March 12, 2013. Some festive events took place at Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation’s head plant to celebrate the anniversary of the day Ural Volunteer Tank Corps was founded (March 11, 1943). Uralvagonzavod acted as one of the founding fathers of this unique military unit seventy years ago, the corporation’s press service says.

The actual volunteers offspring – their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren – gathered at Uralvagonzavod’s museum facility on the day of people’s feat; those who served in the famous tank division after the war also attended the event.

The idea to set up the Volunteer Tank Corps was born at Ural Tank Plant 183 (known today as Uralvagonzavod), Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant (currently a member of Uralvagonzavod Scientific & Production Corporation), and Yekaterinburg-based Uralmash in the days of the victorious Stalingrad Battle. The people’s initiative received Moscow’s full support (a wire from the capital said, ‘Hails and approvals!’) From the first days of the corps’s existence, a flood of volunteers’ applications hit the recruitment offices. In just one week between late February and early March, over 110,000 applications were submitted, which was 12 times more than required for a full division. 185 people from Ural Tank Plant joined the corps. 145 T-34 tanks were made in addition to the planned ones to support the soldiers.