JOSEPH STALIN MECHANICAL WORKS IN LABEDY (PRODUCERS OF TANKS; AND AMMUNITION MANPOWER AND PRODUCTION)

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80T00246A039600270001-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 4, 2010
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: January 27, 1958
• Content Type: REPORT

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INFORMATION REPORT INFORMATION REPORT
This material contains information affecting the National Defense of the United States within the meaning of the Espionage Laws, Title
18, U.S.C. Secs. 793 and 794, the transmission or revelation of which in any manner to an unauthorized person is prohibited by law.
S-E-0-R-E-T
SUBJECT Joseph Stalin Mechanical Works in
Labedy( 1111_111 Lc -tC U 0,
DATE OF
INFO.
DATE DISTR.
NO. PAGES
REFERENCES
2 7 JAW 4958
1
SOURCE EVALUATIONS ARE DEFINITIVE. APPRAISAL OF CONTENT IS TENTATIVE.
report on t'--e Joseph Stalin Mechanical
Works in Labedy (Laband 1h 50-2C, E 18-37). The plant produced 40 T-34
tanks per mont~~, but pro?:ction of t''aese was to be moved to Wroclaw. Early
The director of t~?.e
Zabik.
in Apr
track;
70 or ,0 T-5
a prototype of the T-54 tank on the test 25X1
gt'n turrets ready-mounted and tested.
plant was nand T`crbus; the managing director was
2. Two sketches show the layc,;.t of t'. e plant.
.X ARMY X NAVY I X AIR
eI
(Note: Washington distribution indicated by "X"; Field distribution by "#".)
AEC
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Ee ouosie
The Josef Stalin works at LABAND near GLEIWITZ
(Zaklady lfeekaniezne imienion Josef* Salina - ZMIS)
Early 1956 to August 1957
1. 1iart t ts:
The works, which employ about 30,0GO won, are situated near t,A6AM ,
da. 6 km. NNW of C2.EIIITZ on the East bank of the Adolf Hitler
canal. (see sketch I).
As the sketch shows, the main factory consists of 3 departments,
ZMIS 1, 2, and 3. To the Bast of the factory there is also a new
plant in which tanks are tested.
ZYIS 1 comprises mechanical workshops and assembly shops,
ZidI: 2 comprises a steel works,
ZVIS 3 comprises a metal works.
2. Uana jesient s
The director of the whole works is 1:a jor TORBUS, and the managing
director is a civilian named ZABIR.
it was the Russians who
exercised the ultimate authority in the factory and the testing
plant.
'Director TMBUS is a Pole, but be has lived in Russia for a long
while.
General ROKOSOPSKI frequently visited the works.
Nearly all the technical staff were the uniform of officers of the
Tank Corps, whilst the administrative staff were civilians.
At the end of 1956 a number of high-ranking officers were posted
to ZDtIS they belonged to a tank regiment
which had just been moved from OPOLE to the GLEThITZ ores, and that
as a result of a reduction of the armed forces these officers were
transferred to ZkIS.
Apart from the permanent employees there were some Russian
specialists whose task it was to train the Polish technicians.
3. Production:
(a)Produetion was chiefly of T-34 tanks. Going by the trial runs[::
as. 40 T-34a were produced each month.
each month 15 to 20 motors f or the T-34s were
sent to the factory in crates bearing Russian inscriptions, the
remainder of the motors being produced in the Z14IS works. The
machine guns came from RADOM and also from a firm inIRESLAU
called PAFAPAG. The radio equipment also came from outside.
(b)It was planned to transfer the whole production of T-34s to
EAU, probably to PAFAWAG, and to make T-54s at ZkIS instead.
By the end of 1956 about 300 specialists had Some to iiR!:SLAU to
arrange the switch-over of production. barly in April 1957
a prototype of a T-54 on the test track
70 or 80 T-5b. gun turrets readymeunted and tested.
(e)Apart from the manufacture of tanks, a certain number of
excavators, tractors with caterpillar tracks, and washing machines
wore produced. But it was planned to discontinue this "civilian"
production when the switch-over from T-34s to T-511s took place.
