"To the Deputy Chair of the State Committee of Defense, comrade Beriya
[cut off] January 1945
The tank park of the German army consists 50% of heavy Tiger and Panther tanks. Our heavy IS tanks, ISU SPGs and SU-100 SPGs make up about 28% of our total amount of produced tanks and SPGs. The main tank of the Red Army is the T-34-85, which has difficulty fighting heavy tanks. The new T-44 medium tank produced at factory #75 in Kharkov has the same armament as the T-34-85 tank.
To improve the armament and achieve superiority in firepower for our tanks, I consider it necessary to install the 100 mm D-10T gun into this tank. It is very possible to install this gun.
Based on the above, I ask you to order the People's Commissar of Tank Production to produce an experimental prototype of a T-44 tank with a 100 mm D-10T gun to urgently begin mass production of the T-44 with this gun.
Marshal of the Armoured Forces, Fedorenko
Colonel-General of the Tank Forces, N. Biryukov
[cut off] January 1945
The tank park of the German army consists 50% of heavy Tiger and Panther tanks. Our heavy IS tanks, ISU SPGs and SU-100 SPGs make up about 28% of our total amount of produced tanks and SPGs. The main tank of the Red Army is the T-34-85, which has difficulty fighting heavy tanks. The new T-44 medium tank produced at factory #75 in Kharkov has the same armament as the T-34-85 tank.
To improve the armament and achieve superiority in firepower for our tanks, I consider it necessary to install the 100 mm D-10T gun into this tank. It is very possible to install this gun.
Based on the above, I ask you to order the People's Commissar of Tank Production to produce an experimental prototype of a T-44 tank with a 100 mm D-10T gun to urgently begin mass production of the T-44 with this gun.
Marshal of the Armoured Forces, Fedorenko
Colonel-General of the Tank Forces, N. Biryukov