671.9; Transportation services for the transit of German goods - 84.5 Total: 756.4

From Germany, million marks: Delivered goods from August 1939 to June 1941 - 462.3 Gold paid to equalize the balance of payments - 44.7 "Sale" of Lithuanian territory - 31.5 Unpaid Soviet debt under the 1935 loan - 151.2 Total: 689 , 7

The final balance is not in favor of the USSR, although it is comparatively small. But this balance did not bring any benefit to Germany either - the goods ordered by the USSR were produced at German factories and were not delivered. Soviet soldiers found them in the Krupp factories at the end of the war. They never came in handy to the Reich.

Even after the conclusion of the nonaggression pact in 1939, the USSR and Germany did not become the main trading partners for each other. In 1940, supplies from the USSR amounted to only 7.6% of the total amount of German imports, and supplies to the USSR - 4.5% of German exports, the next year - respectively 6.3% and 6.6%. In the import of Germany, the USSR occupied 5th place (after Italy, Denmark, Romania and the Netherlands).

The execution of the agreement for Germany was a heavy burden on German industry. I had to produce machine tools and other equipment for the Soviet Union, to the detriment of orders from the Wehrmacht. And the supply of raw materials for the Soviet Union was not burdensome - in 1940, 657 thousand tons of oil products were delivered to Germany, while 31.1 million tons were produced; grain delivered a little less than 1 million tons, and harvested 95.6 million tons.

Trade was beneficial to both parties. Western historian H.P. von Strandmantak described the relationship:

“The paradox of the situation was that ultimately both sides equipped each other to fight against each other.”