Mikhail was right, attracting investment is an extremely tedious thing. The next day, the Minister of Agriculture and the Minister of Industry and Commerce were called to have a meeting, and Anna sets the tone for them: American funds are of course important, but Russia's economic lifeline must be in the hands of Russians, especially in heavy industries, and the shares held by foreign investors must be limited to a certain proportion!

Russia has a vast land with a population of 120 million. The market is extremely huge, and opportunities to make money are everywhere. The United States, which has completed the development of the western region, has a huge amount of capital that it has is ready to move, and American businessmen and entrepreneurs will naturally cherish this opportunity. Starting from July, with the close cooperation between the top leaders of the United States and Russia, a large number of representatives of American companies entered Russia. They visited Russian cities, villages, mining areas, oil fields, and railways...

Then, the American expert team, equipment and funds poured into Russia like a craze. Now, the Russian economy received a steady stream of sufficient blood, and many large military factories were able to start construction. Among them, the Kharkov Locomotive Factory and the Petersburg Tractor Factory received the greatest attention.

As early as after joining the war in 1914, the Central Administration of Defense Industry was established with the support of Anna. In this system, a department in charge of the design and manufacturing of "tanks", which is called the General Design Bureau of Tanks. Of course, the term "tanks" is not understood by other engineers and experts except Anna. In response, Anna explained: "Tanks" are the confidential name for large combat vehicles. What you want to develop is an enhanced armored vehicle!"

The task of this design bureau is to develop tracked combat vehicles and assist the factory in establishing production lines, making the drawings a practical product. However, due to the lack of necessary tools and equipment, the early work of the design bureau was almost ineffective - until now. However, as a time traveler, Anna prepared for the future. Under her arrangement, the General Tank Design Bureau of the State Administration of Tanks still cooperated with several domestic machinery manufacturers with relatively strong strength, organized technical forces and production equipment, established tank production enterprises, and prepared for the birth of domestic tanks. Kharkov Locomotive Factory is Anna's most satisfied machinery manufacturing factory. It designed and manufactured track tractors in 1913, and had production equipment and certain experience in producing tracked vehicles, which laid a good foundation for the establishment of tank production lines.

In early 1915, at the meeting of ministers, Alexey announced the order that "the establishment of tank and tractor production lines in the Kharkov region should be considered immediately." According to this order, in February 1915, the Kharkov Locomotive Factory selected several tractor designers to form a tank design team, led by a young mechanical engineer, Ivan Alekshenko.

The initial task of this design team was to work closely with the General Tank Design Bureau to design a fast tank, with the project code 1-12-32, and provide design drawings to the factory and participate in the preparations for the establishment of a tank production line. With the expansion of the scope of the design work, in March 1915, the Kharkov Locomotive Factory was allowed to expand the scale of the design team and recruit eight more designers. These eight designers were all recommended by Anna, namely: Alferov, Bondalenko, Kolyon, Tykarov, Doroshenko, Kirilenko, Alexander Molozov, and Polyakov.

The eight designers are all very young, and the oldest is only 46 years old. They don’t know that in a few years, future generations will call them “the pioneers of the Russian tank industry.”

............

The battle on the Western Front continued. Betton left Verdun on April 28 to command the Central Army Group, replaced by General Robert Nevel, who instilled a firm attack in his troops. Later, after the German army was stopped in Verdun, Nevel's slogan "They shall not pass" became the country's battle slogan. Germany continued to achieve a slight but profound victory until May, when the British and French coalition's Somme offensive caused Falgenhan to change the direction he sent manpower and supplies. From then on, Germany had neither new divisions nor large amounts of ammunition to Verdun.

On October 21, France used 170,000 troops, more than 700 artillery and 150 aircraft to retake the Duomont Fort. From then on, the German army was constantly being knocked back by yards and yards. By December 15, the exhausted German army threw Verdun to the French army. During ten months of killing, the troops of both sides fired more than 40 million artillery shells, plus countless millions of bullets. When the continuous artillery bombardment, flamethrowers, poison gas and hand-to-hand infantry charges could not shake the French defenders, German engineers dug holes under the French positions, exploded powerful blasting mines, and exploded many ten-story-deep pits.

As early as midsummer of 1916, the German Emperor understood that Fergenhan's tactics also caused Germany to run out of blood. He was forced to resign on August 28, and without any pretext for his relegation, Fergenhan was pushed to the position of commander of the army on the Balkans. Hindenburg replaced him as chief of staff, with Rudendolf as his first army quarantine commander, which was equivalent to his deputy.

............

On the Somme battlefield, the two sides of the battle surrounded the battlefield and built two layers, three or even four barriers composed of countless cannons. Railways were built behind the barriers to provide supplies, and shells were piled up like mountains. All of these were the result of months of hard work. Therefore, this battlefield was surrounded by thousands of artillery types, leaving a wide oval space between the artillery teams. All divisions of each unit, with the constant slam of cannons around, penetrated through this terrible arena, as if they were the teeth of two biting gears milling each other.

The most violent uninterrupted bombardment lasted month and month; the mighty army of heroes was beaten to pieces in this terrible turn. Then winter came, and the downpour from the sky made people unable to move, and a fog rose before their cannon eagles. In the arena—as often happened in the amphitheater of the Roman era—floods flooded. Thousands of vehicles, hundreds of thousands of soldiers and millions of shells stirred the boundless mud into blood-red mud, replacing the dust raised by the explosion. The battle continued. The ruthless vehicles were still turning. Countless cannons were still roaring. In the end, the soldiers' legs were no longer able to move, and they had to roll and struggle in despair. Their food and weapons and ammunition fell on the road behind them that was blown up and blocked.

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Chapter completed!