Chapter 184 Kartsev

Nizhny Tagil Design Bureau is located in the Central Urassverdlovsk Oblast. There are rich iron, copper, gold, platinum group metals and other minerals and forest resources near and 106 kilometers north of Kachkanal Mountain. There is a natural gas pipeline in the north of Tyumen Oblast. Various convenient conditions made it an important industrial center of the Soviet Union.

There is a natural gas pipeline in the northern part of Tyumen. It is a major steel industry center in Russia, with developed railway vehicle manufacturing, metal processing and coking industries.

The emergence of the Nizhny Tagil Design Bureau can be traced back to World War II, when the German blitzkrieg dealt a heavy blow to the Eastern European part of the Soviet Union. When the German army was approaching Leningrad, the KB-520 Tank Design Bureau led by Alexander A. Morozov and all employees of the Kharkov Steam Locomotive Factory were successfully evacuated to the Nizhny Tagil Ural Locomotive and Rolling Stock Factory, establishing a large-scale tank production and development center for the Nizhny Tagil region. After that, Kharkov was liberated in 1943, and many experts returned to their original homes. In 1951, Morozov led a large number of engineers from the original KB-520 Design Bureau back to Kharkov to form a new KB-60M Design Bureau. In this way, the technical cadres of the Lal Locomotive and Rolling Stock Manufacturing Design Bureau were rapidly lost. In order to prevent the tank manufacturing plant in the new industrial base that emerged during the war from collapsing, the Soviet Council of Ministers decided to transfer new graduates from the Engineering Department of the Soviet Armored Tank and Mechanized Forces Military Academy to the Ural Locomotive and Rolling Stock Manufacturing Plant Design Bureau, including Leonid Nikolayevich Kartsev. After Morozov left, he succeeded Morozov as the chief designer of the Ural Locomotive and Rolling Stock Manufacturing Plant Design Bureau.

From then on, the emerging Nizhny Tagil Design Bureau began its own glory.

The Soviet Union's epoch-making tank T-64 caused the General Directorate of Armored Forces to be extremely anxious due to various technical reliability issues. Therefore, the General Directorate of Armored Forces issued an important task to Kartsev: "Develop a simplified T-64 tank with reliable performance."

However, after carefully analyzing the T-64, Kartsev resolutely decided to abandon the T-64 and start anew. Under the name of 172M, he developed the T-72. The result was satisfactory to everyone and it also made the Nizhny Tagil Design Bureau glorious for decades.

Actual combat is the best stage to test equipment. Now, the T-72 tank has landed in Hokkaido and participated in a series of wars. Just when the war was over, people from the Nizhny Tagil Design Bureau came!

Study the performance of this tank in actual combat, improve it, and better serve the Soviets!

"Our T-72 tanks have strong firepower. The islanders' tanks simply cannot withstand our bombardment. Moreover, the automatic loaders work very reliably." Welcoming this group of technicians, the commander of the 67th Regiment, Tikhonov, was full of praise.

Recalling the war that broke out just after the landing, the T-72 tanks fought a thrilling battle with the islanders' best Type 74 tanks. The advantage of their own tanks was quite obvious, which made Tikhonov quite satisfied.

The Soviet Union's consistent principle was to surpass the enemy in firepower. During World War II, when other countries' tanks were still equipped with artillery of about 70 mm caliber, the medium-sized T-34 was equipped with an 85 mm caliber tank gun, while Germany's heavy Tiger King was only 88 mm.

Now, the Soviet tank's 125mm gun has an obvious advantage.

Listening to Tikhonov's words, the tank experts nodded continuously. One of them, a middle-aged man with a thin face, said, "What are the shortcomings of our tanks?"

Disadvantages? When Tikhonov heard the other party's question, he saw the violent explosion, the blown-off turret, and his unlucky subordinates again.

"The armor of our tanks is not thick enough and can be easily penetrated by the islanders' tanks at close range. Moreover, our tanks are prone to simultaneous explosions. We lost several tanks in this way," said Tikhonov.

"Armor can only guarantee performance at a certain distance, but it cannot guarantee that it will not be penetrated at close range." Upon hearing his words, a technician immediately interjected.

"Armor is related to the lives of our soldiers!" Upon hearing this, the middle-aged man immediately became unhappy. What his technician said was actually correct. Whether it can be penetrated has a lot to do with the distance. However, in the eyes of his own technicians, these are just cold data, but in the hands of armored soldiers, lives may be lost at any time.

It concerns the lives of soldiers! When these words echoed in his ears, Tikhonov suddenly felt like crying. Yes, those young men who died in the battle were all very good young men!

"Comrade Kartsev, welcome to Hokkaido." At this moment, a voice sounded behind him.

Kartsev looked over and saw a young officer. He was so young, but he had already reached the rank of colonel. There was only one such person in the entire Soviet Union.

"Commander Andrei, I'm very sorry. We came in a hurry and the news may not have been sent from the General Directorate of Armored Forces yet." Kartsev said.

The two pairs of hands were clasped together, and Andre looked at the person in front of him with respect in his eyes.

Kartsev is a respected person. The Nizhny Tagil Design Bureau has no background, but it has designed excellent tanks and successfully equipped them in large quantities. The current situation is unstable and war may break out at any time, but Kartsev is not afraid of danger and took the initiative to come here for a field investigation. Moreover, Andrei also heard what he said just now. This is a responsible tank designer!

This is Kartsev's character. During the Fourth Middle East War, Kartsev went to Egypt to investigate the use of tanks there, but they were not first-class Soviet tanks at the time. Now that the T-72 tanks have participated in actual combat, he must investigate as soon as possible!

"Welcome everyone, Comrade Kartsev. You are the patron saint of our Soviet armored forces," said Andrei.

In later generations, although the T-72 tank has always performed poorly, there are quite a few reasons. For example, the tanks exported by the Soviet Union are all monkey versions, and their performance is inherently lower than that of the Soviet Union’s own tanks. Moreover, each time they fight asymmetric operations against an enemy that has air superiority, the consequences are obvious.

This time, in the hands of the Soviets, the T-72 tank is showing its power, and the Soviets also have the advantage of generation gap.