Volgogradsky Traktorny Zavod

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Волгоградский тракторный завод
Volgogradsky Traktorny Zavod
legal form Open joint-stock company
founding 1926/30
resolution 2018
Reason for dissolution insolvency
Seat Volgograd , Russia
Branch Tractor construction, armaments
Website vgtz-traktor.ru

Main entrance of the plant in Volgograd (2015)

The Wolgogradski Traktorny Zavod ( German  Volgograd Tractor Plant ; Russian Волгоградский тракторный завод abbreviated as ВгТЗ , in German as WGTS and English as VgTZ transcribed ) was a former Soviet and later Russian manufacturer of tractors and defense goods. The company, founded in 1930, was based in Volgograd , Russia and operated under the name OAO Traktornaja Kompania "WgTS" (Russian ОАО Тракторная компания "ВгТЗ") until its bankruptcy in 2018 . In 2003 the company was bought by the Traktornyje Sawody concern.

Until 1961 the plant was called Stalingradski Traktorny Zavod imeni FE Dserschinskowo , German Stalingrad Tractor Factory named FE Dzerzhinsky (СТЗ Russian Сталинградский тракторный завод им. Ф. Э. Дзержинского, for short), short STS, after the Soviet statesman, professional revolutionary and intelligence chief Felix Dzerzhinsky . For a long time the company was one of the largest tractor manufacturers in the Soviet Union and later in Russia and also exported to numerous other countries around the world. It mainly built chain tractors .

Company history

The first SChTS-15/30 , built in Stalingrad in 1930, in a museum (2014)
The destroyed tractor factory (November 1942)
Tank T-34/85 (2007)
DT-75 chain tractor with dozer blade in Poland (2015)
BTR-50 infantry fighting vehicle in Israel (2005)

In January 1925, Felix Dzerzhinsky proposed the construction of a tractor factory at the highest political level in the Soviet Union . Construction in Stalingrad began on July 12, 1926. This made the plant the first in the country to be built for tractor production. Foreign experts also worked on the construction, including the American architect Albert Kahn . He later also designed the Tscheljabinski Traktorny Sawod and the Charkowski Traktorny Sawod .

On June 17, 1930, the first SChTS-15/30 (also known as STS-1) tractor rolled off the production line. The plant officially went into operation. Tractors of this type were also built in Kharkov from 1931 . In 1932 the planned production capacity was reached and the factory was awarded the Order of Lenin . Production of the SChTS-15/30 ended in May 1937. In July, the first running chain Tractors of the type SChTS-NATI off the assembly line, the vehicle was in the same year at the World Exhibition Paris in 1937 won a Grand Prix.

In March 1940, two prototypes of the T-34 tank from the Stalingrad tractor factory were presented in the Moscow Kremlin . Later, the plant also started series production of the tanks. Both tanks and tank engines were made during World War II . In February 1942, the factory was awarded the Order of the Red Labor Banner .

In the late summer of 1942, the Wehrmacht launched the attack on Stalingrad . During the first few weeks, despite fighting in the immediate vicinity and shelling, the plant was severely damaged by attacks from September 29 to October 4. As a result, production had to be stopped. The Germans launched a major attack on the plant on October 14th, and around 13,000 Soviet and 1,500 German soldiers died in the ensuing battle for the site.

After the liberation of Stalingrad, work in the tractor factory was resumed in the summer of 1943; first tanks were repaired. From October 1943 diesel engines were produced again and production was built up until 1944. In February 1945 the factory was awarded the Order of the Great Patriotic War, First Class. Tractor production was resumed as early as May 1944, and 1,000 machines had been built by April 1945.

In 1949, serial production of the DT-54 chain tractor began , which was also built in Kharkov and in Altaiski Traktorny Zavod . It was the plant's first tractor with a diesel engine and the first new model after the war. In 1954 the Stalingrad tractor factory was commissioned to design tractors suitable for the Antarctic . The machines were actually used on an expedition on the continent in 1958. As early as 1956, the first prototypes of the DT-75 chain tractor were made , which went into series production in 1963.

In 1961 Stalingrad was in the context of de-Stalinization in Volgograd renamed. In the same year the company name was changed to "Volgogradski Traktorny Sawod" (German Volgograd Tractor Factory , Russian Волгоградский тракторный завод ). The abbreviation changed accordingly from СТЗ to ВгТЗ (ТЗ each for Traktorny Zavod, С for Stalingrad and Вг for Volgograd). In the 1960s, different model versions of the DT-75 came on the market.

The one millionth tractor was built on January 14, 1970. For this, the Volgograd Tractor Factory was again awarded the Order of Lenin. In 1983 the two millionth tractor followed.

During the collapse of the Soviet Union , the state plant was converted into a joint stock company in 1992. In the 1990s, the factory dealt with the further development of the BMD airborne tank and various other weapon systems in the military sector . In 2003 the company was taken over by Agromaschholding , which today operates as Traktornyje Sawody ( Tractor Works ). Since then the AGROMASCH-90 (revised DT-75) and AGROMASCH-150 chain tractors have been built.

In the 2010s the company ran into financial difficulties and had to be restructured. On November 26th, 2015 the tractor production was stopped, in 2018 the military part was taken over and continued by the state-owned Rostec . On December 28, 2018, the company was declared bankrupt with almost 71 billion rubles in debt. The spacious former factory halls are largely empty and are for sale or are already being used as a shopping center.

Products

Civil manufacturing

  • SChTS-15/30 - The plant's first wheel tractor, built from 1930 to 1937.
  • SChTS-NATI - first chain tractor from Stalingrad, built from 1937 to 1942 and 1944 to 1949.
  • DT-54 - Civil chain tractor with diesel engine , manufactured from 1949 to 1963.
  • DT-75 - civil chain tractor, in series production since 1963.
  • AGROMASCH-90 and AGROMASCH-150 - chain tractors from current production.
  • Chain tractors of the WT series from current production in different performance levels, built since 1997.

Military manufacturing

The list below is not exhaustive. Not all machines were built exclusively in Volgograd.

  • T-26 - light tank from the 1930s
  • STS-5 “Stalinez” - tracked vehicle as the basis for the multiple rocket launcher Katyusha .
  • T-34 - WWII tank, mass-built.
  • PT-76 - Soviet floating tank from the 1950s.
  • BMD - Airborne tank built in several generations.
  • 2S25 Sprut-SD - Russian airborne tank based on the BMD.
  • BTR-50 - Soviet armored personnel carrier from 1952.
  • BTR-D - Soviet armored personnel carrier.
  • Various versions of the W-2 diesel engine were built in Volgograd.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Tractor, tank, shopping center ... As was born, lived and died the first Soviet tractor factory. Accessed August 20, 2019 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i History of the plant on the website of the Traktornyje Sawody concern (Russian) ( Memento from April 28, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )
  3. ↑ On Kahn's work in the Soviet Union (Russian) ( Memento from January 30, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ External website on the history of the plant (Russian)
  5. ↑ Treatise on military production in Volgograd (Russian)

Web links

Commons : Volgogradski Traktorny Zavod  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files