Mystical stories of World War 2. Mysterious mysteries of the Second World War. Nazi "gold train"

TOPIC: BEGINNING OF THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR 1. DIRECTIVE No. 21 OF THE GERMAN HIGH COMMAND ARMED FORCES (OPERATION BARBAROSSA) December 18, 1940 The German armed forces must be prepared to defeat Soviet Russia in a short-term campaign even before

V. The first difficult year of the Great Patriotic War

The beginning of the Great Patriotic War The dramatic night from June 21 to 22, 1941 is described in an infinitely large number of memoirs and works of fiction. In the overwhelming majority of cases, their authors adhered to the thesis of a surprise attack by Germany, which

After the Great Patriotic War But soon everything changed. At a meeting of the Main Military Council in the summer of 1946, he was accused of exaggerating his own role during the war. He was credited with illegally exporting a significant amount of captured property from Germany. IN

Part II. FLEET DURING THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR

Chapter 4. In the battles of the Great Patriotic War, German troops crossed the border of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941. The Great Patriotic War began. By this time, the Red Army was armed with 34 light armored trains, 13 heavy ones, 28 platforms with anti-aircraft guns.

It was not by chance that we chose such a title; we will talk about the mysteries of the Second World War, and not the Great Patriotic War. Sometimes during a war such strange and contradictory events occur that they are difficult to believe. Especially considering that the archives are still classified and there is no access to them. What kind of secrets does the history of those years keep, from the point of view of the allies of the USSR?
Let's try to figure it out.

15. The mystery of Netaji's death

Subhas Chandra Bose, also known as Netaji, is a Bengali by birth and one of the leaders of the Indian independence movement. Today Bose is revered in India on a par with Nehru and Gandhi. To fight the British colonialists, he collaborated with the Germans and then with the Japanese. He headed the collaborationist pro-Japanese administration “Azad Hind” (“Free India”), which he proclaimed “the government of India.”

From the Allies' point of view, Netaji was a very dangerous traitor. He communicated with both German and Japanese leaders, but at the same time was on friendly terms with Stalin. During his life, Bos had to run a lot from various foreign intelligence services, he hid from British surveillance, was able to change his identity and begin building his Empire of Revenge. Much in Bose’s life remains a mystery, but historians still cannot find an answer to the question - whether he died or is quietly living out his life somewhere in Bengal. According to the officially accepted version, the plane on which Bos tried to escape to Japan in 1945 suffered a plane crash. It seems that his body was cremated, and the urn with the ashes was transported to Tokyo to the Renkoji Buddhist Temple. Both before and now there are many people who do not believe in this story. So much so that they even analyzed the ashes and reported that the ashes belonged to a certain Ichiro Okura, a Japanese official.

It is believed that Bos lived out his life somewhere in strict secrecy. The Indian government admits that they have about forty secret files on Bose, all sealed, and they refuse to divulge the contents. It is said that the release will have detrimental consequences for India's international relations. In 1999, one file surfaced: it was related to the location of Netaji and the subsequent investigation that took place in 1963. However, the government refused to comment on this information.

Many still hope that one day they will be able to find out what really happened to Netaji, but this is definitely not going to happen anytime soon. The National Democratic Union in 2014 refused a request to release Bose's classified materials. The government is still afraid to publish even those documents that have been declassified as secret. According to official information, this is due to the fact that the information contained in the documents could still harm India's relations with other countries.

14. Battle of Los Angeles: Air defense against UFOs

Just don't laugh. Hoax or mass psychosis? Call it what you want, but on the night of February 25, 1942, all Los Angeles air defense services bravely - and absolutely unsuccessfully - fought a UFO.

"It happened in the early morning hours of February 25, 1942; just three months after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. The United States had just entered World War II and the military was on high alert when the attack took place over the sky California. Witnesses reported seeing a large, round object glowing pale orange in the skies of Culver City and Santa Monica, along the entire Pacific coast."

Sirens wailed and searchlights began scanning the sky over Los Angeles, and more than 1,400 shells from anti-aircraft guns pelted the mysterious object, but it, calmly moving across the night sky, disappeared from view. No aircraft were shot down, and in fact, no satisfactory explanation has ever been found. The Army's official statement was that "unidentified aircraft" had allegedly entered Southern California airspace. But US Secretary of the Navy Frank Nose later canceled the reports and called the incident a "false alarm."

