Artillery Plant No. 235 of the People's Commissariat of Armaments. To the director of the plant, Comrade Chebotarev, the chief engineer, Comrade Gulyanets, the party organizer of the CC of the VKP(b), Comrade Ivantsov, the chairman of the plant committee, Comrade Shapovalenko, and the Komsomol organizer of the CC of the VLKSM, Comrade Shlyapnikov. July 4, 1945.

I congratulate the collective of workers, engineering and technical personnel, and employees of Artillery Plant No. 235 of the People's Commissariat of Armaments on the glorious occasion of the 185th anniversary of the founding of the plant and on a great production victory — the output of the fifty-two-thousandth cannon.

In the difficult conditions of wartime, the plant, as a result of the selfless labor of workers and engineering and technical personnel, grew into a powerful artillery enterprise and, by introducing advanced production techniques, organized mass output of artillery.

Thanks to your heroic labor, the Red Army received a continuous stream of first-class equipment and munitions, which ensured the rout of Hitlerite Germany and the victorious conclusion of the war.

I wish you new successes in the matter of producing cannons and peacetime output necessary for our national economy.

I. Stalin

Pravda. 1945. July 4.