July 11, 1937 is a significant date in the history of the domestic tractor industry. On this day 80 years ago, the Stalingrad (STZ), now Volgograd (VgTZ), tractor plant began mass production of the well-known and deservedly popular caterpillar agricultural. tractor STZ-NATI.
The history of the creation of this tractor is an example of the effective combination of efforts of several teams of designers and scientists.
Back in 1926-1930. when choosing a production facility for the STZ under construction, mechanical engineering scientists and farmers understood that for the soil and climatic conditions of most regions of the USSR and taking into account the ongoing collectivization of agriculture, it is more suitable crawler. Stopped the complexity of the design and increased material consumption. Therefore, the choice fell on the wheeled vehicle of the American company McCormick-Deering, which received the STZ-1 or STZ-15 / 30 brand in the USSR, the production of which began in 1930 in Stalingrad, and in 1931 - under the brand XTZ-1 or KhTZ-15/30 and at the Kharkov Tractor Plant.
But already in 1932, by order of the then existing All-Union Automobile and Tractor Association (VATO), specifically for the development of a new caterpillar agricultural. tractor at the STZ, the Design and Experimental Department (KEO) was formed, which was headed by a competent engineer V.G.
The designers of the STZ, together with scientists from the Scientific Research Tractor Institute (NATI) and on a competitive basis - the designers of KhTZ, were ordered to replace the STZ-1 (KhTZ-1) to develop a caterpillar tractor that could be used both in agriculture and as a military tractor.
Manufactured in the spring of 1933, the first Stalingrad model called "Komsomolets" (type A), the development of which was based on the English military tractor "Carden-Loyd" (Light Dragon Mk.1) from Vickers-Armstrong, turned out to be unsuccessful ( underdevelopment of the diesel engine and other components, overweight, non-optimal set of speeds for a dual-purpose vehicle, uneven weight distribution along the sides, difficult access to some units, and most importantly, insufficient visibility to the guns mounted at the rear). But the developers have found that it is not possible to create one machine that meets different, often conflicting requirements. The decision proposed by NATI specialists was made to design widely unified, but different machines for two purposes.

English artillery tractor "Carden-Loyd" company "Vickers-Armstrong", which served as a prototype for the Stalingrad "Komsomolets"

The designers of the STZ under the leadership of V.G. Stankevich, together with a group of NATI specialists under the leadership of V.Ya. Slonimsky (according to some sources, the general management was carried out by P.S. not 2, but 3 caterpillar tractors: agricultural STZ-3, transport STZ-5 and tractor STZ-6. The machines had highly unified engines, gearboxes, rear axles, final drives, running systems, frames.
The main participants in the development are the designers of KEO STZ I.I. Drong (later the chief designer of MTZ), V.A. Kargopolov (later the chief designer of STZ), G.F. Matyukov, G.V. , V.E.Malakhovsky, I.I.Trepenenkov, V.N.Tyulyaev, D.A.Chudakov.
Prototypes were made and tested. On July 16, 1935, at the NATI experimental field in Likhobory near Moscow, a demonstration was held to the country's leadership of both the STZ tractors and the B-30/40 tractors (own design) and GT-35/50 (an exact copy of the tractor of the American company McCormick). According to the results of tests and a comparative demonstration, preference was given to STZ tractors, largely due to the use of elastic rather than semi-rigid suspension. The specialists of STZ, KhTZ and NATI were instructed to form a joint design bureau, to complete the design and prepare the STZ-3 tractor for mass production by its forces.

Samples of STZ-3, made according to the revised documentation, in 1935-1936. successfully passed comprehensive tests, which were also supervised by NATI specialists M.A. Yakobi and V.N. Tyulyaev. In parallel, preparations were made for production. When finalizing the tractor, in particular, it was equipped with a cab; due to lack of production in the USSR fuel equipment instead of a diesel engine, a carburetor engine had to be used.
To emphasize the contribution of NATI employees to the creation of this machine, it was given the STZ-NATI brand (or STZ-NATI 1TA). On May 15, 1937, the last STZ-1 tractor, head. No. 207036, and on July 11 of the same year the first serial STZ-NATI came off. In the same year, the production of a tractor under the brand name SHTZ-NATI (or KhTZ-NATI) was also mastered in Kharkov. During the Great Patriotic War (WWII), the manufacture of this tractor with the active participation of the evacuated workers of KhTZ and STZ under the brand name ASKhTZ-NATI (or ATZ-NATI) was also organized at the Altai Tractor Plant.

