Post by robertnorth on Nov 11, 2018 17:44:13 GMT
More than one year ago I started writing down all the modifications the USSR could have done as time has gone by I have added to it.
All these are possibilities that could have been done, and are each to be viewed separately. You could do them ALL sure, but each one is to be viewed by itself, there is no compulsion to do them all.
The start year is anywhere from 1930-1936, the earlier one starts the more changes one can do obviously.
Here are my suggestions of different possibilities.
Each line is to be read separately and these thoughts are to be taken as separate thoughts, each idea is to be taken by itself unless clearly connected.
Read each suggestion / tweak separately and evaluate it by its own merits.
Table of contents
The number one thing
Politics and stuff
Training during wartime
Training during peacetime
Small Arms
Ground Vehicles
Air Power
Miscellaneous
Uniforms, foot wear and other noncombat gear
Body Armor
Factories and infrastructure
Two cities
Economy
Spain
China
Latin America
The West
France
Extra
The number ONE thing
If only one major change can be made then that is to make a thorough plan for capturing the Romanian oilfields, and that operation is to start one week after Germany invades France.
For anyone who does not know about the importance of Romanian oil, here are Hitlers own words, recorded by the Finns when Hitler went to Finland in 1942:
“I always feared - that Russia suddenly would attack Romania in the late fall - and occupy the petroleum wells, and we would have not been ready in the late fall of 1940. If Russia indeed had taken Romanian petroleum wells, than Germany would have been lost. It would have required - just 60 Russian divisions to handle that matter.
In Romania we had of course - at that time - no major units. The Romanian government had turned to us only recently - and what we did have there was laughable. They only had to occupy the petroleum wells. Of course, with our weapons I could not start a, war in September or October. That was out of the question. Naturally, the transfer to the east wasn't that far advanced yet. Of course, the units first had to reconsolidate in the west. First the armaments had to be taken care of because we too had - yes, we also had losses in our campaign in the west. It would have been impossible to attack - before the spring of 19, 41. And if the Russians at that time - in the fall of 1940 - had occupied Romania - taken the petroleum wells, then we would have been, helpless in 1941.
Another Voice In Background: Without petroleum...
Hitler: (Interrupting) We had huge German production: however, the demands of the air force, our Panzer divisions - they are really huge. It is level of consumption that surpasses the imagination. And without the addition of four to five million tons of Romanian petroleum, we could not have fought the war - and would have had to let it be - and that was my big worry. ”
These things should also be done when one invades Romania:
Stop all exports to Germany when you invade Romania.
After the invasion is complete contact Germany and say that you can restart the exports but first Germany has to pay for what has already been delivered from the USSR, Germany was lagging in payment.
If the Germans pay what they owe, say that the Germans must pay in advance for the next set of exports. If the Germans pay, keep the money and send nothing. Thereby increasing the strain on the German economy.
The seizing of the Romanian oil wells should create an economic collapse in Germany, the cancellation of the grain exports from the USSR should create huge food shortages.
And by being paid in advance by the Germans for things that will not be supplied, that will crate even more pressure on an already damaged economy.
Politics and stuff
Now if more than one change can be made here are some of the changes I would make.
Do not invade Finland but instead plan and prepare an invasion for Romania and it is to start one week after the Germans have invaded France and if things stay as the original timeline then activate the plan.
Fire Trofim Lysenko and possibly send him to the Gulag. He really wrecked Soviet agriculture with his ”theories”.
Everything is about Romania and seizing the oil fields when the Germans are in France. The goal is to by Jan first 1940 have at least 4 million soldiers in the military and to deploy at least 1 million for the invasion of Romania to seize the oil fields. If the logistics can support more, then deploy more, if not then deploy as many as the logistics can support. Only deploy what the logistics can support maybe even just 75% to be on the safe side.
No purges of course, they created so many problems, not only was the military purged but many in the different science communities and others areas of expertise were purged as well. The purging in the military created an atmosphere of fear where even the smallest order would first be sent to Moscow to have it confirmed because of fear, and by the time an answer had been received the situation on the front had changed so much that the orders were often completely useless and counterproductive, units attacking when almost completely surrounded resulting in them being wiped.
Sign the non-aggression pact yes, but no transfer of resources, there have been many calculations on this, without Soviet resources and what the Soviets bought and re-sold to the Germans, Germany would have run out of grain and rubber by June 1941 and Oil and Manganese by October/Nov 1941. Many other resources would have been in far smaller quantities making it much much harder to wage war against the USSR. And again Romania is very important, without Romanian and Soviet oil it is highly likely that the whole German civilian economy will collapses. By removing Romanian and Soviet oil it would be very hard for the Germans to provide fuel for the military.
In the science and engineering parts a leading rocket developer was purged (Sergei Korolev) and one of the initial developers of what would become the T-34 was executed (Nikolai Federovich Tsyganov ). With no purges those things would be more advanced. For example, the BT-SV would have been built and possibly an improved version of that.
Allow all specialists in their field to develop what they want. So for example give air plane designers complete freedom in building what they want, give the military air command complete freedom in developing air plane tactics, this would go for all areas of expertise, let the experts develop what they want, do not have politicians tell them what to do, except of course these things I am going to mention.
Let specialist in all branches research and develop things as they see fit, there is no need to meet any political requirement, with the exception of following the law, obviously.
Stalin had given some type of order that required that air planes could not be modified after the initial version, or something like that, that order is the be counter manded or never issued depending on date.
Allow free debate within all sciences.
Massive overhaul of the agricultural science, free debate.
Allow all soldiers who want to AND who get a passing grade when they do their conscription period to sign a contract where they stay on for 2-5 years at a time, and can renew that contract every 2-5 years. The goal, again, is to have 4 million by Jan first 1940.
Allow any ”group” to serve in the military such as Cossacks which were allowed in April 1936. The only ”group” that is not allowed to join the military would be convicted criminals who are actively in prison, with the possibility of having them joining penal battalions if such are needed in a future war. To have former convicts in special units made up of former convicts, if one allows former convicts in. However with the invasion of Romania there is a huge chance that there would be no need for penal battalions.
Increase the salary for soldiers, do so gradually and realistically without massively overpaying them. Once the number of 4 million soldiers who have it as their job has been reached then the salaries for each rank and specialty can ”freeze” and only adjusted up for inflation if needed. The 4 million is to be across all branches, land, sea, air, etc so a total of 4 million across all branches by Jan 1st 1940. My changes to the housing situation and consumer goods situation will make the pay of a soldier very attractive indeed.
Do not underestimate the amount of ammunition needed for training, I do not know specifically about the USSR but all other countries vastly underestimated the amount of ammo needed to train a soldier.
I am unsure when the concept of Maskirovka first occurred, perhaps it has always been there to some degree, however it is important to encourage its development and increase the research into this subject.
Modify the infantry squad so that it is built up around the light machinegun once a belt felt light machine gun has been developed and available in reasonable numbers.
Allow women to serve in any branch of the military and have them serve in 100% female units, with the possible exception of officers and technical specialists.
Actively encourage women to join the military and all civilian jobs, punish, remove or work around any discrimination or prevention from them joining the military or the civilian job market. By doing this half the population becomes available and it will also increase the number of officers available thereby allowing for a larger expansion of the military, it will also increase the civilian economic output.
Women should be allowed to join the whole ”workforce” without any extra demands put on the women. Women should neve be required ”to also do A, B or C”. Women should only be required to do ”their job”, just as any other employee.
Re-introduction of ranks in the military and that if a superior gives an order that order must be followed, no debating orders and then voting if to follow or not.
Remove the political officer and instead have something like a ”morale” officer” that looks after the morale of the soldiers, like for example in modern days a union representative, or perhaps in older days an army chaplain. An officer that fills that requirement.
No political commissars. Let professionals be professionals without having to run it through a political commissar to make sure the orders are politically correct. Have the commissars retrain as ”normal” officers.
Try to have some type of ear protection during training for as many soldiers as possible, mass production of this type of ear protection is important.
It must be clear that if you place someone in a position that they have no training in, there is great chance of failure and basically a waste of resources, for example using anti air crew and placing them as artillery units. This is to be avoided.
If one cuts the grain exports to Germany then Germany faces huge food problems forcing Germany to take more food from the occupied countries which leads to more deaths there, less factory output and more resistance. There wasn’t enough manpower in Germany to work the fields and all the countries of Europe at that time were barely managing their food production.
If everything is as in the original timeline then during operation Barbarossa, the Soviets should not make any large counter attacks and instead have purely a defensive strategy, only attacking when it is tactically wise to do so and victory for that specific attack is almost guaranteed. Only send fully equipped and trained units, do that until the army is 10 million strong with fully trained units, then and only then begin planning for attacks. However, obviously, the invasion of Romania changes all this.
10 Years after Germany has collapsed the USSR should have elections on the municipality stage, 5 years after that on the municipality and regional level, 5 years after that on the municipality, regional and national level. Allow a multiparty system where a party needs 5% to get into the parliament. Elections are to be held every 5 years.
Training during wartime.
All the items listed in training during peace time should be included here with the addition of these points.
All new recruits during war time must receive at least 1 year of training.
As long as the whole military has at least 5 million soldiers, this period can be doubled.
If it has been more than 3 months and up to 2 years since a person did their conscription duty or active military service, have them do a special 3 months re-training course at a minimum, as long as the military has at least 5 million soldiers, this period can be doubled.
If it has been more than 2 years and up to 5 years since a soldier did their conscription training or active military service, have the soldier do a special 6 months re-training course, as long as the military has at least 5 million soldiers, this period can be doubled.
If it has been more than 5 years since a soldier did their conscription duty or active military service, then the soldier must do a 1 year training program, as long as the military has at least 5 million soldiers, this period can be doubled.
Pilots can practice with tracers but when going into action the tracers should not be used because the enemy then knows from what direction you are shooting from. This was a lesson from the actual war.
No one under 21 may be sent into battle. So if someone joins the military on the day they turn 18, they will at least at a minimum have 3 years of training.
Training during peacetime
All soldiers must at least have one year of training and be trained in the area of the weapon system they are using, the exception are officers and pilots who receive at least two years of training.
If you are conscripted or if you volunteer it does not matter, you are to be trained for at least one year before being deployed. A tanker for example would receive three months basic training, like all soldiers in all branches do, then 9 months in tank training and of those 9 months at least 6 months has to be on the family of tank the soldier is to be assigned to. Specialist and professionals are to determine which type of weapon/s, in this case tank, that one can use after receiving training.
All soldiers when being deployed must be fully equipped before being sent off to the front.
No one under 21 may be sent into battle. So if someone joins the military on the day they turn 18, they will at least at a minimum have 3 years of training.
During peace time normal soldiers receive at least 2 years of training, weapon maintenance and weapon care of their weapons should be taught thoroughly.
Some type of certification system where a solider is certified to use a weapon. Those who provide the certificate are to be a third party who come in and test the soldier. This is to be decreased if and when war breaks out. This certification is thus mostly to be used during peace time, and for weapons that are ”rare” for example the AVS36 or the new assault rifle, until such a time that these weapons become plentiful. Basically a way to make sure that ”complicated” weapons go to people who can handle these weapons.
Tank crews are to be trained to maintain their tank guns and shells very well. To polish the shells and clean the gun often to make sure it is in good condition, so even during lulls in battle the crew is working. This cleaning is of course to be done logically and at the crews own discretion, they are not for example required to dismantle the whole thing during the middle of a battle and there during the battle clean and grease ever single screw. So it is up to the crews to determine how much cleaning is to be done, but the manuals are to explain and stress the importance of maintaining the vehicles and the gun in good condition and doing as much as is possible in the given situation.
All Soviet troops should know how to cross-country ski, training and production of skis should be increased.
During winter time and possibly any season the destruction or capture of the enemies field kitchens should be sought if possible, during mild weather such things will lower morale and reduce combat effectiveness of the enemy, during harsh winter weather the removal of the field kitchens will lead to many enemy soldiers preforming much much worse and/or dying.
