MMK's Victory Route

Earlier in this series of virtual tours, which are available on MMK's corporate website, there were guided tours of Komsomolskaya Square, the first square in Magnitogorsk, where MMK's central office is located; the plant management building and thick-sheet rolling Mill 4500 which was evacuated to Magnitogorsk fr om Mariupol and where armour plate for Soviet tanks was rolled during the Great Patriotic War; as well as of Mill 4500's unique steam engine, which has been in operation for more than a century.

MMK's new video tour starts at the Tank Monument which was erected on the plant's site in 1985 in honour of the 40th anniversary of the Soviet Victory in the Great Patriotic War. Here, the last standard model Soviet T-10 tank stands on a plinth. The place where it stands was not chosen by chance – during the Great Patriotic War, blooming mill No. 3, wh ere armour plate was rolled on a blooming mill for the first time in global steelmaking history, stood very close to this spot. Here, for the first time in history, armoured steel was smelted in large open-hearth furnaces. These and other achievements allowed Magnitogorsk metallurgists to cover every other Soviet tank in steel armour during the war. It is no coincidence that in July 2020, by the decree of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, the city of Magnitogorsk was awarded the honorary title "City of Labour Valour" for its significant contribution to victory in the Great Patriotic War through ceaseless production of military and civil hardware and for its citizens' heroism and dedication.

To find out about this and much more, see the new Victory Route virtual guided tour.