Semyon Alexandrovich Ginzburg


Semyon Alexandrovich Ginzburg was a Soviet tank designer.
Ginzburg attended the Dzerzhinsky Military Technical Academy in Leningrad. He worked in the GKB and in the KB-3 in Moscow. In 1930 he was a member of the Soviet purchasing committee in Great Britain that prepared buying a licence for the Vickers 6-Ton tank.
Ginzburg then headed the OKMO experimental group in Leningrad preparing the production of the T-26, based on the acquired Vickers 6-Ton design. Later he was directly involved in development of experimental types like T-33, T-43, T-29, T-46-5, T-100 and T-126SP, as well as in the series built T-26, T-28, T-35 and T-50 types.
A deputy to Joseph Yakovlevich Kotin, himself a deputy to the People's Commissar of the Tank Industry, S. A. Ginzburg was directly responsible for development work of the SU-76 light self-propelled gun. The poor quality of this weapon was a reason for his removal from that position and sending to front. He became a chief technical officer of 32nd tank brigade, and was killed during battle of Kursk.