1941 WWII Magnitostroy Metal for TANKS AMMO by Kotov RARE SOVIET USSR Postcard

Absolutely RARE Soviet USSR Postcard

Artist: Kotov P.I.

Published: USSR, 1941

Conditions: Used, unposted. Normal wear associated with an old postcard it might have creases, a corner bump, ink on the front, album marks, etc. See picture for a depiction of condition (use zoom).

Size: approx. 6" x 4" (15 x 10 cm)

It is difficult to overestimate the contribution of the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works to the cause of the great Victory of the Soviet people over German fascism. The largest metallurgical enterprise of the Soviet Union, besides geographically distant from the place of hostilities, was to become, and became a real armor shield of the Motherland. Although initially MMK was built to produce "peaceful" steel grades. Special steels used in the military industry were not produced in Magnitogorsk. But with the outbreak of war, already on June 22, 1941, the first military order for the production of armored metal was received at the plant. An instruction was received to start organizing the production of blanks for shells, and also to study the issue of manufacturing armor of tanks.

In order to fulfill this extraordinary complexity of the order, it was necessary to radically restructure the production. The world theory and practice of metallurgy did not know any other methods of smelting armor steel, except for one - in low-tonnage open-hearth furnaces with an "acid hearth". This method was inefficient, but another did not exist then. Magnitogorsk metallurgists also had to adapt furnaces for this technology. The People's Commissariat of Ferrous Metallurgy of the USSR sent to Magnitogorsk a group of specialists who were entrusted with helping Magnitogorsk residents to establish production of armored steel. An armor bureau was created at the plant, which took up the development of technology for the production of armor. On the recommendation of scientists arriving from Leningrad, it was decided to brew the armor with a "duplex process", i.e. in one furnace to obtain a melt, and then in a specially equipped "acidic" to bring the metal to the desired quality. July 23, 1941, i.e. just a month after the outbreak of war, the first armored steel was obtained at the third open-hearth furnace of MMK.

Along with the development of technology for smelting armor steel, the plant was preparing to organize the production of armor plate. And again, searches and theoretical calculations, a bold proposal of MMK deputy chief mechanic Nikolai Andreyevich Ryzhenko to obtain an armor plate by rolling on a bloom, which the world metallurgy practice also did not know.

On November 24, 1941, by a Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, a group of MMK employees was awarded orders and medals for the development of the production of armored steel and armor plate.

1941 was ending. It was still a long way to the Victory, but Magnitogorsk coped with the first tasks that the State Defense Committee had set for them and rebuilt to live and work in a military way.