In the post-war years, those who worked on the armor had their own pride. They often said, " Victory was forged in the rear." But when I met Katavania Semyonovna Minokina, I realized that for her there is not a single bit of pathos in this stable expression. Behind the phrase "forging Victory", she hears the rumble of a blacksmith shop, a hot shop where a woman who later became a Hero of Socialist Labor worked on a par with the peasants, working as a steam hammer driver...

She was born back in 1915 in the village of Frozen Solba

Krasnoyarsk Region in a large peasant family. My father was a shepherd and could not give his children a solid education, except for the primary one. Nevertheless, one of Katavania's older brothers made a name for himself - he became a border guard officer and in the early thirties took his little sister with him to the town of Sebezh, Pskov Region, where she graduated from seven classes.

When the girl turned 22, her brother was transferred to the Far East. From Khabarovsk, where he arrived for a new assignment, he was sent to a new place of service under a Free one, and Katavania reasoned as follows: they say, stop hiding behind the broad shoulders of his brother, it's time to do something in this life yourself. And the girl went to the factory, which at that time was simply called-repair plant N 105. "This is where my whole biography began," says Katavania Semyonovna. On October 27, 1938, she came to the checkpoint for the first time and - again, thanks to her brother - as the sister of a serviceman, she was immediately hired. To begin with, I worked as a timesheet clerk in the 1st shop.

Those who remember what the Stakhanov movement was can imagine the atmosphere of work at that time: do more, do it faster,do it better. And if we take into account that socialism, according to one of the formulations, is accounting plus control, then it is clear that the timekeeper of the machine shop had enough worries: who worked out how many percent, how many hours at the machine stood... A year later, technologist Porfiry Vasilyevich Puzema, leaving for a promotion as a shop manager in a blacksmith shop, called Katavania with him. And by the 41st year, the girl had mastered the profession so much that soon her photo appeared on the Honor Roll, and then the best timekeeper of the plant was appointed senior timekeeper and transferred to the personnel department. By that time, the plant had grown so much that it housed 21 workshops, which means that Minokina had twenty-one subordinates under her command...

But the war made me forget about my career. Many men were sent to the front. Only the experts who had armor and those who were not subject to mobilization by age remained. That's when the head of the hot shop approached the senior timekeeper: they say, enough for you, Katavaniya, to do paperwork. There is a vacancy in the blacksmith shop. Take the steam hammer...

If it is necessary, then it is necessary. Katavania Semyonovna first became a student, and soon a steam hammer driver. Forging hot metal is not something that every man can handle. (One of Minokina's students broke down after the war and ran away.) And she was drawn in. Although the work was hellish: next to the foundry, where they cast the shells of mines and aerial bombs, in the blacksmith shop itself - the thermal department, where steel was tempered in special furnaces, immediately - hydrogen sulfide baths... The heat was so intense that the sweat on the workers ' overalls dried immediately, forming a salt crust...

And then the factory began to receive damaged thirty-fours, armored personnel carriers, and trucks from the front... The square near the current Dalenergomash House of Culture, where the stele now stands, was literally packed with vehicles damaged in battles. And needless to say, how the factory workers worked on their restoration, who sometimes saw traces of blood on the armor...

They worked three shifts, doing the seemingly impossible. There were no large furnaces at the factory, for example, to warm up a broken track, knock out fingers, replace tracks and reconnect them. Therefore, they got good at handling cold metal: six or seven men put the caterpillar "on its butt", held it in this position on the firing pin, and the driver was required sniper accuracy to lower the hammer so as not to allow the caterpillar to slide off the anvil. As Katavania Semyonovna says, during this almost jewelry-like technique of work, it was literally impossible to blink an eye. Because if you were distracted even for a moment, a mistake would be inevitable.

Paradoxically, it was the woman who managed this procedure better. Vasily Gavrileichenko, who led the technical workshop, was surprised: male blacksmiths pass mainly on the 3rd, on the 4th category, the best-on the 5th category. And Katavania Semyonovna passed on the 6th...

Women mostly worked on stamping - they made wrenches of various sizes, hammers. The front-line mechanics probably had no idea what it was like for yesterday's housewives. The 100 percent plan wasn't even discussed here. For a shift, they gave out 200, or even 300, after which they literally fell off their feet - food was tight...

And Katavania Semyonovna had a son in ' 42. (By the way, she raised four boys, and each of them went through labor school at Dalenergomash.) Then young mothers were given (now it's hard to believe) only twenty days of postpartum leave. Three-week-old Gennady Katavania Semyonovna took him to a round-the-clock factory nursery and saw him only once during the day, when she came to feed during the lunch break. Because the working day was irregular, and she often picked up the baby only after midnight...

The war spared Katavania Semyonovna's brothers, who returned from the front as order bearers, and her husband, who worked at the same factory for another 18 years after the war.

Let now many people claim that in the Soviet era, high awards were awarded according to the order. Let's leave it on the conscience of those who do not know what the 3rd hot shop is. Katavania Semyonovna, having become a steam hammer machinist at the beginning of the war, worked in this specialty until her retirement. By decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated March 7, 1960, she was awarded the title Hero of Socialist Labor for outstanding achievements in labor. This document, which I happened to see in the Minokins ' family archive, was signed by K. Voroshilov, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, and M. Georgadze, Secretary of the Presidium. Katavania Semenovna became the first female Hero in Khabarovsk.

A separate chapter could be written about Minokina's social work. In schools, technical schools, military units-wherever she went, telling the younger generation about the everyday work of factory workers. Alas, today the word "labor" is not held in high esteem. But the Hero of Socialist Labor did not disdain any work. After retiring, Katavania Semyonovna worked as a cleaner until the age of 75, first in housing and communal services, then in an evening school at her native factory...

Now she is raising five great-grandchildren. On September 13, a large family will gather to congratulate my mother, grandmother and great-grandmother on their 84th birthday. Good health to you, Katavania Semyonovna. And on behalf of our generation, thank you for your Hard Work...

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