"Vorodya, you did a good job just now. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info" Walking out of Stalin's office, Voroshilov complimented Manturov.

Manturov did not dare to boast in front of these Politburo members, and always liked to put the credit on others. "Where? I just reported the situation in the army truthfully, and any Red Army soldier who had been in the army could do it even better than I, the secretary of the state party committee, who had only been in the army for a few months.

But in any case, thank you and Comrade Stalin for giving me the opportunity to go to the battlefield to exercise and make meritorious contributions to the Motherland. Manturov glanced at the Order of the Gold Star hanging on his chest and said with excessive modesty: "So this medal should belong to you and Comrade Stalin, and not to me." I'm just in charge of carrying out your orders. ”

Voroshilov smiled kindly: "Hehe, Volodya, you are modest again. ”

Manturov changed the subject and said: "By the way, Kerim, Katyusha has been doing well lately, and her work performance is also good, she told you not to worry about her, she is doing well now." ”

"If I were worried about her, I wouldn't have married her to you. Hehe! ”

"How are you doing?"

Voroshilov patted Manturov on the shoulder and smiled kindly: "Don't worry, I'm as good as you." ”

"That's good, then I'll take my leave first."

"Wait." Voroshilov pulled Manturov's epaulettes, "Vorodya, are you free today?" ”

Manturov always felt that Fu Shuai was going to drag him to his house to drink, or take him to the hunting ground to hunt, and then pull him to his house to drink. "Kerim, I'm idle, what do you want me to do? Drinking is free. ”

"It's not drinking, it's work. We, the People's Commissariat of Defense, will hold a meeting to discuss matters related to the military-industrial complex of the Novosibirsk region. You, as the secretary of the Novosibirsk Regional Party Committee and the initiator of the project, would like to hear your opinion. ”

"Okay then."

………………………………………………………………

Manturov, dressed in the uniform of a political commissar (equivalent to a general) of the second army, followed Voroshilov to a conference room in the Kremlin.

At this time, the conference room was already full. Major Generals Boris Lvovich Vanikov (Б opnc_Львoвnч_Вahhnkoв), People's Commissar of the Ammunition Industry Ivan Pavlovich Sergeyev (nв ah_Пaвлoвnч _cep гeeв), tank designers Kotin, Morozov and others were already sitting in their respective positions, only the seat of the People's Commissar of Defense was empty.

As for Kulik, the Deputy People's Commissar of Defense in charge of ordnance, was absent for some special reasons.

When Voroshilov walked into the conference room, he waved his hand to the crowd and took his seat in the place of the People's Commissar of State Defense. But Manturov was not scheduled to attend in advance, and the young man, who wore the Order of the Hero of the Soviet Union and the rank of general (political commissar of the second army), stood behind Voroshilov like a guard.

The people present all cast strange eyes on the young political commissar of the second-class army, the winner of the Hero of the Soviet Union, and they could not recognize this person no matter how they looked at it.

"Comrade Voroshilov, who is this?" The question was asked by none other than Voroshilov's adopted son-in-law, the tank designer of the Kirov plant - Joseph Yakovlevich Kotin (Жo3eфrkoвлeвnчkotnh).

"This is my son-in-law, Comrade Vladimir Fedorovich Manturov, Hero of the Soviet Union, Hero of Socialist Labor, former Military Commissar of the First Army, and now First Secretary of the Party Committee of the Novosibirsk Region."

"It turned out to be Comrade Manturov! I've heard your name for a long time, and I'm finally able to meet you today. The representative of the Kharkov plant, Alexander Aleksandrovich Morozov, said: "Ivan, you are also the son-in-law of Comrade Voroshilov, and you do not know Comrade Manturov? ”

Wait, isn't Katya Voroshilov's only biological daughter? How can there be another son-in-law? As mentioned earlier, Voroshilov also has an adopted daughter named Tatiana, the biological daughter of General Frunze.

After Frunze's death, his good brother Voroshilov was obliged to adopt one of his sons and a daughter. Frunze's son was Timur, born in 1923; Her daughter, Tatiana, was born in 1920 and later married Kotin, who was 12 years older than her.

