Telegram, L. Beria to Cde. Stalin

to CDE. STALIN.

In accordance with your instructions I submit a draft decree of the USSR Council of People’s Commissars [SNK] for approval by which the People’s Commissariat of Medium Machine Building is obligated to produce all trucks with wooden cabs and bodies.

The shift to a wooden cab instead of an all-metal [one] provides the following savings in metal:

for the GAZ-51 truck – 100 kg.

for the ZIS-150 truck – 148 kg.

In the process the savings of metal is due to sheet metal, which is more in short supply.

In calculating the production of new trucks for the 1946 production program the savings in metal will amount to 15,000 tons for the entire year.

This draft decree was drawn up with the participation of Cde. Akopov and examined in the Operations Bureau of the SNK.

Nº 2/76 L. BERIA

31 October 1945

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[Attached]

Secret

the USSR Council of People’s Commissars

DECREe

of [date left blank] October 1945 Moscow, the Kremlin

Concerning the Production of Trucks with Wooden Cabs and Wooden Bodies

In order to conserve sheet metal during the production of trucks the USSR Council of People’s Commissars decrees:

1. Hold the People’s Commissariat of Medium Machine Building (Cde. Akopov) and the directors of the [following] automotive plants – the Moscow Automotive Plant of Cde. Likhachev, the Dnepropetrovsk [Automotive Plant] of Cde. Romanov, the Kutaisi [Automotive Plant] of Cde. Bukiya, the Gor’ky [Automotive Plant] of Cde. Loskutov, the Yaroslavl’ [Automotive Plant] of Cde. Gusev, and the Minsk [Automotive Plant] of Cde. Tolkunov – responsible for producing ZIS-150, GAZ-51, and YaAZ-200 trucks with wooden cabs, wooden bodies, and wooden running boards.

2. Hold the People’s Commissariat of Medium Machine Building (Cde. Akopov) responsible for submitting the necessary changes to the specifications approved by the 26 August 1945 GOKO [State Defense Committee] Decree Nº 9905s in accordance with point 1 of this decree.

CHAIRMAN OF The USSR Council of People’s Commissars

(I. STALIN)

CHIEF OF ADMINISTRATION OF the USSR Council of People’s Commissars

(YA. CHADAYEV)

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