13. Die Glocke - Nazi bell

Work on Die Glocke (translated from German as “bell”) began in 1940, and was managed from the “SS brain center” at the Skoda factory in Pilsen by designer Hans Kammler. Kammler's name is closely associated with one of the Nazi organizations involved in the development of various types of “miracle weapons” - the Ahnenerbe occult institute. At first, the “miracle weapon” was tested in the vicinity of Breslau, but in December 1944, a group of scientists was transported to an underground laboratory (with a total area of ​​10 km²!) inside the Wenceslas mine. The documents describe Die Glocke as "a huge bell made of solid metal, about 3 m wide and approximately 4.5 m high." This device contained two counter-rotating lead cylinders filled with an unknown substance codenamed Xerum 525. When turned on, the Die Glocke illuminated the shaft with a pale purple light.

In the throes of the Reich, the Nazis seized every chance, hoping for a technological miracle that could change the course of the war. At that time, vague hints of some unusual engineering developments began to be found in documents. Polish journalist Igor Witkowski conducted his own investigation and wrote the book “The Truth about Wunderwaffe”, from which the world learned about the top-secret project “Die Glocke”. Later, a book by British journalist Nick Cook, “The Hunt for Point Zero,” appeared, which explored similar matters.

Witkovsky was absolutely sure that Die Glocke was intended to be a breakthrough in the field of space technology, and was intended to generate fuel for hundreds of thousands of flying saucers. More precisely, disc-shaped aircraft with a crew of one or two people. They say that at the end of April 1945, the Nazis planned to use these devices to carry out Operation “Spear of Satan” - to strike Moscow, London and New York. About 1,000 finished “UFOs” were allegedly subsequently captured by the Americans - in underground factories in the Czech Republic and Austria. Is it true? Maybe. After all, the US National Archives declassified documents from 1956, which confirm that the development of the “flying saucer” was carried out by the Nazis. Norwegian historian Gudrun Stensen believes that at least four Kammler flying disks were “captured” by the Soviet army from a factory in Breslau, however, Stalin did not pay enough attention to the “saucers”, since he was more interested in the nuclear bomb.

There are even more exotic theories about the purpose of Die Glocke: according to the US writer Henry Stevens, author of the book “Hitler's Weapons - Still Secret!”, the bell was not a spacecraft, it worked on red mercury, and was intended for time travel .

Polish intelligence services neither confirm nor deny Witkowski’s research: the interrogation protocols of SS Gruppenführer Sporrenberg are still classified. Vitkovsky insisted on this version: Hans Kammler took the “Bell” to America, and no one knows where it is now.

12. Nazi "golden train"

World War II documents prove that in 1945, during the retreat, the Nazis removed from Breslau, Germany (now Wroclaw, Poland) an armored train loaded with valuables and tons of gold confiscated from the governments of occupied countries and seized from people who ended their lives in concentration camps. The train was 150 meters long and could contain up to 300 tons of gold!
Allied forces recovered some of the Nazi gold at the end of the war, but most of it, apparently loaded onto a train, disappeared into oblivion. The train was carrying precious cargo from Wroclaw to Walbrzych, however, it disappeared on the way, under still unclear circumstances - as it fell into the ground. And since 1945, no one has seen the train again, and all attempts to find it have been unsuccessful.

In the vicinity of Walbrzych there is an old tunnel system built by the Nazis, in one of which, according to local legends, the missing train stands. Local residents believe that the train may be located in an abandoned tunnel that existed on the railway between Walbrzych and the town of Swiebodzice. The entrance to the tunnel is most likely somewhere under an embankment near the Wałbrzych station. From time to time, this same Walbrzych begins to feel feverish from the next message about the discovery of treasures from the time of the Third Reich.

Specialists of the Mining and Metallurgical Academy named after. Stanislav Staszic in 2015 seemed to have completed the operation to search for the ghostly “golden train”. Apparently, the search engines were unable to make any grand discoveries. Although during the work they used modern technology, for example, a cesium magnetometer, which measures the level of the earth's magnetic field.

According to the laws of Poland, if a treasure is discovered, it must be handed over to the state. Although what a treasure this is...obviously part of captured property! The chief custodian of Polish antiquities, Piotr Zuchowski, recommended refraining from searching for treasures on his own, since the missing train could be mined. So far, Russian, Polish and Israeli media are closely following the search for the Nazi armored train. Theoretically, each of these countries can lay claim to part of the find.

11. Planes are ghosts

Phantoms of crashed planes are a sad and beautiful legend. Specialists in anomalous phenomena know of many cases of aircraft appearing in the sky, which date back to the time of the last war. They are seen in the skies over British Sheffield, and over the notorious Peak District in the north of Derbyshire (more than five dozen planes crashed there), and in other places.

