"State Committee of Defense
Decree #GOKO-1537ss issued on April 4th, 1942
Moscow, Kremlin
On armour-burning shells
To perfect armour-burning shells, perform the following:
- Order the NKV (comrade Vannikov) to produce 50 units of HEAT armour-burning shells for the 76 mm regimental gun according to existing Artillery Committee and NII-6 blueprints within 10 days.
- Order the NKChM (comrade Tevtosyan) to issue 5 units each of 40 mm, 50 mm, and 60 mm armour plate for trials of the aforementioned shells.
- Order the GAU (comrade Yakovlev) to perform trials of the aforementioned shells against the plates and give conclusions within 5 days.
- Order the NKV (comrade Gamov) to organize a group within the NII-6 for the perfection of thermite type armour-burning shells, delivering the first results to the GOKO by May 5th, 1942.Include academic Semyenov (Academy of Sciences) and Professor Maksimenko (Leningrad Chemical Technology Institute) into the group.
- Order the NKVD (comrade Kravchenko) to supply a group of specialists that previously worked with armour-burning shells to participate in the NII-6 group.
Chair of the State Committee of Defense, I. Stalin"