Memorial complex

The opening ceremony took place on May 8, 1967 to become a solemn event in the plant life. Hundreds of the workers gathered on the area at the plant entrance control post. The monument was opened by A. A. Askarov, Hero of the Soviet Union, veteran of the plant. The Eternal Flame was lit by electrician K. F. Losev, holder of twelve national awards, who served as tanker at the Great Patriotic War. The first shift of the honour guard included plant’s war and labour veterans, who were later replaced by soldiers of the Tambov garrison, then Komsomol members of the plant, pioneers and octobrists of the sponsored secondary school. The workers of the plant walked past the monument with excitement, reading the names of their comrades and relatives carved in gold letters, the names of the ones who sacrificed their lives for peaceful being of the future generations. A. A. Abanosimov, M.V. Litvishko, S.N. Uljev, S.S. Mukhin, V.G. Ivanov, I.I. Trushin and many others – totally 41 names are memorialized on a stone stele installed in the depths of the site, raised above the factory territory, along the edges of which rows of evergreen trees are planted. Nobody is forgotten and nothing is forgotten.

The valiant labour of the workers, engineering and technical specialists of the plant during the Great Patriotic War, their dedication and perseverance in fulfilling important and responsible orders of wartime were recognized with national awards.

Order of the Patriotic War of the 2nd Degree and the «Badge of Honor» were awarded to the ex-director of the enterprise A.A. Smitskoy, the Order of the «Red Banner of Labour» - to the former head of the iron and hardware shop V.P. Deev, who headed the plant's party organization at the end of the war, foremen A.P. Karnishev and N.P. Rubtsov. The Order of the «Red Star» was awarded to the plant's chief engineer V.V. Potapov, the Order of the «Badge of Honor» was awarded to T.A. Makhnev, who was recalled in 1944 to run Industrial Institute in Penza, to the foreman of the copper apparatus shop A.E. Bekin, to the head of the production department N.V. Bazhatkov, to the head of the IAS V.G. Ostroukhov and to the others. Many were awarded the medal «For Valorous Labor in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945». These awards seemed to have a resonance with the orders and medals that were awarded for the military exploits of the plant workers returning from the front. It is like the way as the poetry says: «A medal for battle and a medal for labour are cast from the same metal».

The plant began to produce military products from the first days of the war. During the war years, the team produced and assembled fuel tankers and aircraft starters, 50-mm company and 82-mm battalion mortars, RGD-33 grenades, instant mine casings and stabilizers for aerial bombs. During this difficult time, the team mastered the production of field disinfection chambers, mobile oxygen stations on vehicles, equipment for the production of domestic penicillin, and many other products needed by the Red Army. When the enemy was near Voronezh, T-34 tanks were repaired in the plant's workshops.

During the Great Patriotic War, more than 800 workers of the Komsomolets plant were called up to the front. Those who remained used to work selflessly and were engaged in combat training after their shift. Also shall be noted, that women, teenagers, and pensioners came to the plant to work and replace those who went to the front. Graduates of the sponsored vocational school played a major role in staffing the production areas. They had to work 14-16 hours a day, often people did not leave production for day in and day out.

The plant museum has a room dedicated to the events of 1941-1945.

The further the war years go from us, the more majestic the heroic acts of the front-line soldiers who defended the independence of our Motherland.