Bryndza and cheese procurements in the USSR during the Great Patriotic War

The study examines the internal and external supply of bryndza and cheese in the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War. The research is based on Russian state economic archives which are mainly presented for the first time. The archive materials available make it possible to identify the amount of bryndza and cheese obtained by means of compulsory deliveries, procurements and other sources from collective farms, collective farmers, individual peasant farms of the Soviet villages and settlements. The study provides information on allied supplies of cheese through the lend-lease program. Bryndza and cheese procurements obtained from all supply sources are demonstrated in dynamics. The relevance of this study is determined by the ongoing debate over the contribution of lend-lease food supplies to the Great Victory. The author concluded that, in the course of the war with Nazi Germany, the Red Army and the Soviet people used primarily the internal procurements of bryndza and cheese.