Page 129 - The Chief Culprit

90 y e Chief Culprit

For mass production, one needs not just an industrial base, but also a model of the
machine that is to be produced. In 1928, there was no industrial base, and there was also
no fitting tank model for production. In 1927, the Red Army enlisted into its armament
the MS-1 tank. e power of its engine speaks for everything else: 35 horsepower. e ar-
mor of the MS-1 tank was held together with rivets. Its maximum speed was 16 km/h. On
Red Square, for the parade, it went up to 19 km/h. is was our best tank. A small (by our
standards) series of these tanks was needed for designers to get their first experience in the
creation of a tank, and for troops to get the opportunity to use real tanks in training, although
they were extremely weak and flawed. is tank was also useful to the troops for small bor-
der disputes. When there is nothing better . . . But to make them by the tens of thousands?
Who needs them? Perhaps we could have bought a foreign model? ere was nothing to
buy. In 1928, nobody in the entire world could have offered a model worthy of being mass-
produced in a large series.
Arms production demands colossal expenditures. erefore, intelligent people design
weapons, produce them in small series, and have production and mobilization reserves of ev-
erything necessary to supply the mass production of the latest models in a period of threat.
In places where not very intelligent leaders rule, the peacetime army is enormous. e
country strains itself trying to clothe, feed, and arm such an army. is army demands a huge
amount of weapons during peacetime—but weapons age. e time comes when they have to
be replaced, and this is a true disaster for the country.Technology development is rapid, and
the gigantic arsenals have to constantly be renewed, which turns into a perpetual catastrophe.
e result is that we defeat ourselves.
Why did Tukhachevski need so many weapons in 1927? Hundreds of times more than
all potential aggressors put together. Who threatened us then? Who could attack us in 1928?
Romania? Finland? Estonia in alliance with Latvia, and egged on by Lithuania? Disarmed
Germany? Perhaps Japan? But Japan is an island nation, and to fight her, in order to avert the
landing and supplying of Japanese troops on the continent, we would have needed to build
a strong fleet in the Far East. But Tukhachevski was opposed to the idea of building a strong
fleet and spoke against it publicly.
And so, what were the 100,000 tanks for?
Tukhachevski’s defenders say that everything in his proposals is correct, only the num-
bers had to be clarified. But if numbers are clarified nothing remains of Tukhachevski’s pro-
posals at all. Aside from insane numbers, they contained nothing.
Meanwhile, Tukhachevski advanced more and more new projects.
“ e USSR’s industry had to reach by the year 1938 a production capacity that would
be capable during the course of one year to put out 53,000 guns, 90,000 tanks, and 60,000
airplanes. e views about the production possibilities were formed under the influence of M.
4
Tukhachevski.” is is quoted in a Soviet military textbook!
Inevitably, the question to be asked here is: what is the difference between Stalin and
Tukhachevski? Stalin also planned to produce 100,000 to 150,000 airplanes, of the model
Ivanov!
ere is a difference, and it is tremendous. Tukhachevski planned an incredibly huge
military production during peacetime. is would have bankrupted the country. ere was
nothing to do with and nowhere to store the produced arsenal. If war had not happened in
the near future, the mountains of arms would have quickly aged and rusted.