“Reduce Tank Superiority!”
The take-off to the management elite of the 1940s, Isaac Salzmann was described in detail in the first part of the story. In this regard, curious story about how Isaac Salzman became deputy people's commissar tank industry. This is colorfully described by Daniyal Ibragimov in the book “Confrontation”. In many ways, it is based on the stories of Salzmann himself.
The case took place on October 10, 1941 at the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander, when it was announced to Georgy Zhukov that from that day he was commanding the Western Front - he was defending Moscow. At that time it was already known that the Leningrad Tank Plant was being evacuated to Chelyabinsk, and Zhukov even asked the “tank king” to send the first KV issued near Moscow. At that time, Stalin and his entourage were well aware that only tanks could stop the Germans, and industrialists increasingly heard:
“We need tanks! Today it’s impossible without tanks. You see what the Germans will be: massive tank wedges. We must contrast our wedges with them. ”
.And the military repeated:
“Ruthlessly destroy enemy tanks!”, “To reduce to zero the superiority in tanks!”
But back to Headquarters. The conversation between Zhukov and Zaltsman was interrupted by Stalin:
- Comrade Zhukov! Comrade Zaltsman here promised members of the Politburo to produce in the Urals as many tanks a day as he was. It is a pity that he is young, only 30 years old. So, is it, Comrade Salzman?
- So, comrade Stalin!
“But what if we appoint Comrade Zaltsman as Commissar of the Tank Industry?”
- So, comrade Stalin!
“But what if we appoint Comrade Zaltsman as Commissar of the Tank Industry?”
Isaac Salzman with his family
According to Isaac Salzmann himself, this proposal was a complete surprise to him. He tried to answer that he had little experience and was too young for such a position. But Stalin in response called the thirty-year age not an obstacle, but an advantage.
As a result, the present “tank king” listened to the present Molotov and proposed, as a compromise, to appoint Zaltsman as the deputy people's commissar and curator of all tank plants of the Urals and allies. And Stalin added: "That's right, and transfer the traditions of Krasnoputilovites to the Urals."
And here in the book the most soulful begins. Isaac Zaltsman, obviously inspired by this turn of the matter, suggests renaming ChTZ into Kirovsky. A deathly silence reigned in the study. Further, I quote from the book of Ibragimov:
“Stalin did not understand why everyone had an embarrassed look, and asked:
- What is it called now?
“The name of Stalin,” Salzman replied, looking straight into the eyes.
Stalin took a few steps to the side and, looking somewhere in the corner of the office, he said:
“Well then, in the name of Kirov, so in the name of Kirov, so be it ...”
- What is it called now?
“The name of Stalin,” Salzman replied, looking straight into the eyes.
Stalin took a few steps to the side and, looking somewhere in the corner of the office, he said:
“Well then, in the name of Kirov, so in the name of Kirov, so be it ...”
Another case confirming the trust of the authorities to Isaac Zaltsman is related to Nizhny Tagil during the production of the T-34. Arriving at the Uralvagonzavod with an inspection, Zaltsman discovered a conveyor littered with artillery boxes - at that time Lorenius Beria (he was in charge of artillery subjects in the government) was instructed to increase the production of shells. All this went against the plans for the release of the thirty-four, and, of course, the deputy people's commissar turned this assembly line on, especially since there were already a lot of shells in the warehouses of the plant. Beria managed to fight off the attacks of the NKVD and even personal calls only by direct order of the Supreme Commander. Obviously, it was then that Beria harbored a grudge against the "tank king."
Symbol of Victory at the gates of Uralvagonzavod
Despite such serious trust on the part of Stalin and, of course, the heroic work of Tankograd during the war years, by the end of the 40s Zaltsman had completely lost his disposition and ended up in disgrace. In many respects, this was a consequence of the post-war work of the Kirov plant - the enterprise was chronically unable to cope with the plans.
I must say that during the trial of Zaltsman, he was remembered by his younger sister, Maria Moiseevna, who lost her husband during the years of “great terror”. He was shot in 1938, and Mary, the mother of three children, was given the maximum term for the wife of the “enemy of the people” - 8 years in the Akmola camp of wives of traitors to the motherland. They released it only in 1946, after serving the entire term, and Isaac Zaltsman with great difficulty was able to register a sister with children in the then closed Chelyabinsk. It is noteworthy that he was able to do this only with the permission of the leadership of the regional UNKVD - this should be remembered when it comes to the omnipotence of the “tank king”.