Production
Small Arms
The TT-33 is to be remade and have a thumb safety added, and have a double stack / double feed clip added with a ”neck”, so the last part is a single fed, if that is easier to make and use, otherwise no neck. The US Browning P-35, 13 round pistol is to be examined and Tokarev has to the first of June 1937 to make this new Pistol which must have at least 12 rounds, so the possibility of one less than the P-35 but 4 more than the TT-33, plus the safety, if he fails to develop a new pistol by June first 1937 the P-35 is to be converted into using the standard Soviet pistol round and this Soviet P-35 is to be tested until Jan first 1938, which ever of the 2 pistols that perform the best is to be mass produced. Until this new pistol has been tested and is ready for mass production, mass production of the TT-33 is to be increased many times over and new factories built to the east of the Urals. As each factory opens up an old factory is to be moved to the east of the Urals, this is to continue until all factories have been moved, this will therefore double the amount of total factories. At these factories new methods of management is to be tried, in some of the factories people can be fired. In some factories people can be fired and they get paid more the more they produce that passes the quality control, however there is still a base pay, and people get paid for each thing they produce, all things must pass quality control. And in some factories, the old system is to be kept. These different type of management systems is then to be evaluated and see which one gives the most amount of product.
Once production of this new pistol is up an running it will first go to soldiers who are expected to see combat with small arms, once all those soldiers have been equipped the circle will expand, the pistol is to be issued to units that need a pistol but might not use it, such as pilots, tankers, and police officers. So the new pistol gets issued to infantry soldiers first and then as more are made the more the circle expands.
Order research and development into a cartridge between the size of a rifle bullet and a pistol bullet, find what ever size is the best that allows automatic fire with a realistic chance to hit a man-sized target 300 meters away. Once the new bullet is designed or what ever seems to be the ”best” bullet by Jan 1 st 1937 have that bullet be used for a new weapons design of an handheld up to 4.5 kilos automatic weapon. Have the competition to be held June 1st 1937, what ever rifle wins, start mass producing that, and continue on improvement of it. At the same time allow other developers to develop their own designs and on June 1st 1938 hold another competition what ever rifle wins, starts mass producing that, so there is a risk of 2 different assault rifles being standard for some time.
Have production of the AVS36 increased, however only give it to troops that have received at least 2 years of training and shown a mechanical aptitude and received a special training course, possible 6 months weapons maintenance and weapons care course. The soldiers must be trained to handle that specific weapon and receive some type of certificate, given by a third party, someone who is from another area and comes in only to do the ”test/s”.
Have Tokarev continue development of his rifle, since in the original timeline he comes up with a good gas system.
The existing DP-28 is to be upgraded; have the bi-pod reevaluated and strengthen, add a pistol grip and change the location of the spring so that it doesn’t warp when the barrel gets hot.
Order that a new light machinegun is to be created and it is to be belt fed, the designers can of course use the current DP-28 and change to a belt feed system or create something new. IF by June 1 1937 this has not be done, order that the newest version of the American 1919 be converted to the standard Soviet cartridge and that the German MG34 also be converted to the Soviet standard cartridge, have the machineguns continuously tested, and if by first of Jan 1938 the new Soviet machinegun is not ready, use which ever of the 1919 or MG34 that performed the best and mass produce that variant, totally forget about patents.
Production of the DP-28 is to be increased and new factories to be built to the east of the Urals, as each factory opens up an old factory is to be moved to the east of the Urals, this is to continue until all factories have been moved, this will therefore double the amount of total factories. The production of the old DP-28 is to continue until full production of the new light machine gun is up and running and the new management systems is to be tried there as well as the old.
Try to have by 1940 at least a reserve of 3 million primary ”new” small arms such as SMGs, Assault rifles, Semi Automatic rifles, etc. Have the vast majority of the reserve stored away from the border, and relatively close to the training grounds.
Continue production of the PPD34, add a muzzle compensator, and massively ramp up production. Few people know this but the USSR only made about 4,000 SMGs before the Winter War including the improved version 34/38, after that war about 80,000 SMGs were made before the German invasion.
Order the research and development of improving the PPD34 and possibly making a new SMG.
Order research and development into stamping steel. Once that is developed use that technique to design and build more small arms. The goal is that by 1940 to have at least 1 million sub machine guns, preferably many more and maybe even 100,000 assault rifles.
Individual ego is to be forgotten when it comes to production of any item, copying both foreign and domestic things is to be encouraged and specific firms are to be created that only work on copying foreign things. All that matters is to have the best product for the given situation. The USSR almost always gets branded for copying someone else’s equipment even if the paint is the only thing that is somewhat similar, the USSR should copy anything and everything that could be used.
As many as possible of foreign designs are to be available to as many as possible designers so that they can look and examine it. Domestic products are to have the same rules as they did in the original time line.
Here are some examples of foreign small arms to make available, again the goal is as many as possible different models. The Czechoslovakian ZH29 and its follow up models ZH 32, ZH 37, the Mexican Mondragon 1908. The Czechoslovakian ZB-26 light machine gun and its later variants, the French Chatellerault Model 24/29, the British Bren, the American BAR and the Danish Madsen are available to all developers, these are magazine fed light machine guns, the goal is of course to have belt machine guns, but many things can be learned from these, and as stated in the first paragraph as many as possible foreign designs should be made available to all the developers.
The production goal of small arms is that each infantry soldier should have 1 main weapon plus a side arm, and that there be a reserve of at least 1 million small arms by Dec 31st 1939.
Change the 7,62x54 rimmed cartridge to a rimless cartridge.
Ground Vehicles
All tanks are to use diesel engines and look into the possibility of having all trucks use diesel as well. Diesel is less flammable than gasoline and diesel can be stored longer than gasoline. Diesel engines handle cold weather better than gasoline engines.
All new tanks must be able to handle a burning flammable liquid being thrown onto the tank.
Tanks should have a ”basket” that rotates with the gun so that the crew in the turret always have the controls in front of them, unless a better design is invented.
Each person in the tank should only have to do ”his” job, so a tank commander should only have to command not for example also be the loader, an exception can be made if radio technology advances so that the commander also becomes the radio operator as was done in later vehicles.
All tanks must have a 2 way radio receiver/transmitter and no tank without a working radio may be sent into battle. Those tanks can however be used for training but not for combat.
The tank commander should have a commanders cupola.
The tank gunner should only have to fire the gun and not reload it himself.
Crew ”comfort” is to be looked at so that the crew can stay ”fresh” for longer. So look at better suspensions for the vehicles and the crew ”chairs” so that going over bumpy terrain does not affect the crew as much. Even consider making the tank a bit taller and wider, one needs to look at the whole picture not only making the smaller tank that is harder to hit which increases the tanks survivability, but also how one can keep the crew fresh for longer periods of time which would increase survivability as well. Look into research and development of shock absorbers.
Tank sights are to use ”binoculars” or something else that uses 2 eyes, the sight itself may be a long tube however at the end where the operator looks through should have binoculars so that the operator uses 2 eyes, it has been shown that this increases both accuracy and speed because when only looking with 1 eye, less of the brain is being used then when looking with both eyes. Of course if the sights are wide enough for a person to look throw them with both eyes, there is no need to add binos.
Medium tanks should have a minimum of 50kmph speed and heavies a minimum of 25. These are guidelines and not strict requirements.
Medium tanks can weigh up to 45 metric tonnes and heavies can weigh up to 70 metric tonnes. These are guidelines and not strict requirements and mediums CAN weigh 45 metric tonnes, they do not HAVE to.
The medium tank program can start with the 76.2mm Model 27/32 or KT-28 or what ever 76.2mm gun works best, the barrel is to be made longer to maybe 5-6 meters if this increases penetration and/or accuracy and/or range. In the original timeline the T-34 76 F-34 version had a barrel length of 3.162 meters
This however does not mean that the field gun version of the 76.2mm is not be tried and modified, what ever version that works best is to be used for each specific branch, all the branches do not need to have the exact same type of gun. And maybe the development of the ZIS-3 will happen here in this timeline as well.
All tanks should have some degree of sloped armor.
As soon as possible request a medium tank be designed with a 3 man turret with a commanders cupola, sloped armor and the specifications above, a gun that is at least 76.2 millimeters and the tank should have a top speed of 50km/h under ideal conditions on a paved road . This new tank is to be built in modest numbers 10-20 as soon as possible and be tested thoroughly. As of Jan 1st 1938 what ever functioning design that is ready, build 1000 tanks of that design, they are to be sent to the far east for training and deployment against the Japanese. As each tank is completed it is to be transported, maybe in batches of 10-20, the transport numbers are to be decided by the specialists in this field themselves.
Up until Jan 1st 1939 these tanks are to be driven under their own power from the factories to the Far East to further help the development of the model. Along the way the tanks are to be maintained and repaired as is required so that as many as possible reach the final destination. This will also give the soldiers experience in handling and maintaining the vehicles. This can be part of the final exam of the crews for the vehicles. The crews will be transported from the training schools to the factories, and then will have to drive the vehicles to the new training center. By Jan 1st 1939 this is to end in the far East and Jan 1st 1940 in the rest of the country, and the vehicles are to be moved by train or ship. The vehicles can be driven to the train stations and from the train stations to the deployment centers. But they are not to drive under their own steam the whole way from the factories to the deployment centers.
A specific way which they should drive should be set up so that they can resupply and repair their vehicles when needed. A ”maintenance center” is to be set up at what ever distance it is expected for the vehicle to be able to make in 8-10 hours however the people in charge of the project have the final say, if possible use existing military training areas or military schools. Each vehicle is also to carry a towed trailer that contains spare parts, fuel, food, water, a tent for the crew and a long range radio incase the crew gets stuck, and the tanks radio does not work, so that they can contact the nearest maintenance center, this is even to be included if the vehicle itself already has a radio. As they reach each pit stop they can resupply as needed. All is to be recorded how much they use, what breaks how long it lasts and all the information is to be provided to the designers and engineers of the vehicle.
Testing and development of new tanks designs is to continue and on Jan 1st 1939 what ever functioning design that is ready up to 5000 tanks of that design is to be built, and be sent to tank training schools around the country, not just the far east, so that the students are training and educated on this design. Each tank as it is completed and passed factory trials is to be sent or maybe in batches of small numbers 10-20 but not however have them waiting until all are completed. These tanks are the ones that will be in the invasion of Romania.
Information from the training and driving is to be collected and engineers and designers are to go over some of the tanks to see what improvements can be made, these improvements are to be gradually installed. For example if some problems with the engines are discovered then that is to be addressed. Or if there are problems with the transmission or any other part of the tank, those problems are to be addressed.
More research is to go into making the communication system between crew members better, and to avoid unclear or static sounds in the headphones or microphones.
Move all factories that produce the T-26 to the east of the Urals, and have them only build spare parts, no more new T-26s are to be built, focus is instead to be on the new light, medium and heavy programs.
Request the development of an armored personnel carrier, it should preferably at least have some tracked parts. Maybe even using the T-26 production lines to build these apcs.
Artillery tractor production is to be increased and the new management system is to be tested there. The ”Komitern” artillery tractor is to be increased in production and when the STZ5 becomes ready that is also to be greatly increased in production. A goal should be to have 10,000 artillery tractors by Jan 1st 1939 and have 5,000 of those in the far east.
All field artillery are to be designed with mobility in mind so they should have wheels on them, which can handle cross country performance and not get easily stuck in mud. For example having wider wheels which have a greater distribution of weight instead of the standard ”narrow” wheels that might work great on the concrete floor of a factory but not as well outside in nature.
The development of an apc is to start and production of the first functioning version is to commence no later than Jan 1st 1938. Up to 3,000 of these apcs are to be built and sent to the far east. As each tank is completed it is to be transported, maybe in batches of 10-20 or possibly more. Up until Jan 1st 1939 these are to be driven under their own power from the factories to the Far East to further help the development of the model. A long the way they are to be maintained and repaired as is required so that as many as possible reach the final destination. This will also give the soldiers experience in handling and maintaining the vehicles. By Jan 1st 1939 this is to end and the vehicles are to be moved by train or ship. The vehicles can be driven to the train stations and from the train stations to the deployment centers. But they are not to drive under their own steam the whole way from the factories to the deployment centers. This can be part of the final exam of the crews for the vehicles. The crews will be transported from the training schools to the factories, and then will have to drive the vehicles to the training center.