Richard and Helen Jason were among the first to report such a story when they spotted a World War II bomber in the skies of Derbyshire. They remembered that he was flying very low, but surprisingly quietly, silently, without making a single sound. And the ghost just disappeared at some point. Richard, being an Air Force veteran, believes it was an American Bi-24 Liberator bomber with 4 engines.

They say that such phenomena are observed in Russia. As if in clear weather in the sky above the village of Yadrovo, Volokolamsk region, you can hear the characteristic sounds of a low-flying plane, after which you can see a slightly blurred silhouette of a burning Messerschmitt trying to land.

10. The story of the disappearance of Raoul Wallenberg

The story of the life, and especially the death, of Raoul Gustav Wallenberg is one of those that is interpreted completely differently by Western and domestic sources. They agree on one thing - he was a hero who saved thousands of Hungarian Jews from the Holocaust. Tens of thousands. He sent them so-called protective passports of Swedish citizens awaiting repatriation to their homeland, and thereby saved them from concentration camps. By the time Budapest was liberated, these people were already safe, thanks to papers from Wallenberg and his associates. Raoul also managed to convince several German generals not to carry out Hitler's orders to transport Jews to death camps and he prevented the destruction of the Budapest ghetto in the last days before the Red Army advance. If this version is correct, then Wallenberg managed to save at least 100 thousand Hungarian Jews! But what happened to Raul himself after 1945 is obvious to Western historians (rotted by the bloody KGB in the dungeons of the Lubyanka), but for ours it is not so clear.
According to the most common version, after the capture of Budapest by Soviet troops on January 13, 1945, Wallenberg, along with his driver, was detained by a Soviet patrol in the building of the International Red Cross (according to another version, he himself came to the location of the 151st Infantry Division and asked for a meeting with the Soviet command; according to the third version, he was arrested by the NKVD in his apartment). After this, he was sent to the commander of the 2nd Ukrainian Front, Malinovsky. But on the way he was again detained and arrested by military counterintelligence officers SMERSH. According to another version, after his arrest at his apartment, Wallenberg was sent to the headquarters of the Soviet troops. On March 8, 1945, Budapest Radio Kossuth, which was under Soviet control, reported that Raoul Wallenberg had died during street fighting in Budapest.
Western media consider it proven that Raoul Wallenberg was arrested and transported to Moscow, where he was kept in the internal MGB prison at Lubyanka. The Swedes tried unsuccessfully for many years to find out the fate of the arrested man. In August 1947, Vyshinsky officially stated that Wallenberg was not in the USSR and that the Soviet authorities knew nothing about him. But in February 1957, Moscow no less officially informed the Swedish government that Wallenberg had died on July 17, 1947 in a cell in the Lubyanka prison from a myocardial infarction. No autopsy was performed, and the story about the heart attack did not convince either Raul’s relatives or the world community. Moscow and Stockholm agreed to investigate the case within the framework of a bilateral commission, but in 2001 the commission concluded that the search had reached a dead end and ceased to exist. There are unconfirmed reports that refer to Wallenberg as “Prisoner No. 7,” who was interrogated in July 1947, a week (!) after he allegedly died of a heart attack.
Several documentaries and feature films have been made about the fate of Raoul Wallenberg, but none of them reveals the mystery of his death.

9. The Fuhrer's missing globe

The "Führer's Globe" is one of the giant models of the "Columbus Globe", released for leaders of states and enterprises in two limited batches in Berlin in the mid-1930s (and in the second batch, adjustments were already made to the world map). The same Hitler globe was commissioned for the headquarters of the Reich Chancellery by the architect Albert Speer. The globe was huge; it can be seen in the newsreel of the opening of the new Reich Chancellery building in 1939. Where exactly that globe went from the headquarters is unknown. At auctions here and there, from time to time another “Hitler’s globe” is sold, thousands of them for 100 euros.
American World War II veteran John Barsamian found the globe a few days after the surrender of Nazi Germany, in the bombed alpine residence of the Fuhrer, the Eagle's Nest, in the mountains above Berchtesgaden in Bavaria. The American veteran also sold at auction a package of military documents from those years that allowed him to take the globe to the United States. The permit states the following: "One globe, language - German, origin - Eagle's Nest residence."
Experts note that in different collections there are several globes that allegedly belonged to Hitler. However, the globe found by Barsamyan has the best chance of being considered real: its authenticity is confirmed by a photograph showing Lieutenant Barsamyan with a globe in his hands - in the Eagle's Nest.
Once upon a time, Charlie Chaplin in his film “The Great Dictator” showed Hitler’s globe as his main and favorite accessory. But Hitler himself hardly particularly valued the globe, because not a single photograph of Hitler with its background has survived (which, in general, is pure speculation and assumptions).
Before Barsamyan’s discovery, Western media categorically stated that Lavrentiy Beria personally stole the globe, apparently believing that he had captured not only Berlin, but the entire globe. Well, we cannot deny that it is likely that the Fuhrer’s personal globe still stands in one of the offices at Lubyanka.