Theft and corruption
Immediately make a reservation that the following facts about the career of Isaac Zaltsman and character are the results of a study of historians of the Ural branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Judging by these sources, already in 1946 they began to collect incriminating evidence against Zaltsman in the form of accusations of leaderism, rudeness and rudeness, which, however, did not bring the almighty director to feelings. So, on August 15, 1947, at a meeting of shop managers, the “tank king” declared:
“It’s a pity that Soviet laws interfere with me. If I could isolate myself from Soviet laws, then I would get the plant on my feet in two weeks, put the order in order. They would give me full power, like the partisans, I would personally immediately shoot the chief of the mechanical the workshop of Taravan, the head of the fuel equipment workshop of Zolotarev and others. ”
These words were documented, and later the commission tried to find objective reasons for the nit-picking by the director, but in vain. Isaac Zaltsman met the future director of the plant, and then the head of the chassis workshop of Alexander Krytsyn, in this new position:
"You are here, in my fist, I can hide you in prison."
By the way, in the future, Krytsyn will be promoted to deputy minister of defense industry of the USSR. Of the decent obscene words often used by Salzmann for managerial purposes, historians even made up the "top 12":
“Balda, a talker, a loafer, cheap, an adventurer, a rogue, a son of a bitch, a bastard, a traitor, a pest, a rogue, a lackey”
.For obvious reasons, the Ural historians did not dare to publish the rest.
The unsatisfactory rate of production of the S-80 tractor became in the second half of the 40s one of the reasons for the dismissal of Isaac Zaltsman from the post of director
But even such an attitude of Salzmann towards his subordinates was not the main cause of disgrace. In 1949, an official note of the following content fell on the table to Stalin:
“The Kirov plant in the post-war years worked unsatisfactorily. In 1946, the plan for marketable products was completed only by 67%, in 1947 - by 79,9% and in 1948 - by 97,8%. Over these three years, the plant has undermined the country with 6 thousand powerful S-80 tractors, which are essential for the needs of agriculture, the forest industry and the construction of major structures. The plant made a particularly serious failure in the production of tractors in 1948 - instead of 16,5 thousand tractors, only 13230 were produced. The plant performed extremely poorly in 1946–48. government assignments for tanks. The release of tanks was systematically disrupted, a significant number of them were released with serious structural and manufacturing defects, for which Comrade Zaltsman was reprimanded by a resolution of the Council of Ministers in February 1949. "
To justify the director of the plant, it is necessary to say that the government in the usual manner regularly raised plans for the production of both armored vehicles and tractors. In 1948, Zaltsman even personally approached Beria and Stalin with a request to reduce the production rate of the S-80 tractor from 16,5 thousand to 11 thousand, but they did not hear him. IS-4 Salzman managed to put on the conveyor, but in 1947 the plan for heavy tanks was completed only by 25%, a year later by 77,5%, but at the cost of workmanship.
Great "Tankograd". From left to right - chief designer N. L. Dukhov, plant director I. M. Zaltsman, chief engineer S. N. Makhonin
Finally, the theft of subordinates was the most important complaint about Zaltsman’s activity, as evidenced by numerous archives.
Close to the "tank king", the shop manager removed construction materials from the factory and built a summer house, for the construction of which he later drove workers for labor subbotniks. Zaltsman learned about this from the relevant persons, dismissed a colleague, and then again placed him in the leadership, but already as the head of the coal supply to the power plant. But the head of the workshop, which appears in the documents as Vn, and his deputy Dn, in 1948, were sentenced to 16000 rubles for assignment, but they miraculously served their sentences while working at the factory. The shop manager, Ian, used his official position and rewarded his subordinates, and took all the bonuses for organizing banquets with irrepressible alcohol libations.
There were more complicated schemes, which, I think, will now find their followers. Chelyabinsk Kirov at that time carried out various large orders of third-party factories, and this aroused unhealthy interest among dishonest dealers. So, large orders worth over a million rubles received from the Kolyuschenko plant and pilot plant No. 100 were not properly executed and not registered. Fulfillment of these orders was carried out through the use of factory equipment and materials of the Kirov factory. The best craftsmen and the most skilled workers were involved in the execution of “special orders”. The removal of products and parts was carried out according to forged documents under the guise of in-plant transportation to workshops located behind the factory fence. Money for the execution of orders received a fraudulent way. In order to get our hands on the bulk of the funds, in the agreement between the Kirov plant and the customer, the cost of the manufactured parts and their quantity was significantly underestimated. For example, the drive shaft for the grader instead of the actual cost of 1000 r. sold for 1 p. 80 kopecks
Another case was recorded in a motor assembly workshop. The chief and his deputy stole two new tractor engines (each for 20 thousand rubles), killed serial numbers and took them out of the factory under the guise of old ones. Then they sold it to the Kolyuschenko plant and divided the revenue of 16 thousand rubles.
According to the Chelyabinsk prosecutor’s office, all these cases were personally covered by Zaltsman, and none of the criminals was punished. And in some cases, thieves and corrupt officials were promoted to director. However, the clouds over Isaac Zaltsman were thickened seriously. As it turned out, the “tank king” encouraged corruption and theft since 1942.
To be continued ...