Glossary

There are a lot of abbreviations and codes used in the documents I translate, so they will be decoded here.

Factory Codes

Tanks, guns, and various such products come with letter codes. The codes indicate the factory that produced/invented the item in question.
  • ##-K: factory #8
  • 2## / Object 2##: Kirov factory in Leningrad (LKZ)
  • 7## / Object 7##: Kirov factory in Chelyabinsk (ChKZ)
  • A: factory #183, aka HPZ (Kharkov Locomotive Factory) aka Malyshev Factory
  • B: Bolshevik factory
  • Br: factory #221, aka Barricade factory
  • BL / LB: OKB-172, scientific prison
  • D: factory #9
  • F: factory #92
  • KS: factory #8 "Kalininskiy-Sverdlovskiy" special construction bureau for medium to large AA guns
  • M: factory #172 located in Motoviliha 
  • S: TsAKB
  • SM: TsKB-34
  • T: Yurginsk machine-building factory
  • U: UZTM. Also known as Uralmash or Ural Heavy Machinebuilding Factory
  • V: factory #75
  • ZIF: factory #7, aka Frunze factory
  • ZIK: factory #8 during evacuation, aka Kalinin factory
  • ZIS: factory #92, aka Stalin factory
There can also be combinations of letters. For examples, the BS-3 gun was produced by the Bolshevik factory (letter code B), but developed by TsAKB (letter code S). 

People's Commissariats

A People's Commissariat was equivalent to a ministry, and a People's Commissar was equivalent to a minister. As such, several of them pop up in documents quite frequently, beginning with the letters NK (Narodniy Kommissar). Here are some that you are likely to encounter in these documents:
  • NKID: People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs
  • NKO: People's Commissariat of Defense
  • NKV: People's Commissariat of Armament
  • NKVD: People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs
  • NKVM: People's Commissariat of Naval and Military Affairs
  • NKVT: People's Commissariat of External Trade
  • SNK: Council of People's Commissars
Other Organizations
  • AK, ArtKom: Artillery Committee
  • GAU: Glavnoye Upravleniye Artillerii, Main Artillery Directorate
  • GABTU: Glavnoye Avto-BroneTankovoye Upravleniye: Main Auto and Armour Directorate
  • GBTU: Glavnoye BroneTankovoye Upravleniye: Main Armour Directorate
  • GANIOP: Gorohovets Artillery Scientific Research Proving Grounds
  • GKO/GOKO: State Defense Committee. A list of all GOKO decrees exists here, as well as some scans and instructions on where to find them. 
  • NIIBT: Scientific Reasearch Intititue. The NIIBT proving grounds near Kubinka are now a well known tank museum.
  • US: Communications Directorate
  • VAMM: Military Academy of Mechanization and Motorization

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