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Oleh Soich

Oleh Vladyslavovych Soich (1915–1975) — a native of Crimea, Soviet industrial manager, director of the Malyshev Kharkiv Tank Factory, under whose leadership the serial production of the main battle tank T-64 was put on a conveyor. A street in Kharkiv is named after him, and the modernized T-64BM "Bulat" became the main tank of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Overview

Oleh Soich was born on 25 December 1915 in Crimea (the village of Andriivka, now Zhelabovka, Nizhnyohirskyi district) into a family of descendants of settlers from Trieste (Serbs with Italian roots) who settled in Crimea after the Crimean War. He received a technical education in Berdyansk and rose from a foreman at the Kriukiv Wagon-Building Plant to director of the Kharkiv Bearing Plant and chairman of the Kharkiv Council of National Economy (1960–1965).

In 1965 he headed the Malyshev Plant in Kharkiv and was responsible for mastering the serial production of the fundamentally new T-64 tank — the world's first vehicle with an automatic loader, multi-layered armor with a ceramic interlayer, and a smoothbore 125-mm gun. The modernized T-64A was adopted into service in 1967. He died in 1975 while working on the advanced "Object 450" (T-74).

Key Details / Subtopics

  • Origin: The Soich family — natives of Trieste (Northern Italy), naval officers in russian service who received land in Crimea after the Crimean War; Oleh was born in the village of Andriivka (now Zhelabovka, Nizhnyohirskyi district).
  • Education and early career: technical college in Berdyansk; Kriukiv Wagon-Building Plant (foreman, deputy shop chief); Bryansk, Saratov.
  • Kharkiv period: chief engineer and director of the Kharkiv Bearing Plant; 1960–1965 — chairman of the Kharkiv Council of National Economy (de facto minister of industry of the Kharkiv, Poltava, and Sumy regions).
  • Director of the Malyshev Plant (from 1965): putting T-64 production on a conveyor, overcoming the machine's "childhood diseases" (tracks, engine, gun accuracy) amid competition with the Nizhny Tagil Design Bureau.
  • T-64: the world's first serial tank with an automatic loader and composite armor; the T-64A (1967) with a new engine; later the T-64BM "Bulat" — the main tank of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
  • Recognition: a street in Kharkiv named in his honor; for his 90th anniversary a book by M. Karakoz "A Man for All Times" (Kharkiv, 2005) was published.
  • The Might of Crimean Bulat — an article by Valerii Verkhovsky in the newspaper "Krymska svitlytsia" (2017, No. 51), the main biographical source.
  • Andriy Shchekun — chief editor of the newspaper "Krymska svitlytsia", where the material about Oleh Soich was published.