Longitudinal section of the tractor STZ-NATI

Engine 1 MA tractor STZ-NATI

Distinctive features of the STZ-NATI tractor were:
- which has become a classic layout with a front engine, rear - transmission and tractor driver's cab above it; fuel tank located between the engine and the cab;
- a carrier system in the form of an open riveted frame, on which all the main components of the tractor were attached, the frame consisted of 2 channel spars and 4 cross-links: a cast beam in front with supports for the crank axles of the guide wheels, 2 forged transverse beams in the middle parts with trunnions for suspension carriages and a steel pipe at the rear, which was also the axis of the driven gears of the final drives;
- in-line 4-cylinder carburetor, running on kerosene (the possibility of working on naphtha is also mentioned) overhead valve 4-cylinder 1MA liquid-cooled engine with full support crankshaft; fuel entered the LKZ-50V carburetor by gravity; to improve mixture formation, the engine had an adjustable system for heating the working mixture with exhaust gases; air cleaner - inertial-oil (type "Pomona"); to prevent detonation at maximum operating conditions, when the developed power exceeded 40-42 hp., water was also supplied to the engine cylinders; lubrication system - combined with oil cooling in the heat exchanger with air supplied to the engine; cooling system - forced, 4-bladed radiator fan was driven from the roller of the centrifugal engine regulator by a V-belt; spark ignition - from high voltage magneto CC4; engine start - on gasoline with a safe starting handle;
- friction single-disk permanently closed clutch mounted on the engine flywheel, connected to the transmission by a semi-rigid cardan gear with gear (spline) connections; for a quick stop of the driven shaft after switching off, the clutch is equipped with a brake;
- mechanical two-shaft gearbox with sliding gears, providing 4 forward and 1 reverse gears; lubrication of gears and bearings of the box, as well as the main gear and final drives - by splashing; the box body was attached to the front wall of the case rear axle;
- rear axle with bevel main gear, on-board multi-plate friction clutches of dry friction of the turning mechanism and band stop brakes; single-stage final drives were attached to the side surfaces of the rear axle housing; clutch and brake control was interlocked; the gearbox and rear axle unit was attached to the frame at 3 points: 1 in front and 2 in the rear;
- elastic balancing suspension with 4 track rollers on board; the rollers are interlocked by 2 in carriages mounted on the trunnions of the transverse bars of the frame; cylindrical helical springs are used as elastic suspension elements;
- front guide wheels with spring shock-absorbing and screw tensioners each;
- Tracks with lightweight cast 5-eye links and an open hinge with floating pins; engagement with driving wheels - pulling; the upper branch of each caterpillar was supported by 2 rollers;
- a tow hitch of a rigid type (according to modern classification, a towing device of the TSU-1Zh type), consisting of a towing bracket and a harness eye with a king pin, with adjustment of the position of the eye in width and height;
- rear dependent power take-off (as it was then called "power take-off") with a speed of 526 rpm, which, if necessary, could be retrofitted with a flat-belt drive pulley (735 rpm), reversible by rearranging the drive gear.
- electrical equipment with rated voltage 6 V, including the GBT-4541 generator with a capacity of 65 (according to other information 60) Tue, 2 front, 1 rear lights, a plug box for connecting external consumers on the right wing behind the cab and a switch box on the instrument panel;
- for the first time in the world installed on page - x. tractor semi-closed cab with 2-seater soft seat. The cabs of tractors from different factories differed: the STZ tractor had an all-metal cab with an inclined front and low side walls, the KhTZ and ATZ tractors had a vertical front and high side walls.

Main technical characteristics of the STZ-NATI tractor: - weight: - operational - 5100 kg; - structural (dry) - 4800 kg; - overall dimensions: - length - 3698 mm; - width - 1861 mm; - height - 2211 mm; - longitudinal base - 1622 mm; - gauge - 1435 mm; - track width - 390 mm; - track pitch - 170 mm; - average pressure on the soil - 0.33 kgf/cm2; - ground clearance - 339 mm; - engine: - cylinder diameter - 125 mm; - piston stroke - 152 mm: - working volume - 7.46 l; - compression ratio - 4; - power - 52 hp. at 1250 rpm; - specific fuel consumption - 305 g/l.s.h.; - number of gears forward / backward - 4/1; - movement speeds (theoretical), km/h, on gears: - forward I - 3.82; II - 4.53; III - 5.28; IV - 8.04; - back - 3.12; - range of tractive effort (on the stubble) - 1000-2600 kgf.

The Kharkov SHTZ-NATI (like the Altai ASKhTZ-NATI) differed from the Stalingrad STZ-NATI mainly in the cabin design

When designing the STZ-NATI tractor, its creators adhered to the principle of “not inventing, but designing” and put into the tractor advanced for that period, proven technical solutions. The car turned out to be both original and successful, significantly superior to the STZ-1 in terms of operational and technological indicators. With a 73% more powerful engine, it developed twice the hook power, tractive power and fuel consumption per unit of work performed (per hectare) was 10-15% (and according to some reports even 25%) more economical. Specific material consumption of caterpillar STZ-NATI - 90.4 kg/hp- was only 2.8% higher than that of the wheeled STZ-1.

Traction performance on the field prepared for sowing of the STZ-NATI tractor (solid lines) in comparison with STZ-1 (dashed lines)

The high technical level of the STZ-NATI tractor is evidenced by the fact that at the international exhibition in Paris in 1938 it was deservedly awarded the "Grand Prix". And the head of work on the tractor from NATI, V.Ya. Slonimsky, was awarded the Stalin Prize in 1941. Unfortunately, another leader in the creation of the tractor - the chief designer of the STZ V.G. Stankevich - was repressed in 1938.
Following STZ-NATI, the Stalingrad tractor builders at the end of 1937 mastered the production of the transport tractor STZ-5, and then the swamp modification STZ-8.

