World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseIn 1863, Russia established the Obukhov Factory in Sankt-Peterburg in northern Russia for the manufacturing of naval guns for the Russian Navy. Its product line would expand to field guns by the early 1900s. In 1922, after the arrival of the Soviet Union, it was renamed Bolshevik Factory No. 232. In the late 1920s, the AVO-5 tank design bureau was based at Obukhov. In 1932, the tank department located here was renamed Factory No. 174 named after Kliment Voroshilov; it would produce the T-26 tanks that the AVO-5 had designed. In 1935, Factory No. 185 named after Sergey Kirov, also known as OKMO (Experimental Design Mechanical Department), was established on site; it would work closely with Factory No. 174. By the time of the European War, the Obukhov factory had become one of the two major Soviet factories for the production of tanks (the other being Factory No. 183 in Kharkov, Ukraine) and artillery pieces. In 1941, due to German threat, some of the equipment were relocated to Central Asia to the large Chelyabinsk Kirov Plant No. 100 complex. The remaining equipment stayed operational during the long and harsh siege of Leningrad, together with Kirov Factory on the other side of the city. After WW2, it remained a state-owned factory for the Soviet Union through the Cold War and for Russia after the Soviet collapse. In 1992, it was renamed the FSUE Obukhov State Plant. In 2003, it would be privatized as a joint-stock company known as the OJSC GOZ Obukhov Plant.

Leningrad Obukhov Factory Interactive Map

Photographs