Chapter 898 German-Soviet War (121)

Due to geographical and climatic factors, Russia's traditional industrial areas are mainly distributed in the European part.

During the Soviet period, Stalin learned the lessons of the Tsarist Russian Empire and intended to expand the industrial area eastward. The famous Ural Industrial Zone was established near the Ural Mountains at the junction of Europe and Asia. The Ural Mountains region is rich in mineral deposits, including various magnetite, copper, nickel, bauxite, chromite, gold, and platinum deposits. Soon, the Ural Industrial Zone developed into a heavy industrial zone integrating mining, metallurgy, chemical industry, machinery, etc.

History has proved that this was a very wise decision. In World War II, the German army lacked heavy strategic bombers, and the range of tactical bombers was not enough. Even if they took off from near Moscow, they could not reach the Ural Industrial Zone. In addition to the interception of the Soviet ground air defense forces and the air force along the way, the German army has not been able to destroy the military industrial zone in the eastern part of the Soviet Union. These industrial zones in the rear won enough time for the Soviet Union. After receiving support from Britain, the United States and other countries, the Soviet side gradually changed from passive to active.

This time, the same situation happened. The Soviets were caught in the German blitzkrieg before they could move the facilities in the front-line industrial zone. Although the Germans looked down on these backward facilities, they were of paramount importance to the Soviet Union. What was even more terrible was that the Americans did provide a lot of supplies, but the Soviets gave priority to transporting American weapons and soldiers. As a result, the Far East rebelled before many advanced lathes and processing equipment were transported!

The rebellion in the Far East was a huge blow to the Soviet Union. Stalin was bedridden for a long time before he recovered a little.

Fortunately, the Germans did not attack Moscow immediately. It seemed that they would have to wait until next spring to launch an offensive, and Zhukov also took this opportunity to build Moscow's fortifications with all his strength. Counterattacks were not expected. After all, the winter war between the Soviet Union and Finland had cast a great shadow on the Soviet army. What if a rash counterattack angered the Germans and they started fighting directly? They would still suffer at that time. It was better to honestly explode troops in this winter and wait until the Spring Festival next year for a decisive battle.

"Can't we produce a few more?" Zhukov in the combat command center looked at the tank production report in his hand and couldn't help sighing. In the past week, the total output of tanks in Moscow's factories was only 200 taels, and including those produced in the rear, it was less than 500. Among them, the output of the IS-2 tank, which he valued most, was less than 50!

The IS-2 tank is a milestone in the history of world tank development. It is the world's first heavy tank with a 122mm L43 main gun. The frontal armor reached about 100 to 160 mm. Among the active tank models in Germany at that time, except for the Tiger series tanks, Ferdinand destroyers, and Jagdpanther destroyers that could confront them head-on, other tanks could only attack at close range or shoot black guns to pose a threat to Stalin's IS-2 tanks.

In addition, in order to make up for the performance disadvantage of its own tank optical sights, the Soviet army also ordered a full 1,000 sets of original M4 Sherman sighting systems from the United States. Unfortunately, only 500 sets arrived in Moscow, and the other 500 sets were detained in the Far East. These 500 aiming systems were installed on the newly produced IS-2 tanks to improve the accuracy of their firepower and give them the ability to fight against the main tanks of the German army.

However, Zhukov could not be happy at all. The intelligence department received news that the Germans had mastered all the data of this tank, and there were even several imitation IS-2s at the German test site.

But the Soviet Union had no time to develop new tanks, and could only bite the bullet and continue to produce this tank that no longer had any secrets. But even so, the production speed was still unsatisfactory. At the current production speed, when the Germans launched an attack next spring, they might not even be able to equip 1,000 IS-2 tanks. "Can some T-26 production lines be improved to produce IS-2?" At this time, the T-26 was completely outdated and there was no need to continue production. "Even if the daily output increased by one, can't we think of a way?"

"But in that case..." The officer in charge of military logistics wiped the sweat from his face and spoke carefully. "If we reduce the production line of T-26, we will not be able to meet the quantitative target of self-propelled artillery. This is an order issued by Comrade Stalin himself." If he fails to complete the order issued by Comrade Stalin himself, he will not have a good result.

Today's Soviet Union is just like the German army in the original time and space. All armored vehicles that can be found are converted into anti-tank self-propelled artillery. For example, a ZIS-3 2mm cannon is installed on the T-26 chassis, which becomes the SU-76 self-propelled artillery.

This thing has made many contributions in the Battle of Leningrad in the original time and space. At that time, the Leningrad defenders were seriously lacking tanks and other support units, and the infantry could only resist the German attack in bunkers and fortifications.

Factory No. 174 was ordered to try to install the ZIS-3 2mm cannon on the tank chassis so that these precious artillery can be used for mobile support on various defense lines in the defensive battle. After much deliberation, the factory workers decided to remove the turret of the T-26 light tank and install a ZIS-3 2mm cannon on it to use as a self-propelled artillery piece.

These self-propelled guns that were urgently modified were urgently named SU-76 self-propelled guns by the Leningrad Soviet Command. Because they were urgently modified, their workmanship was very rough. Basically, the turret of the T-26 light tank was dismantled and the ZIS-3 self-propelled gun was welded on it. The only thing protecting the crew members was the armor of the tank chassis itself, and there was only a thin layer of armor outside the fixed combat room. Of course, it is better to say that it is a thin layer of iron plate than armor.

However, the performance of this self-propelled gun exceeded everyone's expectations. The ZIS3 2mm cannon can not only fire high-explosive shells and shrapnel in a curved manner to suppress the soft targets of the German army, but also fire armor-piercing shells to hit the German tanks and retreat before the German army reacted, making a great contribution to the victory of the Battle of Leningrad.

"And our workers have been working day and night and working overtime to produce." In this extreme case, no one dares to guarantee how many bubbles and impurities are inside the steel body of the one-piece cast turret. If the production volume is increased, the quality will probably drop.

Zhukov sighed again. Since it was an order issued by Comrade Stalin himself, he could not say anything.

At the current production rate, they will have 15,000 tanks by next spring.

The number seems to be large, but Zhukov cannot guarantee how many of them can really pose a threat to the German tanks.