DEVELOPMENT OF THE DEFENSE INDUSTRY DURING THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR (ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE GORKY REGION)
The article reveals the contribution of industrial enterprises of the Gorky (now Nizhny Novgorod) region to providing the Army and Navy with weapons, military equipment, ammunition, and military property. Convenient geographical location, availability of railway and waterways, good raw material base, skilled labour and scientific potential, developed industries (electricity, metallurgy, engineering, chemistry) provided the opportunity Gorky region to supply the army with ammunition and military equipment - artillery, tanks, airplanes, fighters, submarines, rocket launchers, ammunition, explosives, armored vehicles. The authors consider the activities of Gorky enterprises of the automobile, aviation, chemical, radio-electronic industry and shipbuilding during the Great Patriotic war, and give examples of labor heroism of Gorky residents. The Great Patriotic war brought the industry of the Gorky region to a new stage of development, as enterprises had to master the production of complex products in a very limited time. Thirteen large enterprises were evacuated to the Gorky region from Kiev, Kharkiv, Leningrad and Moscow regions, and Belarus. Scientific organizations have stepped up their activities, changing the focus of research towards solving specific problems related to the creation of new weapons, and there has been a localization of complex production facilities in the Gorky region. As a result, the modern Nizhny Novgorod region has become a major industrial center of the Russian Federation with a high share of defense industry enterprises that are competitive in the domestic and foreign markets.