 Complete the following phrase:  After the beginning of German invasion in June 1941, Yepishev became responsible for directing the war effort in the region: he mobilized the Kharkov peoples militia, of which he was the commissar, and organized partisan formations. In October 1941, shortly before the citys fall to the enemy, he was evacuated to the Urals, where he was appointed first secretary of the Party committee in Nizhny Tagil, and as such was responsible for the rebuilding of the arms factories transferred from the front line areas. In November 1942, he became the CPSU Central Committees commissioner for personnel matters. On 22 December 1942 he was also appointed Deputy Peoples Commissar for medium machine building. During the Battle of Stalingrad, he was briefly stationed in the Stalingrad Fronts military council. In February 1943, he was removed of all his posts and re-instated as the Kharkov party chief, as the Red Army seemed to 