A specific way which they should drive should be set up so that they can resupply and repair their vehicles when needed. A maintenance center” is to be set up at what ever distance it is expected for the vehicle to be able to make in 8-10 hours however the people in charge of the project have the final say, if possible use existing military training areas or military schools. Each vehicles is also to carry a towed trailer that contains spare parts, fuel, food, water, a tent for the crew and a long range radio incase the crew gets stuck so that they can contact the nearest maintenance center, this is even to be included if the vehicle itself already has a radio. As they reach each pit stop they can resupply as needed. All is to be recorded how much they use, what breaks how long it lasts and all the information is to be provided to the designers of the vehicle.
Development and modifications are to be carried out continuously and on Jan 1st 1939 a new model is to be made and up to 20,000 of these are to be made by Jan 1st 1940. As each vehicle is completed it is to be transported, maybe in batches of 10-20 or possibly more.
Truck production is to be increase, and research and development is to be increased. In the original timeline the red army ”only” had 270,000 trucks in June 1941. The Germans had over 600,000 assigned to the attack.
If possible then the Ussr should have at least 500,000 trucks assigned to all the armed forces by Jan 1st 1940 and in addition have at least another 500,000 in the civilian sector.
All of this ”new” equipment is first to be sent to the far east to be tested when Japan launches its skirmishes.
Offer soldiers greater pay to be stationed in the far east, more about the changes to the economy in a later section.
Since Nikolai Federovich Tsyganov wont be arrested, there is a greater chance of better tank development, especially having the BT-SV2 ready for the invasion of Romania.
As soon as possible make try to make artillery more mobile with at least 4 wheels/ ”tires”, preferably 8 doubling with 2 in each place, so that they can be moved from A to B relatively easily. The number/s are however to be determined by the professionals in the field themselves. Or possibly for some models an undercarriage like the 203mm howitzers had.
Try to develop more heavy artillery such as 152.4mm or even 155mm, these sizes proved very useful through the whole war and were very effective in both anti infantry and anti tank roles.
If possible develop a tank that can handle a 152.4mm or even a 155mm gun. The tank can look however it will look, the important thing is that the gun can be fired and the tank can move across the country if driven by a skilled crew.
Maybe even if possible somehow with a massive abundance of resources and everything else is going really well, look into the design of a tank using a 203mm howitzer gun.
The development of SPGs is to be looked at, especially of a high calibres such as 100mm or higher because those will be useful even if the vehicle design is old. It also gives a good base for research development and understanding of heavy vehicles such as tanks.
Air power
Since there are no purges the guys who had very advanced rocket designs and knowledge wont be purged, have them continue their work and also look into jet engines.
Allow the designers and engineers more freedom in their designs so that they can test and retest them, do not require a perfect airplane from the start.
Regarding the T-34, I believe that even if only a moderate modification is made, where the ”seats” are improved to provide greater comfort so that the individual does not get tired as fast as a standard seat would do, that such a relatively small change would be economically worth it. The same goes with radios. The requirement that all tanks have a radio that can transmit and receive is worth the cost in both time and resources because I believe the effectiveness of the tanks would be greater to offset any slowdown of production. And the same goes with increased training. The increased training time would be economically wiser than sending in crews with only 72 hours of class room experience.
More focus on the air force, more training and research and development into better organization. Look at what other countries are doing, and copy/modify what is good.
The Navy
The naval development should look in submarines and specifically submarines that offer good crew quarters, and the inclusion of showers if at all possible.
Less surface ships, more submarines.
Miscellaneous
It is important to research and develop good winter gear, the USSR is to look at both domestic and foreign expertise and establish good winter gear. For example look at what the Finns are using. Since there would be no winter war with Finland those lessons would not be learnt so they need to be implemented by other means. For example developing and producing winter tents that can have up to 20 people in them and that for each tent there should be wood burning stove heating the tent.
The research and development of good winter foot wear is also important. Here one should look both domestically and in foreign expertise.
In the original timeline even after the winter war, during the winter of 1941-42 there were still Soviet soldiers at the front who had their summer uniforms. It is important to research and develop the military logistical system so that it can handle the demands of war.
Research and development of using and creating charcoal for burning, charcoal creates little smoke when burning and was used during ww2 for specifically that reason.
During ww2 technology will not advance to such a point where during the winter there is a better alternative for local transport than the native small soviet ponies, therefore an increase in the breeding, training and management of these ponies is to be made.
Radios and radio related technologies are to researched and developed for all the military branches, also using codes and encoding and decoding messages.
What few people know today is that before the winter war the red army during peace time would nap for about 1 hour during the day. This might seem strange or even ludicrous to an amateur historian or random person. However this is exactly what the human body needs and doing so during peace time will increase the effectiveness of any type of training. So napping during peace time training is to continue, however 6 months before a soldier is to be sent off to actually fight the nap time is to be removed, this will have the effect of decreasing the rate of learning the soldier has, however it is important to get the body used to this new ”clock” of being awake continuously during the day.
During the winter war it was noted that engineers and their roles need to be great increased and that the should be engineers who are operations officers and assist the combined arms commander in providing adequate engineering support to the troops in fighting fortified areas and in the creation of such areas. So this is to be implemented.
Having good photo reconnaissance is also important and to have photo interpreters that can interpret the photos, researching and developing these areas is important.
Uniforms, foot wear and other noncombat gear
Research and development and lots of testing is to go into providing good quality uniforms and footwear that functions and is relatively easy to wear and use. The USSR is to look both back in history and to foreign sources and see what works best.
Body armor
If possible increase research and development of body armor. The USSR did during the original timeline issue several different types of body armor which preformed well, such as the SN38, SN39, SN40A, SN-42 and SN-46. However long before that there is a story, that may or may not be true that in 1905 a Russian inventor, Lieutenant-Colonel Chemerzin, had developed several types of body armor that were very good but also very expensive. If the other parts of the ”new” development go according to plan then it should be looked into trying to supply as many as possible infantry soldiers with body armor for the invasion of Romania.
Factories and infrastructure
All industry in Kharkov is to be moved to Nizhniy Tagil and all industry planned for Kharkov is to be moved to Nizhniy Tagil.
Move the capital to Yekaterinburg which was then known as Sverdlovsk.
The understanding of spare parts is to be researched and developed. So that any military equipment production has maybe around 25-33% dedicated to spare parts or what ever % that is decided by professionals in each area as is needed.
Where these new management systems are tried out it will not be written in your ”employment book” that you got fired because of reason A B or C, it will simply say that they found someone better or simply ”let go”.
The new management jobs would also pay better and anyone could apply who had the right qualifications and was 18 or older for it and each 6 months or so there would be ”exams” where people apply for that job and the workers them selves also have to do the exams, and the job would be given based upon the result of the score. The people who do the exams are themselves a third party preferably from another city who come in specifically to do the exams.
Allow people to own their own stuff and an increase the amount of consumer goods. People can own furniture, clothes, vehicles, etc but not property which can only be rented at first and maybe over time people can own houses, first trying as a small project then see how things move on.
A massive increase in the building of apartments and all new apartment are to have kitchens, bathrooms and at least one closet.
Have most of these new housing be built east of the Ural Mountains, to make sure that if war breaks out, the houses won't easily be captured or destroyed.
Have all homes be charged rent above cost with a profit of something like 10-20% for the state. Include full repair and maintenance into that cost, and actually provide full repair and maintenance, and those who maintain the buildings are also to be run under this new management system. First on a small scale and then increased over time. This however is not to be used as some sort of racket, by keeping cost up so that profits will go up, everything is to be run as efficiently as possible.
2 Cities
A creation of a special city for ”foreigners” somewhere on the eastern / south eastern part of the black sea coast, possibly between what is now Sochi and the Georgian border, and where ever this city is built that section is to be attached to the Russian administrative region not the Georgian one, so that no one thinks Stalin is favoring Georgia. In this city one would bring in willing foreigners for example all those communists from around the world who want to come to the USSR instead of what Stalin did when he put some of them in Gulags, in addition bring in those who want to work from the regions that the USSR annexes, Baltics etc. It is 100% volunteer to go there, but foreigners from countries outside of what was the Russian Empire can not go anywhere else and those from countries that were part of the Russian empire and then annexed by the USSR will simply have to stay where they live if they do not wish to go to the black sea city.
This black sea city is a way for all those who are unemployed in the Baltics and the part of Poland that the USSR took back to have a job.
The city is to be built on the south eastern coast of the black sea because the weather and climate is hospitable, and people will have a more positive view of things when the weather and climate is good and be able to tolerate more hardship when the climate is hospitable.
Before anyone can move to the city they must sign a contract that clearly says that this will be hard work and it will not be easy, and they are to be informed about this several times. No one is to sugar coat anything, this all all to avoid anyone going there and hoping to slack off, or wishing to work inside a fully communist system, what ever might be in that persons mind what a full communist work system is. The jobs themselves will be totally normal jobs, the line about hard work is so that everyone who goes there, when and if something ”bad” happens or things are not what they imagined someone else will always tell them; “well they did say it would be hard work”. The same reason today all games are in beta forever so that someone always says; “well the game is in beta”, when there is a bug or other problem.
In this city people are allowed to own their own stuff, just as new reforms across the USSR would allow that, people come to the city to work and make money.
The first buildings and homes might be built with penal labor, if that is the case, then all of those people are to be removed long before any of the ”foreigners” arrive
In this black sea city all large and medium business are to be owned and operated by the state, people come to the city to work, mostly on a massive construction program, all goods and services are to be sold at above cost with a nice profit of at least 10-20% for the state, the laws of demand and supply are to dictate the cost. Micro business may be owned by individuals, one owner who is also the worker, and with time; up to possible a total of 50 employees. In all jobs, in all sections it would be possible to be fired and, when applicable, to have the salary partly determined by how much you produce, working with an incentive wage so to say.
At least one truck factory is also to be built in the city.
At least one motorcycle factory is to be built there.
And possibly one car factory if the GAZ61 is developed or something similar to it.
The city itself is to be built on uncultivated land as to not decrease any amount of worked farmland. If possible, the city is to be placed near a river as well, but that is not a must.
Not only apartment buildings will be built but also normal houses for families, all are to be rented out, all at 10-20% above cost including maintenance, maybe not for the normal houses.
A city that already exists somewhere to the east of the Urals is also to have this same system as the black sea city with the exception that there will be no foreigners and there are to be military factories in that city as well.
During peace time no military equipment is to be built in the ”foreign” city and no ”modern firearms” are allowed into the city, such as the new pistol, a metal stamped SMG, the new assault rifle or the AVS36, only the TT-33/newer version and the PPD34/newer version of it, are to be used by the police. Of course, if war breaks out then all types of weapons can be moved anywhere.
As the new management system grows, people who get fired from all type of jobs and can not hold on to a job, for them and anyone they can always join the military.
If you constantly are slacking off or unable to do your non military jobs for a long enough time, then you are sent to the military, so a type of conscription, if even that fails and the person simply can not handle the military then the last resort would be hard menial labor such as coal digging or other type of extractions, these people are not to be placed together with prisoners and not be treated as prisoners, it is simply they can not / are not able to perform any other type of job. Hard labor being for people who can preform it psychically, not for example invalids.
Remove almost all restrictions from the arts, except of course what is illegal today. In addition, at first, for maybe 10 years no criticism of the state in the arts.
Remove all restrictions on what type of music people can make and play. In addition, at first, for maybe 10 years no criticism of the state in the lyrics if the music even has that.
The biggest change would be moving away from the Stalinism and towards a system where the state owns all large corporations and many medium ones, but where small and some medium corporations are privately owned. Stalin could say we have tried this version of Communism towards reaching full socialism, and it has given some mixed results, lets try another version towards reaching full socialism.
Do not allow gambling or private loans for consumption. Private loans for starting a business may be allowed given the right circumstance.
Fashion is to be allowed and people are able to design what ever clothes they want. In addition to that the state would import several different clothing types from around the world and resell them to its citizens at a profit of 10-20%.
Production of bicycles, ”mopeds” and motorcycles is to be increased. So that people can buy these vehicles and start tinkering. The creation of clubs, enthusiast who are interested in their vehicles and want to talk with other enthusiast, is to be encouraged.
People are to be allowed to buy and own furniture.
