85 years ago, on July 8, 1941, the Izhora Plant began manufacturing armored vehicles with 45 mm guns based on the ZIS-5.
At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the Izhora Plant was one of the leading enterprises of the Soviet tank industry. In addition, there was an Armored Institute at the Izhora Plant, which was later renamed NII-48. In the summer of 1941, a group of NII-48 engineers proposed the idea, which had been expressed even before the war, of booking production trucks and turning them into improvised armored vehicles. In the shortest possible time, a prototype of such an armored vehicle was manufactured on the chassis of a ZIS-5 three-ton truck. It was presented to members of the military Council of the Leningrad People’s Militia Army (LANO), after which the release of these armored cars was given the green light. On July 8, 1941, the decree of the Military Council of the Northern Front No. 53/ss was issued, according to which the Izhorsky Plant was obliged, in addition to the existing program, to produce 20 “installations of 45-mm guns on a semi-armored ZIS-5 machine.”
(With a 45mm cannon)
Additional shield covers were installed on the truck in front of the wheels of the gun, so that the crew was protected from the front and sides by armor. Inside the body, seats for crew numbers and ammunition nests were made. The cannon itself was mounted on the machine so that it could be quickly removed and re-installed. To simplify this procedure, a special device was installed at the tailgate. There were not enough 45-mm guns in Leningrad, so some of the armored cars were made with the installation of 20-mm ShVAK aircraft guns on a special machine.
(20mm ShVAK)
In total, the Izhora Plant handed over to the army from 200 to 250 armored vehicles on the ZIS-5 chassis. They were actively used during the defense of Leningrad.
- Оnly 45mm cannon
- Only 20mm ShVAK
- Nothing
- Two at once
I think it would be better to see a cannon in the event, and with an autocannon in an alternative pumping for “Legacy units” (joke)
Both will be great for events.
