prepared for the restoration of... the largest industrial enterprises, including the gomel agricultural machinery plant. in principle, for each branch, preparations were made such events. the documents envisaged a significant volume of restoration work, but the reality turned out to be much more tragic: the scale of destruction was incomparable with any calculations that were included in the decisions of the country's leadership. in november 1943, an impressive landing party of specialists, heads of industry departments, headed by the chairman of the supreme council of the bssr nadezhda grekova, arrived from moscow to liberated gomel, the first regional center of the republic. they had to assess the damage to the city and liberated areas. but it turned out to be difficult to do. gomel was in ruins. from the memoirs of nadezhda grekova, cold horror gripped her from what she saw, the buildings of all industrial and public utilities were destroyed and burned, the health care network, trade, all schools were completely destroyed, all historical monuments were looted and destroyed, the housing stock in the