The transport tractor STZ-5 (or STZ-NATI 2TV) had a closed 2-seater front cab, behind which a body was installed for transporting up to 8 people and cargo, a 5-speed gearbox (forward speed range - 2.35 - 20, 9 km/h), more suitable for speed car fine-linked caterpillars (in increments of 86 mm), rubber-coated road wheels and support rollers, was completed with a winch located at the rear. Curb weight - 5840 kg. The tractor could tow a trailer weighing up to 4500 kg. The range on the highway was 145 km.
STZ-5 was produced about 10 thousand, it became the main light tractor in the Red Army during the Second World War. Various military vehicles were assembled on the basis of STZ-5, incl. jet systems BM-13 "Katyusha", tankers.

The STZ-8 swamp tractor had guide wheels lowered to the ground and widened (asymmetric) tracks. The increase in the base and width of the tracks made it possible to significantly reduce the pressure on the soil and increase the permeability.
The tractor-tractor STZ-6, which remained in the prototypes, had the same layout as the basic STZ-NATI, and the chassis and gearbox, like the transport STZ-5.
On the basis of SHTZ-NATI, Kharkiv residents developed and manufactured in the amount of about 16 thousand gas-generating tractor KhTZ-2G, which worked on solid wood fuel. Together with the All-Union Institute for Electrification of Agriculture (VIESH), they created the KhTZ-12 electric tractor with a capacity of 38 kW powered by a cable from a high voltage network, produced by an experimental batch of 39 machines. September-October 1941. in Kharkov on the basis of page - x. even a light KhTZ-16 tank was produced for tractors; there is information that several of these tanks were assembled at the STZ.

At the Altai Tractor Plant during the Second World War, on the basis of ASKhTZ-NATI, a military tractor ATZ-3T was developed.

Drawing developed in 1942 in Rubtsovsk on the basis of the ASKhTZ-NATI tractor, the ATZ-3T tractor

In the course of production, especially in the post-war years, the STZ-NATI tractor was constantly improved. In particular, the following were implemented:
- an anti-knock engine combustion chamber, which made it possible to refuse to supply water to the cylinders;
- more reliable final drives with steel centering cups and mechanical seals of bearing units running system;
- suspension carriages with a modified, simpler and more technologically advanced installation of springs-springs in balancer cups;
- two-stage oil cleaning and oil cooler in the engine lubrication system;
- the possibility of installing additional parts in the gearbox, providing one more, slow motion, transmission;
- connecting the clutch to the gearbox cardan shaft with elastic rubber bushings (silent blocks) instead of semi-rigid;
- fuel tank increased from 170 to 230 l volume (due to the rejection of the water tank), etc.
Many of the advanced and successful technical solutions applied at STZ-NATI were later used in the design of the DT-54 tractor and various subsequent models of VgTZ, KhTZ, and in the Chinese YTO.

06/17/1944 The first STZ-NATI rolled off the main assembly line, restored after fierce battles

Assembly of STZ-NATI tractors on the main assembly line of the Stalingrad Tractor Plant, 1947

A column of STZ-NATI tractors on the Square of the Fallen Fighters in Stalingrad on November 7, 1947

STZ produced this machine in 1937-1942 and 1944-1949, KhTZ - in 1937-1941 and 1944-1949. and ATZ - in 1942-1952. Before the advent and distribution of the DT-54, it was the main arable tractor in the USSR; it was used in a unit with various tools and machines for a wide range of jobs, it was often used in transport work, especially in spring, autumn thaws and in winter, it was in demand in other sectors of the national economy and is loved by machine operators. During the Second World War, the agricultural STZ-NATI was widely used in the army along with the transport STZ-5.
In total, 191,000 (according to other sources, 210,744) tractors of the ASKhTZ-NATI family were produced.

The appearance of the STZ-NATI tractor marked the beginning new era in the Soviet tractor industry - the era of independent creation of domestic original designs of caterpillar and wheeled vehicles, the era of high-quality technical re-equipment of agriculture.

Tractor STZ-NATI (second from right) in the exposition of manufactured tractors on the intra-factory area of ​​VgTZ near the monument to tractor builders of all generations

In the 1920s, the picture that developed in agriculture was even worse than it is today. At first, he was greatly knocked down by the First World War. Then - the revolution and the civil war. Of course, first of all, human losses affected - the country was then agrarian, and most of the soldiers of these wars in peacetime were ordinary cultivators.

Well, in the second - the technique of that time. More precisely, its absence. Most often they plowed on horses, but it was also impossible to fight without them, and the horses left the fields for the front. In some regions (especially the southern ones), bulls and oxen were the main draft force for plows, mowers, reapers and other agricultural implements. It was not possible to fight on them (they were painfully slow), but in the hungry years they could be eaten.

Thus, there was no one to plow and nothing to plow. Even by 1917 the situation was difficult: the able-bodied male population in the countryside had decreased by 47.4% compared to 1914. What can we say about the situation after the end of the civil war. By 1923, the area under grain crops was only slightly more than half of the area under crops in 1913.

At the cost of gigantic efforts, by 1927 it was possible to achieve pre-war grain sown areas. However, it became clear that something needed to change. Collectivization began in 1928. Since not always and not everywhere the newly minted collective farmers were eager to plow a lot and with high quality, the efficiency of the collective farms of that time was low. By that time, all the decaying capitalists plowed on tractors, and it looked more interesting than plowing on collective farmers (many of whom did not want to plow at all). True, by that time we already had our own (or almost our own) tractors.

