After WW2 Soviet army needed light and simple prime mover and chassis for APC and other combat vehicles.
But soviet industry was in ruins and could not produce efficient full-tracked and off-road wheeled vehicles in big numbers.
The solution was easy - convert any simple truck into half-track.
In late 40's first soviet post-war halftrack was built. It was ZiS-153.
First version had german-type tracks.
But it was only experimental vehicle, not for production.
Few yeas later another prototype was built.
It has powered front axle, cabin and engine from ZiS-151 truck and reliable tracks.
soviet marshall Ivan Konev wanted to equip Soviet army with half-tracked APC's.
But in early 50's soviet industry was repaired and ready to produce tracked and wheeled off-road vehicles in enough numbers. Producing of halftracks was canceled.
