Transmigrated as the Crown Prince

Because of geography and climate, Russia's traditional industrial areas are mainly located in Europe.

During the Soviet period, Stalin learned from the lessons of the Tsarist Empire and intentionally expanded the industrial zone eastward. The famous Ural Industrial Zone was established near the Ural Mountains at the junction of Europe and Asia. The Ural Mountains region is rich in mineral deposits, including numerous magnetite, copper deposits, nickel ore, bauxite, chromite, gold, and platinum deposits. Soon the Ural Industrial Zone developed into a heavy industrial zone integrating mining, metallurgy, chemicals, machinery, etc.

History has proven this to be a wise decision. During World War II, the German army lacked heavy strategic bombers, and the range of tactical bombers was not enough. Even if they took off from near Moscow, they could not reach the Ural Industrial Zone. Coupled with various reasons such as interception by Soviet ground air defense forces and air force along the way, the German army has been unable to destroy the military industrial zone in the eastern Soviet Union. These rear industrial zones bought the Soviet Union enough time. With the support of Britain and the United States and other countries, the Soviet Union gradually changed from passive to active.

And this time it was the same situation. Before the Soviets had time to move the facilities in the frontline industrial zone, they were taken advantage of by the German blitzkrieg. Although the Germans looked down upon these backward facilities, for the Soviet Union these were top priorities. What's even worse is that the Americans supported a lot of supplies, but the Soviets prioritized American weapons, equipment and soldiers. As a result, the Far East rebelled before those advanced lathes and processing equipment could be shipped!

The rebellion in the Far East was a huge blow to the Soviet Union. Stalin was bedridden for a long time before he recovered slightly.

Fortunately, the Germans did not attack Moscow immediately. It seemed that they would not launch the offensive until at least next spring. Zhukov also took this opportunity to build Moscow's defenses. We don't dare to hope for a counterattack. After all, the Winter War between the Soviet Union and Finland cast a considerable shadow on the Soviet army. What if a hasty counterattack angered the Germans and started a fight? It will still be them who suffer the consequences. It would be better to just go crazy with the troops this winter and wait until the Spring Festival next year for a decisive battle.

"Can't we produce a few more tanks?" Zhukov in the combat headquarters looked at the tank production report in his hand and couldn't help but sigh. In the past week, the total tank output of a factory in Moscow was only 200 taels, and including those produced at the rear, the number was less than 500 tanks. Among them, the production of the IS-2 tank that he values ​​the most is less than fifty!

The IS-2 tank is a milestone in the history of world tank development. It is the world's first heavy tank with a 122mm L43 main gun. The frontal armor reached about 100 to 160 mm. Among the German tank models currently in service at that time, except for the Tiger series tanks, Ferdinand destroyers, and Leopard destroyers, which could confront them head-on, other tanks could only be used at close range or with black guns. Only then can it pose a threat to the Stalin IS-2 tank.

And in order to make up for the performance disadvantage of its own tank optical sights, the Soviet army also ordered a full 1,000 sets of original M4 Sherman sighting systems from the United States. Unfortunately, only 500 sets arrived in Moscow, and the other 500 sets were detained in the Far East. These 500 targeting systems are installed on the newly produced IS-2 tanks to improve the accuracy of its firepower and give it the ability to fight against the main German tanks.

However, Zhukov could not be happy. The intelligence department received news that the Germans had mastered all the data on this tank, and there were even several imitation IS-2s at the German test site.

But the Soviet Union had no time to develop new tanks, so it could only bite the bullet and continue to produce this tank that had no secrets. But even so, the production speed is still unsatisfactory. At the current production speed, when the Germans launch their attack next spring, they may not even be able to equip 1,000 IS-2 tanks. "Can some T-26 production lines be improved to produce IS-2?" At this time, the T-26 was completely outdated, and there was no need to continue production. "Even if the daily output is increased by one car, can't we think of a way?"

"But in that case..." The officer in charge of military logistics wiped the sweat from his face and said cautiously. "If we reduce the production line of T-26, we will not be able to fulfill the quantity target of self-propelled artillery. This is an order personally issued by Comrade Stalin." If he cannot fulfill the order personally issued by Comrade Stalin, he will not get good results.

Today's Soviet Union, just like the German army in the original time and space, converts all armored vehicles it can find into anti-tank self-propelled artillery. For example, adding a ZIS-3 2mm cannon to the T-26 chassis becomes the SU-76 self-propelled artillery.

This thing made a lot of achievements in the Battle of Leningrad in the original time and space. At that time, the Leningrad garrison was seriously lacking tanks and other support units, and the infantry had to struggle to resist the German attack in bunkers and fortifications.

Factory No. 174 was ordered to mount the ZIS-3 2mm cannon on the tank chassis in a critical situation, so that these valuable artillery can be used to support mobile defense lines in defensive battles. After much deliberation, the factory workers finally removed the turret of the T-26 light tank and installed a ZIS-3 2mm cannon for use as a self-propelled artillery.

These urgently modified self-propelled artillery were urgently named SU-76 self-propelled artillery by the Leningrad Soviet Army Command. Because it was an emergency modification, its workmanship is very rough. Basically, the turret of the T-26 light tank was removed and a ZIS-3 self-propelled gun was welded on it. The only thing protecting the crew members was the armor of the tank chassis itself. As for the outside of the fixed fighting room, there was only one layer. Weak armor too. Of course, it's better to say it's armor than a thin layer of iron.

However, the performance of this self-propelled artillery exceeded everyone's expectations. The ZIS3 2mm cannon can not only fire high-explosive shells and shrapnel shells in a curved manner to suppress the soft targets of the German army, it can also fire armor-piercing shells to severely damage German tanks and retreat before the German army can react, thus paving the way for victory in the Battle of Leningrad. He has made considerable contributions.

"And our comrades workers have been working overtime day and night." Under such extreme circumstances, no one can guarantee how many bubbles and impurities there are inside the steel body of the one-piece cast turret. If the production volume is increased, the quality may gradually decline.

Zhukov sighed again. Since Comrade Stalin personally gave the order, he couldn't say anything.

At the current production rate, they will have 15,000 tanks by next spring.

The number seemed large, but Zhukov could not guarantee how many of them could actually pose a threat to German tanks.