Much earlier than collectivization, back in 1919, the Soviet government was preoccupied with finding a decent tractor. First of all, they turned to Henry Ford, who at that time was trying to shake off his “Fordzones” to someone. By the way, it’s more correct to say “Fordsan” - after all, Henry named the company Fordson (Henry Ford and Son) in honor of his beloved himself and his son Edsel.

Relations with the Fordsons were not going well. These were rather weak machines, and the price of the Fordson-Putilovets tractor, produced at the plant of the same name, was more than two times higher than the price of a tractor produced in their homeland. True, Ford valued this contract with the USSR very much: no one needed his tractors anymore, Fordson turned out to be unprofitable, so this cruel capitalist even changed his “money ahead” principles and sold his tractors to the USSR in installments.

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Over time, it became obvious that the Fordson was only slightly better than a horse, and it was very difficult to raise agriculture on it. And the state commission for tractor construction (there was one like that at that time) again fixed its suffering gaze on the West.3

As was usually the case in the USSR, the commission selected several of the most interesting tractors and began to compare them in detail. We chose between American International 15/30, Rumely Oil Pull, German Hanomag and Swedish Avance. Among the criteria by which the leader was chosen, there was one interesting one - the cost of a unit of hook power. It was calculated as the ratio of power on the hook to the cost of the tractor itself and was valued in dollars per horsepower.

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Here the leader was International (full name - International Harvester McCormick Deering 15-30), one Horsepower which cost only $52.90. But the most expensive in this indicator was the German Hanomag - $ 69. In addition, the layout, ease of operation and Maintenance, the cost of production and repair of the tractor, the ability to work with the largest number of agricultural implements, suitability for mass production. As a result of a serious selection of applicants, International became the leader. It remains to solve one more question: where to build these tractors?

McCormick-Deering 15-30" 1930

It would be expensive to produce tractors in Leningrad at the Putilov plant and then transport them to the grain-growing regions of the country. It was decided to build a new plant, preferably somewhere closer to the existing ones. railways, the necessary raw materials and, of course, the fields. They chose between Voronezh, Zaporozhye, Rostov-on-Don, Stalingrad, Kharkov and Chelyabinsk.

As a result, Stalingrad was chosen as the city closest to the centers of the future use of tractors. True, factories were also built in Kharkov and Chelyabinsk, but later. And in 1926 began the construction of the Stalingrad Tractor Plant named after. F. E. Dzerzhinsky. Its chief architect was Albert Kahn, owner of Albert Kahn Incorporated. Kahn is often referred to as the architect of Detroit, an interesting personality in his own right.

But for now, we are only interested in the fact that the plant, assembled in America, was dismantled and assembled in the USSR in six months, and on June 17, 1930, the first tractor under the STZ brand came off the assembly line. By the way, the model was not the initially chosen International 10/20, but a slightly more powerful International 15/30. But in our country he was always known under the brand name STZ, although more often he was simply called “Stalinist” (this is an unofficial name - officially “Stalinists” were called caterpillar tractors that had nothing to do with STZ - ed.).

Three tons of simplicity

To be honest, I have never seen anything more simple and ... iron. You might think that this tractor was simply cast from a piece of cast iron, wheels were screwed to it and sent to the field. Well, judge for yourself.

There is no frame familiar in our understanding (however, the concept of a frame, most likely, will soon sink into oblivion). It is made in one piece with the transmission housing. Moreover, the entire transmission at once - both the gearbox and the rear axle. So the basis of the tractor is just a crankcase. A cast front semi-frame is attached to it, on which the engine rests (it, of course, does not rest when it is running, but even jerks very much).

Motor - four-cylinder, overhead valve, with wet liners. The crankshaft is two-bearing, on ball bearings. Cast iron pistons have three compression and one oil scraper ring, connecting rods - forged. But the most interesting thing here is the power system.

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From the side it seems that the tractor has one gas tank. In fact, there are not even two, but three. The largest is with kerosene, which, in theory, should run the engine. The second is a little smaller, gasoline is poured into it, on which the engine should be started. And there is also a water tank. And this is not for the cooling system (which is really water here), but for ... preventing detonation. She (water, not detonation) was also fed to the cylinders through the Ensign RW carburetor. Naturally, no fuel pump not here, everything works fine by itself.

Now pay attention to the pipe to the right of the driver. What's this? Isn't it a muffler? Of course not. Silencer bank stands with right side engine, and it is difficult to call this device a silencer: there are no nets and other rubbish there. There are only cast protrusions inside and that's it. This tall pipe is an air intake. The tractor travels in places where there can be a lot of dust. And the dust in the intake reduces the resource of even such a monstrous engine that is in the STZ. Therefore, the air intake is high and is equipped with a Pomona-type oil air cleaner.

If rear axle- these are “stockings” bolted to the same monumental transmission housing, then the front one is still separate element. True, just as severely merciless as everything else. Its travel is limited by two springs, but we were not able to “hang out” this tractor in such a way to find out if the front axle has a limit.

The ignition system is from Scintilla magneto. There is no battery, let alone a starter, so there is only a “crooked starter” handle to start the engine. The onboard voltage is six volts.

The cooling system, as I said, is water with a fan driven by a wonderful flat belt.

All other miracles of mechanization of the thirties are best viewed from the tractor driver's seat.

Death to asphalt!

