The Evacuation of GOMZ
On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany and its European allies, Finland, Romania, Hungary, Italy, and Slovakia, invaded the Soviet Union, beginning the Great Patriotic War (Великая Отечественная война, Velikaya Otechestvennaya voyna), as Stalin called it, for the people of Russia.
The lightning German assault through western Russia led to the emergency evacuation and relocation of many Russian industrial factories from western Russia far to the east, some even beyond the Ural Mountains, to protect them from being overrun by the rapidly advancing German blitzkrieg.
On July 11, 1941, just 19 days after the opening shots of Operation Barbarossa, USSR State Defense Decree No. GKO-99ss was issued to begin the emergency evacuation of Russian industrial factories.
Production at GOMZ continued through July and August 1941, but when the German and Finnish offensive reached Leningrad, the evacuation began under the direction of the People’s Commissariat of Armaments in the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.
From July to August 1941, seven waves of equipment and people departed from the State Optical-Mechanical Factory No. 349, Государственный оптико-механический завод № 349 (ГOMЗ), Gosudarstvennyy optiko-mekhanicheskiy zavod № 349 (GOMZ), in Leningrad, and arrived safely at the Kazan Optical-Mechanical Factory No. 237, Казанский оптико-механический завод № 237 (KOMЗ), Kazanskiy optiko-mekhanicheskiy zavod № 237 (KOMZ), then under construction in Kazan.
On August 31, 1941, the last wave of the State Optical-Mechanical Factory No. 349 (GOMZ) equipment and workers, including 1,284 factory workers and 327 engineering and technical workers and their families, had arrived in Kazan.
The combined staff of factory workers at the Kazan Optical-Mechanical Factory No. 237, including existing workers and evacuees, was about 3,500 people.
By the end of August 1941, the combined factory was the first among all the evacuated factories in the Russian optical industry to produce its first products for the Soviet armed forces at the front. GOMZ and KOMZ factory workers, together, produced 5,000 military service binoculars assembled from unfinished production parts brought from Leningrad.
Technically, the production of GOMZ military service binoculars had ended in the Autumn of 1941. However, during the initial production period in Kazan, the GOMZ factory continued to use its GOMZ pentagram and ray of light logo on its binoculars.
The hammer, sickle, and star marking, that had been used by GOMZ during the 1940-1941 production years in Leningrad, was discontinued during the post-evacuation period in Kazan.
From 1940 to 1944, the first two numbers of the production serial number (40, 41, 42, 43, 44) indicated the year of production. In early 1942, the GOMZ factory markings were moved from the left prism cover to the back of the bridge. From mid-1944 and later, GOMZ once again marked its binoculars with the full year of manufacture under the production serial number.
After the July-August 1941 evacuation, many simplifications were used in the construction of GOMZ and KOMZ military binoculars.
Steel objective lens caps replaced brass objective lens caps. Silicium aluminum alloy prism covers were mixed with earlier design brass prism covers. Silicium aluminum alloy prism covers were used on some late 1941-1942 binoculars. Later in 1942, steel prism covers replaced aluminum alloy prism covers. In 1944, steel prism covers were replaced with copper plated steel prism covers.
Silicium cast aluminum alloy eyepiece diopter adjustment sleeves replaced brass eyepiece diopter adjustment sleeves. Silicium cast aluminum alloy eyepiece adjustment sleeves remained in production until 1945. Silicium aluminum alloy replaced brass on other parts. Prewar brass parts did not return to production until 1946.
Early in 1942, the rubber body covering on lens tubes was eliminated, and lens tubes were painted with black paint. In 1943 (possibly in late 1942), the rubber body covering on lens tubes was returned to production. The prewar pattern rubber body covering was changed to a unique KOMZ dot pattern.
Because of the use of these lesser quality substitute metals, original condition 1942-1944 GOMZ and KOMZ binoculars can be difficult to find, because the aluminum alloy parts became very brittle in use, and many of these cast aluminum parts had to be replaced.
The style of marking was also changed. Markings were removed from the bridge, and returned to the left prism cover. The hammer, sickle, and star marking was also used again on the left prism cover.
On September 16, 1941, in accordance with NKVD (People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs, Народный комиссариат внутренних дел) Order No. 451, the GOMZ factory and the KOMZ factory were officially merged, and the new combined factory in Kazan was designated as Optical-Mechanical Factory No. 349. As part of NKVD Order No. 451, Andrey Fedorovich Soloviev was appointed director of the combined factory.
The People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD), Народный комиссариат внутренних дел (НКВД) was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946.