With the, now, increased supply of consumer goods, clothes, art, furniture and bikes/ motorbikes, I believe that this in turn will increase overall productivity because now people will have some type of item/s they can get and that they want with the money that they earn.
Parts of the agriculture is to be changed where families in some areas are allowed to keep what they plant and harvest. In some areas there is to be land reform. The collective farms are to be kept in some areas, but the new management system of being fired and getting paid for how much you complete is to be tested in some. A modification of the Taiwanese land reform.
Look into the possibility of dropping the gold standard for the Rubel and use that gold to import foreign goods. If no country accepts the Rubel then there is no real reason to have it on the gold standard. And even if some do accept the Rubel look into how much can be bought with just gold if it will be more or less than having the Rubel on the gold standard.
The border skirmish with Japan, happened initially when some Mongolian troops went grazing in an area that the Japanese considered their own, which lead the Mongolian cavalry soldiers being driven off, then they returned with a force and the whole thing escalated. So by knowing this it would be possible for the USSR to choose when to have the hostilities start, thereby getting all that new equipment ready for prime time in a specific location.
Economy
The 5year plan system is the be modified and seen more as guidelines or goals. The system itself is to change into more of a state capitalism and mixed economy system. Giving the people the chance to advance and improve their lives but at the same time allowing for people to get fired.
Plans are to have an economic benefit, construction of grandiose projects that have little or no economic value are to be avoided.
The economy is to move towards state capitalism, where people can get fired and those who are fired may choose to work somewhere else and of course they can always join the military or join the mineral extraction sector.
The country is to be way more open in directly copying foreign designs. For example if there is a foreign washing machine that is superior, just copy it and make as many as possible that will pass quality control.
There are to be different companies that are to compete with each other.
A random number of items are to be tested by a quality control team, this team is to have no connection with the factory or company and the people at the company do not even know who is testing. The testers are to live in another area and the items are to be transported to them. And the ones who collect the items for transportation that team as well is to have very limited contact with the company only selecting and delivering, all of this to avoid corruption, being given better than average items etc.
Companies performance on how many items that pass quality control, is to be compared over an X amount of year period maybe 5 or 10 years vs another company to see which companies need change or maybe even shut down. Why one company produces more or less than another is to be analyzed and change is to implemented as needed.
So it is a different economy, everyone has a chance to advance and everyone has a right to a job but that does not mean everyone will make the same amount of money, different jobs give different salaries. The state owns all corporations at first and then over time allow small business to open and then medium, but the large ones are always owned by the state.
Food
Food ”production” must be increased, the new management methods and the firing/ getting rid of Trofim Lysenko and his ”theories” will help a lot.
There also needs to be research and development in better farming techniques and how to better handle animals. Information is to be collected from both successful and failing farmers to see what and how they do. Then work on this information so that it can be taught and shown to others. Looking at what foreigners do is also to be done and see if those things can be applied to the different areas in soviet food ”production”.
No collectivization, take the land away from the Kulaks but give it to the people actually working the land. At the same time have the state also work and own land and those working on this land are to be treated as any other employee in any type of work. You hire and fire people when needed and because of performance and behavior.
Foreign Involvement
Spanish Civil war
Try to avoid the Spanish civil war starting at all. One of the things that can be done is doing full scale land reform, there were a few thousand landowners in Spain and several million farmhands, try to influence the Spanish government to simply give over all the land to the people who work it, by doing so suddenly the republican government has several million more supporters, this was never done in the original time line and is one of the reasons the republicans lost.
Try to have Franco assassinated and if the war starts try to prevent any type of airlift of him from Morocco into Spain proper.
If the Spanish civil war is prevented then one can encourage some Spaniards to spread the word about land reform to Latin America since they had the same problem, a few thousand landowners and 10s of millions landless farmhands. If done properly then all those countries could be a potential supply of goods/armaments.
If the Spanish civil war breaks out into a shooting war, support the republicans with full force possibly even do it for free, make sure that each Soviet volunteer is a 100% volunteer who exactly knows what they are getting into. Increase the salary for the volunteers to encourage people to sign up. Send as many soldiers and weapons as the Soviet transport system can allow as long as there are actual volunteers and weapons to send.
If the Spanish civil war breaks out, maybe send SMGs and establish production facilities in Spain, the problem here being that the axis might learn the value of the SMG, but of course there is always a chance that the axis leaders / generals will prevent its development just as happened in the USSR. But still it is a risk. Avoiding the civil war all together is the best option, since it will force the Germans to either deploy forces along the border, or try to invade, costing them time and resources. Even if France falls in 1940 as in the original timeline an invasion of Spain might not be possible because it would disrupt Hitlers goal of invading the USSR in 1941. And if the USSR has successfully invaded and captured the Romanian oil fields in 1940 or earlier, then an invasion of either Spain or the USSR becomes even more unlikely because the euro axis will probably have lost without the Romanian oil.
Do not go after the Church as the Republicans did, instead, require the Church to pay taxes and land fees and give the farmlands to the people who work the land. Remove any exemptions of law that the Church or the clergy have, everyone is equal under the law, no special privileges for the Church.
China
Invite Mao as early as possible maybe as early as Feb 1936. Treat him well treat him with respect and make him feel welcome, this was a problem in the original timeline that when he was invited, he felt snubbed.
Suggest and explain to Mao that since almost everyone in China is a farmhand then if the they were all given the land that they work, these farmhands would become loyal and suddenly there would be 100s of millions of loyal ”communists”. This can be done by either convincing or just killing the few thousand landowners and giving the land to those who work there.
It will be difficult for the KMT (the Chinese nationalists) to gain any power since they support the landowner class and once those land owners are gone the peasants are not willingly going to give away their land.
Suggest that Mao only focus on this land part and that other type of business run as normal, however large business can be take over by the state and they are to be run properly, large business may also be created by the state. Medium and small business are not to be touched except via normal taxes, take over all the banks. All business that are taken over and or created are to be run professionally.
Say that Japan will most likely attack within a few years and because of that these reforms are what can most be gained within that time frame and without alienating the population. These reforms will create a large loyal population, that will willingly provide soldiers.
On the armaments side provide Mao with the technical knowledge how to make Mosin Nagant rifles, SMGS and explain the value of a SMG how it can be used to provide greats amount of fire in a close space and provide suppression, LMGS, and the AVS36, explain that the AVS36 is a weapon that requires a knowledgeable and trained soldier to use and that the weapon should mostly only be used in a semi automatic way.
Provide Mao with 1,000 T-26 tanks, 1,000 air planes, 1,000 trucks, 1 million Mosin Nagant rifles, 10,000 AVS36, 10,000 LMGs and 100,000,000 bullets. And the schematics on how to build them. Tell him to use these to take over regions and implement this new rule. Say that he can send over soldiers to be trained on those vehicles as soon as possible, give them 6 months training which should be enough for them to start liberating land.
Tell him to avoid directly attacking the KMT and instead focus on taking over as much land as possible. So that he has as many people as possible under him and by extent maximum amount of soldiers.
Suggest that he maintains this type of mixed economy until all of China is united, and that he be ”smart”, and not try and openly attack the stronger players, the KMT or Japan for that matter.
When taking over a village town or area, say that he should spread the word that he is giving the land to the people, and that is all he is to say. Since almost everyone in China is a farmhand almost none of them know what communism is or how it works or its goal. Keeping the message easy and simple will prevent friction from the population and provide many willing soldiers. We come to give you the land that you work. A very simple message.
Many KMT soldiers will themselves most likely desert and not even think about fighting Mao, because now many of their own families will be owning land so a soldier will most likely not fight to give it back to a now maybe dead land owner.
Tell Mao to accept both men and women who want to fight, but to keep them in separate battalions and units.
Offer a continuous supply of arms if he keeps to the plan.
If and when Japan attacks tell him to be defensive so that the KMT absorbs most of the blows, at least initially.
Latin America
Latin America has a similar situation to that in Spain and China, where there are a few thousand landowners and 10s of millions landless farmhands. One could encourage the local communists to do the same as in China, to get rid of the landowners give the land over to those who actually work it, when enough area has been taken over, then take over the large corporations and leave the small and medium ones alone. Take over all the banks when it is possible. All business that are taken over and or created are to be run professionally.
With this policy it would be possible to unite all of South America as one country, at least for some time, and in a best case scenario this country could provide supplies and possibly soldiers for a war when Germany and or Japan attacks..
Many of the current soldiers that the South American governments have will most likely not even fight because now their own families own the land that they work, and they will have a brother or a sister who now owns the land. So there is chance that many soldiers will desert and join this new cause.
The West
Stop encouraging strikes and other problems. That does not mean strikes will not happen, workers will obviously strike when they are not happy with a deal. But do not encourage excess strikes or any thing like that.
This will not only lessen the negative attitude against the USSR but also make those countries stronger when Germany and Japan attacks.
France
Encourage France to restart its production and improvement of the RSC1918 semi automatic rifle. The 1917 had some problems and the 1918 fixed many of those, continued improvement will make it even better, such as changing to a rimless cartridge and increasing the clip size from 5 to 10 or even higher. Suggest that the French military try and test the weapons continually and develop tactics for them. Try to get the point across that in a modern war one needs to have massive bullet production and the concept of ”soldiers wasting ammo” is a false concept, and indeed the whole point of modern war is to shoot as many bullets as possible at the enemy. Point out the machineguns effectiveness in the previous large war, look how effective it was, so why not give each and every soldier something closer to that. In war one hardly ever sees the enemy so taking aimed shots where one has lots of time to think hardly happens for the average soldier.
Encourage France to start mass producing submachine guns as well.
All of these encouragements need to be done carefully and feeling the waters so that it doesn’t become ”too much” and the French leaders think that they are being tricked, so perhaps just recommending the reinstatement of the model RSC 1918 or an improved version of it is all that can be achieved without meeting too much resistance.
Point out that the Maginot line does not cover the Ardennes forest and it is possible for an army to march through the forest in good weather especially if un-opposed.
Extra
When it comes to the need to have a smaller cartridge in assault rifles one can say that the technology to fire a full rifle cartridge automatically in a 5 kilo or less rifle is at least 50 years away. However a smaller cartridge will not stress the gun as much and is possible to use.
Most soldiers find it difficult to hit a small stationary target 400 meters away, so having a bullet that travels 3km is massively overkill. However with a smaller bullet a soldier can miss and walk the target in as to say, and a 7.62x39 mm bullet is a serious bullet and is fully capable of explaining the soldiers opinion to the enemy. If one soldier can kill one enemy that is great, and with an assault rifle like this a soldier will be able to kill far more enemies.
Most people have a hard time seeing a human sized object 400 meters away during good weather, let alone during battle conditions and or bad weather.
An automatic weapon provides suppression, forcing the enemy to keep his head down and allows the soldiers to manoeuvre around the enemy and attack them from the sides.
Most often one will not see the enemy, so having an automatic weapon will allow the soldier to fire several shots against the enemy position and perhaps some of the shots will hit, either way it allows the soldiers to manoeuvre.
It is far easier to add more armor to a vehicle than to develop a handheld weapon system that offers armor penetration so therefore the standard soldiers weapon should be focused on neutralizing enemy soldiers.
However some soldiers can hit targets that are small and moving at a long distance and these are the ones who are to be trained as snipers / designated marksmen and given appropriate weapons, for example full powered cartridge semi auto weapons, or possibly bolt action rifles with removable scopes.
More mortars are to be built and assigned to more troops, try to increase the amount of 120mm mortars.
More radios in all branches of the military.
Maybe look at the possibility of creating noncommissioned officers.
Before the 1941 war had started the USSR lacked enough anti-aircraft units assigned to the military, this is to be increased.
Do not mix different tanks in the same unit, keep it of the same type, light/medium/heavy etc.
With the removal of Lysenko, then the possibility of eugenics with H.J. Muller opens up. It wont affect ww2 directly since Muller forwards his book in 1936 to Stalin. However Muller had gone to the USSR in 1933 so if one starts earlier it would be able to have some type of eugenics program up and running after ww2, with all the butterflies that would give.
A greater focus on the air force and training of air force related personnel.
Before the war the red army had standardized on the 122mm M30 howitzer as divisional howitzer. That was a good decision and should be kept. Some countries still use that gun today. Production should be increased so that more can be produced and of course make them mobile. Research and development in improvements is to be done and experts in this field are to decide when those upgrades are to be implemented and mass produced.
