| 31bn did NOT go to Britain. That was the gross figure to Britain and Empire including the dominions with independent governments. As they break it down no further I'd have to find a source with the true British figure. Nor does it take off the roughly 8 or 10bn of British lend-lease to the US, or the end of war lend-lease loans. Or take into account the British lend-lease supplied to Russia, which was far from insignificant - your Wikipedia link mentions in the otherwise unpriced list £1.15bn of aero engines - that alone would be about $4.5bn US - as wartime exchange was pegged at $4 to £1. Neither the US - nor anyone else - achieved a fully mobilised war economy overnight - supply was a constant issue for much of the war going on most of the histories I've read, and it was only by late 43/early 44 that the US was manufacturing her way out of trouble. Even that fairly poorly organised Wikipedia page includes the throwaway quote of "Even after the United States forces in Europe and the Pacific began to attain full strength during 1943–1944, Lend-Lease continued". Russia got about 12% of all the jeeps produced, 50% of the P39s, etc. It doesn't make sense that it wasn't part of the equation in several campaigns. Not the cost, but the logistics and production - number of tanks or whatever actually available in theatre. By 44 not so much. Sledgehammer in 42 would have certainly failed, and failed badly. Much has been written about it. To summarise from Wikipedia - who write surprisingly little about it: "However, the elements required for such an operation were lacking, i.e. air superiority, amphibious warfare equipment, sufficient forces and adequate supply. Despite all this, the Joint Chiefs of Staff considered Sledgehammer feasible. If Sledgehammer had been carried out, the British could have landed only six divisions at most, whereas the Germans had 25-30 divisions in Western Europe" It could very possibly have been the war losing campaign. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Sledgehammer |