Lend-lease to Poland and france, what was given?

Hello all, new to the Forum and with a question.

what exactly was given to the Polish and french weapon and armour wise by the allies later on in the war?, I know of a few weapons they used, but need some confirmation to make my wargaming a little more accurate.

what allied tanks did they make use of?
what allied aircraft did they make use of?
what allied artillery did they make use of? (including AT guns and mortars etc)
and what small arms did they use? (things like Bazookas, MG's etc)

that would be a huge help thanks, I have tried using google for the past few weeks, but allied lend lease records seem to be a mystery, German records are much easier to get hand of, and clear (guess thats German effeciency for you )

 

The Poles received little in the way of US aid before their invasion, but they did have BARs made in Poland under license (I forget the id numbers), after they became the Free Poles fighting out of Great Britain they were supplied with a combination of British and American small arms, arty, aircraft, and armor.

Now, I don't know if these were "separate" L/L items for the Poles specifically, or if they were simply a part of the British consignments. That might be tough to figure out, especially if they were combined with the British allotments.

The French arms were pretty much covered "Slipdigit"'s post. There were something like 42 nations which received L/L aid during the war years, but I don't remember seeing the Free Polish government in exile in London being mentioned specifically. Poles fighting with the Red Army on the Eastern Front were no doubt supplied with both Soviet and L/L stuff.

 

I know they got fireflys and Cromwells, I've seen the pics of them, and a crusader, dunno about smaller weapons though.

so it might not be completely crazy to see a Polish force with Bazookas and 37mm guns then while also having british guns and british tanks??

 

Not crazy at all, and in addition (even if "Wiki" in two sections); the Free Poles in 303 squadron flew British Hurricanes, Spitfires, and even American Mustangs (in the final months), of WW2. The Free Poles were clothed in British battle dress, with distinctive emblems, caps, hats, and badges. As to the Polish made BAR, this is found in "Wiki":
　
Production of the BAR in Belgium began only after signing an agreement with Poland (on 10 December 1927) involving the procurement of 10,000 wz. 1928 light machine guns chambered in 7.92x57mm Mauser, which are similar to the R75 variant but designed specifically to meet the requirements of the Polish Army. Changes to the base design include a pistol grip, different type of bipod, open-type V-notch rear sight and a slightly longer barrel. Subsequent rifles were assembled locally in Poland under license by the State Rifle Factory (Panstwowa Fabryka Karabinów) in Warsaw. The wz. 1928 was accepted into service with the Polish Army in 1927 under the formal name 7,92 mm rkm Browning wz. 1928 ("7.92 mm Browning hand-held machine gun model 1928") and – until the outbreak of World War II – was the primary light support weapon of Polish infantry and cavalry formations (in 1939 Poland had a total of approx. 20,000 wz. 1928 rifles in service).

See:

M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Also in the Wikipedia this exists:

Poland was not a receipient of Lend-Lease aid directly from the United States, however, Polish forces also used a wide variety of Shermans redirected from Lend-Lease shipments to the British Empire. The Polish 1st Armored Division entered the Battle of Normandy mostly equipped with Sherman Vs (M4A4s) with 75 mm guns, and Firefly VC Shermans. After heavy losses closing the Falaise Pocket and Dutch campaign, the division was re-equipped, largely with Sherman IIA (M4A1 (W) 76 mm) models. Many of the tanks had their entire glacis plate and turret front covered by spare track links in an attempt to improve the tank's armor. The Polish II Corps, fighting in Italy, primarily used M4A2s (Sherman III) that had been used by the British army in Africa. However, some Firefly ICs and Sherman IB (M4(105 mm)) howitzer tanks were also used. Parts of the Polish First Army also briefly used M4A2 (W) (76 mm) borrowed from the Soviet armies after heavy losses in the liberation of Gdansk. After receiving replacements, the army was re-equipped with T-34s[citation needed]

See:

Lend-Lease Sherman tanks - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I'm sure more could be found if searched for with dilegence.

 

While this isn't directly apropos of your "Polish" question, I looked at your first post in the forum and saw an interest in Lend-Lease to and from other nations. Strictly speaking, Lend-Lease is only American aid to other allied nations in the fight against the Axis powers. So, only Great Britain and its Empire, China, and eventually the USSR were recipients of Lend-Lease at the very beginning, but almost 40 nations and governments in exile ended up being eligible for or receiving L/L in various forms and amounts, including the Netherlands, Belgium, and the Free French.

The UK and its Commonwealth/Dominions also received "reverse Lend-Lease" credits for the war material and other material they supplied to the Soviets, this also applied to any goods, services, shipping, and military installations which were given to American forces overseas by other nations. This lowered recipients "bottom line", just as credit for British patents and royalties did.


"Great Britain and Canada together dispatched about a million and a half tons of war supplies and food to the USSR between 1941 and 1945 and among the equipment shipped were over 5,000 aircraft and 5,000 tanks and 200,000 tons of wheat and flour" (A. Seaton; Russo-German War 1941-45, Appendix A.)

In the AFV area, the British sent approx. 15% of their total tank production to the Soviets in 1941-‘43, Valentines, and Churchill tanks I believe. There were also Bren carriers, Matilda IIs, In addition there were British Gun Shipments in the medium, and light variety.

Qty. Shipped--------------------Qty. Received
2-Pounder Anti-Tank; 636---------------- 525
6-Pounder Anti-Tank; 96------------------- 75


In the aircraft area, the two most numerous British built were the Hawker Hurricane (2,952 supplied to the USSR), and the Supermarine Spitfire (1,331 supplied). The remainder of the aircraft supplied to the USSR were a combination of two engine medium bombers like the Hampden, and American made P-40, and P-39s which the British no longer had use for, and were transferred out of their air-park to the Soviets.

Here is an interesting link to a set of charts which break down the Lend-Lease material (not just war material, but all), received by the USSR in which ports. They kept very good records (USSR) as to the material received, since they were only responsible for that which got to them. Not for that which ended up on the bottom of the sea or went up in smoke in transit.

APPENDIX -- A

And here is another one which is more or less dedicated (on the surface) to American motorcycles. But it includes this excellent site, and with a little "navigating" a person can figure out quite a bit of the Lend-Lease material supplied, shipped, and received by the allied nations.

Goto:

http://lend-lease.airforce.ru/english/documents/index.htm

This might help you figure out more about the Lend-Lease Act if you are willing to compile it for yourself, and not just have it all pre-digested.