In September of 1942, the »Stalingrad Tractor Zavod« became one of the famous scenes of bitter street fighting for nearly half a year.
Until then, it had produced, among others, almost 10,000 STZ-5 artillery tractors, the final ones being accomplished while the enemy was literally at the gates. Between the production shifts the workers were sent to the nearby front.
The STZ-5, one of the few specialized military tractors of the Red Army, proved a complete success, the only shortcoming being the 12-inch narrow tracks not suitable for snowy and muddy terrain.
As the Wehrmacht captured plenty of them it comes at no surprise that the German »Raupenschlepper Ost« showed a significant similarity in design.