Before the experiments with T-5.a began it had been rumoured in
the works that a 6 ton truck was going to be produced, but these
plans were abandoned.
25X1
25X1
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8-10-57
Production (sent.) 25X1
3. (d)Tbe ZMIS works also manufacture a large quantity of amunition,
from small calibre for pistols to heavy artillery ammunition.
(e
INDEX to SKETCH II.
1. Watch-towers, sited at intervals of about 100 a. around the factory.
2. LABAND station.
3. Metal rolling mill.
4. The now metal rolling sill, not in use.
5. The old Robertson rolling sill.
6.
raw materials.
there was a serious lack of metals, particularly
of copper alloys. A country-vide preelamation had been issued,
urging that old scrap metal be collected and sent to metal works.
In ZIBIS 3 metal workshop there is an old English Robertson rolling
mill and a now metal rolling mill. The latter was only in
operation for 3 days, after which it was left unused, whilst the
old one was used. this was due to look of 25X1
(f)In the metalwork* a casting of silver, as. I Subic a., was made
once a week. The tasting was made under very strict control, to
prevent theft.
(g)The works were provided with electricity from an external higk-
tension network, but there was also a reserve power station in
case the external supply failed. This reserve power station was
frequently in use.
(k)In July 1956 an attempt was made to sabotage the testing plant.
During a drought a forest fire was started in the woods on all
four sides of the site, and a large amount of fire-fighting
appliasses had to be used to extinguish it.
7. Office of the management.
8. Hall containing machines for the automatic manufacture of cartridge
and 9. oases.
10. Metal foundry with coke-fired smelting furnaces.
11. Silver works.
12. Steel rolling will.
13. Storehouses for the above.
14. Stores of fireproof materials for the blast furnaces.
15. Precision turning workshop.
16. Rolling mill for steel of high alloy.
17. Scrap dump.
18. Blast furnaces, 19 in all, of which 7 were eleetrioally heated.
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INI) X to SKETCH II (cent.)
19. metallurgical laboratory.
20. } urifying plant for coatings.
21
and 22. Scrap metal sorting yards.
23. Reserve purer station.
a-10-57
24
and 25. Workshops for partial assembly.
26. Roadway 14 L. wide.
27. A civil administration building.
2b. Gateway.
29. A 16 storeyed building housing the military administration.
30. Assembly shop.
31. Model Joinery-
32- Final assembly skeps.
33. store of machine Suns for T-34s.
34. %Amall test track, as. 300 mn. long and 2UU m. wide, surfaced with
concrete, and provided with obstacles, used for first trial runs.
35. Assembly shops.
36. headway.
37. Gateway.
38. janitor.
39. Staff office.
4G. LA3AIT market-plane.
41. branch railway line, from which the finished tanks are despatched.
In some few oases they were sent from ?LA}3AND station.
42. Workshop No. 61U with administrative offices. Here the final
adjustments were made and the tanks prepared far despatch.
43
and 44. Repair shop with appliances for lifting T-34s.
45. Hall No. 620, which was partly a repair workshop una partly
garages for tractors used to haul tanks.
46. Store.
47. Store of spent cartridges.
48. Sheeting-range, 4 to 5 kaa. in length.
49, Underground ammunition dumps`.
and 50.
51
52.
surface ammunition dumps for ammunition of smaller calibre.
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INDEX to SKETCH II (**at.'
8-10-57
53. Underground fuel store. Near here the Russians had a radio-
t91406" station, which they used to maintain contact with the
towns in the noighbourhoed.
54. Sunken fuel store, rooting on the bottom of a lake. The lake
had been pumped dry, and when the building work was completed,
the lake was to be filled with water again.
55. Completed pulping station.
56. Hall No. 600. Here tun-turrets which had been damaged in tests
were repaired.
56s. Lubricating oil stores.
The while of the seating area was tensed in, and at night the
fence was illuminated by searchlights. On completion of the
testing grounds a high tension barrier was to be erected 5 a.
inside the tease.
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