УРАЛО-КУЗБАССКАЯ УГОЛЬНО-МЕТАЛЛУРГИЧЕСКАЯ БАЗА В УСЛОВИЯХ ВЕЛИКОЙ ОТЕЧЕСТВЕННОЙ ВОЙНЫ

Abstract

The article is devoted to the history of functioning of the metallurgical base of the Ural-Kuzbass during the Great Patriotic War. The author explains the mutual dependence of both regions. The ferrous metallurgy of the Urals and Kuzbass was able to dramatically increase the production of armaments by the second half of 1942. Before the war, local industry did not produce weapons or produced them in limited quantities. The sharp increase in military production was ensured by the reorientation of the region’s metallurgy towards the production of alloy steels and armour metal. The shortage of rolling stock forced to transfer limited transport resources in favour of coking needs for the Urals metallurgy. The Urals power industry had to give up Kuzbass and Karaganda coals and switch to local low-calorific fuel. The author analyses monthly plans for the production of armour plate at the USSR metallurgical plants and the production of tanks. He concludes that the Ural-Kuzbass industry played a leading role in the production of armour and tanks. The industrial and resource potential of the Ural-Kuzbass was limited. Therefore, the success was achieved by redistributing materials in favour of military production to the detriment of the development of civilian industry. This led to the depletion of the production base of the Ural-Kuzbass industry during the war period, but made it possible to establish mass production of a large number of armaments in a short period.