Contribution of the scientific and technical intelligentsia of the North Caucasus to the victory over fascism (1941–1945)

Abstract

The history of the Great Patriotic War is multifaceted, and the disclosure of the role of the scientific and technical intelligentsia of the North Caucasus during the war years allows us to give an objective picture of the processes taking place in the country at the regional level. The intelligentsia, that consists of various socio-professional groups, made a feasible contribution to the defeat of the enemy. The scientific and technical intelligentsia played a big role in ensuring the country's defense capability, helped supply the army with high-quality military equipment, weapons and ammunition, their developments increased labor productivity. The efforts of scientists and constructors ensured progress in the creation of military equipment, the continuous growth of the combat performance of Soviet weapons, which became the most important condition for the victory of the Soviet people in the war. An important condition that ensures a quick and comprehensive approach to solving actual problems in the implementation of scientific developments to meet the needs of the front was the creation of new management structures, the broad involvement of the country's leading scientists to work in the departments and committees of the State Defense Committee, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, in key People's commissariats. This made it possible to optimally direct scientific activity to solving the tasks that the war set for Soviet science. The creation and organization of serial production of advanced military equipment was carried out according to the «science-technology-production» system. The extreme difficulty and scale of the tasks that were solved by the state executive and administrative bodies during the Great Patriotic War was the timely training of scientific and technical personnel. On the instructions of the SDC and the CPC of the USSR, the Academy of Sciences of the USSR in 1943–1945 did a lot of work on the main directions of their further development. At that time, the main directions in the development of a number of areas in science and technology were determined – chemistry, rocket technology, nuclear energy. The war made adjustments to the training of intelligentsia personnel. Universities and technical schools of the region had to solve the most difficult task of training technical intelligentsia.