"This Siberian tiger is often entrenched in Siberia, and Joseph (Kotin) works in Leningrad, so it's normal that we haven't met." Voroshilov escorted his adopted son-in-law.

The assistant standing on the side added a place to Manturov in a playful way, which avoided embarrassing things.

"Then let's get started." Voroshilov, in the position of Minister of Defense, seized the chairmanship of the meeting.

Although the military-industrial complex is a project managed by the People's Commissariat of Ordnance and the People's Commissariat of Ammunition, Voroshilov, who is the Minister of Defense of the consignee, with the rank of marshal, has more weight to speak in front of the Minister of Ordnance Industry, who has only the rank of Major General.

Although Manturov was only the secretary of the state party committee, he had the rank of general, and he was awarded two of the highest medals of honor, which was not inferior to two ministers with lower ranks. It's just that he has a slight inferiority complex, and on such an occasion, he didn't dare to steal the limelight from his father-in-law and other officers, so at the beginning, he kept a low profile.

People's Commissar of the Ordnance Industry Vanikov began to speak first: "Comrades, now the project of the Novosibirsk military-industrial complex has entered its final stage. Thanks to the strong input of the government of the Novosibirsk region and our three departments, the construction project is nearing completion. Construction of some of the plants, including the production of ammunition, firearms and communications equipment, is nearing completion.

Machine tools, machinery and other equipment have been moved into the completed plant one after another, and will soon be put into operation according to the procedures we have agreed before.

Although the workshop for the production of tanks is still not completed, and the required equipment is still being produced, at this time we should make a decision on the choice of tank designers for the plant, as well as the models of tanks produced. ”

Before 1939, each tank factory in the USSR had a design bureau headed by a chief designer responsible for tank design.

The leadership of the factory is composed of the factory director, the chief designer, the chief engineer, the head of the factory party committee and the foreman in charge of mechanical assembly.

The factory manager is usually an engineer with some design experience. The chief designer is the leader of the product design team, and his responsibility is to organize product design, prepare for product production, maintain the advanced nature of products, and ensure that problems are solved as soon as possible.

The other members of the leadership are responsible for the day-to-day affairs of the factory, and their positions are also very prominent, but nothing can be done without the approval of the factory director and the chief designer.

At that time, the Soviet Union built two tank production centers: one was the Kharkov plant, and the new director, Maksarev, was the key figure in keeping the tank production line running, but the real person who drove the production of the tank plant was the new chief designer, Mikhail Ilyich Koshkin.

The other was the three factories in Leningrad, namely the Voroshilov plant, the Bolshevik plant and the Kirov plant, all of which were designed by Kotin, while the Kirov plant, which was the largest and most equipped plant, was the leader of the three.

The Novosibirsk military-industrial complex, which will be built in the future, also has a large plant capable of producing various tanks, comparable in size to the Kharkov plant.

Although there is only one tank factory, at the time of the war, the agricultural machinery plant No. 179, which is the largest in the country and has a market share of 70%, will also be converted into a tank production center.

At that time, the peacetime gigafactory, with an annual output of 50,000 tractors, 40,000 seeders and 35,000 harvesters, will become one of the largest tank and armored vehicle production centers in the Soviet Union. The combined output of the two tank factories in Novosibirsk is greater than the combined output of the three factories in Leningrad.

However, before production, the production plan must be finalized, otherwise the factory will not be able to produce tanks after it is built.

Just before the meeting, the candidates for the director of the plant and the party committee of the plant had been decided without controversy, but which tank will this tank production center produce? This is where the dispute between the two design bureaus lies.

In the previous meeting, the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Ordnance Industry discussed two options:

The first is the production of T-28 and KV (Kliment Voroshilov) series tanks designed by Jo Ya Kotin; The second option is the production of the BT series tanks at plant No. 183 in Kharkov and the T-32 medium tank (a prototype of the T-34), which is nearing the end of its research work.