The Pittsburgh Press (October 23, 1941)
Missions planned –
U.S. maps more anti-Hitler aid
Russian help ships to take White Sea route
Bulletin
Washington, Oct. 23 –
Senator Alva B. Adams (D-CO) told the Senate today that still further Lend-Lease appropriations are more than a possibility, they are a probability.
Washington, Oct. 23 (UP) –
Administration quarters are studying plans for sending large-scale technical missions to Russia, Iran and Egypt to speed deliveries of Lend-Lease materials and to insure their most effective use against the Axis.
The missions would:
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Arrange for prompt unloading and transfer of American supplies to armed forces in the three countries.
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Develop transportation and facilities such as depots, repair shops and air bases.
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Instruct foreign troops in proper handling, assembling, maintaining and repairing American-built planes, tanks and guns.
The tentative plan calls for dispatch of American military officials to the three countries at once to make preliminary plans for a broader program in which thousands of American civilians will be used.
Ship route changed
The plan for such missions was revealed as the Maritime Commission announced that in the future all American shipments to Russia would go via Boston to Arkhangelsk on the White Sea. It was understood that for the present no more American ships would go to Vladivostok in Siberia with war supplies.
The State Department said abandonment of Vladivostok had nothing to do with U.S.-Japanese negotiations.
These developments were believed to be the prelude to an attempt to put large quantities of American war equipment into Russia for the Red Army through Arkhangelsk – the nearest port to the Leningrad and Moscow fronts.
The transportation problem of getting supplies to the Red Army is most difficult and it was believed that the decision to ship through Arkhangelsk and the plan for technical missions might be interrelated.
Discussed in Moscow
The plans for the missions were understood to have been discussed by the American supply mission headed by W. Averell Harriman and a British group led by Lord Beaverbrook during recent conferences in Moscow. A similar mission has been in China for several weeks under the direction of Brig. Gen. John Magruder.
The major problem for the missions will involve transportation. One of the first jobs will be to increase the capacity of the Trans-Iranian railroad. The British have already asked the United States for material to improve the roadbed and for 200 locomotives and 4,500 freight cars. Funds for that work will be available in the second Lend-Lease bill now pending in the Senate.
The change from Vladivostok to Arkhangelsk as the shipping port for American war materials was laid to many factors. Informed quarters said oil storage facilities at Vladivostok have reached the saturation point; that the Trans-Siberian rail service is slow and already jammed to capacity, and that large ice formations are already moving into Vladivostok.
Ice may be a problem in Arkhangelsk, although Russian official contend they can keep that port open with icebreakers.
Until the Neutrality Act is revised, shipments to Arkhangelsk would have to be made on other than American flagships. Arkhangelsk is in a combat zone.
Transfer of the chief Soviet supply ports does not mean that all shipments will go via Arkhangelsk. Russian and other flagships may still use the Pacific route, although it was understood that some Russian vessels have already made plans to use the North Atlantic route.