Wartime Science 4

RUSSIAN WARTIME SCIENCE

Having seen the power of aircraft, tanks, and gas attacks in the previous war, most of the Soviet Union’s scientific research during the Second World War, Soviet authorities focused on developing powerful aircraft, tanks, and, on a smaller scale, biological weapons. While they initially intended to focus science efforts on industry and production, the Soviet government was approached by military officials to persuade them to dedicate more resources to military scientific research. As the German military launched the invasion of the USSR, in 1941, Soviet authorities were forced to move scientific research institutions and industrial production centers to the east to avoid capture. The threat of German takeover was great portion of the war and research tended to focus on the more pressing problems such as increasing agricultural output and improving steel production.

USSR Rocketry Research

There were many Soviet scientists conducting research on rockets since the early 1920s. In 1935, a Soviet rocket engineer designed and tested a two-stage rocket powered by a gunpowder-sparked motors and a primitive form of jet engine. This caught the eyes of military officials, who ordered another test of the device. It was attached to a traditional propeller-driven aircraft to see how its capabilities would be affected. Like the Germans (although their research on this subject is not expanded upon in this essay), the USSR dedicated a significant portion of their scientific resources to applying burgeoning rocket technology to aircraft. Although not used in the war extensively, Soviet scientists had built and tested a prototype jet aircraft by 1941.