The Ural Mountains, which belong to the central part of the Soviet Union, stretch for more than 2,000 kilometers from the bay of Baidarats in the Kara Sea of the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Kazakh steppe in the south, between the East European Plain and the Siberian Plain.

The mountains are generally not high, with an average altitude of 500 meters to 1200 meters; The people's peak at 1,894 meters in the subpolar region is the highest peak in the Urals.

This is the dividing line between Eurasia and Europe, and for the Soviets, the industrial construction of Europe has always been attached, and the Ural Mountains region was once a place of exile.

However, the Ural Mountains were a treasure trove of minerals in the Soviet Union, and its eastern slopes contained magnets, copper, aluminum, platinum, asbestos and other minerals; The western slope is rich in potash, oil and gas.

There are also a large number of forestry resources, the western slope is distributed with large broad-leaved forests and coniferous forests, and there are linden, oak, maple, birch and other tree species growing in the forest; The eastern slope is mostly larch, and broad-leaved forests are rare.

Such mineral resources, which were of great importance to the Soviets, along the mountains of the Ural Mountains, were scattered a number of cities, such as Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk, Perm, Ufa, Izhevsk, Olenburg, Nizhny Tagil, Magnitogorsk and Kurgan.

And now, the industry of these cities has developed enormously, because almost the entire industry of the western Soviet Union has been relocated.

Yekaterinburg is an important production base for machinery, Chelyabinsk is a well-known base for tanks and automobiles and steelmaking, as well as the most important railway hub, Magnitogorsk, Nizhny Tagil, Sverdlovsk and Ufa are part of the Ural Steelmaking Industrial Zone, a large industrial base for steelmaking, ironmaking, coal coking, coal mining and iron ore.

Nizhny Tagil, 183 plant.

The Soviet Union also often named factories after numerical numbers, and in later generations it was more often named after their place names, the Ural Mountain Locomotive Factory.

Stalin Ural Railway Rolling Stock Plant, after which, with the aggravation of the situation in Ukraine, the Kharkov Steam Locomotive Plant was relocated as a whole, and they synthesized the newest and larger Ural Mountain Locomotive Plant.

Now the locomotive factory is producing the T-34 tank day and night, although this tank does not have much technical advantage in front of the Germans, but it has a simple design and a large output to meet the needs of the Soviets.

Defeat your opponents with huge numbers!

Now there is a shortage of oil, but at the same time the Soviets are trying their best to increase oil production, and the bombed Second Baku is also resuming oil production, which has nothing to do with them.

They just need to produce good tanks.

At a critical juncture for the survival of the Soviets, the workers of the tank factories in Nizhny Tagil also burst out with great enthusiasm for production, and they continued to produce day and night even with only a few loaves of bread a day, and now the monthly output has reached an astonishing 700 vehicles!

This can be compared with Germany, although Germany has integrated European industry and distributed it by Krupp, Germany's most important Tiger tank, the monthly production of more than 400 units, which is already the total output of all factories.

And a tank factory in Nizhny Tagil can produce 700 tanks in a month!

At this time, a large number of tanks were already parked in the open space outside the factory, and these newly built tanks were waiting for railway transportation.

The Germans built a railway to transport iron ore from the Urals, and now this railway is playing a role in making it easier for them to transport it.

Even so, they have to wait for supplies to be dispatched because transportation is required in various places.

At the same time, right next to the tank plant, there was the corresponding tank design bureau, designated KB-520.

This design bureau has a long history, and they are the design team that once led by Koshkin and developed the famous T-34 tank.

It is a pity that Koshkin died young, which is embarrassing, and after that, the design bureau was headed by Koshkin's close friend, Alexander A. Morozov.

In times like these, they are quite nervous, and although there is an industrial base here, they are still facing a mess.

There is a shortage of rubber, a shortage of steel, a shortage of electrical equipment, and almost all the materials needed.

In this case, the design bureau had to improve the production of tanks, doing its best to save every ton of rubber, steel, armor steel, wires and all precious production materials.

As a result, almost all components of the prototype T-34 tank were modified to adapt to the harsh conditions of wartime. For example, iron castings were used instead of copper parts, and welding was used instead of rivets. The production process is greatly simplified, the production speed is faster, and the cost is reduced. This made a huge contribution to the mass production of the T-34 tank in wartime conditions.

As for the poor quality of the products? Of course, he doesn't have to worry about it, anyway, tanks don't live for an average of ten hours on the battlefield, as long as they can drive it.

Compared with Germany's excellence, the inside of the tank turret has a leather interior to keep the soldiers from kowtowing, and the Soviet tank, that is the difference between Rolls-Royce and Three Horses.

However, Morozov knew that it was not enough to produce these T-34s purely for consumption.

"Now we lack everything, and it is good to be able to complete the production tasks set by our superiors, and we simply do not have the ability to improve the tank." In the rudimentary conference room, Molotov's assistant, N-A. Kucherenko, said.

It's a new round of disputes, and such disputes have been going on almost since the start of production here.

Molotov wanted to improve the T-34.

"We can see that the current T-34 is purely the role of consuming the Germans' shells, and we can't even destroy the Germans' Tiger from behind, in this case, we are still producing backward T-34s, in fact, we are committing a crime, we must improve, we can't wait." Molotov stressed again.

Not to mention that because of the relationship with the departed Koshkin, I can't bear to see the fate of the T-34 today, just to cherish the lives of front-line soldiers, and it is necessary to improve the existing tanks.

"How?" Another assistant, A-V. Kolesnikov asked.

He was keenly aware of the change in Molotov's words, the other day, he was always shouting about the development of a new tank, but today, all of a sudden, it has become an improvement of the existing tank, maybe this is less difficult?

"We have a serious shortage of firepower, we have to improve the tank gun, according to the existing artillery, it is most suitable to improve with an 85-mm anti-aircraft gun, and at the same time, expand our bottom seat, increase the turret space, change to a three-person turret." Molotov said.

(It is also said that this 85mm gun was born from a cannon?) ）