From a folder of historic cards published in 1985 on the 40th anniversary of the victory of the USSR in the Great Patriotic War we continue our series looking at the Hero Cities and Fortresses as well as other sites and battles critical to the Soviet victory. The folder was entitled "No one is Forgotten. Nothing is Forgotten."
This fifteenth post looks at the heroic role played by the workers of the Soviet rear without whom the supplies essential to the war effort could not have been produced. It has a photo of the huge Rear and Front monument in the city of Magnitogorsk that was a very important manufacturing centre in the rear during the war.
It is important to never forget the tremendous determination, courage and sacrifices of the Soviet peoples and Red Army in the great struggle of liberation against Nazism and fascism that was World War II.
(The fourteenth installment was The Partisans: Behind Enemy Lines (theleftchapter.com) )
During the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet people accomplished an outstanding feat, the likes of which have never been seen in human history. The Soviet rear proved to be monolithic, withstood all the severe trials of the war, and demonstrated the unshakable strength and indestructibility of our social system.
The workers of the Soviet rear accomplished a great feat during the war. Workers, collective farmers, scientists, engineers, and designers all with selfless labor won an unprecedented battle for metal and bread, fuel and raw materials, and for the creation of Soviet weapons.
The monolithic union of workers and peasants, the fraternal friendship of the peoples of the USSR, the leading and guiding role of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union enabled our country to quickly rebuild its industry on a war footing.
In the first period of the war, fascist Germany surpassed the USSR in the production of steel, coal, and mechanical engineering products. A number of the most important economic regions in the west and south of the country were captured by the enemy. Despite this, our country managed to first reach and then surpass the level of military production of Germany. During the Great Patriotic War, Soviet industry produced 134.1 thousand aircraft, 102.8 thousand tanks and self-propelled artillery units, 825.2 thousand guns and mortars. Agricultural workers gave the country 4.3 billion pounds of grain.
From the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War, collection of funds for the defense fund began throughout the country. Over four years, voluntary contributions from the population amounted to over 118 billion rubles. Several thousand tanks, over 2.5 thousand aircraft and many other pieces of military equipment were built with them.
For successful work in providing for the front, 199 home front workers were awarded the title Hero of Socialist Labor, more than 204,000 were awarded orders and medals and 16 million people were awarded the medal "For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945."
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