High-speed welding machines, Mosin rifle and "flying tank"The most important stage on the way to Victory was the achievement of a radical turning point during the Great Patriotic War.
The turning point began with the Stalingrad triumph of the Soviet troops and ended with the defeat of the Nazis on the Kursk-Orel arc. The turning point was predetermined by the generalship of marshals and generals, the courage and heroism of soldiers and officers, the excellent work of the military-industrial complex (MIC). This article is devoted to the last of these sources of radical fracture.
At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the state of the Soviet military-industrial complex was ambiguous. On the one hand, the dynamics in the development of the military industry was felt, the prerequisites for its rapid growth were traced. The total expressions of the final products for January–June 1941 were impressive: 1,800 tanks, 3,950 aircraft, 15,600 guns and mortars.
On the other hand, there was no comprehensive military mobilization plan. The processes of rearmament in a number of positions were far from being completed. The construction of many infrastructure facilities was seriously behind schedule.
Let's not forget that the share of Hitler's Germany's military expenditures in the national income of the country in the pre-war 1940 was 36%, and in the USSR – 22.3%. The German military-industrial complex was organically integrated into the system of bodies permanently involved in real theaters of military operations (Theater of Operations). Marked by blitzkriegs in a theater with a wide geography, the Wehrmacht demonstrated its utmost mobilization.
It should be added to this that in the first year of the war, the aggressors were rapidly advancing through the European part of the USSR, where the core of the military-industrial complex was located. In essence, the Soviet side had to form a new, different from the pre-war military-industrial complex, fully corresponding to the new realities.
TOP-TO-BOTTOM CONTROL MECHANISMThe first link in the chain of necessary actions in order and importance was the reformatting of the management mechanism.
Descending, it began to look like this: The State Defense Committee (GKO) – branch People's commissariats – the director corps of business entities.
The statesmen who were part of the GKO during the analyzed period now appear to be complex and contradictory figures in the context of the entire Soviet history. Joseph Stalin, Vyacheslav Molotov, Kliment Voroshilov, Georgy Malenkov, Lavrenty Beria, Nikolai Voznesensky, Anastas Mikoyan, Lazar Kaganovich thought in terms of the administrative command system, which at different stages of Soviet history demonstrated both productivity and counterproductivity.
And the military-industrial complex is the most obvious example. On the one hand, the country was not ready for a big war, with all the tragic consequences that follow from this. On the other hand, the total mobilization of the national economy and the rapid evacuation of defense enterprises to the east of the country were carried out with remarkable efficiency. However, about everything in order.
It can be unequivocally stated that Stalin's desire to keep under close personal control all strategically important segments of the military-industrial complex, their supervision by the rest of the listed persons, carried out on the basis of the administrative command system, brought the desired results. The logic of this system organically fit the closest interaction of T-bills with managers at lower levels.
EVACUATION AND RENEWAL OF THE DEFENSE INDUSTRYThe second link: construction and installation support for the functioning of the military-industrial complex.
By the beginning of the offensive stage of the Battle of Stalingrad, the issue of moving the productive forces, gigantic in their quantitative parameters, was completely resolved. Economic entities involved in material production were dismantled with incredible speed.
With exactly the same speed, all the necessary equipment was installed at the final evacuation point. These business entities were handed over on a turnkey basis, and in such a way that the necessary grounds for the successful operation of enterprises were created. Even before the spring of 1942, 1,360 defense enterprises had passed this most difficult cycle.
The second link of the necessary actions was also filled with real content due to the construction of facilities whose history began during the years of the war years away from the zone of military presence of Germany and its satellites – in a zone that corresponded to all the signs of the rear. The completion of the Battle of Stalingrad coincided with their transformation into one of the supporting structures of the military-industrial complex.
PRODUCTION VOLUME AND LABOR PRODUCTIVITYThe third link: achieving the output of military products required for the needs of the front, due to the constant search for reserves to increase labor productivity.
When January 1943 was nearing its end, it was possible to put a bold dot on this issue.
Here it is necessary to refer to statistics. First, let's compare the results of 1940 and 1942 for the volume of gross output in the military-industrial complex system. We get the ratio 1:3. At the same time, it will not be a gross mistake to adopt a 1:1 ratio for these years, when it comes to the real number of workers and employees, the quantitative expression of fixed assets in the specified system.
If we take the volume of supplies of ammunition to the Red Army in 1941 for 100%, then after 1942 we have a volume of 200%. In the course of1942, tanks and self-propelled artillery units (self-propelled guns) were produced in the Third Reich four times less than in the Soviet Union.
Let's compare the results of 1940 and 1942 again, but this time with regard to labor productivity in the analyzed system. We get a ratio of 1:2. The Stalingrad triumph coincided with the achievement of labor productivity in the military-industrial complex system, greater than it took place in the UK or in Germany.
The share of military-industrial complex products in the total array of industrial products in 1942 increased 1.6 times compared to the pre-war 1940. At the same time, the share of capital investments has hardly changed. The intensification of the production of military products has acquired the character of a long-term trend. The creation of production facilities for expanded reproduction of military products has fallen under the influence of this trend.
TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONSDue to what have these changes occurred?
The introduction of the in-line method for a number of production cycles has unfolded on a broad front. In the economic entities subordinate to the People's Commissar of Mortar Armament of the USSR, Pyotr Parshin, rational casting technology was capitalized, specialized operating machines for processing mines were actively earned.
And that's what the innovator by nature of the People's Commissar of Ammunition of the USSR Boris Vannikov achieved. Thanks to the most unique technologies, it was possible to minimize the processing of shell casings. Automatic welding has become the norm in the military-industrial complex segment focused on the production of bombs. The manufacture of pyroxylin and gunpowder began several times faster at gunpowder factories.
Under the leadership of the first tank commissar Vyacheslav Malyshev, a technological breakthrough was made in the tank industry. In this most important matter, the brain trust was the brainchild of the People's Commissar – the research and design center.
The conveyor assembly of tanks took real shape, multi-cutter, revolver machines and such a variety of machines as semi-automatic machines were organically integrated into the production process. The first tank People's Commissar announced yesterday the forging of parts and set a course for their casting. Soviet tank manufacturers pioneered the casting of large steel parts in metal molds.
Over time, Malyshev decided to stamp parts. The corresponding technology was brought to mind and took a firm place in the tank industry, displacing casting. By all standards, the transition to stamping tank turrets was also exclusive. The inventive talent of the recognized welding genius academician Evgeny Paton was also used to the maximum here. We are talking about automatic welding of tank hulls under the flux, which was performed by high-speed welding machines.
Special mention should be made of the deployment of mass socialist competition at the enterprises of the military-industrial complex. It was associated with exceptional labor heroism, the most powerful patriotic impulse. In no case should the role of party, trade union and Komsomol bodies in conducting such a competition be underestimated. Deep in the hearts of ordinary workers, appeals were echoed: "Everything for the front, everything for victory over the enemy!", "Work not only for yourself, but also for a comrade who went to the front!", "In labor – as in battle!".
And as a result: the daily excess of production standards by the participants of the competition. A considerable part of them exceeded these standards several times.
NEW AND UPGRADED WEAPONSThe fourth link: the widespread production of weapons and military equipment, which even before the war had no analogues in world practice.
How can we not remember the Mosin rifle, the Tokarev self-loading rifle, the Shpagin and Degtyarev submachine guns, the ZiS-3 artillery gun. And there was also a 45 mm cannon, a medium T-34 tank, a heavy KV tank (Klim Voroshilov), a "flying tank" Il-2 attack aircraft, a 120 mm Shavyrin mortar.
The fifth link: bringing the quality characteristics of the products to the level of world standards.
Tanks began to differ significantly increased firepower. There is no reason to talk about their insufficient armor protection. At the same time, Joseph Kotin and other designers sought to ensure that the acquisition of some advantages by Soviet tanks did not result in the loss of others. And we achieved that the modernized tanks satisfied the Red Army fighters both in terms of mobility, and the ability to maneuver, and the demonstration of remarkable cross-country ability.
The SU-76 light self-propelled artillery was at the level of world standards. She has proven herself admirably at the front. In this regard, I would like to quote one of the creators of the Stalingrad triumph, Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky: "Our soldiers especially liked the SU-76 self-propelled gun. These mobile, light vehicles managed everywhere to rescue and support infantry units with their fire and tracks, and the infantrymen, in turn, did everything to protect these vehicles."
The upgraded 76-millimeter divisional cannon and 152-millimeter corps howitzer organically fit into the fifth link. In the same row, it is quite possible to put a 57-millimeter anti-tank gun. Four guns for self-propelled guns with a caliber of 76, 85, 122, 152 mm had no analogues in world practice.
Additional and, as it turned out, powerful arguments of the Soviet side were found in its confrontation with the Germans at sea. The arsenals of Soviet sailors were replenished with two types of mines .
The first type: aviation mines. They were bottom non-contact, powered by a very reliable induction fuse. The second type: antenna mines. Here, both the mass of the explosive charge (almost a quarter of a ton) and the depth of the staging site (up to 500 m) turned out to be unprecedented.
In the confrontation between the Soviet Air Force and the German air aces, in many respects, the replenishment of the domestic aircraft fleet with irreplaceable Yak-3 and La-5 machines was a milestone. Undoubtedly, designers Alexander Yakovlev and Semyon Lavochkin have inscribed their names in golden letters in the history of military aviation.
Soviet design thought has found breakthrough solutions regarding the tactical and technical characteristics of submachine guns, anti-tank guns. The design genius of Alexey Sudaev gave birth to the best submachine gun of the Second World War. After the appearance of Vasily Degtyarev's anti-tank rifle in the troops, its creator was literally bombarded with admiring reviews. Sergei Simonov's anti-tank rifle was no less flattering.
BrestMichael Sagittarius
Mikhail Vasilyevich Strelets – Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor.