So let's get on workplace driver. This is easy to do: you don’t need to open any doors, you can safely climb up tow hitch in the back and sit on the seat. Flock, velor, leather - it's all for wimps. The tractor driver is supposed to have a metal seat - however, unexpectedly comfortable, with an excellent spring-shock absorber.

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What you don't expect from an 80-year-old tractor is so much space in the workplace. Here you can swing your arms and legs without fear of breaking something. And not only because of the lack of a cabin as such, but also because of the modest number of controls. Yes, and those that are, are made so strong that it is easier to break an arm or leg about them than the lever, pedal or steering wheel itself.

Let's say everything is clear with the steering wheel: here it is, standing right in front of me. But something is clearly missing in the legs.

Yes, there is no gas pedal. Instead, there is a sector of manual gas, combined with an ignition timing adjustment lever. Wielding these hands, you can set the desired speed. And go as you will. Let's try to just sit like that ...

So the engine is running. The sound is just a song! He's not exactly yelling, but somehow very musically rumbles with unexpected runs and syncopations. It seems that a jazz drummer is sitting in top hats and playing something from the classic Orleans jazz. True, the vibrations here are serious: the motor suspension is absent as a class, and since it is tightly bolted to the frame (read - to the crankcase of the box on which I am sitting), everything shakes very funny. Everything but the seat.

While the motor is tapping out the “Caravan” part, we are looking at how to turn on the gear. There are three of them: low, medium and high. You don't need to switch while driving. Firstly, even with all the desire, this tractor cannot be dispersed: maximum speed in top gear - 7.4 km / h. On the lowest - 3.5 km / h. So the tractor driver can only pre-select the speed and speed, depending on what surface to move on, and which plow (or something else) will need to be pulled.

By the way, the tractor also has a power take-off pulley rotating at a speed of 625 rpm.

The non-permanently closed friction single-plate clutch itself does not involve changing gears while driving. It works on an “on-off” basis, so the advice not to drop the clutch pedal is not relevant here.

Engine

6.4 l., 30 hp

Well, we try to turn on the transfer and take a ride. With a height of 180 cm, I can hardly manage to move the gearshift lever to the forward positions, including the lowest and highest speeds. Reverse and middle gears, which turn on themselves, are much easier to stick. I wonder how people with smaller stature can ride it? But they went, and women too: the very famous tractor driver Pasha Angelina worked just at the STZ.

I think it makes no sense to waste the flowers of your spleen on details from the category of “large shift lever travel”, “long clutch pedal travel” and other modern whining. All this is monstrously ugly, but no one expected an easy life.

The steering is relatively light. True, it remained so only on asphalt. And here it is necessary to make a small lyrical digression.

It is clear that riding a tractor on asphalt is like dancing ballet in tarpaulin boots. But we had no other choice but to find a small area with obviously dead asphalt and a small amount of rubble, sand and some construction debris. Full mass tractor - three tons, taking it to the field outside the city is a dubious pleasure. But you can’t ride in the city either: STZ ruthlessly kills the asphalt on which it rides. The front wheels are equipped with conventional annular flanges, but the rear wheels can have lugs like those on our tractor, or lugs. And there could be nothing standing, and then the tractor became a road roller. Changing these nozzles is not very difficult: they are bolted to the iron wheel. And yet, with a weight of three tons, the tractor left a clear mark even on asphalt. And we decided that it was time to try how he climbs the slides.

It seems that the wiring at MTZ is simple, but it was not possible to quickly find a spark, so the tractor had to be sent back to the tow truck. Looks like the magneto needs to be taken apart.

With the end of the spark, the test drive also ended. Here I would like to say finally something good, but ...

That's all

STZ-1, tracked STZ-3, the well-known DT-75, T-26 tanks and even the legendary T-34. And also - many other tractors and samples of military equipment. Success? For the time being.

The plant survived terrible destruction during the Great Patriotic War, was practically destroyed - the battles went right on the territory of the plant - but after the war it was rebuilt.

But it turned out that hard times would come later, not even in the 1990s. The plant (no longer Stalingrad, but Volgograd) went bankrupt only in 2005. And now only a monument to Dzerzhinsky, a monument to T-34 and a checkpoint built by Albert Kahn remained from him. The history of VGTZ ended there.

We would like to thank Retrotruck for providing us with a test drive vehicle.

The STZ-5 transport tractor is a caterpillar tractor produced in the USSR, at the Stalingrad Tractor Plant in 1937-1942, based on the SKhTZ-NATI tractor.

In parallel with the agricultural version, SHTZ-NATI, the designers developed a transport one.

It received the designation STZ-NATI-2TV, but was later better known as STZ-5. Much for its development was done by STZ engineers I.I. Drong and V.A. Kargopolov and NATI specialists A.V. Vasiliev and I.I. Trepenenkov.

STZ-5 was extremely unified with SKHTZ-NATI, and both models were produced on the same conveyor.

This tractor had a layout traditional for transport tractors.

A double (for the driver and gun commander) closed wood-metal cabin was in front, above the engine.

Behind it and the fuel tanks was a cargo wooden platform with folding sides and a removable canvas top. The platform had four folding semi-soft seats for the gun crew and a place for ammunition and artillery equipment.

