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The Arsenals
The top three Russian arsenals are best
described by Karl-Heinz Wrobel in his article. I would like to thank him for
his generous contribution to this site.
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Weapons Manufacturing in Russia |
(The Early Years)
by Karl-Heinz Wrobel
Russia had a ordered, organized tradition of
weapons manufacturing that functioned relatively well for an agrarian state.
It consisted of a multiplicity of typically smaller manufacturers, however
only three larger arsenals would be used for the production of the
three-line rifle. At the top of each manufacturer was a director, usually a
high ranking artillery staff officer, who led the operations and dealt with
technical questions and was assisted by a Associate Director who supported
the administrative tasks. There was also an adviser under the line of a
staff officer for the regulation of fundamental technical questions.
Independent of the actual operation, a control and a supervision commission,
consisting of several staff and subordinate officers, operated with the
multiplicity of barrel fabricators and master armorers.
The Kommandantur of the Arsenal in Ishevsk
with attached school in the year 1880
Each Armory was a city within itself. It
contained schools, military hospitals, convalescent homes, purchase
organizations and advanced training facilities. Here the next generation
workforce was trained during four years of training courses.
Tula ( Tuljskaja Gubernija) was at the time
of the introduction of the rifle Mosin Nagant in 1891 a District or Province
of European Russia. Previously, Tula belonged to the District of Moscow
until 1777 . The District was about 200 km south of Moscow, and covered
roughly 31,000 square kilometers with approximately 1.34 million inhabitants
in 1882. The District was rich in natural resources such as , iron, and was
very suitable for cottage industries. Tula, the capitol of the District was
known to have areas of strong ore deposits situated quite near to it.
The first weapons factory in Tula , was
established in1632 by the Dutchman Franz Marcellus. On 15 February 1712 by
decree of the Czar Peter the Great, the Imperial arsenal was establish as a
donation by Prince Gregor Iwanowitsch Wolkonskij. The first director of the
new factory was Batistechev. In the year 1817 it came under Katharina II and
then under the guidance of Alexander II. In 1874 a reorganization took place
which resulted in the designation "Imperial Armament Makers" in 1875. In
1882 production was driven with 3,000 to 5,000 workers annually resulting in
the manufacture of between 75.000 and 160.000 Berdan rifles.
The city was a prime location for rail access
because of the river Upa and in 1882 had particularly good rail connections,
which resulted from the importance of the resident arms industry. The number
of inhabitants amounted to 63,510 persons at this time. The city had hosted
an institute for cadets and an arsenal. In the year 1896 armament makers
with the aid of 1,400 machine tools could manufacture 913 weapons per day.
In the last years 19th Century the factory
was extended because of the pending production of the three-line rifles and
received approximately 1,400 new machines, mostly from France. In addition
to the different army rifles, the Nagant pistol, other light arms and edged
weapons, hunting rifles and ammunition was manufactured there. The number of
workers employed in the manufacture of the three line rifle in the first
three years of production is illustrated by the following table:
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Year |
Total Workforce |
Year |
Total Workforce |
|
1892 |
4.105 |
1896 |
8.937 |
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1893 |
8.094 |
1897 |
8.142 |
| 1894 |
10.045 |
1898 |
8.328 |
|
1895 |
9.586 |
1899 |
7.035 |
Ishevsk is a city in Russia that lays 77 km
northwest of Sarapul on the river Ischa in the foothills of the Ural
mountains. In 1760 the Russian Count Schuwalow established an ironworks
which manufactured mainly firearms and cannons. Ishevsk is a city in Russia
and lies 77 km northwest from Sarapul. Due to the influence of access of the
river Ischa in the Urals , in 1760 were created there by the Russian count
Schuwalow an iron goods factory, which manufactured mainly firearms,
primarily cannons.
In 1763 the factory was taken over by the Russian government and produces
weapons to this day. The actual establishment of the Weapons Arsenal Ishevsk
took place however on 10 July 1807. Due to the strategic considerations of
the world situation (a threatened invasion of Russia by France under
Napoleon) the Czarist government searched for a location for a weapons
manufacturing facility, that was not as endangered as Tula and Sestroreysk
and one that was close to the natural materials required for weapons
production. In 1804 Alexey Fiodorovitch Deriabin was assigned this location
search. He decided on Ishevsk with its well equipped metalworks . Already in
the year 1825 Ishevsk was the most modern and most efficient Russian
operation for weapons production. It received its energy source from the
river (1,120 HP) as well as from steam engines (1,973 HP). Between 1807 and
1907 alone there approximately four million rifles built. One must realize
however the fact that the workers in Ishevsk were conscripted with a 25 year
obligation and no possibility of quitting. Measured by today's standards,
the work at Ishevsk was simply slave labor.
