The K-61 cannon was a Soviet 37 mm towed anti-aircraft gun from the interwar period and World War II. Its first prototypes were created in the late 1930s, and serial production continued in 1939-1945, ending with the production of about 20,000 copies of this weapon in the USSR. The initial velocity of the missile oscillated around 870-880 m / s, and the rate of fire reached 180 rounds per minute, with a maximum vertical range of 6,700 meters.
The first work on the K-61 cannon began in 1935, with the 25mm Bofors gun, acquired in large quantities. Initially, efforts were made to recalibrate it to 45 mm, but finally in 1938 it was decided to focus efforts on the 37 mm caliber cannon. After successful test shootings in the same year (1938), the gun was adopted by the Red Army. It was an automatic cannon with a wedge lock, powered by cartridges with 5 rounds of ammunition each. It was characterized by a good rate of fire, good range of the shot, and above all: low failure rate, good mobility in difficult terrain and a short transition time from the marching position to the combat position, which oscillated around 25-30 seconds! It is estimated that during World War II, this type of cannons damaged or destroyed approximately 14,500 enemy aircraft. After the end of World War II, it was licensed in the PRC, Poland and North Korea. It was also used in many countries, including Angola, Bulgaria, Bolivia, Egypt, Finland, Iraq, Israel, Malaysia and Vietnam.
The ZIS-5 was a Soviet multipurpose military truck from the Second World War. The first copies of this car appeared in the early 1930s, and mass production started in 1933 and lasted until 1958! The car was manufactured by the ZiS plants, currently UAZ and UralZiS. A single ZIS-5M engine with 73 HP was used as the drive.
The ZIS-5 was developed as one of the basic trucks of the Red Army in the 1930s. In order to shorten the research and development work and implement the production as quickly as possible, it was decided to copy the American Autokar CA truck almost 1 to 1. The car was very simple in design, but it was also easy to repair, service and generally had a fairly high reliability. During World War II, the ZIS-5, along with the GAZ-AA cart, was the main Soviet-made truck for use by the Red Army. Its importance and role began to diminish only with the launch of deliveries under the Lend-and-Lease program and the influx of American-made trucks. It is worth adding that at the beginning of the German-Soviet war, due to considerable problems with supply, the ZIS-5 cars were created with wooden cabs instead of metal ones. Such vehicles received the designation ZIS-5W. Based on the ZIS-5, several development versions were created, such as the half-track version (ZIS-42).