From the first days of the fascist blockade of Leningrad, Red Army troops tried to break a corridor to connect the besieged city with the mainland. Attempts to break the blockade ring in 1941–1942 ended in failure. However, a new offensive in January 1943 became a turning point in the heroic struggle for Leningrad. On 18 January Shlisselburg was taken, and at the same time Soviet troops liberated Lipki, thus breaking the blockade of Leningrad. The operation was code-named Spark.
In 2023 the team of Petersburg Plant of Precision Alloys congratulates all city residents on the 80th anniversary of this heroic event.
The tragic days of war and blockade did not spare our enterprise, then the V. M. Molotov Steel-Rolling Wire and Rope Plant. Remaining in besieged Leningrad, the plant’s management and staff urgently began working for military industry and defense needs.
The enterprise produced parts for communications equipment, submachine guns, grenades, mortars, and tanks. It manufactured 904 tonnes of armored cable wire for the underwater cable across Lake Ladoga — the “cable of life,” which from 1942 linked blockaded Leningrad with the restored Volkhov HPP.
By early 1943, 1,115 people worked at the plant; three quarters of the workforce were women. At the central plant laboratory, vitamin C was made from pine needles for workers and employees. In the Toksovo district the plant organized a subsidiary farm, and for a high harvest the enterprise was awarded a certificate of honor. Besides work in shops and production, plant employees actively took part in clearing rubble and restoring Leningrad.
On the 80th anniversary of breaking the Leningrad blockade, Petersburg Plant of Precision Alloys wishes all Leningraders, Petersburgers, and residents of our whole country happiness, well-being, and peaceful skies.
