Modernization of the Kirov railway infrastructure during the Great Patriotic War

The purpose of this article is to investigate the contents and analyze the results of the works on the modernization of the Kirov Railway infrastructure at each stage of the Great Patriotic War. During the war, the Kirov Railway workers faced important strategic tasks. At the initial stage of the war, it was necessary to promptly transfer the troops of the Northern and then the Karelian Fronts, and bring equipment, raw materials of industrial enterprises, and the population of the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic (KFSSR) to the rear areas. From 1942 to the first half of 1944, within the new territorial borders, it was necessary to ensure uninterrupted supply of units and formations of the Karelian Front through army warehouses located at railway stations, and transport goods provided by the allies in the anti-Hitler coalition during the winter navigation from Murmansk to the rear regions of the country as quickly as possible. After the KFSSR was partly liberated from the occupation, the railway communications along the entire length of the Kirov Railway had to be restored. The research methodology included general scientific methods and methods of historical research. The study revealed that at each stage of the war the modernization of the Kirov Railway infrastructure was carried out according to the relevant needs of the wartime. No work was performed to expand the railroad infrastructure and increase the transport and economic connectivity of the regions of the European North.