All these are possibilities that could have been done, and are each to be viewed separately. You could do them ALL sure, but each one is to be viewed by itself, there is no compulsion to do them all.
The start year is anywhere from 1930-1936, the earlier one starts the more changes one can do obviously.
Here are my suggestions of different possibilities.
Each line is to be read separately and these thoughts are to be taken as separate thoughts, each idea is to be taken by itself unless clearly connected.
Read each suggestion / tweak separately and evaluate it by its own merits.
Table of contents
The number one thing
Politics and stuff
Training during wartime
Training during peacetime
Production
Ground Vehicles
Air Power
Miscellaneous
Uniforms, foot wear and other noncombat gear
Body Armor
Factories and infrastructure
Two cities
Economy
Foreign Involvement
China
Latin America
The West
France
Extra
The number ONE thing
If only one major change can be made then that is to make a thorough plan for capturing the Romanian oilfields, and that operation is to start one week after Germany invades France.
For anyone who does not know about the importance of Romanian oil, here are Hitlers own words, recorded by the Finns when Hitler went to Finland in 1942:
“I always feared - that Russia suddenly would attack Romania in the late fall - and occupy the petroleum wells, and we would have not been ready in the late fall of 1940. If Russia indeed had taken Romanian petroleum wells, than Germany would have been lost. It would have required - just 60 Russian divisions to handle that matter.
In Romania we had of course - at that time - no major units. The Romanian government had turned to us only recently - and what we did have there was laughable. They only had to occupy the petroleum wells. Of course, with our weapons I could not start a, war in September or October. That was out of the question. Naturally, the transfer to the east wasn't that far advanced yet. Of course, the units first had to reconsolidate in the west. First the armaments had to be taken care of because we too had - yes, we also had losses in our campaign in the west. It would have been impossible to attack - before the spring of 19, 41. And if the Russians at that time - in the fall of 1940 - had occupied Romania - taken the petroleum wells, then we would have been, helpless in 1941.
Another Voice In Background: Without petroleum...
Hitler: (Interrupting) We had huge German production: however, the demands of the air force, our Panzer divisions - they are really huge. It is level of consumption that surpasses the imagination. And without the addition of four to five million tons of Romanian petroleum, we could not have fought the war - and would have had to let it be - and that was my big worry. ”
End of the quote
These things should also be done when one invades Romania:
Stop all exports to Germany when you invade Romania.
After the invasion is complete contact Germany and say that you can restart the exports but first Germany has to pay for what has already been delivered from the USSR, Germany was lagging in payment.
If the Germans pay what they owe, say that the Germans must pay in advance for the next set of exports. If the Germans pay, keep the money and send nothing. Thereby increasing the strain on the German economy.
The seizing of the Romanian oil wells should create an economic collapse in Germany, the cancellation of the grain exports from the USSR should create huge food shortages.
And by being paid in advance by the Germans for things that will not be supplied, that will crate even more pressure on an already damaged economy.
Politics and stuff
Now if more than one change can be made here are some of the changes I would make.
Do not invade Finland but instead plan and prepare an invasion for Romania and it is to start one week after the Germans have invaded France and if things stay as the original timeline then activate the plan.
Fire Trofim Lysenko and possibly send him to the Gulag. He really wrecked Soviet agriculture with his ”theories”.
Everything is about Romania and seizing the oil fields when the Germans are in France. The goal is to by Jan first 1940 have at least 4 million soldiers in the military and to deploy at least 1 million for the invasion of Romania to seize the oil fields. If the logistics can support more, then deploy more, if not then deploy as many as the logistics can support. Only deploy what the logistics can support maybe even just 75% to be on the safe side.
No purges of course, they created so many problems, not only was the military purged but many in the different science communities and others areas of expertise were purged as well. The purging in the military created an atmosphere of fear where even the smallest order would first be sent to Moscow to have it confirmed because of fear, and by the time an answer had been received the situation on the front had changed so much that the orders were often completely useless and counterproductive, units attacking when almost completely surrounded resulting in them being wiped.
Sign the non-aggression pact yes, but no transfer of resources, there have been many calculations on this, without Soviet resources and what the Soviets bought and re-sold to the Germans, Germany would have run out of grain and rubber by June 1941 and Oil and Manganese by October/Nov 1941. Many other resources would have been in far smaller quantities making it much much harder to wage war against the USSR. And again Romania is very important, without Romanian and Soviet oil it is highly likely that the whole German civilian economy will collapses. By removing Romanian and Soviet oil it would be very hard for the Germans to provide fuel for the military.
In the science and engineering parts a leading rocket developer was purged (Sergei Korolev) and one of the initial developers of what would become the T-34 was executed (Nikolai Federovich Tsyganov ). With no purges those things would be more advanced. For example, the BT-SV would have been built and possibly an improved version of that.
Allow all specialists in their field to develop what they want. So for example give air plane designers complete freedom in building what they want, give the military air command complete freedom in developing air plane tactics, this would go for all areas of expertise, let the experts develop what they want, do not have politicians tell them what to do, except of course these things I am going to mention.
Let specialist in all branches research and develop things as they see fit, there is no need to meet any political requirement, with the exception of following the law, obviously.
Stalin had given some type of order that required that air planes could not be modified after the initial version, or something like that, that order is the be counter manded or never issued depending on date.
Allow free debate within all sciences.
Massive overhaul of the agricultural science, free debate.
Allow all soldiers who want to AND who get a passing grade when they do their conscription period to sign a contract where they stay on for 2-5 years at a time, and can renew that contract every 2-5 years. The goal, again, is to have 4 million by Jan first 1940.
Allow any ”group” to serve in the military such as Cossacks which were allowed in April 1936. The only ”group” that is not allowed to join the military would be convicted criminals who are actively in prison, with the possibility of having them joining penal battalions if such are needed in a future war. To have former convicts in special units made up of former convicts, if one allows former convicts in. However with the invasion of Romania there is a huge chance that there would be no need for penal battalions.
Increase the salary for soldiers, do so gradually and realistically without massively overpaying them. Once the number of 4 million soldiers who have it as their job has been reached then the salaries for each rank and specialty can ”freeze” and only adjusted up for inflation if needed. The 4 million is to be across all branches, land, sea, air, etc so a total of 4 million across all branches by Jan 1st 1940. My changes to the housing situation and consumer goods situation will make the pay of a soldier very attractive indeed.
Do not underestimate the amount of ammunition needed for training, I do not know specifically about the USSR but all other countries vastly underestimated the amount of ammo needed to train a soldier.
I am unsure when the concept of Maskirovka first occurred, perhaps it has always been there to some degree, however it is important to encourage its development and increase the research into this subject.
Modify the infantry squad so that it is built up around the light machinegun once a belt felt light machine gun has been developed and available in reasonable numbers.
Allow women to serve in any branch of the military and have them serve in 100% female units, with the possible exception of officers and technical specialists.
Actively encourage women to join the military and all civilian jobs, punish, remove or work around any discrimination or prevention from them joining the military or the civilian job market. By doing this half the population becomes available and it will also increase the number of officers available thereby allowing for a larger expansion of the military, it will also increase the civilian economic output.
Women should be allowed to join the whole ”workforce” without any extra demands put on the women. Women should neve be required ”to also do A, B or C”. Women should only be required to do ”their job”, just as any other employee.
Re-introduction of ranks in the military and that if a superior gives an order that order must be followed, no debating orders and then voting if to follow or not.
Remove the political officer and instead have something like a ”morale” officer” that looks after the morale of the soldiers, like for example in modern days a union representative, or perhaps in older days an army chaplain. An officer that fills that requirement.
No political commissars. Let professionals be professionals without having to run it through a political commissar to make sure the orders are politically correct. Have the commissars retrain as ”normal” officers.
Try to have some type of ear protection during training for as many soldiers as possible, mass production of this type of ear protection is important.
It must be clear that if you place someone in a position that they have no training in, there is great chance of failure and basically a waste of resources, for example using anti air crew and placing them as artillery units. This is to be avoided.
If one cuts the grain exports to Germany then Germany faces huge food problems forcing Germany to take more food from the occupied countries which leads to more deaths there, less factory output and more resistance. There wasn’t enough manpower in Germany to work the fields and all the countries of Europe at that time were barely managing their food production.
If everything is as in the original timeline then during operation Barbarossa, the Soviets should not make any large counter attacks and instead have purely a defensive strategy, only attacking when it is tactically wise to do so and victory for that specific attack is almost guaranteed. Only send fully equipped and trained units, do that until the army is 10 million strong with fully trained units, then and only then begin planning for attacks. However, obviously, the invasion of Romania changes all this.
10 Years after Germany has collapsed the USSR should have elections on the municipality stage, 5 years after that on the municipality and regional level, 5 years after that on the municipality, regional and national level. Allow a multiparty system where a party needs 5% to get into the parliament. Elections are to be held every 5 years.
Training during wartime.
All the items listed in training during peace time should be included here with the addition of these points.
All new recruits during war time must receive at least 1 year of training.
As long as the whole military has at least 5 million soldiers, this period can be doubled.
If it has been more than 3 months and up to 2 years since a person did their conscription duty or active military service, have them do a special 3 months re-training course at a minimum, as long as the military has at least 5 million soldiers, this period can be doubled.
If it has been more than 2 years and up to 5 years since a soldier did their conscription training or active military service, have the soldier do a special 6 months re-training course, as long as the military has at least 5 million soldiers, this period can be doubled.
If it has been more than 5 years since a soldier did their conscription duty or active military service, then the soldier must do a 1 year training program, as long as the military has at least 5 million soldiers, this period can be doubled.
Pilots can practice with tracers but when going into action the tracers should not be used because the enemy then knows from what direction you are shooting from. This was a lesson from the actual war.
No one under 21 may be sent into battle. So if someone joins the military on the day they turn 18, they will at least at a minimum have 3 years of training.
Training during peacetime
All soldiers must at least have one year of training and be trained in the area of the weapon system they are using, the exception are officers and pilots who receive at least two years of training.
If you are conscripted or if you volunteer it does not matter, you are to be trained for at least one year before being deployed. A tanker for example would receive three months basic training, like all soldiers in all branches do, then 9 months in tank training and of those 9 months at least 6 months has to be on the family of tank the soldier is to be assigned to. Specialist and professionals are to determine which type of weapon/s, in this case tank, that one can use after receiving training.
All soldiers when being deployed must be fully equipped before being sent off to the front.
No one under 21 may be sent into battle. So if someone joins the military on the day they turn 18, they will at least at a minimum have 3 years of training.
During peace time normal soldiers receive at least 2 years of training, weapon maintenance and weapon care of their weapons should be taught thoroughly.
Some type of certification system where a solider is certified to use a weapon. Those who provide the certificate are to be a third party who come in and test the soldier. This is to be decreased if and when war breaks out. This certification is thus mostly to be used during peace time, and for weapons that are ”rare” for example the AVS36 or the new assault rifle, until such a time that these weapons become plentiful. Basically a way to make sure that ”complicated” weapons go to people who can handle these weapons.
Tank crews are to be trained to maintain their tank guns and shells very well. To polish the shells and clean the gun often to make sure it is in good condition, so even during lulls in battle the crew is working. This cleaning is of course to be done logically and at the crews own discretion, they are not for example required to dismantle the whole thing during the middle of a battle and there during the battle clean and grease ever single screw. So it is up to the crews to determine how much cleaning is to be done, but the manuals are to explain and stress the importance of maintaining the vehicles and the gun in good condition and doing as much as is possible in the given situation.
All Soviet troops should know how to cross-country ski, training and production of skis should be increased.
During winter time and possibly any season the destruction or capture of the enemies field kitchens should be sought if possible, during mild weather such things will lower morale and reduce combat effectiveness of the enemy, during harsh winter weather the removal of the field kitchens will lead to many enemy soldiers preforming much much worse and/or dying.