The frame consisted of two longitudinal channels connected by four different crossbars. The 1MA engine, four-cylinder, carbureted, with magneto ignition, was actually multi-fuel - this was especially important for army tractors. It was started on gasoline with an electric starter or crank, and after warming up to 90 ° C, it was transferred to kerosene or naphtha.

To prevent detonation and increase power, especially when working in the summer with increased loads, on kerosene, water was injected into the cylinders through a special carburetor system, and from 1941 an anti-knock combustion chamber was introduced.

In the gearbox, the gear ratios were changed to increase the power range and speeds, another (lower) gear was introduced.

When driving on it at a speed of 1.9 km / h, the STZ-5 developed a thrust of 4850 kgf, that is, at the limit of adhesion of the tracks to the ground.

Chassis was more adapted to movement at high speeds: the caterpillar pitch was halved, the track and support rollers were rubberized.

For pulling up trailers, self-pulling the tractor and towing other machines, a vertical capstan with a cable 40 meters long was installed on the crankcase of the rear axle under the platform.

The cab had opening front and side windows, as well as adjustable shutters in the front and rear.

Since 1938, transport copies began to be sent to artillery units of tank and mechanized divisions. The tractor had good cross-country ability.

So, he was able to overcome ditches up to one meter deep and force fords up to 0.8 m deep. With an artillery gun on a trailer, he moved along the highway at speeds up to 14 km / h. On dirt roads, it developed a speed of up to 10 km / h.

The maximum traction force of the tractor, 4850 kgf, was sufficient to tow all the artillery pieces that were in service with the rifle divisions of the Red Army during the Second World War.

When there were not enough more powerful artillery tractors, the STZ-5 was also towed with guns and trailers that were heavier than they were supposed to. But even when working with overload, the tractors usually withstood.

STZ-5 was the most massive means of mechanical traction in the Red Army.

It continued to be produced until August 1942, when German troops broke into the territory of the Stalingrad Tractor Plant. A total of 9944 such tractors were produced.

In 1941, multiple launch rocket launchers M-13-16 - "Katyusha" were mounted on the STZ-5 chassis, which were first used in battles near Moscow. May 9, 2015 in the city of Novomoskovsk, Tula region, "Katyusha" of the 12th separate guards mortar battalion of rocket artillery passed under its own power at the parade dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War.

During the defense of Odessa, where there were many STZ-5 tractors, they were used as a chassis for improvised NI tanks with thin armor and machine gun armament, usually taken from obsolete or wrecked armored vehicles.

In the first war years, many tractors were captured and under the name Gepanzerter Artillerie Schlepper 601 (r) fought in the enemy army.

The Kharkov Tractor Plant switched to the production of a new tractor in 1937. During the Great Patriotic War, KhTZ was evacuated to the city of Rubtsovsk in the Altai Territory. Here they began to build a new plant - the Altai Tractor Plant. In August 1942, the first SHTZ-NATI tractors left its workshops. They began to be designated ATZ-NATI or ASKhTZ-NATI and were produced here until 1952. Stalingrad and Kharkov plants in 1949 switched to the production of the DT-54 tractor, which was distinguished diesel engine, closed cab and fuel tank location.

Historical series "TM"

STZ - transport

In the spring of 1932, at the Stalingrad Tractor Plant, under the leadership of the chief designer V.G. Stankevich, they began to develop an arable tractor of medium power. It was immediately decided to make it universal - agricultural, transport and tractor, like the English "Vickers-Carden-Lloyd", which in 1931 was tested by our military. And the future tractor was supposed to be used in the army, as an artillery tractor and transport vehicle to accelerate the motorization and mechanization of the Red Army.

By May 1933, this universal tractor (with an experimental diesel engine) - "Komsomolets" - was ready. However, he came out overweight, not very reliable, the layout left much to be desired. It turned out, and most importantly - the inability to combine the contradictory properties of the three machines operated in such different conditions. So the idea of ​​a universal tractor had to be abandoned.

In the summer of 1933, NATI engineers proposed to make two tractors, agricultural and transport, unifying their components and assemblies as much as possible in order to use one conveyor for the production of both machines. In particular, in the agricultural version it was supposed to use a 4-speed gearbox with the possibility of increasing the number of steps, 2-roller interlocked spring-balanced suspension carriages, light and openwork cast tracks, a closed cabin - something that is more inherent in high-speed tracked vehicles. (This idea came in handy in the 1960s when agriculture needed tractors with higher working speeds.)

For the simultaneous creation of two tractors at the Stalingrad plant, a design bureau was formed, made up of 30 factory and institute workers under the general supervision of V.Ya. Slonimsky (NATI), in order to speed up the work. A particularly large contribution to the manufacture of the transport STZ-NATI-2TV (better known under the factory designation STZ-5) was made by designers I.I. Drong and V.A. Kargopolov (STZ), A.V. Vasiliev and I.I. Trepenenkov (NATI).

After testing the first two experimental series STZ-5 at the beginning of 1935, a third, improved one was built, and on July 16, these tractors, together with agricultural STZ-Z (see "TM", Nq 7 for 1975), were demonstrated at the NATI training ground to the top leadership of the country headed by I.V. Stalin; all members of the Politburo rode in the back of the STZ-5. The new machine was approved, the identified shortcomings were eliminated by the next year, and both tractors began to be prepared for mass production at

Stalingrad plant.

