Hi
I have just been watching a history video (from the world at war series) about Leningrad and the narrator said that some of teh tanks made during the siege went to the frontline in bare steel without being painted. Is this true and are there any photos to prove it. Cheers. Nick

Not sure about that one, but another good story is the Stalingrad tanks. Some rolled out of the factory, basically right into battle. As the factories were threatened, some were actually rolled out without gunsights for the main gun. The gunner actually looked through the barrel to line up his target. It was done to save time, and get more tanks in to support operations.

Well, I am not sure about the Leningrad myth(?) of tanks in bare metal. I have never seen any proff of this, but it could have happened.

Regarding the the fighting in Stalingrad it would seem to be at least partly true. I have seen one picture of a T-34 in Stalingrad that seems to be without any paint on the turret at all. Probably a rebuild/repaired tank. However, the turret is not a clear polished steel colour, but a more dark metallic brown/grey. I tried to think where I have seen the picture, but cannot remember.

Hope this helps a bit......

Hi Guys
Very interesting, thank for you help, does anyone else know anything about this? Nick :-)

My recollection of the Leningrad factory which remained operational during the seige, was that it was a remzavod, where tanks were rebuilt rather than assembled from the ground up. This is why the Red Army tanks around Leningrad included many older versions, which also sported applique armour and other additions. The Kirovsky tank works was evacuated to Chelyabinsk before the Germans tightened the net.

The STZ factory in Stalingrad was evacuated before the fighting got too close, IIRC.

David

I have the same for both battles and that the workers would crew the tank as they finished their work on their last tank. If they left without being painted the body, turret and such would have been a dull dark grey and not a shiny polished metal finish. Only where there was grinding done whould you see anything shiny and that would disappear quickly.

Bore sighting the gun to a moving target would have been impossible to hit anything. Now a stationary target would be easier at close ranges.

What were the other duties for the commander of the T-34 tank? Gunner or loader?

Adam Wilder did two masterpiece articles in AFV Modeller depicting one of these "naked" T-34s from the Stalingrad factory. You can download pdf of the articles from their website (for $2 or somethiing)

The line about the workers crewing the last ones off the line sounds great for the propagandists. I don't know if the master die maker would have been allowed to do that. And I thought the Stalingrad factory never shut down. i could be wrong there.

So they were bare in Stalingrad then. Does anyone have any pictures of Adam Wilders 'naked' tanks?



Sounds like the making of an interesting dio, alhough I will have to wait a bit as I have a lot of kits to get through from Christmas!! Nick

I have found some now on missing lynx


Nick

The story about assembly workers crewing tanks sounds a little far-fetched, however, as part of training tank crews did spend time in factories as part of the process of familiarisation with their tank. So they might have driven it off the production line.

David

I agree. I also heard the part about the tankers spending time in Tankograd with their tanks and then driving them on to the train and moving to the front.
I think I even have some pictures in books showing workers and tankers together when the tank is leaving the factory.

Hi Guys
Yeah I thought it sounded quite far fetched, although I know the workers were given rifles in Leningrad, do you think it would be acceptable to do a dio depicting workers driving the tanks out of the gates or not (obviously there would be a lot of artistic license) or would it be better to just have a tank crew?
Jesper would you be able to scan those pictures and pm them or add them to this thread. Cheers, Nick :-)

Why not make it a female driver, if you're going for a worker? IIRC some women from the tank factories ended up driving tanks in action since they had more experience of driving tanks picked up during factory work than there was time for in normal army training.

David

This dio is really starting to develop!!!
Nick