Chapter 1585 Lower Tagil

The Ural Mountains, which belong to the central part of the Soviet Union, start from the Baidarac Bay in the Kara Sea of ​​the Arctic Ocean in the north and extend to the Kazakh steppe in the south, stretching for more than 2,000 kilometers, between the Eastern European Plain and the Siberian Plain.

The mountains are generally not high, with an average elevation of 500 meters to 1200 meters; the Renmin Peak of 1894 meters in the subpolar region is the highest peak in the Urals.

This is the dividing line between the Eurasian continent. For the Soviets, they have always attached great importance to the industrial construction of Europe. In the past, the Ural Mountains area was simply a place for exiles.

However, the Ural Mountains are a treasure trove of mineral deposits in the Soviet Union. Its eastern slope contains minerals such as magnets, copper, aluminum, platinum, and asbestos; the western slope contains potash, oil and natural gas.

There are also a lot of forestry resources. There are large areas of broad-leaved forest and coniferous forest on the west slope. Linden, oak, maple, birch and other tree species grow in the forest. Most of the east slope is larch, and broad-leaved forest is rare. .

Such mineral resources, which were of vital importance to the Soviets, along the mountains of the Ural Mountains, there were cities such as Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk, Perm, Ufa, Ige Vsk, Olenburg, Nizhny Tagil, Magnitogorsk and Kurgan, etc.

Now, the industries in these cities have developed tremendously, because almost all the industries in the western part of the Soviet Union have been relocated.

Ekaterinaburg is an important machinery production base, Chelyabinsk is a famous tank and automobile base and a steelmaking base, as well as the most important railway hub, Magnitogorsk, Nizhny Tagil, Sver Places such as Dlovsk and Ufa are part of the Ural Steelmaking Industrial Zone and are large industrial bases for steelmaking, ironmaking, coal coking, coal mining and iron ore mining.

Nizhny Tagil, 183 Factory.

The Soviet Union also often named factories with numerical numbers. In later generations, they were more named after their place names, Ural Mountain Locomotive Factory.

It used to be the I.V. Stalin Ural Railway Vehicle Factory. Later, as the situation in Ukraine deteriorated, the Kharkiv Steam Locomotive Factory was relocated as a whole, and they synthesized the latest and larger Ural Mountain Locomotive Factory.

Now, the T-34 tank is being produced day and night in the locomotive factory. Although this tank does not have much technical advantages in front of the Germans, its simple design and large output meet the needs of the Soviets.

Defeat your opponents with huge numbers!

There is a shortage of oil now, but the Soviets are also trying their best to increase oil production. The bombed Second Baku is also restoring oil production. These have nothing to do with them.

They just need to produce good tanks.

At the critical juncture of life and death for the Soviets, the workers of the tank factory in Nizhny Tagil also broke out with great enthusiasm for production. With only a few pieces of bread a day, they still produce day and night. The current monthly output, It has reached a staggering 700!

This can be compared with Germany. Although Germany has integrated the European industry and is coordinated by Krupp, the monthly output of Germany's most important Tiger tank does not exceed 400, which is already the total output of all factories.

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

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

In order to transport iron ore from the Ural Mountains, the Germans built a special railway. Now, this railway has played a role in making their transportation more convenient.

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 factory, there is a corresponding tank design bureau, codenamed KB-520.

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

It is a pity that Koshkin died at a young age, which makes people sigh. After that, the design bureau was led 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 everything needed.

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

Therefore, almost all parts of the prototype T-34 tank have been modified to adapt to this difficult wartime environment. For example, copper parts are replaced by iron castings, and rivets are replaced by welding. The production procedure is greatly simplified, the production speed is accelerated and the cost is reduced. This contributed greatly to the mass production of the T-34 tank in wartime conditions.

As for the poor quality of the product? Of course, he didn't have to worry about it. Anyway, the tank would not survive on the battlefield for an average of ten hours, as long as it could be driven.

Compared with Germany's excellence, the interior of the tank turret has leather interiors to keep soldiers from kowtowing. The Soviet tank is the difference between Rolls-Royce and Sanmazi.

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

"Now we lack everything. It's good to be able to complete the production tasks set by the superior. We simply don't have the ability to improve the tank." In the humble conference room, Molotov's assistant, N-A-Kuchelian Ko said.

It is simply a new round of disputes. Such disputes have started almost since the production here.

Molotov wants to improve the T-34.

"We can see that the current T-34 is purely to consume the German shells, and we can't even destroy the German Tiger from behind. In this case, we still produce the backward T-34, in fact It's a crime, we have to improve, we can't wait." Molotov emphasized again.

Not to mention that because of the relationship with the departing Koshkin, I can't bear to see the T-34's end today, just to cherish the lives of front-line soldiers, and we must improve the existing tanks.

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

He was keenly aware that Molotov's words had changed. A few days ago, he had been calling for the development of new tanks, but today, it has suddenly become an improvement of existing tanks. Maybe this is less difficult?

"Our firepower is seriously insufficient, and we must improve the tank guns. We should choose the existing guns. It is the most appropriate to use 85mm anti-aircraft guns to improve. At the same time, we should expand our bottom seat ring, increase the turret space, and change it to three people. Turrets," Molotov said.

(There is also a saying that this 85mm gun is a cannon?)