1882 the city belonged to the Russian
Government of Wjatka and had 2,048 inhabitants. In 1902 3,637 workers were
committed to the armament industry with approximately 7,000 in 1903 and 1905
exactly 6,366 workers committed to the production of the new three line
rifle. Starting from the year 1900 the arsenal experienced an enormous
upswing. It possessed the latest modern special machines from France and
Switzerland, altogether approximately 3,000 different machines, besides
older English machines from the 70's which added an additional 1,370 milling
machines. For the production of the three-line rifle an additional 675 new
machines were ordered and set up. In the year 1896 daily production was up
to 1.000 three-line rifles per day. This number dropped in the year 1899 to
600 rifles per day. Ishevsk also manufactured the blanks and components of
the Mosin Nagant for the Sestroretsk and Tula arsenals to finish.
The factory became famous for it's
outstanding and very low-priced tool steel. In addition to army rifles light
arms and edged weapons and artillery ammunition for the Russian army and the
navy was produced. During the Russian civil war the Ishevsk Armory occupied
by the " White Army " in 1919 for several months. In the Soviet Union,
Ishevsk was capital of the usmurtish ASSR. Up to today Ishevsk held
different factories for the production of military , sport and hunting
weapons. The successor of the former Ishevsk weapon manufacturer is today's
Izhmash company.
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Sestroretsk,
Sestroriatsk or Systerbäck |
The specification concerning this factory is
generally very poor. The place Sestroretsk is regularly on maps. If one
looks it up in dictionaries whether older or new, there does not emerge a
description of the place or armament makers anywhere. In the Russian
literature the city Sestroretsk and the factory were created as third
armament makers in the year 1721 or 1724, at the same time with the cannon
foundry Alexandrowsk in Olonez for the Russian navy. The non-Russian
literature indicates that this factory would only have been established
because of the production of the three-line rifles by the Imperial Russian
government. However the same source gives the production number in the
weapons factory at time of Czar Peter the Great, as busy with workers
numbering 683. Anyhow Colonel Mosin took over the leadership of the quantity
production of the infantry rifles M1891starting from 1894 . The production
ran in Sestroretsk until 1918.
The place Sestroretsk is approximately 27 km northwest from St. Petersburg
on height of Kronstadt close Oranienbaum on the Finnish sea basin. The
factory was established for the use of water power at the river Sestra.
Their first director was a Swede named Christian Petrol. In the year 1780
the factory was almost completely destroyed by a fire and could resume
firearm production until the year 1799. In the year 1867 Sestroretsk was
denationalized and only seventeen years later was again put under state
control. The number of the workers varied in the years 1880 to 1894 between
2.500 and 2.600. For the building of the new infantry rifles Sestroretsk
received 206 additional machines. In the year 1898 only 1,000 workers in the
8-hour day were there busy. In the year 1903 the factory had 1.200 workers
and 940 machine tools and could manufacture approximately 30,000 three-line
rifles annually.
Sestroretsk was the factory, where all the theories for the three-line rifle
were produced. That served to guarantee the exchangeability of the weapon
components for all rifles. Firing tests were conducted beginning in the year
1895. Two rifles each out everyone of the four factories (Tula, Ishevsk,
Sestroretsk and Chatellerault) were completely dismantled and assembled in
such a way that from the parts eight new rifles were made containing the
same number of individual parts from each factory. The weapons functioned
perfectly. The assembled rifles then were tested for rapid fire, on the
average 22.8 shots per rifle and minute. There were no incidents of damage
or malfunctions noted.
Sestroretsk workers played a larger role due
to the proximity of the headquarters of Lenin in St. Petersburg with the
October Revolution. During the Russian civil war the danger existed that the
" White Army" troops might occupy the factory. Therefore the machines were
removed and the factory was evacuated. Afterwards one converted the factory
into a repair center. When the German troops besieged Leningrad starting
from 1941, the Finns allied with the Germans and closed in on the factory,
so that it had again to be evacuated. The Sestroretsk workers were absorbed
in the Leningrad production plants, among them the " Red Toolworks ". With
the establishment of the modern Soviet production plants for hand-held
weapons, the factory at Sestroretsk lost it's importance. The factory does
not exist any longer.
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