Abstract

The activity of the Soviet military mission in the US during the initial period of the Great Patriotic War becomes for the first time a subject of research both in domestic and foreign historiography. Having studied Russian and American archival materials, as well as American media publications, the author draws conclusions about the first results of the negotiations between high-ranking Soviet military officials and US political leaders. Although the scale of US aid to the Soviet Union from July 1941 to February 1942 was limited, and US supplies to the USSR at the beginning of WWII were mostly allocated through direct weapons procurement by providing loans to the Soviet Union rather than through the Lend-Lease program, it was then that the foundations were laid for an alliance between the USSR and the USA, the basic parameters of US economic aid were defined and the logistics of shipping cargo to the Soviet Union were established. The most important task of the Soviet military mission to the US was to convince American leaders that the Soviet military situation was not catastrophic and that the Red Army was combat-ready. The materials of the American periodicals provide important information about the struggle, which was taking place in summer 1941 both in the mass media and in the US political and military circles regarding rendering assistance to the USSR and shaping new image of the Soviet state — an ally in the joint fight, instead of an ideological opponent. The special attention in the article is given to the visit of A.K. Repin, the head of Soviet military mission in the USA, in February 1942, character of negotiations with the US president and decisions which have promoted realization of the Lend-Lease program for the Soviet Union.