The Ministry of Armament (russian: Министерство вооружения СССР) was a

government ministry Ministry or department (also less commonly used secretariat, office, or directorate) are designations used by first-level executive bodies in the machinery of governments that manage a specific sector of public administration." Энцикло� ...

in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. Before 1946 it was known as the People's Commissariat of Armament of the USSR (''Народный комиссариат вооружения СССР''). The Ministry of Armaments was subordinate to the USSR Council of Ministers and was located on Mayakovskogo Street in Moscow.

History

On January 11, 1939 the People's Commissariat of Defence Industry of the USSR (''Народный комиссариат оборонной промышленности'') was divided into several departments, among which was the People's Commissariat of Armament. It oversaw the work of 28 manufacturing plants and eight design offices. In 1939 it employed 204,458 workers. It played a leading role in the whole complex of arms which devotes major attention to the head of

Lavrenty Beria Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria (; rus, Лавре́нтий Па́влович Бе́рия, Lavréntiy Pávlovich Bériya, p=ˈbʲerʲiə; ka, ლავრენტი ბერია, tr, ; – 23 December 1953) was a Georgian Bolsheviks ...

. In 1946 the office was renamed the Ministry of Arms of the USSR (''Министерство вооружения СССР'' – МВ).

Responsibilities

The ministry was in charge of the production of weapons equipment, and an ammunition for the

USSR Armed Forces The Soviet Armed Forces, the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union and as the Red Army (, Вооружённые Силы Советского Союза), were the armed forces of the Russian SFSR (1917–1922), the Soviet Union (1922–1991), and th ...

; it had under its administration all plants factories and workshops manufacturing any armaments or ammunition, regardless whether this production represented the main or the secondary occupation of such plants. Few plants in the Soviet Union which were strictly military plants and since the tendency was to keep the production of war materials as secret as possible it was customary to assign some peacetime production line to any plants manufacturing armaments. All such plants, even though they were concerned with the production of peacetime goods, were put under the administration of the Ministry of Armaments. Each plant working for the Ministry of Armaments was assigned a number which was used in official correspondence, eg Kirov Plant 304; Plant 707.

List of ministers

''Source'': * Moses Rukhimovitsh (8.12.1936 - 16.10.1937) *

Mikhail Kaganovich Mikhail Moiseyevich Kaganovich (russian: Михаи́л Моисе́евич Кагано́вич; 16 October 1888 – 1 July 1941) was a Soviet politician. He was the older brother of Lazar Kaganovich. He was born in Kiev Governorate. Kaganovich ...

(16.10.1937 - 11.1.1939) *

Boris Vannikov Boris Lvovich Vannikov (russian: Бори́с Льво́вич Ва́нников; 26 August 1897 – 22 February 1962) was a Soviet government official and three-star general. Vannikov was People's Commissar for Defense Industry from December ...

(11.1.1939 - 9.6.1941) * Dmitri Ustinov (9.6.1941 - 6.3.1953)

References

Armament Defence industry of the Soviet Union {{USSR-stub