During Operation Barbarossa, Nazi Germany's rapid offensives in Ukraine and western Russia temporarily disrupted new military projects as most Soviet factories involved with the production of armoured fighting vehicles were forced to evacuate their facilities and relocate operations east of the Ural Mountains.[2] Gorkovsky Avtomobilny Zavod (GAZ) was one of a few exceptions to the rule, as it was already located east of Moscow.[2] Its contribution to the early Soviet war effort was strategically vital, since it could continue manufacturing vehicles to replace the massive losses then being sustained by the Red Army while the rest of the local defence industry was struggling to relocate and reorganise.[2] GAZ increased its manufacture and assembly of light tanks accordingly, as well as continuing to produce military trucks.[2] Since the programme to mass produce a new all-wheel drive armoured car had been interrupted by the German invasion, it also fell to GAZ to investigate possibilities in that regard.[2]