ZIS-30

When Operation Barbarossa commenced in July 1941, the Soviet Union was caught off-guard by the invasion, and as such, demands for a large number of equipment arose. Chief among these was the need for an anti-tank vehicle that could be easily produced, which led to numerous ad-hoc improvisation projects. Just two weeks after the invasion commenced, Vasiliy Gavrilovich Grabin, one of the most prominent artillery engineers of the USSR, produced the first prototype of the ZiS-30, an improvised tank destroyer made by simply mounting the 57 mm ZiS-2 anti-tank gun on the hull of the T-20 Komsomolets artillery tractor and adding a simple firing platform for the gun crew. Due to its simplicity, along with the vehicle featuring various positive qualities despite its improvised nature (such as a very wide firing arc and good mobility), the ZiS-30 was immediately accepted for production. Around 100 vehicles were produced from the Gorky Plant No. 92 and served until the end of the war.