STZ-5 had a layout that has become traditional for transport tractors - in front of a double metal cab with an engine inside, between the seats. Behind it, with fuel tanks, there was a 2-meter wooden cargo platform with folding sides, benches and a removable canvas top - to accommodate the calculation, ammunition and artillery equipment. The light frame consisted of two longitudinal channels connected by four crossbars.

The diesel had to be abandoned - it could not be worked out. The 1MA engine was a typical tractor - 4-cylinder, carbureted, magneto-ignited, low-speed / and relatively heavy. But it turned out to be hardy and reliable, which is why it was produced until 1953. It was started on gasoline with an electric starter (which was not on the STZ-Z) or a crank, and after warming up to 90 degrees, it was transferred to kerosene or naphtha, that is, it was multi-fuel, which is important in army conditions. To prevent detonation and increase power, especially when working in the summer with increased loads, on kerosene, water was injected into the cylinders through a special carburetor system, and from 1941 an anti-knock combustion chamber was introduced.

In the gearbox connected to the rear axle, the gear ratios were changed, increasing the power range to 9.8 (against 2.1 for the STZ-Z) and introducing another downshift. When driving on it at a speed of 1.9 km / h, the tractor developed a thrust of 4850 kgf - at the limit of adhesion of the tracks to the ground.

The rear axle with side clutches and brakes was borrowed from the STZ-3; high speeds. Under the loading platform, on the crankcase of the rear axle, a vertical capstan was mounted, which served for self-pulling, pulling trailers, as well as towing other vehicles. This simple device replaced the winch, which was considered an indispensable accessory artillery tractors.

Adjustable shutters were installed in the front and rear parts of the cabin, which created flow ventilation, which was especially important in summer - from a running engine, the temperature in the metal cabin often rose to 50 degrees.

In 1938, the first 309 serial STZ-5s were produced, sending them to artillery units of tank and mechanized divisions. They towed 76-mm regimental and divisional guns, 122- and 152-mm howitzers of the 1938 model, 76-mm anti-aircraft guns (and then 85-mm). Soon STZ-5 became the most widespread

in the Red Army.

In the summer of 1939, army tests were carried out near the city of Medved, Novgorod Region. On them, the tractor overcame ditches up to 1 m deep, crossed fords up to 0.8 m, walls 0.6 m high. As part of the STZ-5 battery with a trailer, it moved along the highway at an average speed of 14 km/h and 10 km/h country road. They didn’t demand more from him, given his “peasant origin” - a small specific power, a narrow track, chosen taking into account the work of an agricultural fellow with a 4-furrow plow, low ground clearance, insufficiently developed track lugs, significant specific pressure. Due to the revealed longitudinal buildup at high speeds, the military asked to install a fifth road wheel. However, the endurance of the tractor did not cause complaints - he twice successfully completed the runs Stalingrad - Moscow - Stalingrad.

At the beginning of the war, there was a shortage of more powerful artillery tractors, and the massive STZ-5 sometimes had to “plug holes” by towing guns and trailers that were heavier than they were supposed to. Tractors worked with overload, but withstood, rescuing gunners from the most difficult situations.

Lack of suitable conveyors off-road forced to mount M-13 multiple rocket launchers on STZ-5. They were first used in battles in the fall of 1941 near Moscow. At the same time, the defenders of Odessa used the STZ-5 as the chassis of makeshift NI tanks, covered with light armor - boiler iron and armed with machine guns.

Despite the heavy losses of military equipment, by the fall of 1941, all factories stopped the production of artillery tractors in order to increase the production of tanks. Since then, the whole burden of supplying the army with transport tracked vehicles went to the Stalingrad Tractor Station. Despite the fact that he also made tanks, from June 22 to the end of the year, 3146 STZ-5 were manufactured there (we had to master the production and components ourselves), and in 1942 the production reached 23-25 ​​vehicles per day. Stalingraders produced them until August 13, when the Germans reached the vicinity of the plant.

In total, he gave the army 9944 STZ-5, including 6506 from the beginning of World War II. However, on September 1 of that year, there were only 4678 transport tractors in it - combat losses affected, in addition, many vehicles remained behind the front line. By the way, the STZ-5 was also used in the German Wehrmacht, where they were given the designation STZ-601 (g).

And in the Red Army they served until the victory, then, until the 50s, they worked in the national economy together with the still produced STZ-Z (ASHTZ-NATI).

The monument was erected in the city of Novomoskovsk, Tula region on Komsomolskaya street near house 28.
There is free parking nearby.
Access is free, you can touch, climb. There is no security.
The condition of the monument is excellent.
Shooting date - May 02, 2016.

01.

All photos are clickable up to 3648x2736.

A unique specimen of the BM-13 "Katyusha" Guards rocket launcher based on the STZ-5-NATI caterpillar tractor.
Released in June 1941 at the Moscow plant "Compressor"

This combat vehicle died after falling through the ice of the Shatsky reservoir on December 14, 1941.
47 years later, in November 1988, an expedition of enthusiasts, under the auspices of the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, discovered the Katyusha and was able to pull it ashore.
On May 9 of the following year, the restored car passed through the streets of Novomoskovsk in the ranks of the festive parade.
And then she took her place on the pedestal at the Novomoskovsk Historical and Art Museum.

