The State Defense Committee (Russian: Государственный комитет обороны (ГКО), romanized: Gosudarstvennyĭ komitet oborony (GKO)) was an extraordinary organ of state power in the Soviet Union during the German-Soviet War, also called the Great Patriotic War, with complete state power in the country.
On 3 February 1942, Nikolai Voznesensky and Anastas Mikoyan were added as additional members of the committee. On 20 February 1942, Lazar Kaganovich was added. On 16 May 1944, Beria replaced Molotov as deputy chairman. On 22 November 1944, Nikolai Bulganin replaced Voroshilov as a member.
^Roberts, Geoffrey (2006). Stalin's Wars: From World War to Cold War, 1939-1953. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 95. ISBN9780300112047. Retrieved 2018-10-01. The State Defence Committee, or GKO, stood at the pinnacle of Stalin's decision-making system during the war [...]. As a sort of war cabinet chaired by Stalin, it was a political body charged with directing and controlling all aspects of the Soviet war effort.
Bibliography
Barber, John, and Harrison, Mark. (1991). The Soviet Home Front 1941–1945: A Social and Economic History of the USSR in World War II. London: Longman. ISBN0-582-00964-2, ISBN0-582-00965-0.
Werth, Alexander. (1964). Russia at War 1941–1945. New York: Carrol and Graf.
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Glantz, David M. When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army stopped Hitler. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1995. ISBN978-0-7006-0899-7 Overview of Eastern Front from Soviet side.
Roberts, Geoffrey. Stalin's Wars: From World War to Cold War, 1939–1953. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006. ISBN0-300-11204-1 Post-revisionist study of Stalin's wartime and post-war leadership.