"Grisha," Voroshilov, standing next to the T-34 prototype, called Deputy People's Commissar of Defense Grigory Ivanovich Kulik by his nickname, and asked, "what do you think of this tank?" ”

Kulik was the Deputy People's Commissar of Defense in charge of ordnance, headed the Ordnance Department, the Chemical Defense Department, and the Artillery Academy. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 Basically, the question of what weapons the Red Army used, which weapons could be put into production, etc., was left to his hands and decided by him.

However, although Kulik was in charge of the ordnance department, he was not a man with a correct understanding of ordnance and was not happy to accept new weapons.

"Much better than KV." Kulik bluntly criticized the KV-1, a tank named after Voroshilov, "The KV has poor performance, the firepower and defense power have not been able to get there, and the production cost is expensive, so it is not cost-effective at all."

The T-34 was different, although the defense was inferior to the KV heavy tank, using the same main gun with equal firepower. But it has good performance, and it is not as expensive as KV, so it can be considered for production. ”

Voroshilov felt similarly, "I think so too, the T-34 is really an excellent medium tank." In terms of firepower, defense and mobility, it is superior to the T-28 designed by Josef Yakovlevich (Kotin), and also surpasses the German No. 4 tank, which can be said to be the most advanced medium tank in the world.

It should be put into operation as soon as possible, equip troops in large quantities, and enhance the armored combat strength of our army. ”

Voroshilov was not wrong, the T-34 was indeed the most advanced tank in the world, until the appearance of the German Tiger tank.

Although Kulik also felt that the T-34 was better than any tank, this did not mean that he supported the mass production of new tanks. "Kerim, in my opinion, this tank cannot be put into production in large quantities, let alone equipped with troops in large quantities."

"Why?" Voroshilov's expression was a little puzzled, but he had already known what the other party was thinking. "Times are different now, the Germans have massively formed armored forces and achieved good results in Poland. We all know that. ”

"Krim, I'm not against the production of this tank, but a lot of equipment will only be a waste of resources, a waste of money! Although the cost of the T-34 tank is cheaper than the KV, it also costs 260,000 rubles each!

This money might as well be used to form more cavalry units. Only in this way will our army's combat capability be better enhanced. By this time, Kulik was still stubborn, insisting that cavalry was more important than armour. It can be said that there is no cure.

"But Grisha," Voroshilov admonished, "do you think the cavalry can deal with the German tank clusters?" ”

"So I have no objection to the commissioning of the T-34 tank." "Tanks can be used to support other arms and to fight enemy tanks," Kulik said. But tanks are too expensive to produce too much and cannot serve as the main force. The main force is still mainly infantry and cavalry. ”

The newly appointed commander-in-chief of the Red Army, Timoshenko, also joined the discussion: "Comrade Kulik, now the Germans have taken the armored forces as the main force and have achieved great success.

As you mentioned earlier, tanks can be used to support other units and should be used against enemy armoured units. But now the Germans already had a strong armored strength and were armed with a huge number of tanks.

Then we, the Soviet Red Army, should also be equipped with a considerable number of tanks, so that we can compete with the armored forces of Germany. ”

"How many are needed?" Kulik needed to figure out the production quantities before he could make a decision.

"With the addition of other tanks, our army needs a total of 10,000 to be enough to compete with the Germans. And in the case of the T-34, at least a thousand more units are needed. Timoshenko conservatively estimated.

"A thousand?" Kulik counted on his fingers, "This task will take more than 200 million rubles to complete." With such a huge amount, it is better to use it to upgrade the equipment of infantry and cavalry and form more cavalry units! ”

"Actually, it's not expensive," Manturov, who had just finished talking to Koshkin, also joined the discussion at the top of the Red Army, "to produce a Soviet-class battleship, it will cost 1.1 billion rubles." With this money, more than 4,000 T-34s can be produced. ”

Kulik, however, wasn't buying it. Although he could not refute Manturov's claims, this did not mean that he could accept his and Voroshilov's opinions. "Young man, if you don't understand anything, don't talk nonsense! Do you know how many cavalry platoons can be armed with the resource for the production of one T-34? ”

Voroshilov glanced at his son-in-law, then glared at him and said to Kulik: "That Grisha, how many cavalry companies do you think it would take to destroy a tank platoon four?" ”

"I think everyone has different opinions on this issue." At this time, Manturov played the role of a calmer, "I think it is necessary to convene a special meeting, study this issue slowly, and finally leave it to Comrade Stalin for a decision." It's not a way for the two of them to continue arguing like this. ”

Timoshenko also did not want to see the two old marshals quarrel with each other, and also reconciled: "Comrade Manturov is right, this issue should be resolved at the conference table, and Comrade Stalin will decide. ”

………………………………………………………………………………

A few days later, the Kremlin officially convened a meeting on the production of T-34 tanks.

This meeting, chaired by Stalin. Present at the meeting were People's Commissar of Defense Voroshilov, First Deputy People's Commissar for Defense Semyon Mikhailovich Budyonny, and several Deputy People's Commissars of Defense such as Kulik, Lev Sakharovich Mehris, Boris Mikhailovich Shaposhnikov, and Kirill Afanasyevich Meretskov.

In addition to the Minister of Defense and Deputy Ministers, of course, the Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Red Army, Semyon Konstantinovich Timoshenko, and the Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army, Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov.

Since the discussion was about tank production, which involved tank design, production management, and production line construction, Koshkin, chief designer of the 520 Design Bureau, who was responsible for the design of the T-34 tank, Boris Vanikov, People's Commissar of Ordnance for production management, and Colonel-General Manturov, First Deputy People's Commissar for Construction, who was responsible for the construction of the plant and production line, also attended the meeting.

"Comrade Koshkin," Stalin handed the test report of the T-34 tank to his assistant, and said to Koshkin: "I have read all the test reports, and I have marked all the important points with a red pen." ”

Koshkin cautiously took the test documents from the hands of Stalin's aides and skimmed them from beginning to end.

Almost every page of the document has red handwriting, which is Stalin's annotation. It can be seen that Stalin spent a lot of thought and time studying this document, after all, it was about the development of the country's military power and defense industry.