Armoured Long Livers

 "Order of the Minister of the Armed Forces to the Commander of the Armoured and Mechanized Forces, Marshal of the Armoured Forces P.S. Rybalko on using unneeded armoured vehicles and spare parts for them

#452102
June 10th, 1947

Minister of the Armed Forces General of the Army comrade Bulganin permitted the use of unneeded armoured vehicles and spare parts for them in the following manner:

• 131 MK-3 [Valentine] tanks, 63 SU-122 SPGs and 282 SU-85 SPGs in need of repairs are to be converted into prime movers for use in the Armoured and Mechanized Forces instead of tractors.
  Functional SU-85 SPGs can be used for training and converted into prime movers as they break down.
• 361 APCs, 149 Ford amphibious cars, 129 tractors in need of repairs are to be disassembled into components to keep other vehicles of these types running.
• 48 KV tanks and SU-152 (on the KV chassis), 8 English MK-2 [Matilda] and MK-4 [Churchill] tanks, 383 T-60 and T-70 tanks, and 2353 aerosans are to be scrapped.
  Remove the engines from T-60, T-70, KV, and SU-152 as well as the 152 mm gun-howitzers from the SU-152 and use them in the Armoured Forces.
  Remove the 76 mm guns from the KV and store it in the GAU warehouses.
• Of 1940 old domestic and captured motorcycles liquidate all that need repairs. Liquidate functional ones as they require repairs.
• 4629 train cars of spare parts for retired vehicles (KV, BT, T-26, T-37, T-38, T-40, T-50, T-60, T-70) as well as M-5 and M-17 engines, IZh-7, 8, 9, AM-600, L-300 motorcycles and aerosans, as well as the English MK-2, MK-3, and MK-4 tanks are to be sold to the agricultural sector for scrap value.
  Reach an agreement with Central Planning on the transfer of spare parts.
  Spare parts that are not used in agriculture are to be transferred to the Ministry of Ferrous Metals as scrap.
  A decision on the issue of further use of American M3 light and M3 medium as well as the use of 902 train cars of spare parts for M3 light, M3 medium, M4A4, and M4A2 tanks was deferred by comrade Buganin pending the result of the work by the joint Soviet-American commission on the issues of using armament delivered to the USSR from America under the Lend Lease program.

I ask for your directions on the liquidation of the aforementioned items.

Lieutenant General Yermolin

TsAMO RF F.38 Op.94670 D.23 L.24-25