Figure 1.--With men needed at the front, women and children played a major role in maintaining production levels. This included munitions plabts. Here young boys are assembling artillery shells.

Stalin had built an industrial base capable of producing war material on an immemse level. The Germans were not aware of the full Soviet potential, neither the quantity or the quality of Soviet production. Many factories were located beyond the Urals out of reach of the Germans and continued operating even as Barbarossa was unfolding. The Soviets managed to pack up and move whole factories east, where they could not be reached by the Luftwaffe's tactical bombers. Production at these factories was often iunitiated in the open air befotre buildings were erected. Some of these plants were brought to areas of the Soviet Union tht had not been heavily industrialized. A reader in Tajikistan writes, "Some of these plants were set up in Tajikistan durng 1941-42. Many displaced citizens were evacuated to Dushanbe as well. They arrived by train. This substantially increased the ethnic Russian population in Tajikistan and other Central Asian reoublics." Production at many of these factories, however, were not back to full production until 1943. Even so the output of these Soviet factories alone exceeded German production. This was not know at the time outside Moscow and not appreciated by Hitler and OKW. Thus when British and American production were added, it is clear to what extent Barbarossa had changed the strategic ballance netween the Allies and Axis. And it was not just uin quantatative terms. Soviet war productin was rationalized. Production of osolete weaponsas terminated and that of more effective weapons like the T-34 tank expanded. Soviet artillery was of a high standard. While the Red Air Force was devestated at the onset of Barbarossa because of obsolete planes, new planes like the Yak fighters (Yak 1, 7, and 9s) and the IL-2 Stormovek were high quality planes that in capable hands could and fid taken on the Luftwaffe. These planmes were also produced in enormous numbers. More than 37,000 Yaks were produced by the Russians, more than any other fighter in the War. As the Allied air assualt on Germany intensified in 1943 and the Luftwaffe had too pull back to defend German cities, the Germas also began losing their advantage in the air that they had during Barbarossa.

Created: 7:49 AM 2/25/2005
Last updated: 7:49 AM 2/25/2005