Presidential Library’s materials spotlight the evacuation of industry in besieged Leningrad

Putilov Plant, "Krasny Putilovets", Kirov Plant...Plant-legend, one of the oldest giant machine-building and metallurgical industries in the country. How did the war and the siege affect the fate of the leader of the Russian and Soviet industry?

The Battle for Leningrad, as you know, has become one of the most fierce and longest during the Great Patriotic War. Materials from the Presidential Library’s collections, which are included in the large-scale electronic collection "Memory of the Great Victory", spotlight the unprecedented confrontation of the Soviet army with the German invaders and the heroic work at the city's enterprises. In addition to repelling a massive enemy attack on Leningrad, taken in a ring, the Soviet leadership sought and found ways to save the largest scientific and industrial center of the state and its unique industries from destruction.

The study of the veteran of the Great Patriotic War, St. Petersburg scientist Grigory Shigin "The Battle for Leningrad: Major Operations "blank spots", of losses" (2004) says: "In terms of the cost of gross industrial output in 1940, the city was in second place after Moscow, was the flagship of shipbuilding. 30 percent of military production was concentrated in Leningrad".

Hitler wrote in his diary: “To raze Moscow and Leningrad to the ground in order to completely get rid of the population of these cities, which otherwise we (Germany) will then be forced to feed during the winter. The task of destroying cities must be carried out by aviation. You shouldn't use tanks for this". These words are quoted in a book edited by the historian Sergei Platonov "The Battle for Leningrad, 1941-1944" (1964), which is digitized in the Presidential Library’s collections. “Considering the importance of Leningrad in the life of the Soviet state, - we read in the publication, - the German-fascist command, in its plans for a war of conquest against the USSR, designated it as the primary object of its aggression”. However, the enemy tried in every possible way to disguise his intentions. Some sources note that the image of a "secondary front" created by German propagandists indirectly contributed to the emergence in Western historiography of views according to which the blockade of Leningrad did not have a significant impact on the course of hostilities.

Many materials highlight the intensity of the information war around the city taken into the siege. In particular, the Presidential Library’s portal provides the author's abstract of Alexander Kutuzov "The Siege of Leningrad in Information Confrontation during the Second World War" (2012), which says: "Different points of view on the blockade of Leningrad, published during the Second World War, were closely related with politicized problems of information confrontation ... The wartime press was involved in solving a whole range of defense tasks ...".

This is what the newspaper "For Victory" of the Leningrad isolation plant "Proletary", partially evacuated to Krasnoyarsk in February 1942, wrote: "The Great Patriotic War demanded the restructuring of the entire industry on a war footing. <...> ... We are obliged to pay special attention to the issues of mastering new products, introducing substitutes, saving scarce materials and rationalizing production. <…> During the war, we mastered and put into mass production a number of new products that had not been manufactured at the plant before. <…> However, the work done in no way solves our tasks. The Red Army and the front are making serious demands on expanding the range of new products and in large quantities".

One of the most colossal challenges facing the leadership of not only the city, but also the country, was the transfer to the East of the main production facilities of such a gigantic plant as Kirov. And the first difficulty was the problem of masking this unprecedented evacuation operation, the need to carry it out secretly from the well-informed intelligence of the enemy.

For some time, central newspapers, including Pravda, and factory circulations worked to create the image of a “fortress city”, well fortified and equipped with everything necessary for the functioning of the main industries that did not need relocation.

"The method of distracting from one's own difficulties had success", - we read in Kutuzov's abstract "The Siege of Leningrad in Information Confrontation during the Second World War". - <...> In autumn of 1941, the press "covered" the evacuation of the Leningrad tank building, posting material about the heroism of tankers, rewarding Kirovites and the continuation of production".  

The issue of Leningradskaya Pravda for November 5, 1941, in the article "The conveyor works at high speeds" you can read the following: "Since the beginning of the war, our plant has become primarily a women's enterprise. When processing steel of great strength, our glorious women exceed all standards in production. <…> The success of women in mastering the most difficult male professions is truly amazing. "

“Recently, women were not very willingly hired for work requiring great physical efforts”, - we read in the newspaper Leningradskaya Pravda, July 30, 1941. - How much will a woman work out? They say about Pavlova: "These are two locksmiths". She performs the most complex operation, where strength, dexterity, speed, a lot of ingenuity are needed".

Under the cover of newspapers in autumn of 1941, most of the equipment and about 15 thousand people, together with family members, were evacuated to the Urals, where, together with the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant and other relocated enterprises, they formed the famous Tankograd - the largest manufacturer during the war “tanks of Victory” - heavy tanks of the KV and IS series, self-propelled artillery installations (ACS) and other armored vehicles. October 6, 1941 "Tankograd" was given the official name "Kirov plant of the People's Commissariat of the tank industry in the city of Chelyabinsk".

The remaining part of the plant's capacity in Leningrad continued to work, collecting and repairing tanks and other armored vehicles, as well as releasing ammunition in the most difficult conditions of the siege of the city. More than two thousand five hundred factory workers died of starvation…

Titanic work that was done in Chelyabinsk to develop tank production is covered in the collection of documents "Lenin's Footsteps of Five-Year Plans: From the History of the Development of Industry and the Working Class of the Chelyabinsk Region".

Production was set up as quickly as possible, preparing to begin production of the "Pobeda tank" - the legendary T-34. "From the decree of the meeting of the party activists of the Kirov plant on the tasks of the party organization of the plant in connection with the GKO decree on the production of the T-34 tank: July 25, 1942: No. 128 / Party organizer of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) Kozin": "Having heard and discussed the director's report the plant of comrade Makhoshin on the tasks of the party organization on the implementation of the decree of the State Defense Committee, the party activists of the Kirov plant note the particular importance of the plant's early mastering of the production of T-34 machines necessary for the sacred cause of defeating the fascist hordes, as well as the exclusive responsibility of the party organization in fulfilling this task of the party , governments..."

 “When the Chelyabinsk Tankograd launched mass production”, - continues Kutuzov, author of the study “The Siege of Leningrad in Information Confrontation during the Second World War”, - frank publications appeared about the evacuation and work of those who remained in the winter of 1941-1942 factories. Specialists from the Kirov plant evacuated to the Chelyabinsk Kirov plant played a huge role in the creation and development of the production of the IS breakthrough tanks.

The return of the Kirov plant to the banks of the Neva took place in 1948.