ZIS-5 (truck)

The ZIS-5 (Russian: ЗИС-5) was a 4x2 Soviet truck produced by Moscow ZIS factory from 1932 to 1948 (first one made at the end of 1930).
In 1931, Moscow Avtomobilnoe Moskovskoe Obshchestvo (AMO, Russian Автомобильное Московское Общество (АМО) — Moscow Automotive Enterprise) truck plant was re-equipped and expanded with the help of the American A.J. Brandt Co., and began to produce a new truck with designation of AMO-2. The AMO-2 was intended as a replacement of the previous AMO-F-15, the first Soviet truck ever built (it was a copy of the Italian Fiat F-15).
However, the AMO-2 was not an original development but instead was based on the Autocar Dispatch SD truck, after a license agreement with the Autocar Company. Some time later, the AMO-2 was modernized and improved, being renamed the AMO-3. In 1933 AMO was rebuilt again and renamed into Factory No. 2 Zavod Imeni Stalina (or Plant of Stalin's name, abbreviated in ZIS or ZiS) and in Summer, the AMO-3 was rebranded the ZiS-5.
Serial production of the new truck started on October 1, 1933. The truck was an instant success and, which together with the GAZ-AA, became the main Soviet truck of the 1930s through the 1950s. It also evolved into the workhorse of the Soviet Armed Forces: at the beginning of Operation Barbarossa the Red Army could line up 104,200 of these trucks.
Facing the German invasion, in the autumn of 1941 the production line at Moscow plant was stopped and moved to Ulyanovsk (on the Volga) and to Miass (in the Chelyabinsk region of the Urals). Production at Ulyanovsk UAZZIS lasted from February 1942 to 1944. UralZIS at Ulyanovsk installed radiators with their own label and production there ran from July 1944 to 1955, well after the war.
In the meantime, the Moscow ZIS plant had restarted production of these trucks in April 1942 and continued until 1948, when the new ZIS-50 (ZIS-5 with a new engine) appeared.
In 1955 UralZIS also modified the ZIS-5: It got a new engine and oval fenders, different from pre-war ones. This new model received the designation of UralZIS-355 or ZIS-355.
At the end of 1941 war shortages of raw materials forced change to the construction of the ZIS-5. All changes were focused on simplifying manufacture and using less raw materials: the round, stamped fenders were replaced with flat, bent ones, cabs and foot boards were now made from wood, brakes were removed from front wheels, and the rear body had the tailgate swinging only. Sometimes the right headlight was also removed, while bumpers were omitted from these versions.
The simplified model, designated ZIS-5V, was produced from May 1942 in Ulyanovsk, and later also in Moscow and Miass. Overall production tallied about 1 million units (all plants), with ZIS alone producing 532,311 examples. During the War years about 83,000 ZIS-5 of both versions were produced.
During the war the ZIS-5 was used on all fronts, where it was greatly appreciated for its remarkably simple and reliable construction. Apart from cargo duties, the ZIS-5 was used as a light artillery tractor and for troop transportation (25 soldiers could sit in five benches placed in the rear body). ZIS-5 served also as base for many special trucks like refuellers, field workshops, ambulances, portee guns, and AA platforms.
After the GAZ-AA, the ZIS-5 was the 2nd most used Red Army truck of 1933-1943 period. The intensive growth of Lend Lease trucks shipping in 1943-1944 did not affect the first line use of the "Tryohtonka" (as soldiers called the ZIS-5 for its 3-ton payload), while the GAZ-AA got somewhat phased out to secondary roles.
The ZIS-5 showed remarkable service on the "Road of Life", the only supply line to the besieged city of Leningrad, opened on the frozen surface of the Ladoga Lake in the winter months during 1941–1944. This truck has the nickname Zakhar (Захар, "за характер", on the character).
The ZIS-5 was used as the basis for improvised armored cars made by the Izshorsky plant in 1941 under the designation "IZ". The initial order of 20 vehicles were equipped with a 45 mm anti-tank gun M1937 (53-K), 3-10mm of armor, and a Degtyaryov machine gun. The engine compartment was sealed with two armored intakes over the front grill. Suspensions remained unchanged despite the increased weight from the gun and armor, but this did not seem to hamper the truck's performance. It was decided that the design was successful enough to warrant around 80 more vehicles being built after the initial order for 20 had been completed. Not all of these carried the 45mm gun, some carried quad-Maxim guns, and others were left unarmed to function more as Armoured personnel carriers. The first of the cars was delivered to the Leningrad People’s Militia on 15 July, 1941. One car was captured by the Wehrmacht. A few were captured by the Finnish Army and used through early 1942. The last operational cars were seen around Leningrad in January 1943.
ZIS-5 was the first Soviet motor vehicle to be exported. With over 1 million ZIS-5 trucks made overall, the USSR had ample opportunity to offer it for sale abroad.
A batch of 100 trucks were sold to Turkey in 1934; other quantities were subsequently purchased by Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Spain, China, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Mongolia, and Romania.
Some trophy vehicles were used by Finns who had captured them during the Winter War of 1939–40, and by Germans after the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 until Germany's surrender in 1945.
(*) People who investigated ZIS-5 state that the real power of the engine was less than claimed in official documents and equal to 67-68 hp (rated horsepower is not the same as brake horsepower).