Volgograd Tractor Works

(full name, F. E. Dzerzhinskii Volgograd Tractor Works; until 1961, this factory was called the Stalingrad Tractor Works, STZ), one of the largest tractor-building enterprises in the USSR and the first Soviet tractor manufacturer. Placed in operation on June 17, 1930. From 1930 to 1937 it manufactured STZ-1 wheeled tractors, powered by 30-hp kerosine engines. The first tractor was sent to the delegates of the Sixteenth Congress of the ACP (Bolshevik) in 1930. On Apr. 20, 1932, the factory attained its designed production capacity of 144 tractors a day. It was renovated in 1937.

The first Soviet crawler tractor, the 38-kilowatt (kW) (52-hp) STZ-NATI, was produced on Feb. 11, 1937; the modified STZ-5 (1938-42) transport and STZ-8 (1938-41) marsh-treader versions were manufactured at the same time. The first automatic line in this branch of industry was in-stalled at the factory in 1939. At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War the factory produced military equipment and armaments. During the Battle of Stalingrad (1942-43) the tractor factory workers labored selflessly and fought heroically against the fascist German invaders. The factory was totally destroyed. Restoration work was begun after the liberation of the city. In April 1943 it was organized for tank repairs; on June 17, 1944, the first STZ-NATI tractor came off the large, rebuilt assembly line. Other tractors put into production were the DT-54 crawler tractors (in 1949), DT-55 marsh-treaders (in 1955; since 1957 this tractor has had a hydraulically operated system permitting operation without trailing-implement operators), the DT-75 tractor with a 55-kW (75-hp) engine (since 1963), and the DT-75M tractor with a 66-kW (90-hp) engine (in 1967). Since 1961 the factory has belonged to the experimental and demonstration machine-building enterprises. Engineering and instrument buildings were constructed in 1962. In 1964 the large old assembly line was dismantled, and a new assembly plant with two conveyors was placed in operation—one conveyor for the assembly of basic tractors and the other for modified versions, such as the marsh-treader, steep-slope, and industrial tractors, as well as transitional and new model tractors. Plant reconstruction was basically completed in 1968. The millionth tractor (by actual count) was produced in January 1970. Tractors of the factory are being used in 32 countries of Asia, Africa, Europe, and America.

The factory has been awarded Orders of Lenin (1932, 1970), the Order of the Red Banner of Labor (1942), and the Order of the Patriotic War First Class (1945). Factory products have received awards at two world’s fairs, the large gold medal Grand Prix (Paris, 1938, and Brussels, 1958), and at four international exhibitions, the gold medal (Leipzig, 1964, and Moscow, 1966), silver medal (Budapest, 1964), and the diploma first class (Damascus, 1958).