Regarding the famous Soviet track-laying tractors as the ChTZ-60 or the ChTZ-65 »Stalinez«, it's important not to forget that the bulk of the pre-war tractors were of the wheeled type.
The predominant of them was the SKhTZ 15-30 which, just like its track-laying brothers, was a copy of an American design of the 1920s.
The International Harvester McCormick Deering 15-30 as originally built from 1921 to 1934, was a kerosene-powered steel-wheeled powerhouse which developed 15 drawbar and 30 brake horsepower, hence the number »15-30«.This was a tractor which, along with the famous John Deere 'D', made the transition from horsepower to horsepower complete.
The series production of the SKhTZ began at the Stalingrad Tractor Zavod (Plant. the »S« and »TZ« in the name) on June 17, 1930 and at the Kharkov Tractor Plant (the »Kh« in the name) on October 1, 1931.
By 1941. two plants prepared 217 000 tractors SKHTZ-15/30.
Since the beginning of the war the plants were evacuated to the east, but the production continued at the Altai Tractor Plant.
Officially, the tractor SKHTZ-15/30 didn't enter into military service, but due to the immense losses of artillery tractors after the invasion it was necessary to mobilize the collective farm tractors as well.
Furthermore, the SKhTZ 15-30 was a welcome trophy with the Wehrmacht as it frequently remained the only means for overcoming the yearly mud season.