SU-152 Day

Everyone celebrates February 14th as Valentine's Day for some reason, but the Valentine did not come into existence on February 14th! A completely different tank did, 71 years ago.

CAMD RF 81-12086-19

"To the deputy chair of the State Committee of Defense, comrade Molotov

I report on the production of SU-14 SPGs at the NKTP Kirov factory.

GOKO decree #2833ss from February 14th, 1943, states that the Kirov factory is obligated to produce and deliver to GAU KA 30 SU-14 SPGs in February of this year.

The execution of this task is quite unsatisfactory. The Kirov factory is yet to deliver a single SPG. The main reasons for delays are as follows:

1. Slow deployment of production and installation of special components and assemblies for SPGs. As a consequence of this, the factory produced and sent to assembly 10 sets of components by February 24th, but has only assembled 2 SPGs.
2. Armour production quotas at factory #200 have not been filled. By February 24th, the factory only sent 11 hulls to the Kirov factory. Only 6 sets of cast components of the artillery system (tub, mantlet) have been produced.
3. Poor timing in delivery of artillery systems by factory #172. By February 24th, factory #172 sent 16 artillery systems. 6 arrived at the Kirov factory, and 10 are en route. 

As a result, there is a significant underproduction of SU-14 SPGs in February. I ask of you to order:

1. The People's Commissar of Tank Production to immediately resolve the delays associated with the production of the SU-14 at the Kirov factory and accelerate the production and delivery of hulls and armour pats at factory #200.
2. The People's Commissar of Armament to take decisive measures to accelerate delivery of artillery systems from factory #172.

Deputy chief of the Main Artillery Directorate of the Red Army, Lieutenant-General of Artillery, Volkotrubenko."

Don't be alarmed by the index, this is not the SU-14 on the T-35 chassis. This SU-14 comes from the SU-152's initial index (KV-14).

Yuri Pasholok writes that 15 SU-152s made it out of the factory by the end of February, and the deficit was compensated for by a surplus in March.