The role of scientific and engineering-technical intelligentsia of the South Urals in strengthening the country’s defense potential in the years of the Great Patriotic War

Significant territorial, material and human losses in the first months of the war determined the priority role of the Urals and other eastern regions in strengthening defense. Therefore, the scientific and engineering and technical intelligentsia of the Southern Urals played a big role in strengthening the countryэs defense potential during the Great Patriotic War. The author examines the activities of specialists of the leading industrial enterprises of the region during the war years; reveals the place of engineering and technical intelligentsia of the region in solving the problem of Soviet military equipment and other defense products quality. The author notes the contribution of concrete people to the solution of complex military-technical problems; shows creative search for technological and design teams. On the basis of archival documents, the historian analyzed the contribution of the scientific intelligentsia of the region to victory. The most difficult tasks in the conditions of wartime were also performed by the engineers of the construction organizations of the Southern Urals, who carried out the orders of the State Defense Committee to build new defense and industrial facilities of the country. The paper discusses leadership and participation of technical officers of the Southern Urals in the distribution, installation and commissioning of the equipment evacuated war factories. The researcher mentions schools and train skilled personnel for industry and transport, as well as participation of intellectuals in the patriotic movement to raise funds for the defense fund, warm clothes, gifts and food packages for the Red Army.