View source for IMZ-Ural

=== Pre-war and the Nazi Invasion ===
[[File:IMZ M-72 in Moscow 01.jpg|thumb|An IMZ M-72 on display in Moscow]]
A meeting was held at the People's Commissariat of Defense of the USSR at the end of 1930s to devise a motorcycle that would be suitable for the [[Red Army]], and the Nazi [[Wehrmacht]]'s [[BMW Motorrad|BMW]] R71 motorcycle was found to closely match the Red Army's requirements. Five units were covertly purchased through Sweden and handed over to Moscow Motorcycle Plant, recently organized in a retooled bicycle factory. Soviet engineers dismantled the BMWs and reverse engineered the bike's design in every detail. Molds and dies were made to produce engines, gearboxes and other components. The production of these new military sidecar motorcycles, designated M-72 by the Red Army, started in August 1941.
[[File:1941 IMZ M-72 Formation.jpg|thumb|A formation of Red Army IMZ M-72 motorcycles.]]
The suspected military offensive occurred in the summer of 1941, as the Nazis executed [[Operation Barbarossa]] and invaded the Soviet Union. The opening stages of the attack were so swift and so effective, that Soviet strategists worried that Moscow would quickly be in range of [[Luftwaffe]] bombers. On October 21, 1941, the decision was made to move the motorcycle plant east, out of bombing range and into the resource-rich Ural mountain region. The site chosen was the town of Irbit, located on the fringes of [[Siberia]] in the [[Ural Mountains]].

[[Irbit]] was chosen because it had been an important trade center throughout [[Russia]]n history and was the site of the country's second largest fair before the Revolution of 1917. The only available building large enough to contain the factory was a brewery outside of town, beyond the railway line. This brewery became the Irbit Motorcycle Factory, or IMZ (Russian Ирбитский мотоциклетный завод; Romanized Irbitsky Motosikletny Zavod), and quickly began cranking out motorcycles for the war effort. On February 25, 1942, the first batch of motorcycles—assembled from the parts brought from Moscow—went to the front. During WWII a total of 9,799 M-72 motorcycles were delivered for reconnaissance detachments and mobile troops.