Allied technological cooperation during World War II

The

Tizard Mission

The origin of the cooperation stemmed from a 1940 visit by the

Small arms

Home Guard

, who were forced to train with broom handles and makeshift pikes using lengths of piping and old bayonets until weapons could be supplied.

In addition to those produced in Britain, small arms and ammunition were obtained from

Later, the

were provided by the U.S. for infantry and anti-aircraft use. Browning AN2 light machine guns in .303 British caliber were already in standard use on British aircraft beginning in the late 1930s.

Britain supplied small arms to the USSR, and the 9mm Sten submachine gun was supplied to Soviet partisan troops^{[citation needed]}.

Artillery

The British made use of many American towed artillery pieces during the war, such as the

).

The Americans in turn used a British artillery piece, the

37 mm Gun M3

would soon be obsolete and thus they produced a license built version of the QF 6-pounder under the designation 57 mm Gun M1.

Both 76 mm and 75 mm guns were mounted on tanks sent to the Soviets by the US, while the British tanks sent were armed with both the

Ordnance QF 2-pounder

and the Ordnance QF 6-pounder.

Another technology taken to the US, by

Tanks and other vehicles

The

, sometimes known as "Achilles". This was used in accordance with British tactical doctrine for tank destroyers, in that they were considered self-propelled anti-tank guns rather than aggressive 'tank hunters'. Used in this fashion, it proved an effective weapon.

The British also used the Sherman hull for two other

BARV

(Beach Armoured Recovery Vehicle) designed to push-off landing craft and salvage vehicles which would otherwise have been lost.

The British supplied tanks to the USSR in the form of the Matilda, Valentine and Churchill infantry tanks. Soviet tank soldiers liked the Valentine for its reliability, cross country performance and low silhouette. The Soviet's opinion of the Matilda and Churchill was less favourable as a result of their weak 40-mm guns (without HE shells) and inability to operate in harsh rasputitsa, winter and offroad conditions.^{[citation needed]}

Deliveries of

from the US to the Soviet Union were a significant benefit to mechanized Red Army units. Soviet industry produced few armoured personnel carriers, so Lend-Lease American vehicles were in great demand for fast movement of troops in front-line conditions. While M3s had only limited protection, common trucks had no protection at all. In addition, a large part of the Red Army truck fleet was American Studebakers, which were highly regarded by Soviet drivers. After the war, Soviet designers paid a lot of attention to create their own 6x6 army truck and the Studebaker was the template for this development.

In 1942, a T-34 and a KV-1 tank were sent by the Soviet Union to the US where they were evaluated at the Aberdeen Proving Ground. Another T-34 was sent to the British.^[6]

Aircraft

Britain supplied

start jet engine production.

The American

equipped the 8th Air Force as its primary photo reconnaissance and chaff deployment aircraft.

The United States supplied several aircraft types to both the Royal Navy and RAF - all three of the U.S. Navy's primary fighters during the war years, the

being among the more prominent types, both bombers being well suited to the type of lower-altitude strike missions the Soviets had as a top priority.

Radar

The British demonstrated the cavity magnetron to the Americans at RCA, Bell Labs. It was 100 times as powerful than anything they had seen and enabled the development of airborne radar.^[7][8][9]

Nuclear weapons

In 1942, the British nuclear weapons research had fallen behind US and unable to match US resources, the United Kingdom agreed to merging their work with the American efforts. Around 20 British scientists and technical staff to America, along with their work, which had been carried out under the

Code-breaking technology

Considerable information was transmitted from the UK to the US during and after WWII relating to code-breaking methods, the codes themselves, cryptoanalyst visits, mechanical and digital devices for speeding code-breaking, etc. When the Atlantic convoys of war material from the US to the UK came under serious threat from U-boats, considerable encouragement and practical help was given by the US to accelerate the development of code-breaking machines. Subsequent co-operation led to significant success in Australia and the far East for breaking encrypted Japanese messages.

Other technologies

Other technologies developed by the British and shared with the Americans and other Allies include

.

Technologies developed by the Americans and shared with the British and Allies include the bazooka, LVT, DUKW, Fido (acoustic torpedo). Canada and the U.S. independently developed and shared the walkie-talkie.

Legacy

The Tizard Mission was the foundation for cooperation in scientific research at institutions within and across the United States, United Kingdom and Canada.^{[13][14][15][16][17]}

Many Norwegian scientists and technologists took part in British scientific research during the period when Germany occupied Norway between 1940 and 1945. This resulted in the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment, formed in 1946.

After the war ended, the US ended all nuclear co-operation with Britain. However, the demonstration of

Cooperation between British intelligence agencies and the United States Intelligence Community in the post-war period became the cornerstone of Western intelligence gathering and the "Special Relationship" between the United Kingdom and the United States.^[19]

Many military inventions during the war found civilian uses.

See also

• British Purchasing Commission
• List of World War II electronic warfare equipment
• Operations research
• Radiation Laboratory
• Telecommunications Research Establishment

References