The GAZ-55 (russian: ГАЗ-55) was a Soviet

military ambulance An ambulance is a medically equipped vehicle which transports patients to treatment facilities, such as hospitals. Typically, out-of-hospital medical care is provided to the patient during the transport. Ambulances are used to respond to medi ...

developed in the 1930s by Gorkovsky Avtomobilny Zavod (GAZ) and was used by the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. It was based on the

GAZ-AA The GAZ-AA was a truck produced at the Gorki Auto Plant from 1932 to 1938, as the company's first truck produced under the ''GAZ'' brand name. History In 1929 the Soviet Union made an agreement with the Ford Motor Company to produce the Ford ...

model. With only 9130 models ever being produced, the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

still relied heavily on standard trucks to transport their wounded. Production of this ambulance reportedly continued until 1946. One GAZ-55 was captured by a unit of the ''

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

''.

In popular culture

The GAZ-55 is featured in the 1941 Russian film ' Frontovye podrugi' (The Girl from Leningrad).

In video games

The GAZ-55 is featured in the video game ' Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad'.

Gallery

image: Gazz-55-Frontovye-podrugi-1941-film.jpg, The GAZ-55 in the Russian film 'Frontovye podrugi'.

References

{{reflist GAZ Group trucks Military ambulances World War II vehicles of the Soviet Union Military vehicles introduced in the 1930s