The increasingly complicated geopolitical situation, the need to increase the volume of weapons and their modernization is extremely relevant to the study of plots related to the restructuring of the defense industry during the Great Patriotic War. The purpose of the study is to investigate the problem of restructuring the People's Commissariat for Armaments in wartime conditions and evaluate the results of its activities on the basis of published and significant archival sources. The basis for the study is the theory of modernization. The methodological basis of the study was the principles of historicism, objectivity and reliability. The study of the problem was carried out on the basis of a wide range of previously published and previously unpublished documents, which are currently stored in the funds of the State Archive of Economics. The main directions of the development of weapons technology, the mechanisms for a sharp increase in the volume of output by enterprises, the factors that caused not only growth, but also the improvement of qualities, and the technological re-equipment of the industry were determined. It is proved that the People's Commissariat of Armaments, which carried out developments in accordance with the requirements that emerged during the hostilities, managed to create a number of new models of cannon, mortar, aviation and small arms, as well as opto-mechanical devices that technically updated the weapons of the Red Army, and, as a rule, not inferior, but for the most part superior in combat properties to foreign models. Issues related to the work of the People's Commissariat in 1945 to assess the production capacity of German industry, to determine the size of the reparation fund that could be used to compensate for the losses of the NKV caused by the war are considered. The conclusion is formulated about such a determining factor of the Victory as the state administration system, which managed to mobilize all the resources. It was centralization and strict discipline that could ultimately ensure the optimal manageability of state, military and political structures. People's Commissariats turned out to be among the most important links in this system.

The increasingly complicated geopolitical situation, the need to increase the volume of weapons and their modernization is extremely relevant to the study of plots related to the restructuring of the defense industry during the Great Patriotic War. The purpose of the study is to investigate the problem of restructuring the People's Commissariat for Armaments in wartime conditions and evaluate the results of its activities on the basis of published and significant archival sources. The basis for the study is the theory of modernization. The methodological basis of the study was the principles of historicism, objectivity and reliability. The study of the problem was carried out on the basis of a wide range of previously published and previously unpublished documents, which are currently stored in the funds of the State Archive of Economics. The main directions of the development of weapons technology, the mechanisms for a sharp increase in the volume of output by enterprises, the factors that caused not only growth, but also the improvement of qualities, and the technological re-equipment of the industry were determined. It is proved that the People's Commissariat of Armaments, which carried out developments in accordance with the requirements that emerged during the hostilities, managed to create a number of new models of cannon, mortar, aviation and small arms, as well as opto-mechanical devices that technically updated the weapons of the Red Army, and, as a rule, not inferior, but for the most part superior in combat properties to foreign models. Issues related to the work of the People's Commissariat in 1945 to assess the production capacity of German industry, to determine the size of the reparation fund that could be used to compensate for the losses of the NKV caused by the war are considered. The conclusion is formulated about such a determining factor of the Victory as the state administration system, which managed to mobilize all the resources. It was centralization and strict discipline that could ultimately ensure the optimal manageability of state, military and political structures. People's Commissariats turned out to be among the most important links in this system.