http://kalashnikov.guns.ru/mk.html
Kalashnikov was born on November 10, 1919, in the village of Kurya, Altai Territory, to a
large peasant family. After finishing the 9-th form of a secondary school M T.
Kalashnikov went to work in the Matai depot as an apprentice and was subsequently a
technical clerk in the employ of a Turkistan-Siberian railway department. In 1938 M T.
Kalashnikov was called up for Red Army, served in a special military region in Kiev,
there he finished the tank mechanical school.
During the service in army he devised an inertia revolution
counter to register the number of actual shots from a tank
gun, made a special appliance for the "TT" pistol to inhance
fire effectiveness through tank turret slits and designed a
tank running time meter.
In June, 1941 Mikhail Timofeevitch with his last invention was
directed by the Commander-in-Chief general G.K. Zhukov to
Leningrad to implement his recent invention. With the
beginning of The Great Patriotic War senior sergeant M T.
Kalashnikov participated in battles with fascists as a
commander of the tank. In October, 1941 in fierce battles
under Bryansk he was heavily wounded and shell-shocked.
While in hospital, Mikhail Timofeevitch concieved the idea of
a submachine gun. Later while on a six-month sick leave he arrived at the station Matai. He
carried out his idea in depot's workshops with the help of the leadership and comrades.
When the submachine gun was ready M T. Kalashnikov was directed to Moscow Aviation
Institute, which had been evacuated to Alma-Ata.
In June, 1942 the second model of a Kalashnikov submachine gun was developed in
workshops of the institute. This very model was sent for a reference to Dzerzhinsky Ordnance
Academy. The outstanding soviet scientist in the field of shooting arms A. A. Blagonravov took
an interest in the Kalashnikov submachine gun. Though he didn't recommend the
submachine gun for service, the talent of the inventor, originality in the decision of a lot of
technical questions were highly estimated by him and as a result Blagonravov made
everything to direct the self-taught-designer to study. Since 1942 M. T. Kalashnikov served in
Central Research Small Arms Range of the Main Ordnance Directorate of the Red Army.
In 1944 Kalashnikov developed an experimental model of the self-loading carbine, it's main
units became the base for a creation of a new submachin gun in 1946 which gained a brilliant
victory in difficult competitive tests. In 1949 after completion the automatic device was
adopted by the Soviet Army, and senior sergeant M.T. Kalashnikov was awarded by the Stalin
Price First Class.
Since 1949 Mikhail
Timofeevitch has been living
and working in Izhevsk. He
went through a way from a
self-taught-inventor up to
the General Designer of
small arms in the Soviet
Army.
A range of the unified models
of automatic small arms
developed by Kalashnikov
was addopted by the Soviet
Army in 1950.
The Goverment highly
estimated M. T. Kalashnikov's
serveces to the country. He
was twice honoured as Hero
of Socialist Labour (1958 and 1976) and became Stalin Prize (1949) and Lenin Prize (1964)
laureate. In 1969 he was given the rank of Colonel and in 1971 awarded degree of Doctor of
engineering science. M. T. Kalashnikov was decorated with three Orders of Lenin, Order of the
Red Banner of Labour, Order of the Great Patriotic War of the First Class, Order of the Red Star
and many medals.
Since 1980 M. T. Kalashnikov has been a citizen of honour in his native village of Kurya. His
bronze bust was placed there as he was twice awarded Hero of Socialist Labour. In 1987 he
became a honourable citizen of Izhevsk.
The President of Russia B.N. Eltsin personally decorated the outstanding designer M. T.
Kalashnikov with the Order "For Distinguished Services for the Motherland" Second Class and
promoted him to Major-General to his 75th anniversary.
The submachine guns of the Kalashnikov system are widespread all over the world. Some
countries have included its image in the State Emblem. Under the items of information
available in the literature to the midst of 1990 there were made about 70 millions units of
Kalashnikov submachine guns of various modifications both in our country and abroad
including those made under license and piratically (till nowadays the invention has not been
patented).
Since 1949 Mikhail Timofeevitch has been living and working in Izhevsk. He went through a
way from a self-taught-inventor up to the General Designer of small arms in the Soviet Army.
A range of the unified models of
automatic small arms
developed by Kalashnikov was
addopted by the Soviet Army in
1950.
The Goverment highly
estimated M. T. Kalashnikov's
serveces to the country. He was
twice honoured as Hero of
Socialist Labour (1958 and 1976)
and became Stalin Prize (1949)
and Lenin Prize (1964) laureate.
In 1969 he was given the rank of
Colonel and in 1971 awarded
degree of Doctor of engineering
science. M. T. Kalashnikov was
decorated with three Orders of Lenin, Order of the Red Banner of Labour, Order of the Great
Patriotic War of the First Class, Order of the Red Star and many medals.
Since 1980 M. T. Kalashnikov has been a citizen of honour in his native village of Kurya. His
bronze bust was placed there as he was twice awarded Hero of Socialist Labour. In 1987 he
became a honourable citizen of Izhevsk.
The President of Russia B.N. Eltsin personally decorated the outstanding designer M. T.
Kalashnikov with the Order "For Distinguished Services for the Motherland" Second Class and
promoted him to Major-General to his 75th anniversary.
The submachine guns of the Kalashnikov system are widespread all over the world. Some
countries have included its image in the State Emblem. Under the items of information
available in the literature to the midst of 1990 there were made about 70 millions units of
Kalashnikov submachine guns of various modifications both in our country and abroad
including those made under license and piratically (till nowadays the invention has not been
patented).
The cause of such great popularity of Kalashnikov submachine guns is in fact that Mikhail
Timofeevitch has achieved an optimum combination of a number of qualities which provide
the usage of guns with high efficiency of application and exclusive reliability in battles.
