Eastern Express 35153 ZIS-42 military half-track

The ZiS-42 was a Soviet half-track transporter from the Second World War. The vehicle had a total length of 6.1 meters, a width of 2.36 meters and a height of 2.95 meters. It reached a maximum speed of 45 km / h and was able to carry a load of 2.25 tons. A 73 or 85 HP engine served as the drive.

The ZiS-42 was created as a modernization of the earlier ZiS-22 and ZiS-22M transporter and used many components of the mass-produced ZiS-5 truck. The new vehicle was created as a military vehicle, which was supposed to be a universal transport vehicle capable of moving both on the road and off-road, with emphasis primarily on the latter aspect. However, the ZiS-42 did not meet the assumptions in practice. The use of the same engine as in the ZiS-5 (later the one from the ZiS-16 vehicle) meant that the vehicle did not perform well in the field due to the fact that the engine power was too low. Moreover, it turned out to be a rather emergency vehicle. Despite these shortcomings, approximately 5,900 units of this vehicle were manufactured in the years 1942-1944.