Alexander Morozov was born on October 29, 1904 in the city of Bezhitsa near Bryansk in a working class family. When he was ten years old, the family moved to live in Kharkov, where Alexander's father got a job at the local steam locomotive plant (KhPZ). Morozov Jr. meanwhile went to a real school, and five years later, on March 2, 1919, fourteen-year-old Alexander entered the same factory as his father, a copyist of technical documents.
Personality formation
In 1923, Alexander Morozov took up the position of the drafting designer of the KhPZ.
“Alexander Morozov made his first design steps when finalizing the German VD-50 Ganomag tractor for domestic realities,” Andrei Kuparev, an employee of the scientific and methodological department of the Victory Museum, told RT.
In 1926, Morozov was called up for military service in the ranks of the Red Army, which he served in the aviation unit in Kiev as an engineer-mechanic. And at the end of 1927, a tank design brigade was created on the basis of KhPZ (eventually transformed into a design bureau). Morozov, who returned from the army to his native enterprise in 1928, was also included in its composition.
However, to work as a designer, a lot of theoretical knowledge was needed. Therefore, Alexander enters the correspondence department at the Moscow Institute of Mechanics and Electrical Engineering. Lomonosov and at the same time in a mechanical college at KhPZ.
“In his track record at the initial stage of design activity was the BT-7 tank, in which Alexander Morozov was engaged in the design of the transmission and making changes to the chassis,” said Kuparev.
In 1933, Morozov enrolled in the combat training sector of the Red Army House and a year later graduated from the BT tank commander training program.
“Military education allowed the designer to understand the machine from the point of view of the user,” the expert noted.
Birth of the T-34
In 1936, Alexander Morozov, already considered an experienced designer, headed the design bureau in the design bureau. At this time, a conflict arose between the leadership of the Red Army and KhPZ due to technical defects identified during the practical operation of the tanks. The leadership of the design bureau was demoted.
At the end of 1936, the talented designer Mikhail Koshkin, who had previously worked as deputy head of the design bureau at the Leningrad Plant named after Kirov and successfully modernized the T-26 and T-28 tanks. The decision to transfer Koshkin was made personally by the People's Commissar of Heavy Industry of the USSR Grigory Ordzhonikidze.
- Mikhail Koshkin
- © Wikimedia Commons
After the order to create a new maneuverable wheeled and tracked tank (future BT-20) was received at the KhPZ from the Red Army in the fall of 1937, Koshkin decided to transfer the old design bureau, which was index 190, to the leadership of Nikolay Kucherenko, and he himself headed the new design bureau (design bureau -24), for which he personally selected personnel. Koshkin appointed Morozov as his deputy.
After carrying out the main work on the BT-20, the staff of the “Koshkinskiy” design bureau realized that it would practically not differ from the well-known BT-7. There was an idea to create a fundamentally new car taking into account the achievements collected earlier by the Morozov sector.
“On April 28, 1938, at a meeting of the People’s Commissariat of Defense, Koshkin receives permission from Joseph Stalin to design two experimental tanks: the first is a wheeled-tracked BT-20, or A-20, which meets the“ Moscow ”requirements, the second is exclusively tracked diesel A-32, the construction of which Kharkiv developed independently. As a result, by the end of the summer of 1939, the prototypes A-20 and A-32 passed production tests, which showed their best side, ”said Andrey Kuparev.
The activities of the Koshkin team interested the leadership of the country. At the end of 1938, a new OKB-520 was created under his command, which combined all the design bureaus that previously existed at the KhPZ. Morozov became Koshkin's deputy again.
- Alexander Morozov
- © Wikimedia Commons
Tests in 1939 A-20 and A-32 showed that the first is more mobile on wheels, but inferior to the "initiative" development of Kharkiv in cross-country ability. In addition, the features of the A-20 chassis, unlike the A-32, did not allow to strengthen its armament and armor protection.
On December 19, 1939, a resolution was issued by the Defense Committee under the Council of People's Commissars on the adoption of a new tank for service. Given the latest design changes, the machine was named T-34.
In early 1940, two experimental tanks were tested near Kharkov. And on the night of March 5 to 6, both cars in camouflaged form moved to Moscow. T-34 was examined and personally approved by Joseph Stalin. Both vehicles were successfully tested at the training grounds near Moscow and on the Karelian Isthmus (on the anti-tank fortifications remaining after the Soviet-Finnish war). On March 31, the State Defense Committee signed a protocol on the mass production of the T-34 in Kharkov.