Production
Small Arms
The TT-33 is to be remade and have a thumb safety added, and have a double stack / double feed clip added with a ”neck”, so the last part is a single fed, if that is easier to make and use, otherwise no neck. The US Browning P-35, 13 round pistol is to be examined and Tokarev has to the first of June 1937 to make this new Pistol which must have at least 12 rounds, so the possibility of one less than the P-35 but 4 more than the TT-33, plus the safety, if he fails to develop a new pistol by June first 1937 the P-35 is to be converted into using the standard Soviet pistol round and this Soviet P-35 is to be tested until Jan first 1938, which ever of the 2 pistols that perform the best is to be mass produced. Until this new pistol has been tested and is ready for mass production, mass production of the TT-33 is to be increased many times over and new factories built to the east of the Urals. As each factory opens up an old factory is to be moved to the east of the Urals, this is to continue until all factories have been moved, this will therefore double the amount of total factories. At these factories new methods of management is to be tried, in some of the factories people can be fired. In some factories people can be fired and they get paid more the more they produce that passes the quality control, however there is still a base pay, and people get paid for each thing they produce, all things must pass quality control. And in some factories, the old system is to be kept. These different type of management systems is then to be evaluated and see which one gives the most amount of product.
Once production of this new pistol is up an running it will first go to soldiers who are expected to see combat with small arms, once all those soldiers have been equipped the circle will expand, the pistol is to be issued to units that need a pistol but might not use it, such as pilots, tankers, and police officers. So the new pistol gets issued to infantry soldiers first and then as more are made the more the circle expands.
Order research and development into a cartridge between the size of a rifle bullet and a pistol bullet, find what ever size is the best that allows automatic fire with a realistic chance to hit a man-sized target 300 meters away. Once the new bullet is designed or what ever seems to be the ”best” bullet by Jan 1 st 1937 have that bullet be used for a new weapons design of an handheld up to 4.5 kilos automatic weapon. Have the competition to be held June 1st 1937, what ever rifle wins, start mass producing that, and continue on improvement of it. At the same time allow other developers to develop their own designs and on June 1st 1938 hold another competition what ever rifle wins, starts mass producing that, so there is a risk of 2 different assault rifles being standard for some time.
Have production of the AVS36 increased, however only give it to troops that have received at least 2 years of training and shown a mechanical aptitude and received a special training course, possible 6 months weapons maintenance and weapons care course. The soldiers must be trained to handle that specific weapon and receive some type of certificate, given by a third party, someone who is from another area and comes in only to do the ”test/s”.
Have Tokarev continue development of his rifle, since in the original timeline he comes up with a good gas system.
The existing DP-28 is to be upgraded; have the bi-pod reevaluated and strengthen, add a pistol grip and change the location of the spring so that it doesn’t warp when the barrel gets hot.
Order that a new light machinegun is to be created and it is to be belt fed, the designers can of course use the current DP-28 and change to a belt feed system or create something new. IF by June 1 1937 this has not be done, order that the newest version of the American 1919 be converted to the standard Soviet cartridge and that the German MG34 also be converted to the Soviet standard cartridge, have the machineguns continuously tested, and if by first of Jan 1938 the new Soviet machinegun is not ready, use which ever of the 1919 or MG34 that performed the best and mass produce that variant, totally forget about patents.
Production of the DP-28 is to be increased and new factories to be built to the east of the Urals, as each factory opens up an old factory is to be moved to the east of the Urals, this is to continue until all factories have been moved, this will therefore double the amount of total factories. The production of the old DP-28 is to continue until full production of the new light machine gun is up and running and the new management systems is to be tried there as well as the old.
Try to have by 1940 at least a reserve of 3 million primary ”new” small arms such as SMGs, Assault rifles, Semi Automatic rifles, etc. Have the vast majority of the reserve stored away from the border, and relatively close to the training grounds.
Continue production of the PPD34, add a muzzle compensator, and massively ramp up production. Few people know this but the USSR only made about 4,000 SMGs before the Winter War including the improved version 34/38, after that war about 80,000 SMGs were made before the German invasion.
Order the research and development of improving the PPD34 and possibly making a new SMG.
Order research and development into stamping steel. Once that is developed use that technique to design and build more small arms. The goal is that by 1940 to have at least 1 million sub machine guns, preferably many more and maybe even 100,000 assault rifles.
Individual ego is to be forgotten when it comes to production of any item, copying both foreign and domestic things is to be encouraged and specific firms are to be created that only work on copying foreign things. All that matters is to have the best product for the given situation. The USSR almost always gets branded for copying someone else’s equipment even if the paint is the only thing that is somewhat similar, the USSR should copy anything and everything that could be used.
As many as possible of foreign designs are to be available to as many as possible designers so that they can look and examine it. Domestic products are to have the same rules as they did in the original time line.
Here are some examples of foreign small arms to make available, again the goal is as many as possible different models. The Czechoslovakian ZH29 and its follow up models ZH 32, ZH 37, the Mexican Mondragon 1908. The Czechoslovakian ZB-26 light machine gun and its later variants, the French Chatellerault Model 24/29, the British Bren, the American BAR and the Danish Madsen are available to all developers, these are magazine fed light machine guns, the goal is of course to have belt machine guns, but many things can be learned from these, and as stated in the first paragraph as many as possible foreign designs should be made available to all the developers.
The production goal of small arms is that each infantry soldier should have 1 main weapon plus a side arm, and that there be a reserve of at least 1 million small arms by Dec 31st 1939.
Change the 7,62x54 rimmed cartridge to a rimless cartridge.
Ground Vehicles
All tanks are to use diesel engines and look into the possibility of having all trucks use diesel as well. Diesel is less flammable than gasoline and diesel can be stored longer than gasoline. Diesel engines handle cold weather better than gasoline engines.
All new tanks must be able to handle a burning flammable liquid being thrown onto the tank.
Tanks should have a ”basket” that rotates with the gun so that the crew in the turret always have the controls in front of them, unless a better design is invented.
Each person in the tank should only have to do ”his” job, so a tank commander should only have to command not for example also be the loader, an exception can be made if radio technology advances so that the commander also becomes the radio operator as was done in later vehicles.
All tanks must have a 2 way radio receiver/transmitter and no tank without a working radio may be sent into battle. Those tanks can however be used for training but not for combat.
The tank commander should have a commanders cupola.
The tank gunner should only have to fire the gun and not reload it himself.
Crew ”comfort” is to be looked at so that the crew can stay ”fresh” for longer. So look at better suspensions for the vehicles and the crew ”chairs” so that going over bumpy terrain does not affect the crew as much. Even consider making the tank a bit taller and wider, one needs to look at the whole picture not only making the smaller tank that is harder to hit which increases the tanks survivability, but also how one can keep the crew fresh for longer periods of time which would increase survivability as well. Look into research and development of shock absorbers.
Tank sights are to use ”binoculars” or something else that uses 2 eyes, the sight itself may be a long tube however at the end where the operator looks through should have binoculars so that the operator uses 2 eyes, it has been shown that this increases both accuracy and speed because when only looking with 1 eye, less of the brain is being used then when looking with both eyes. Of course if the sights are wide enough for a person to look throw them with both eyes, there is no need to add binos.
Medium tanks should have a minimum of 50kmph speed and heavies a minimum of 25. These are guidelines and not strict requirements.
Medium tanks can weigh up to 45 metric tonnes and heavies can weigh up to 70 metric tonnes. These are guidelines and not strict requirements and mediums CAN weigh 45 metric tonnes, they do not HAVE to.
The medium tank program can start with the 76.2mm Model 27/32 or KT-28 or what ever 76.2mm gun works best, the barrel is to be made longer to maybe 5-6 meters if this increases penetration and/or accuracy and/or range. In the original timeline the T-34 76 F-34 version had a barrel length of 3.162 meters
This however does not mean that the field gun version of the 76.2mm is not be tried and modified, what ever version that works best is to be used for each specific branch, all the branches do not need to have the exact same type of gun. And maybe the development of the ZIS-3 will happen here in this timeline as well.
All tanks should have some degree of sloped armor.
As soon as possible request a medium tank be designed with a 3 man turret with a commanders cupola, sloped armor and the specifications above, a gun that is at least 76.2 millimeters and the tank should have a top speed of 50km/h under ideal conditions on a paved road . This new tank is to be built in modest numbers 10-20 as soon as possible and be tested thoroughly. As of Jan 1st 1938 what ever functioning design that is ready, build 1000 tanks of that design, they are to be sent to the far east for training and deployment against the Japanese. As each tank is completed it is to be transported, maybe in batches of 10-20, the transport numbers are to be decided by the specialists in this field themselves.
Up until Jan 1st 1939 these tanks are to be driven under their own power from the factories to the Far East to further help the development of the model. Along the way the tanks are to be maintained and repaired as is required so that as many as possible reach the final destination. This will also give the soldiers experience in handling and maintaining the vehicles. This can be part of the final exam of the crews for the vehicles. The crews will be transported from the training schools to the factories, and then will have to drive the vehicles to the new training center. By Jan 1st 1939 this is to end in the far East and Jan 1st 1940 in the rest of the country, and the vehicles are to be moved by train or ship. The vehicles can be driven to the train stations and from the train stations to the deployment centers. But they are not to drive under their own steam the whole way from the factories to the deployment centers.
A specific way which they should drive should be set up so that they can resupply and repair their vehicles when needed. A ”maintenance center” is to be set up at what ever distance it is expected for the vehicle to be able to make in 8-10 hours however the people in charge of the project have the final say, if possible use existing military training areas or military schools. Each vehicle is also to carry a towed trailer that contains spare parts, fuel, food, water, a tent for the crew and a long range radio incase the crew gets stuck, and the tanks radio does not work, so that they can contact the nearest maintenance center, this is even to be included if the vehicle itself already has a radio. As they reach each pit stop they can resupply as needed. All is to be recorded how much they use, what breaks how long it lasts and all the information is to be provided to the designers and engineers of the vehicle.
Testing and development of new tanks designs is to continue and on Jan 1st 1939 what ever functioning design that is ready up to 5000 tanks of that design is to be built, and be sent to tank training schools around the country, not just the far east, so that the students are training and educated on this design. Each tank as it is completed and passed factory trials is to be sent or maybe in batches of small numbers 10-20 but not however have them waiting until all are completed. These tanks are the ones that will be in the invasion of Romania.
Information from the training and driving is to be collected and engineers and designers are to go over some of the tanks to see what improvements can be made, these improvements are to be gradually installed. For example if some problems with the engines are discovered then that is to be addressed. Or if there are problems with the transmission or any other part of the tank, those problems are to be addressed.
More research is to go into making the communication system between crew members better, and to avoid unclear or static sounds in the headphones or microphones.
Move all factories that produce the T-26 to the east of the Urals, and have them only build spare parts, no more new T-26s are to be built, focus is instead to be on the new light, medium and heavy programs.
Request the development of an armored personnel carrier, it should preferably at least have some tracked parts. Maybe even using the T-26 production lines to build these apcs.
Artillery tractor production is to be increased and the new management system is to be tested there. The ”Komitern” artillery tractor is to be increased in production and when the STZ5 becomes ready that is also to be greatly increased in production. A goal should be to have 10,000 artillery tractors by Jan 1st 1939 and have 5,000 of those in the far east.
All field artillery are to be designed with mobility in mind so they should have wheels on them, which can handle cross country performance and not get easily stuck in mud. For example having wider wheels which have a greater distribution of weight instead of the standard ”narrow” wheels that might work great on the concrete floor of a factory but not as well outside in nature.
The development of an apc is to start and production of the first functioning version is to commence no later than Jan 1st 1938. Up to 3,000 of these apcs are to be built and sent to the far east. As each tank is completed it is to be transported, maybe in batches of 10-20 or possibly more. Up until Jan 1st 1939 these are to be driven under their own power from the factories to the Far East to further help the development of the model. A long the way they are to be maintained and repaired as is required so that as many as possible reach the final destination. This will also give the soldiers experience in handling and maintaining the vehicles. By Jan 1st 1939 this is to end and the vehicles are to be moved by train or ship. The vehicles can be driven to the train stations and from the train stations to the deployment centers. But they are not to drive under their own steam the whole way from the factories to the deployment centers. This can be part of the final exam of the crews for the vehicles. The crews will be transported from the training schools to the factories, and then will have to drive the vehicles to the training center.
