NI tank

На испуг, Na ispug, literally "for fright"), was a Soviet improvised fighting vehicle, based on an STZ-5 agricultural tractor, manufactured in Odessa during the Siege of Odessa in World War II.

[1][3] When the army fighting on the outskirts of Odessa (the city defences held out for seventy-two days before the army pulled back) started experiencing shortages in tanks, the workers from the factory decided to build a fighting vehicle of their own design.

The armour was a sandwich of thin naval steel or boiler plate and wood or rubber sheeting to improve protection against small arms.

[7] These then fought during the siege against the Axis forces in support of Soviet troops.To reinforce and replace losses this in turn created NI tanks.

[8] 68 NI tanks (all but one) were captured by the Axis-aligned Romanians by the end of the siege,[9] with 14 still being on hand as of 1 November 1942.

NI-1 Diagram: 1 — armoured hull, 2 — side armour, 3 — engine compartment, 4 — turret, 5 — fenders, 6 — track armour, 7 — machine gun armour, 8 — DShK machine gun, 9 — hook, 10 — toolbox, 11 — exhaust pipe, 12 — chassis beams, 13 — chassis front, 14 — tow hitch, 15 — idler, 16 — support roller, 17 — driving wheel, 18 — roller, 19 — DT machine gun