After the meeting of the State Committee, Koshkin accompanied the tanks back to the plant with a cold and in a state of severe overwork. Along the way, one of the cars capsized into the water. Koshkin personally helped pull her out, got wet and got pneumonia. Attempts to combine treatment with work completely undermined his health. After removal of the lung, the head of the design bureau was sent for rehabilitation to a sanatorium, but could not recover - on September 26, 1940, Mikhail Koshkin was gone. The leadership in the design bureau and the responsibilities for organizing serial production of the T-34 passed to his deputy and associate Alexander Morozov.
Separate front
In the fall of 1940, the T-34 began to arrive in combat units. Reviews about the tank were, like any new car, ambiguous - along with a positive reaction to the original technical solutions, some tankers noted the low reliability of the units and engine defects. A specially convened commission spoke out critically about the new tank. As a result, the Deputy People’s Commissar of Defense Grigory Kulik demanded to stop the production and acceptance of the T-34, focusing on the already well-known BT-7. However, the plant’s management appealed this decision at a reception from the leadership of the People’s Commissariats of Defense and secondary engineering, obtaining permission to continue work on the tank.
In 1940, designers substantially modified the T-34, changing its tower and introducing a new F-34 gun. And by April 1941, the design bureau under the leadership of Malyshev had prepared for production a “modernized” version of the T-34 - T-34M, which, according to experts, was actually a new machine. The T-34M liked the leadership of the country, and they wanted to immediately launch it into production, but the war intervened. Practical modernization was postponed for the future.
In September 1941, due to a critical situation at the front, the evacuation of KhPZ production from Kharkov to Nizhny Tagil began. There, on the basis of the Uralvagonzavod, taking into account the capacities of the KhPZ, the Ural Tank Plant No. 183 was created. His design bureau (retaining the encrypted name OKB-520) was headed by Alexander Morozov.
- Soviet tanks during an attack on the right bank of the Dnieper
- RIA News
“The T-34 tank revolutionized tank building. Faced with it in 1941, the Germans did not believe that in the USSR they could have time to design and start producing something similar. The Nazis were shocked. However, Morozov did not stop there. He had his own separate front. Taking into account the comments and suggestions that came from the combat units, he created a tank based on the T-34, capable of withstanding German equipment with improved armor. This is how the T-34-85 appeared with a 85 mm gun, ”said military historian Yuri Knutov in an interview with RT.
According to Andrei Kuparev, in Nizhny Tagil, Morozov’s entire design talent was fully manifested. “There is information that Stalin personally oversaw the work of his design bureau. Morozov himself was required to report on the work every three hours. He was guarded around the clock, a private car with a bodyguard was provided, and walks in the fresh air were limited to a minimum, ”the expert noted.
In 1943, Alexander Morozov was awarded the title Hero of Socialist Labor, and in 1945 - the military rank of Major General. In addition to the T-34, he conducted work in the Urals on fundamentally new tanks - the T-44 and T-54. The latter, thanks to a number of successful technical solutions, has been in production for about 30 years, which is a record for modern tanks.
“According to many experts, the T-34 and T-34-85 were the best medium tanks in the world at the time. They had a tremendous impact on the course of World War II, ”emphasized Yuri Knutov.
In the service of society
In 1951, Alexander Morozov returned to Kharkov, at the KhPZ, which became his hometown. And immediately took up work on the T-64 project, which became the basis for most of the subsequent Soviet tanks.
In 1958, Morozov was elected to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. At the same time, according to the recollections of the chief designer of Uralvagonzavod Leonid Kartsev, Morozov was remarkable for his modest modesty, but was not afraid to harshly criticize essentially the orders of his superiors. As Kartsev writes in his book “Memoirs of the Chief Designer of Tanks,” Morozov openly called “bullshit” the idea of creating an air-cushion tank, which, according to his leadership, came from Nikita Khrushchev. Even as a deputy of the Supreme Council, he went on vacation "savage", because he did not want to humiliate himself, asking someone to give him an "elite" ticket.
In 1974, Morozov was awarded the second star of the Hero of Socialist Labor for outstanding services in the development of domestic tank building. He also became a laureate of the Lenin and State Prizes, received a number of high awards, including the purely military - such as the Order of the Red Star, the Order of Kutuzov and the Order of Suvorov.
- Monument on the grave of A.A. Morozova in Kharkov
- © Wikimedia Commons
In 1976, Alexander Morozov, for health reasons, was forced to leave the leadership of the Design Bureau. However, until his death on July 14, 1979, he remained with him as a consultant.
Monuments to Morozov are installed in various cities of the USSR. He was named after the design bureau, which he led, and the street in Kharkov.
“Alexander Morozov is a unique person who combined creative and organizational skills. His contribution both to the Victory in the Great Patriotic War, and to the development of domestic armored vehicles is very large, ”summed up Yuri Knutov.