A documentary film was made about these events - The expedition of the newspaper "Komsomolskaya Pravda" to raise from the bottom of the Shatskoye reservoir (Novomoskovsk, Tula region) a combat rocket launcher BM-13 "Katyusha". November 1988

02. Commemorative plaque on a pedestal.

In 2015, the caterpillar "Katyusha" underwent restoration and again led the parade:

03. The vehicle was part of the 12th Separate Guards Mortar Battalion of Rocket Artillery.





04. The division was formed in Alabino.
In the active army since November 9, 1941.
The division was armed with BM-13-16 vehicles on the chassis of the STZ-5-NATI tractor.

During the Tula offensive operation, the division provided fire support to the Soviet troops during the liberation of Stalinogorsk (now Novomoskovsk, Tula region).
Having covered the concentration of German troops at the Maklets station with two volleys from the area of ​​​​the village of Urusovo, on December 12-13, the division began redeployment to the southern bank of the Shat in the Stalinogorsk region.
However, having come under intense fire, the column returned to Prudki and crossed the Shat on the ice.
A car, a tractor and several combat vehicles passed, but one of the Katyushas sank.





05. "Katyusha" weapons are relatively simple, consisting of rail guides and their guidance device.
For aiming, rotary and lifting mechanisms and artillery sight.
At the rear of the car were two jacks, providing greater stability when firing.
The machine has 16 guides for missiles.





06. The body of the rocket (rocket) was a welded cylinder, divided into three compartments - the warhead compartment, the engine compartment (combustion chamber with fuel) and the jet nozzle.
The M-13 rocket projectile for the BM-13 ground installation had a length of 1.41 meters, a diameter of 132 millimeters and weighed 42.3 kg.
Inside the cylinder with plumage was solid nitrocellulose.
The mass of the warhead of the M-13 projectile is 22 kg.
The explosive mass of the M-13 projectile is 4.9 kg - "like six anti-tank grenades."
Firing range - up to 8.4 km.




07. The STZ-5-NATI tractor, a caterpillar tractor produced in the USSR, at the Stalingrad Tractor Plant in 1937-1942, based on the SKhTZ-NATI tractor, served as a platform for this copy of the guards mortar.
Other names of the tractor - STZ-NATI 2TV, STZ-5 "Stalinets".
A total of 9944 STZ-5-NATI tractors were produced, including 3438 units before the start of the war.





08. Serial production of STZ-5 transport tractors was mastered in 1937 at the Stalingrad Tractor Plant (STZ).
The tractor was developed by a design bureau formed from employees of the STZ and the NATI Institute. General management was carried out by V.Ya. Slonimsky.





09. The tractor is made according to the usual scheme for artillery tractors with a front engine and driver's cab.
In this case, the engine is located inside the cabin between the seats of the commander of the calculation of the artillery gun and the driver.
Behind the cab there is a fuel tank and a cargo platform with folding sides, benches for placing the calculation of the gun and with a removable canvas awning.
When the tractor was converted into a Katyusha, the loading platform was dismantled, and a launcher, guidance aids and support jacks were installed in its place.

The tractor was equipped with a four-cylinder carbureted engine 1MA.
It was multi-fuel, as it was started on gasoline by an electric starter or crank, and after warming up, it was transferred to kerosene or naphtha.
When driving on dirt roads, the average speed was up to 10 km / h.




10. BM-13 is a low-precision area weapon with a large dispersion of projectiles over the terrain.
As a result, it was pointless to deliver accurate blows.
Therefore, Katyushas were used by divisions of several vehicles that fired at one target at the same time.
The explosive was detonated in the projectile from two sides (the length of the detonator was only slightly less than the length of the cavity for the explosive) and when two detonation waves met, the gas pressure of the explosion at the meeting point increased sharply, as a result of which the body fragments had a much greater acceleration, heated up to 600 - 800°C and had a good igniting effect.
In addition to the hull, a part of the rocket chamber was also torn apart, glowing from the gunpowder burning inside, this increased the fragmentation effect by 1.5 - 2 times compared to artillery shells of a similar caliber.
That is why the legend about the "thermite charge" in the Katyusha ammunition arose.
The "termite" charge was tested in Leningrad in the spring of 1942, but turned out to be redundant - after the Katyusha volley, everything was on fire anyway.
The combined use of dozens of missiles at the same time also created the interference of explosive waves, which further enhanced the damaging effect.





11. Mechanical drive guidance launcher vertically.





12. Standard artillery sights with remote turret, liquid levels and panorama mount.





13. The brightest detail of the monument is a fire extinguisher in its regular place.





14. Support jacks. Raised and lowered by hand.





15. The maximum traction force of the machine is 4850 kgf.
It was enough to tow all the artillery pieces that were in service with the rifle division of the Red Army during the Second World War.
The STZ-5 tractor was the most widespread means of mechanical traction in the artillery of the Red Army.





16. In the undercarriage, four rubber-coated road wheels and two support rollers are installed on each side.





17. The caterpillar chain is small-linked.
In the front "bumper" you can see the hole for the "crooked starter".
And welded under the frame are some very nifty front tow hooks.





18. The tractor had good cross-country ability.
So, he was able to overcome ditches up to 1 m deep and force fords up to 0.8 m deep.
With an artillery gun on a trailer, he could move along the highway at speeds up to 14 km / h.