- Time Period: Second World War
- Year of Institution: 18 May 1948
- Country: Russia & USSR
The Medal for the Restoration of the Black Metallurgy Enterprises of the South (or Медаль «За восстановление предприятий чёрной металлургии юга», Medal «Za vosstanovlenie predprijatij chernoj metallurgii yuga» in Russian) was established on 18 May 1948 by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and awarded to Soviet workers of outstanding performance in restoring the Black Metallurgic Enterprises of the Soviet Union which were destroyed during the Great Patriotic War.
Thirteen blast furnaces, forty-nine open-hearth furnaces, twenty-nine finishing mills, and sixty-eight coke-oven batteries were restored to effective or outstanding production rates.
Lists of potential recipients were reviewed on behalf of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR by the Ministry of Metallurgy of the USSR and the Ministry of Construction of Heavy Industry of the USSR. The medal was to be worn with honor, to serve as an example of high awareness and observance of labor discipline and integrity in the performance of public duties.
The medal’s statute was amended on July 18, 1980 by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR № 2523-X.
The Medal for the Restoration of the Black Metallurgy Enterprises Design
The medal was 32mm in diameter, circular, and made of brass, with a raised rim on both sides. It was worn on the left side of the chest.
On the obverse on the left side, the relief image of a rebuilt blast furnace, at right, a worker with a tool for punching tapholes, in the background at center, the rising Sun with rays going up. Along the medal side and upper circumference, the relief inscription «За восстановление предприятий чёрной металлургии юга» (“For the restoration of the black metallurgy enterprises of the South”), at the bottom, the relief image of a five-pointed star over a laurel wreath.
On the reverse, the relief image of the hammer and sickle over the inscription on two lines in prominent letters «ТРУД В СССР — ДЕЛО ЧЕСТИ» (“LABOUR IN THE USSR – A MATTER OF HONOUR”).
The medal was secured by a ring through the medal suspension loop to a standard Soviet pentagonal mount covered by an overlapping 24 mm silk moiré ribbon. The ribbon had an 8 mm wide central blue stripe bordered by 1 mm wide white stripes themselves bordered by 5 mm wide light blue stripes, 2 mm wide blue edge stripes completed it.
