Ground floor exposition
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The exposition on the ground floor is opened by the “Tank’s Ancestors” showcase. For centuries people had been trying to create a device which could both defend and attack. A knight in a suit of armor is the oldest ancestor of the tankman. Subsequent research went along the three lines: armor, engine and tracked running gear. But only by the end of the XIX century marked by the industrial revolution a tank became reality
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BIRTH OF THE RUSSIAN TANK-BUILDING INDUSTRY
Earliest Tanks.
They appeared just before World War I in different countries. Tsarist Russia was engulfed by revolutions at that time and could not implement the ideas of the first Russian tank engineers: V.D. Mendeleyev, A.A. Porokhovschikov and N.N. Lebedenko
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“Fighter for Freedom Comrade Lenin” and other 14 machines under similar names, as well as MS-1 (small accompanying tank) were the main combat vehicles of the 1920s.
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FORMATION OF KHARKOV TANK DESIGN OFFICE
As the country was getting more and more industrialized in late twenties, the Leningrad-based “Bolshevik” Factory of Leningrad and the Kharkov Locomotive Works named after the Communist International (later – Works ¹ 183) initiated the development of new tanks.
designed T-24 tracked medium tank. Engineer S.M. Makhonin demonstrated a model T-24 to the high command of the Red Army of the Workers and Peasants (RKKA) in Moscow.
Fast BT tanks.The RKKA High Command was seriously considering the production of light wheeled caterpillar tanks. Two Christie tanks were purchased in the US for this purpose. One of them was delivered to the Kharkov Locomotive Works.
I.N. Alexenko, Head of the Design Group, who disliked the idea of making light tanks, resigned from his office.
In 1931 BT-2, a light wheeled caterpillar tank based on Christie tank was created at the Works by a group led by N.M. Toskin, a military engineer.
In December 1931 A.O. Firsov
was appointed Head of the Design Office. Under his leadership the young engineers of the Works gained a vast technical and professional experience that enabled them to create such tanks as BT-5 and BT-7.
In 1936 Firsov was accused of sabotage due to malfunctions in the BT-7 gearboxes and sacked. In 1937 he was arrested.
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BT TANKS IN THE ARMED FORCES
Tankmen liked these fast-moving tanks that were affectionately nicknamed “Betushkas”. When compared to other tanks, the BTs were more agile, but that is why there were harder to drive.
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E.A. Kulchitsky, tank test operator, spared no effort nor skills when he was training tankmen in all the twists and turns of tank driving. BT used to become a real “flying fortress” when driven by Kulchitsky.
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Some improvements in the design of BT-IS and BT-20 tanks were introduced by tankmen themselves. Among them were N.F. Tziganov, artificer of an armor company and A.Y. Dik, adjunct of the RKKA Academy of Mechanization and Motorization.
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À.Ì. Parchinsky, ace tank driver (in the center)
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HEAD OF KHARKOV TANK DESIGN OFFICE
On December 28, 1936 M.I. Koshkin, a very experienced engineer and Communist Party organizer, was appointed Head of the Design Office of the Kharkov Works ¹ 183. He quickly puzzled out a difficult situation at the Design Office and set up a task: create a tank of the new generation while keeping the team intact and further improving the designs of the already manufactured tanks.
Mikhail Ilyich Koshkin. Medium tanks À-20, À-32 and the legendary Ò-34 were created under his guidance in the late 1930s.
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On December 19, 1939 the USSR Defense Committee adopted a decision to accept T-34 tank for service in RKKA.
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Tragic victory. On March 12, 1940 two T-34 tanks started their way from Kharkov to Moscow. Koshkin was in one of those tanks together with the experienced and reliable test operators. It was a hard snowy road, but the tanks arrived in Moscow and showed excellent test results. On March 31, 1940 they were approved for production at the factories in Kharkov and Stalingrad. The cost of that Kharkov – Moscow – Kharkov tank ride was Koshkin’s life. He caught a severe cold during the ride and on September 26, 1940 he died.
After Koshkin’s death A.A. Morozov was appointed Chief Designer and N.A. Kucherenko was appointed Head of the Design Office.
Leaders of the Design Office M.I. Koshkin (posthumously), À.À. Morozov, N.À. Kucherenko were awarded with 1st Degree Stalin Prize in 1942 for the design of new type of medium tank.
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HEART AND SOUL OF THE TANK
Team of the Design Office – people who took part in the creation and improvement of Ò-34 tank. 12 creative groups.
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Designers of high-speed tank diesel engine Â-2 (from L to R): K.F. Chelpan and Y.Å. Vikhman
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ON THE EVE OF THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR
Joint effort of the Main Armored Tank Directorate of the Red Army and the People’s Commissariat of Medium Machine Building in the arrangements for the serial production of Ò-34 (Kharkov Works ¹ 183 and Stalingrad Tractor Works).
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Creation of updated version - Ò-34Ì tank.
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By June 22, 1941 the Soviet troops were armed with more than one thousand Ò-34 tanks. Wehrmacht knew nothing about this tank.
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HEROISM OF TANK BUILDERS
War! On June 22, 1941 Hitler’s troops crossed the USSR frontier and invaded the country. Kharkov Works ¹ 183 and Stalingrad Tractor Works keep on making T-34s.
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Kharkov Works #183 is about to be evacuated. First train with the evacuees departs in September 1941. It is followed by another 40 trains. They all go to the town of Nizhny Tagil in Urals. This town must accommodate 5 factories evacuated from the European part of the country.
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Everything for the front, everything for the victory! This is the beginning of something that will later be called a miracle: in the incredibly hard conditions of life and work men, women and teenagers manage to release the first Urals-made T-34s. The tanks go to the frontline.
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Academician E.O Paton, the great expert in the theory of welding, works at the Urals Railcar Factory where the tanks are made. His invention, the automatic welding method, facilitates the technological process thus allowing to increase the tank output.
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Tank works help the front. Five more factories apart from the Urals Railcar Factory release T-34 tanks working on the basis of the blueprints made by Design Office 520 and introducing their additions and modifications. Stalingrad Tractor Works surrounded by Nazi troops stands till the bitter end.
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Union of the front and the backland. The entire country assists in the production of T-34s. Tank columns are formed for the funds raised by the population.
