Coded Accounting

 "December 19th, 1944

Proposals to change marking and numbering of tanks, SPGs, and engines

The following system is to be used for numbering tanks and SPGs:

1. January and February 1945:
1. Leave the factory letter codes.
2. Keep the year and month, i.e. all factories will start serial numbers with 412.
3. Increment tanks and SPG serial numbers, for example:
1. Factory #183's first tank built in January of 1945 will have the number T412716 if the last tank built in December 1944 had the number T412715.
2. Factory #112's first tank built in January of 1945 will have the number G412316 if the last tank built in December 1944 had the number G412315, etc.
2. Starting with March of 1945, use the following system:
1. Do not use factory letter codes.
2. The year, month, and factory code will be taken from the following matrix.
3. The code from this matrix (known only to the GBTU, each military representative only knows the row for his factory) is followed by the tank and SPG number starting with the number of the last vehicle produced in February, incrementing it until the end of the year.
   
   
   
   
3. For engines, use the following system as of January 1st, 1945:
1. Do not use factory letter codes.
2. The year, month, and factory will be taken from the following matrix:
   
   
   
   The code from this matrix (known only to the GBTU, each military representative only knows the row for his factory) is followed by the serial number starting with 1 and incrementing until the end of the year.
   For example, the first diesel engine produced at the Kirov factory in January of 1945 would be 1051, and the last one would be 105126 if the factory produced 1256 engines in January. The first engine produced in February would have the number 1461257, etc.
4. For hulls and turrets, use the following system as of January 1st, 1945:
1. Do not use factory letter codes.
2. The year, month, and factory will be taken from the following matrix: (see attachment #1)
   The code from this matrix (known only to the GBTU, each military representative only knows the row for his factory) is followed by the serial number starting with 1 and incrementing until the end of the year.
   For example, the first hull and turret produced at factory #112 in January of 1945 would be 101, the last would be 10200 (assuming that 200 sets of hulls were built in January). The first hull built in February would be numbered 1201, and so forth.
5. Reclamations and other documents on the quality of tanks, SPGs, engines, hulls, and turrets will be sent to the GBTU, which will forward it to the factory.

Deputy Chief of the GBTU, Lieutenant General of the Tank Engineering Service, Lebedev"
December 19th, 1944

CAMD RF F.38 Op.11355 D.1394 pp.100-101