No help wanted. Medical research exchange between Russia and the West during the Second World War.

EVERYONE with some familiarity with the history of World War II is aware that relationships between the Soviet Union and her Western Allies were tenuous at best. On major issues, such as Russian aid requests and the launching of a second front, major disputes arose. Not as well known is the fact that that same discord also marked the lesser wartime relations. A case in point were the efforts ofthe U.S.A., Canada, and Great Britain to exchange valuable medical and health information with the Russians. Throughout the war, Moscow was not only unwilling to commit herself to any permanent system of sharing but was at times reluctant even to take from the West medical information and techniques she badly needed. The story of Allied medical relations is equally instructive as to the state of AngloAmerican co-operation, which was clearly far from perfect. Where the Russians were concerned, America and Britain were often careless of each other's national interests and sensibilities, almost to the point of competing for Russia's favour. Each nation, but particularly the British, had a high opinion of its own creativity in medical research and was resentful of the other's seeming willingness to pass itself off to the Russians as the leader of medical science in the West. Problems between Washington and London, of course, were minor ones and resulted mostly in annoyance. Difficulties with Russia, on the other hand, were more significant because they probably impeded the Soviets' ability to wage war. Had Moscow been less suspicious of her Westem allies and more willing to accept medical help from the West-and it is likely that Britain and America could have benefited from more information from Russia-it was entirely possible that a larger number of Soviet soldiers and civilians could have survived the Russian War. Almost immediately after the Nazi invasion of Russia in June 1941, Great Britain and the U.S. began efforts to set up a permanent medical exchange with the Soviet Union. Each country at that time had its own reasons for wanting a Russian connexion, but both were convinced of the military value of such exchange. Britain, who had stood alone against the Germans since the fall of France, was concerned to do everything she could to sustain Russian resistance. One problem the Soviets faced, which especially concerned British medical and military leaders, was the threat of typhus among Soviet soldiers and civilians. Although the Russians denied the danger and maintained that they had the situation under control, the British knew that was not so. Entomologist P. A. Buxton, an expert in the international health field, stated