What was the relationship like between the United States and Soviet Union during World War II?

This collection of little known photographs at the U.S. National Archives shows American and Soviet soldiers working together in training, sport, meals, and entertainment at the joint US-Soviet base operations in Eastern Europe during World War II.

At the Tehran Conference in November 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed to Premier Joseph Stalin the idea of joint air bases for US and Soviet aircraft in Eastern Europe. Stalin agreed to the plan, and American bombers landed and based themselves at air bases in Soviet territory after striking Nazi territory.

The photographs show the remarkable collaboration between the US and Soviet troops stationed at these airbases.

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  Staff Sergeant Anthony Gioia, a waist gunner in a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress shakes hands with a Soviet soldier.

• American and Soviet troops and staff sing together in November 1944 during the grand opening of the officers’ club at Poltava Air Base, one of the shuttle mission bases in the Soviet Union.

• A Russian Guards Battalion band performs a concert for the American flyers from Italy who arrived with the first shuttle bombing mission to the airbase in the Soviet Union.

• American and Soviet troops play volleyball together every night at the headquarters of the Eastern Command U.S. Strategic Air Forces in the Soviet Union.

• American and Soviet personnel at President Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial Ceremony at Poltava Airbase, a shuttle mission base in the Soviet Union. 14 April 1945.

• American-Russian ground crew personnel repair one of the engines on a consolidated B-24 “Liberator” at Poltava Airbase. 8 January 1945.

• At the new U.S. bomber bases in the USSR, two Russian soldiers talk with an American GI about Yank magazine. The Soviets could gather enough information from the pictures in Yank to understand the general meaning of the words.

• The American crew of a Douglas C-47 point out features of the plane to Russian personnel at Poltava Air Base on 2 May 1945.

• S/Sgt. Daniel Echeard of Berwick, Pa., explains the use of the ball turret to a Soviet soldier.

• Sgt. Albin Narlock of Miwaukee, Wisc., cleans the guns of a Boeing B-17, assisted by two Soviet soldiers.

• The grand opening of the officers’ club at Poltava Airbase was held on Thanksgiving Night, 30 November 1944. Here, American and Russian officers make a toast to the success of the shuttle bombing missions flown from this base in Russia.

• A Soviet Army artist painted portraits of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Premier Joseph Stalin, which were hung in the joint American-Russian theater at Poltava Air Base.

• Lt. Lester D. Poehner of Ohio and Lt. Albert Hunt of Pennsylvania talk with three Soviet soldiers. The word for “bomb” is written in both English and Russian on a 250-pound general purpose demolition bomb.

All Photos Courtesy of U.S. National Archives

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