On the afternoon of February 1942, a ZIS-101-Sport (super) car drove into the Stalin Automobile Plant in Moscow. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

This car factory is the manufacturer of this sports car, and the owner of the fastest sports car in the whole Soviet Union is Manturov, deputy chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR.

Manturov drove the car in front of the main building of the factory and stopped next to the statue of Lenin.

Wearing a suit and black-rimmed glasses, he stepped out of the car, and before he stepped into the administrative building, he saw a familiar figure.

The acquaintance that Manturov saw was none other than Ivan Aleksandrovich Likhachev, the director of the Stalin Automobile Plant and former People's Commissar of the Medium Machine Building - Ivan Alexandrovich Likhachev, who walked out of the door of the administrative building, walked to Manturov's car and said: "Comrade Manturov, welcome to the Stalin Automobile Plant. ”

"Comrade Likhachev, how did you know that I was coming here?" Manturov did not inform the factory of his visit, and it stands to reason that no one should know about his visit.

But how could Likhachev, without receiving any notice, appear at the gate of the factory at the gate of the factory at the beginning of Manturov's arrival, and specially greet this "distinguished guest"?

"When I saw your ZIS-101-Sport upstairs just now, I knew you were coming, so I came down to greet you."

It turned out that Manturov's sports car was too conspicuous, it was the work of the Stalin Automobile Plant, and it was also the only sports car still in use in the entire Soviet Union (the other ZIS-101-Sport were put in the warehouse and dusted), and everyone in the entire Stalin Automobile Plant knew that the owner of this only sports car was Manturov.

"Comrade Likhachev," Manturov said, locking the door, and said to Likhachev: "I came to the Stalin Automobile Plant this time, not to buy or repair cars, but to learn about the production and research and development of trucks and half-tracks. ”

"Okay, this way, please."

Manturov, led by Likhachev, came to the office of the plant director, and before he could sit down, he could not wait to ask: "How many trucks were produced at the Stalin Automobile Plant in 1941?" ”

"In terms of trucks, about 30,000 were produced, most of which were ZIS-5 trucks (with a load capacity of 3 tons), and a small number of ZIS-6 trucks (with a load capacity of 5 tons)."

"As far as I know, the total production of cars at the Stalin Automobile Plant in 1937 amounted to 60,000 units. If you temporarily stop production of cars and buses and use all of your production capacity to produce trucks and half-tracks, will you be able to increase the annual production of trucks and half-tracks to 60,000 units? ”

Likhachev replied: "This is absolutely no problem, after the completion of the plant expansion, we can increase the production of trucks to 60,000 or even 70,000 per year without stopping the production of cars and buses." ”

"Of course I know that," Manturov, as People's Commissar of Construction, of course, knows what the scale of the plant can be after the expansion, but what about before the expansion is completed? "So, if you concentrate all your production resources on trucks and half-tracks before the expansion is completed, will you be able to increase the production of trucks and half-tracks to 50,000 units per year?"

Likhachev thought for a moment and said: "This is a bit difficult, but we will try our best to achieve this goal." ”

"You can absolutely do it," Manturov said, remembering some data, "as far as I know, after the expansion in 1934, the maximum production capacity of the Stalin Automobile Plant was already able to reach the level of 100,000 vehicles per year, and it should be possible to increase the production of trucks to the level of 60,000 vehicles." ”

"This ...... It should be fine. ”

"It's fine." "This is a critical period, our Soviet Workers' and Peasants' Red Army is outnumbered in 10 million men, but there are never enough trucks and half-tracks to supply the logistics, so you must produce as many military transport vehicles as possible in the shortest possible time to meet the needs of the army," Manturov reminded. ”

"Okay, I promise we'll do our best to produce as many trucks as possible."

"That's good." After explaining the task of truck production, Manturov had to understand the second key task, that is, the development and production of the half-track, "So, how is the development and production of the half-track carried out?" ”

"Not so long ago, our work on the refinement of the ZIS-22M half-track vehicle was completed, the new half-track transporter was designated ZIS-42, a prototype has already been produced, it is at the testing stage, most of the test projects have not found problems, and it should be ready for production soon.

And the production of ZIS-22M has now been increased to the level of 5 units per day, and 600 units have been supplied to the army. It is expected that we will be able to increase to 10 vehicles per day by June this year, aiming to produce 8,000 vehicles in 1942. ”

"Very good, the production progress of the halftrack seems to be good, but it still needs to be improved." Manturov asked the next question: "Well, what is the state of production of the ZIS-41 half-track armored car?" ”

"To date, the Stalin Automobile Plant has produced a total of 204 ZIS-41 half-track armored vehicles, of which 180 are armed with 122 mm caliber M-30 howitzers, and the remaining 24 are armed with ZIS-2 (57mm caliber) anti-tank guns."

"Only 204? This number is still a little less, and it needs to be improved. ”

"Comrade Manturov," Likhachev explained, "in fact, we are able to produce more, but now the supply of M-30 howitzers and ZIS-2 anti-tank guns is too small, and the number of artillery guns that our factories have received is not large, so for the time being we have not been able to carry out larger-scale production." ”

Manturov finally understood the reason why the production of the ZIS-41 was so low, the ZIS-2 anti-tank gun equipped with this half-track self-propelled gun has always had the problem of high cost and low production, in 1941 a total of only 371 units were produced, and in December 1941 it was discontinued, and it was already very good that the Stalin Automobile Plant could get 24 units.

Although the production of the M-30 howitzer was considerable, in 1941 2762 were produced, but the vast majority of the M-30 howitzers were sent to the front to replenish the existing artillery units, and the Stalin Automobile Plant received only 180 guns, all of which were used to produce ZIS-41 half-track self-propelled guns.

"I see." "Thank you for your efforts, I will report to the National Defense Committee on the shortage of artillery, so that the relevant factories can increase the production and supply of artillery, and I will strive for more resources and personnel for the Stalin Automobile Plant to help you expand the scale of production and increase production," Manturov said. ”

"Okay, Comrade Manturov, thank you for your support of the Stalin Automobile Plant."