<P> Germany now looked to Romania for a large part of the oil she needed and to Soviet Union for a wide range of commodities . In fact, apart from allowing Hitler to secure his eastern borders and annihilate Poland, the Nazi - Soviet Pact brought Germany considerable economic benefits . As well as providing refueling and repair facilities for German U-boats and other vessels at its remote Arctic port of Teriberka, east of Murmansk, the Soviets --' Belligerent Neutrals' in Churchill's words--also accepted large quantities of wheat, tin, petrol and rubber from America into its ports in the Arctic and Black Sea and, rather than transport them over the entire continent, released identical volumes of the same material to Germany in the west . Before the war total US exports to Soviet Union were estimated as less than £ 1m per month; by this stage, they were known to exceed £ 2m per month . From the outset, although they had formerly been hated enemies, large - scale direct trade took place between the two countries because both were able to offer something the other wanted . Germany lacked the natural resources Soviet Union had in abundance, whereas Soviet Union was at that time still a relatively backward country in want of the latest technology . By the end of October 1939 the Soviets were sending large quantities of oil and grain in return for war materials such as fighter aircraft and machine tools for manufacturing in a deal valued at 150 million Reichmarks a year . </P> <P> The Germans maintained an aggressive strategy at sea in order to press home their own blockade of the Allies . Lloyd's List showed that by the end of 1939 they had sunk 249 ships by U-boat, air attack, or by mines . These losses included 112 British and 12 French vessels, but also demonstrated the disproportionate rate of loss by neutral nations . Norway, a great seafaring nation since the days of the Vikings had lost almost half its fleet in World War I, yet now possessed a merchant navy of some 2,000 ships, with tonnage exceeded only by Britain, the USA, and Japan . They had already lost 23 ships, with many more attacked and dozens of sailors killed, while Sweden, Germany's main provider of iron ore, had lost 19 ships, Denmark 9, and Belgium 3 . The Netherlands, with 75% of her commercial shipping outgoing from Rotterdam to Germany, had also lost 7 ships, yet all these countries continued to trade with Germany . Churchill was endlessly frustrated and bemused by the refusal of the neutrals to openly differentiate between the British and German methods of waging the sea war, and by their determination to maintain pre-war patterns of trade, but stopped short of condemning them, believing that events would eventually prove the Allies to be in the right . He commented; </P> <Dl> <Dd> At present their plight is lamentable and will become much worse . They bow humbly in fear of German threats of violence, each one hoping that if he feeds the crocodile enough the crocodile will eat him last and that the storm will pass before their turn comes to be devoured . What would happen if these neutrals, with one spontaneous impulse were to do their duty in accordance with the Covenant of the League (of Nations) and stand together with the British and French Empires against aggression and wrong? . </Dd> </Dl> <Dd> At present their plight is lamentable and will become much worse . They bow humbly in fear of German threats of violence, each one hoping that if he feeds the crocodile enough the crocodile will eat him last and that the storm will pass before their turn comes to be devoured . What would happen if these neutrals, with one spontaneous impulse were to do their duty in accordance with the Covenant of the League (of Nations) and stand together with the British and French Empires against aggression and wrong? . </Dd>

How did germany delay the united states' entrance into the war