A specific way which they should drive should be set up so that they can resupply and repair their vehicles when needed. A maintenance center” is to be set up at what ever distance it is expected for the vehicle to be able to make in 8-10 hours however the people in charge of the project have the final say, if possible use existing military training areas or military schools. Each vehicles is also to carry a towed trailer that contains spare parts, fuel, food, water, a tent for the crew and a long range radio incase the crew gets stuck so that they can contact the nearest maintenance center, this is even to be included if the vehicle itself already has a radio. As they reach each pit stop they can resupply as needed. All is to be recorded how much they use, what breaks how long it lasts and all the information is to be provided to the designers of the vehicle.
Development and modifications are to be carried out continuously and on Jan 1st 1939 a new model is to be made and up to 20,000 of these are to be made by Jan 1st 1940. As each vehicle is completed it is to be transported, maybe in batches of 10-20 or possibly more.
Truck production is to be increase, and research and development is to be increased. In the original timeline the red army ”only” had 270,000 trucks in June 1941. The Germans had over 600,000 assigned to the attack.
If possible then the Ussr should have at least 500,000 trucks assigned to all the armed forces by Jan 1st 1940 and in addition have at least another 500,000 in the civilian sector.
All of this ”new” equipment is first to be sent to the far east to be tested when Japan launches its skirmishes.
Offer soldiers greater pay to be stationed in the far east, more about the changes to the economy in a later section.
Since Nikolai Federovich Tsyganov wont be arrested, there is a greater chance of better tank development, especially having the BT-SV2 ready for the invasion of Romania.
As soon as possible make try to make artillery more mobile with at least 4 wheels/ ”tires”, preferably 8 doubling with 2 in each place, so that they can be moved from A to B relatively easily. The number/s are however to be determined by the professionals in the field themselves. Or possibly for some models an undercarriage like the 203mm howitzers had.
Try to develop more heavy artillery such as 152.4mm or even 155mm, these sizes proved very useful through the whole war and were very effective in both anti infantry and anti tank roles.
If possible develop a tank that can handle a 152.4mm or even a 155mm gun. The tank can look however it will look, the important thing is that the gun can be fired and the tank can move across the country if driven by a skilled crew.
Maybe even if possible somehow with a massive abundance of resources and everything else is going really well, look into the design of a tank using a 203mm howitzer gun.
The development of SPGs is to be looked at, especially of a high calibres such as 100mm or higher because those will be useful even if the vehicle design is old. It also gives a good base for research development and understanding of heavy vehicles such as tanks.
Air power
Since there are no purges the guys who had very advanced rocket designs and knowledge wont be purged, have them continue their work and also look into jet engines.
Allow the designers and engineers more freedom in their designs so that they can test and retest them, do not require a perfect airplane from the start.
Regarding the T-34, I believe that even if only a moderate modification is made, where the ”seats” are improved to provide greater comfort so that the individual does not get tired as fast as a standard seat would do, that such a relatively small change would be economically worth it. The same goes with radios. The requirement that all tanks have a radio that can transmit and receive is worth the cost in both time and resources because I believe the effectiveness of the tanks would be greater to offset any slowdown of production. And the same goes with increased training. The increased training time would be economically wiser than sending in crews with only 72 hours of class room experience.
More focus on the air force, more training and research and development into better organization. Look at what other countries are doing, and copy/modify what is good.
The Navy
The naval development should look in submarines and specifically submarines that offer good crew quarters, and the inclusion of showers if at all possible.
Less surface ships, more submarines.
Miscellaneous
It is important to research and develop good winter gear, the USSR is to look at both domestic and foreign expertise and establish good winter gear. For example look at what the Finns are using. Since there would be no winter war with Finland those lessons would not be learnt so they need to be implemented by other means. For example developing and producing winter tents that can have up to 20 people in them and that for each tent there should be wood burning stove heating the tent.
The research and development of good winter foot wear is also important. Here one should look both domestically and in foreign expertise.
In the original timeline even after the winter war, during the winter of 1941-42 there were still Soviet soldiers at the front who had their summer uniforms. It is important to research and develop the military logistical system so that it can handle the demands of war.
Research and development of using and creating charcoal for burning, charcoal creates little smoke when burning and was used during ww2 for specifically that reason.
During ww2 technology will not advance to such a point where during the winter there is a better alternative for local transport than the native small soviet ponies, therefore an increase in the breeding, training and management of these ponies is to be made.
Radios and radio related technologies are to researched and developed for all the military branches, also using codes and encoding and decoding messages.
What few people know today is that before the winter war the red army during peace time would nap for about 1 hour during the day. This might seem strange or even ludicrous to an amateur historian or random person. However this is exactly what the human body needs and doing so during peace time will increase the effectiveness of any type of training. So napping during peace time training is to continue, however 6 months before a soldier is to be sent off to actually fight the nap time is to be removed, this will have the effect of decreasing the rate of learning the soldier has, however it is important to get the body used to this new ”clock” of being awake continuously during the day.
During the winter war it was noted that engineers and their roles need to be great increased and that the should be engineers who are operations officers and assist the combined arms commander in providing adequate engineering support to the troops in fighting fortified areas and in the creation of such areas. So this is to be implemented.
Having good photo reconnaissance is also important and to have photo interpreters that can interpret the photos, researching and developing these areas is important.
Uniforms, foot wear and other noncombat gear
Research and development and lots of testing is to go into providing good quality uniforms and footwear that functions and is relatively easy to wear and use. The USSR is to look both back in history and to foreign sources and see what works best.
Body armor
If possible increase research and development of body armor. The USSR did during the original timeline issue several different types of body armor which preformed well, such as the SN38, SN39, SN40A, SN-42 and SN-46. However long before that there is a story, that may or may not be true that in 1905 a Russian inventor, Lieutenant-Colonel Chemerzin, had developed several types of body armor that were very good but also very expensive. If the other parts of the ”new” development go according to plan then it should be looked into trying to supply as many as possible infantry soldiers with body armor for the invasion of Romania.
Factories and infrastructure
All industry in Kharkov is to be moved to Nizhniy Tagil and all industry planned for Kharkov is to be moved to Nizhniy Tagil.
Move the capital to Yekaterinburg which was then known as Sverdlovsk.
The understanding of spare parts is to be researched and developed. So that any military equipment production has maybe around 25-33% dedicated to spare parts or what ever % that is decided by professionals in each area as is needed.
Where these new management systems are tried out it will not be written in your ”employment book” that you got fired because of reason A B or C, it will simply say that they found someone better or simply ”let go”.
The new management jobs would also pay better and anyone could apply who had the right qualifications and was 18 or older for it and each 6 months or so there would be ”exams” where people apply for that job and the workers them selves also have to do the exams, and the job would be given based upon the result of the score. The people who do the exams are themselves a third party preferably from another city who come in specifically to do the exams.
Allow people to own their own stuff and an increase the amount of consumer goods. People can own furniture, clothes, vehicles, etc but not property which can only be rented at first and maybe over time people can own houses, first trying as a small project then see how things move on.
A massive increase in the building of apartments and all new apartment are to have kitchens, bathrooms and at least one closet.
Have most of these new housing be built east of the Ural Mountains, to make sure that if war breaks out, the houses won't easily be captured or destroyed.
Have all homes be charged rent above cost with a profit of something like 10-20% for the state. Include full repair and maintenance into that cost, and actually provide full repair and maintenance, and those who maintain the buildings are also to be run under this new management system. First on a small scale and then increased over time. This however is not to be used as some sort of racket, by keeping cost up so that profits will go up, everything is to be run as efficiently as possible.
2 Cities
A creation of a special city for ”foreigners” somewhere on the eastern / south eastern part of the black sea coast, possibly between what is now Sochi and the Georgian border, and where ever this city is built that section is to be attached to the Russian administrative region not the Georgian one, so that no one thinks Stalin is favoring Georgia. In this city one would bring in willing foreigners for example all those communists from around the world who want to come to the USSR instead of what Stalin did when he put some of them in Gulags, in addition bring in those who want to work from the regions that the USSR annexes, Baltics etc. It is 100% volunteer to go there, but foreigners from countries outside of what was the Russian Empire can not go anywhere else and those from countries that were part of the Russian empire and then annexed by the USSR will simply have to stay where they live if they do not wish to go to the black sea city.
This black sea city is a way for all those who are unemployed in the Baltics and the part of Poland that the USSR took back to have a job.
The city is to be built on the south eastern coast of the black sea because the weather and climate is hospitable, and people will have a more positive view of things when the weather and climate is good and be able to tolerate more hardship when the climate is hospitable.
Before anyone can move to the city they must sign a contract that clearly says that this will be hard work and it will not be easy, and they are to be informed about this several times. No one is to sugar coat anything, this all all to avoid anyone going there and hoping to slack off, or wishing to work inside a fully communist system, what ever might be in that persons mind what a full communist work system is. The jobs themselves will be totally normal jobs, the line about hard work is so that everyone who goes there, when and if something ”bad” happens or things are not what they imagined someone else will always tell them; “well they did say it would be hard work”. The same reason today all games are in beta forever so that someone always says; “well the game is in beta”, when there is a bug or other problem.
In this city people are allowed to own their own stuff, just as new reforms across the USSR would allow that, people come to the city to work and make money.
The first buildings and homes might be built with penal labor, if that is the case, then all of those people are to be removed long before any of the ”foreigners” arrive
In this black sea city all large and medium business are to be owned and operated by the state, people come to the city to work, mostly on a massive construction program, all goods and services are to be sold at above cost with a nice profit of at least 10-20% for the state, the laws of demand and supply are to dictate the cost. Micro business may be owned by individuals, one owner who is also the worker, and with time; up to possible a total of 50 employees. In all jobs, in all sections it would be possible to be fired and, when applicable, to have the salary partly determined by how much you produce, working with an incentive wage so to say.
At least one truck factory is also to be built in the city.
At least one motorcycle factory is to be built there.
And possibly one car factory if the GAZ61 is developed or something similar to it.
The city itself is to be built on uncultivated land as to not decrease any amount of worked farmland. If possible, the city is to be placed near a river as well, but that is not a must.
Not only apartment buildings will be built but also normal houses for families, all are to be rented out, all at 10-20% above cost including maintenance, maybe not for the normal houses.
A city that already exists somewhere to the east of the Urals is also to have this same system as the black sea city with the exception that there will be no foreigners and there are to be military factories in that city as well.
During peace time no military equipment is to be built in the ”foreign” city and no ”modern firearms” are allowed into the city, such as the new pistol, a metal stamped SMG, the new assault rifle or the AVS36, only the TT-33/newer version and the PPD34/newer version of it, are to be used by the police. Of course, if war breaks out then all types of weapons can be moved anywhere.
As the new management system grows, people who get fired from all type of jobs and can not hold on to a job, for them and anyone they can always join the military.
If you constantly are slacking off or unable to do your non military jobs for a long enough time, then you are sent to the military, so a type of conscription, if even that fails and the person simply can not handle the military then the last resort would be hard menial labor such as coal digging or other type of extractions, these people are not to be placed together with prisoners and not be treated as prisoners, it is simply they can not / are not able to perform any other type of job. Hard labor being for people who can preform it psychically, not for example invalids.
Remove almost all restrictions from the arts, except of course what is illegal today. In addition, at first, for maybe 10 years no criticism of the state in the arts.
Remove all restrictions on what type of music people can make and play. In addition, at first, for maybe 10 years no criticism of the state in the lyrics if the music even has that.
The biggest change would be moving away from the Stalinism and towards a system where the state owns all large corporations and many medium ones, but where small and some medium corporations are privately owned. Stalin could say we have tried this version of Communism towards reaching full socialism, and it has given some mixed results, lets try another version towards reaching full socialism.
Do not allow gambling or private loans for consumption. Private loans for starting a business may be allowed given the right circumstance.
Fashion is to be allowed and people are able to design what ever clothes they want. In addition to that the state would import several different clothing types from around the world and resell them to its citizens at a profit of 10-20%.
Production of bicycles, ”mopeds” and motorcycles is to be increased. So that people can buy these vehicles and start tinkering. The creation of clubs, enthusiast who are interested in their vehicles and want to talk with other enthusiast, is to be encouraged.
People are to be allowed to buy and own furniture.
With the, now, increased supply of consumer goods, clothes, art, furniture and bikes/ motorbikes, I believe that this in turn will increase overall productivity because now people will have some type of item/s they can get and that they want with the money that they earn.
Parts of the agriculture is to be changed where families in some areas are allowed to keep what they plant and harvest. In some areas there is to be land reform. The collective farms are to be kept in some areas, but the new management system of being fired and getting paid for how much you complete is to be tested in some. A modification of the Taiwanese land reform.
Look into the possibility of dropping the gold standard for the Rubel and use that gold to import foreign goods. If no country accepts the Rubel then there is no real reason to have it on the gold standard. And even if some do accept the Rubel look into how much can be bought with just gold if it will be more or less than having the Rubel on the gold standard.
The border skirmish with Japan, happened initially when some Mongolian troops went grazing in an area that the Japanese considered their own, which lead the Mongolian cavalry soldiers being driven off, then they returned with a force and the whole thing escalated. So by knowing this it would be possible for the USSR to choose when to have the hostilities start, thereby getting all that new equipment ready for prime time in a specific location.
Economy
The 5year plan system is the be modified and seen more as guidelines or goals. The system itself is to change into more of a state capitalism and mixed economy system. Giving the people the chance to advance and improve their lives but at the same time allowing for people to get fired.
Plans are to have an economic benefit, construction of grandiose projects that have little or no economic value are to be avoided.
The economy is to move towards state capitalism, where people can get fired and those who are fired may choose to work somewhere else and of course they can always join the military or join the mineral extraction sector.
The country is to be way more open in directly copying foreign designs. For example if there is a foreign washing machine that is superior, just copy it and make as many as possible that will pass quality control.
There are to be different companies that are to compete with each other.
A random number of items are to be tested by a quality control team, this team is to have no connection with the factory or company and the people at the company do not even know who is testing. The testers are to live in another area and the items are to be transported to them. And the ones who collect the items for transportation that team as well is to have very limited contact with the company only selecting and delivering, all of this to avoid corruption, being given better than average items etc.
Companies performance on how many items that pass quality control, is to be compared over an X amount of year period maybe 5 or 10 years vs another company to see which companies need change or maybe even shut down. Why one company produces more or less than another is to be analyzed and change is to implemented as needed.
So it is a different economy, everyone has a chance to advance and everyone has a right to a job but that does not mean everyone will make the same amount of money, different jobs give different salaries. The state owns all corporations at first and then over time allow small business to open and then medium, but the large ones are always owned by the state.
Food
Food ”production” must be increased, the new management methods and the firing/ getting rid of Trofim Lysenko and his ”theories” will help a lot.
There also needs to be research and development in better farming techniques and how to better handle animals. Information is to be collected from both successful and failing farmers to see what and how they do. Then work on this information so that it can be taught and shown to others. Looking at what foreigners do is also to be done and see if those things can be applied to the different areas in soviet food ”production”.
No collectivization, take the land away from the Kulaks but give it to the people actually working the land. At the same time have the state also work and own land and those working on this land are to be treated as any other employee in any type of work. You hire and fire people when needed and because of performance and behavior.
Foreign Involvement
Spanish Civil war
Try to avoid the Spanish civil war starting at all. One of the things that can be done is doing full scale land reform, there were a few thousand landowners in Spain and several million farmhands, try to influence the Spanish government to simply give over all the land to the people who work it, by doing so suddenly the republican government has several million more supporters, this was never done in the original time line and is one of the reasons the republicans lost.
Try to have Franco assassinated and if the war starts try to prevent any type of airlift of him from Morocco into Spain proper.
If the Spanish civil war is prevented then one can encourage some Spaniards to spread the word about land reform to Latin America since they had the same problem, a few thousand landowners and 10s of millions landless farmhands. If done properly then all those countries could be a potential supply of goods/armaments.
If the Spanish civil war breaks out into a shooting war, support the republicans with full force possibly even do it for free, make sure that each Soviet volunteer is a 100% volunteer who exactly knows what they are getting into. Increase the salary for the volunteers to encourage people to sign up. Send as many soldiers and weapons as the Soviet transport system can allow as long as there are actual volunteers and weapons to send.
If the Spanish civil war breaks out, maybe send SMGs and establish production facilities in Spain, the problem here being that the axis might learn the value of the SMG, but of course there is always a chance that the axis leaders / generals will prevent its development just as happened in the USSR. But still it is a risk. Avoiding the civil war all together is the best option, since it will force the Germans to either deploy forces along the border, or try to invade, costing them time and resources. Even if France falls in 1940 as in the original timeline an invasion of Spain might not be possible because it would disrupt Hitlers goal of invading the USSR in 1941. And if the USSR has successfully invaded and captured the Romanian oil fields in 1940 or earlier, then an invasion of either Spain or the USSR becomes even more unlikely because the euro axis will probably have lost without the Romanian oil.
Do not go after the Church as the Republicans did, instead, require the Church to pay taxes and land fees and give the farmlands to the people who work the land. Remove any exemptions of law that the Church or the clergy have, everyone is equal under the law, no special privileges for the Church.
China
Invite Mao as early as possible maybe as early as Feb 1936. Treat him well treat him with respect and make him feel welcome, this was a problem in the original timeline that when he was invited, he felt snubbed.
Suggest and explain to Mao that since almost everyone in China is a farmhand then if the they were all given the land that they work, these farmhands would become loyal and suddenly there would be 100s of millions of loyal ”communists”. This can be done by either convincing or just killing the few thousand landowners and giving the land to those who work there.
It will be difficult for the KMT (the Chinese nationalists) to gain any power since they support the landowner class and once those land owners are gone the peasants are not willingly going to give away their land.
Suggest that Mao only focus on this land part and that other type of business run as normal, however large business can be take over by the state and they are to be run properly, large business may also be created by the state. Medium and small business are not to be touched except via normal taxes, take over all the banks. All business that are taken over and or created are to be run professionally.
Say that Japan will most likely attack within a few years and because of that these reforms are what can most be gained within that time frame and without alienating the population. These reforms will create a large loyal population, that will willingly provide soldiers.
On the armaments side provide Mao with the technical knowledge how to make Mosin Nagant rifles, SMGS and explain the value of a SMG how it can be used to provide greats amount of fire in a close space and provide suppression, LMGS, and the AVS36, explain that the AVS36 is a weapon that requires a knowledgeable and trained soldier to use and that the weapon should mostly only be used in a semi automatic way.
Provide Mao with 1,000 T-26 tanks, 1,000 air planes, 1,000 trucks, 1 million Mosin Nagant rifles, 10,000 AVS36, 10,000 LMGs and 100,000,000 bullets. And the schematics on how to build them. Tell him to use these to take over regions and implement this new rule. Say that he can send over soldiers to be trained on those vehicles as soon as possible, give them 6 months training which should be enough for them to start liberating land.
Tell him to avoid directly attacking the KMT and instead focus on taking over as much land as possible. So that he has as many people as possible under him and by extent maximum amount of soldiers.
Suggest that he maintains this type of mixed economy until all of China is united, and that he be ”smart”, and not try and openly attack the stronger players, the KMT or Japan for that matter.
When taking over a village town or area, say that he should spread the word that he is giving the land to the people, and that is all he is to say. Since almost everyone in China is a farmhand almost none of them know what communism is or how it works or its goal. Keeping the message easy and simple will prevent friction from the population and provide many willing soldiers. We come to give you the land that you work. A very simple message.
Many KMT soldiers will themselves most likely desert and not even think about fighting Mao, because now many of their own families will be owning land so a soldier will most likely not fight to give it back to a now maybe dead land owner.
Tell Mao to accept both men and women who want to fight, but to keep them in separate battalions and units.
Offer a continuous supply of arms if he keeps to the plan.
If and when Japan attacks tell him to be defensive so that the KMT absorbs most of the blows, at least initially.
Latin America
Latin America has a similar situation to that in Spain and China, where there are a few thousand landowners and 10s of millions landless farmhands. One could encourage the local communists to do the same as in China, to get rid of the landowners give the land over to those who actually work it, when enough area has been taken over, then take over the large corporations and leave the small and medium ones alone. Take over all the banks when it is possible. All business that are taken over and or created are to be run professionally.
With this policy it would be possible to unite all of South America as one country, at least for some time, and in a best case scenario this country could provide supplies and possibly soldiers for a war when Germany and or Japan attacks..
Many of the current soldiers that the South American governments have will most likely not even fight because now their own families own the land that they work, and they will have a brother or a sister who now owns the land. So there is chance that many soldiers will desert and join this new cause.
The West
Stop encouraging strikes and other problems. That does not mean strikes will not happen, workers will obviously strike when they are not happy with a deal. But do not encourage excess strikes or any thing like that.
This will not only lessen the negative attitude against the USSR but also make those countries stronger when Germany and Japan attacks.
France
Encourage France to restart its production and improvement of the RSC1918 semi automatic rifle. The 1917 had some problems and the 1918 fixed many of those, continued improvement will make it even better, such as changing to a rimless cartridge and increasing the clip size from 5 to 10 or even higher. Suggest that the French military try and test the weapons continually and develop tactics for them. Try to get the point across that in a modern war one needs to have massive bullet production and the concept of ”soldiers wasting ammo” is a false concept, and indeed the whole point of modern war is to shoot as many bullets as possible at the enemy. Point out the machineguns effectiveness in the previous large war, look how effective it was, so why not give each and every soldier something closer to that. In war one hardly ever sees the enemy so taking aimed shots where one has lots of time to think hardly happens for the average soldier.
Encourage France to start mass producing submachine guns as well.
All of these encouragements need to be done carefully and feeling the waters so that it doesn’t become ”too much” and the French leaders think that they are being tricked, so perhaps just recommending the reinstatement of the model RSC 1918 or an improved version of it is all that can be achieved without meeting too much resistance.
Point out that the Maginot line does not cover the Ardennes forest and it is possible for an army to march through the forest in good weather especially if un-opposed.
Extra
When it comes to the need to have a smaller cartridge in assault rifles one can say that the technology to fire a full rifle cartridge automatically in a 5 kilo or less rifle is at least 50 years away. However a smaller cartridge will not stress the gun as much and is possible to use.
Most soldiers find it difficult to hit a small stationary target 400 meters away, so having a bullet that travels 3km is massively overkill. However with a smaller bullet a soldier can miss and walk the target in as to say, and a 7.62x39 mm bullet is a serious bullet and is fully capable of explaining the soldiers opinion to the enemy. If one soldier can kill one enemy that is great, and with an assault rifle like this a soldier will be able to kill far more enemies.
Most people have a hard time seeing a human sized object 400 meters away during good weather, let alone during battle conditions and or bad weather.
An automatic weapon provides suppression, forcing the enemy to keep his head down and allows the soldiers to manoeuvre around the enemy and attack them from the sides.
Most often one will not see the enemy, so having an automatic weapon will allow the soldier to fire several shots against the enemy position and perhaps some of the shots will hit, either way it allows the soldiers to manoeuvre.
It is far easier to add more armor to a vehicle than to develop a handheld weapon system that offers armor penetration so therefore the standard soldiers weapon should be focused on neutralizing enemy soldiers.
However some soldiers can hit targets that are small and moving at a long distance and these are the ones who are to be trained as snipers / designated marksmen and given appropriate weapons, for example full powered cartridge semi auto weapons, or possibly bolt action rifles with removable scopes.
More mortars are to be built and assigned to more troops, try to increase the amount of 120mm mortars.
More radios in all branches of the military.
Maybe look at the possibility of creating noncommissioned officers.
Before the 1941 war had started the USSR lacked enough anti-aircraft units assigned to the military, this is to be increased.
Do not mix different tanks in the same unit, keep it of the same type, light/medium/heavy etc.
With the removal of Lysenko, then the possibility of eugenics with H.J. Muller opens up. It wont affect ww2 directly since Muller forwards his book in 1936 to Stalin. However Muller had gone to the USSR in 1933 so if one starts earlier it would be able to have some type of eugenics program up and running after ww2, with all the butterflies that would give.
A greater focus on the air force and training of air force related personnel.
Before the war the red army had standardized on the 122mm M30 howitzer as divisional howitzer. That was a good decision and should be kept. Some countries still use that gun today. Production should be increased so that more can be produced and of course make them mobile. Research and development in improvements is to be done and experts in this field are to decide when those upgrades are to be implemented and mass produced.