8. Treasures of General Rommel

Nicknamed the “Desert Fox,” Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was undoubtedly the outstanding commander of the Third Reich; he confidently won the First World War, his name inspired horror and fear in the Italians and British. In World War II he was less fortunate: the Reich sent him to lead military operations in North Africa. SS-Sturmbannführer Schmidt led a special “division-Schutzkommando” in the Middle East: following in the footsteps of Rommel’s army, this team robbed museums, banks, private collections, libraries and jewelry stores in the cities of North Africa. They mainly took gold, currency, antiques and art treasures. The looting continued until Rommel's corps began to suffer defeats and the Germans began to retreat, suffering losses under continuous British bombing.
In April 1943, the allies of the anti-Hitler coalition landed in Casablanca, Oran and Algiers, and pressed the Germans to Cape Bon Peninsula, along with all the looted belongings (none of this, by the way, is “Rommel’s gold”, rather these are African SS treasures) . Schmidt found an opportunity to load valuables into 6 containers and went out to sea on ships towards Corsica. Further opinions differ. They say that the SS men reached Corsica, but American aircraft swooped in and destroyed them. There is also the most beautiful version that Sturmbannführer Schmidt managed to hide or drown treasures near the Corsican coast, which was replete with hiding places, grottoes and underwater caves.

"Rommel's treasures" have been searched for all these years and are still being sought. At the end of 2007, Briton Terry Hodgkinson said that he knew exactly where to dig - at the bottom of the sea at a distance of just under a nautical mile from the Corsican city of Bestia. However, nothing has happened so far and the treasure has not been found.

7. Foo fighters are UFOs

No, we're not talking about Dave Grohl's Foo Fighters, but the World War II phenomenon that his band was named after. The term Foo Fighters is taken from the slang of Allied pilots - this is how they called unidentified flying objects and strange atmospheric phenomena that they saw in the skies over Europe and the Pacific Ocean.
Coined by the 415th Tactical Fighter Squadron, the term "pho fighters" was subsequently officially adopted by the US military in November 1944. Pilots flying at night over Germany began reporting sightings of fast-moving luminous objects following their aircraft. They have been described in various ways, usually as red, orange or white balls that perform complex maneuvers before suddenly disappearing. According to the pilots, the objects followed the planes and generally behaved as if they were being controlled by someone, but did not show hostility; It was not possible to break away from them or shoot them down. Reports of them appeared so often that such objects received their own name - foo fighters, or, less commonly, kraut fireballs. The military took observations of these objects seriously, as they suspected that they were a secret weapon of the Germans. But it later turned out that German and Japanese pilots had observed similar objects.
On January 15, 1945, Time magazine published a story entitled "Foo Fighter", which reported that US Air Force fighters had been chasing "fireballs" for more than a month. After the war, a group was created to study such phenomena, which proposed several possible explanations: it could be electrostatic phenomena similar to St. Elmo's fire, or optical illusions. In general, there is an opinion that if the term “flying saucers” had already been coined then, in 1943-1945, foo fighters would have fallen into this category.

6. Where did the "Bloody Flag" go?

The Blutfahne or "Blood Flag" is the first Nazi shrine to appear after the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch in Munich (an unsuccessful attempt to seize government power by the National Socialist Workers' Party led by Hitler and General Ludendorff; they and about 600 supporters were defeated in Munich beer pub "Bürgerbräukeller", where the Prime Minister of Bavaria gave a speech). Approximately 16 Nazis died, many were wounded, and Hitler was arrested and convicted of treason. By the way, he spent his time in Landsberg prison under very lenient conditions, and it was there that most of his main book was written.

The Nazis who died during the Beer Hall Putsch were later declared martyrs, and the events themselves were declared the National Revolution. The flag under which they marched (and on which, according to the official version, drops of the blood of the “martyrs” fell) was later used during the “blessing” of party banners: at party congresses in Nuremberg, Adolf Hitler attached new flags to the “sacred” banner. It was believed that its touch to other flags endowed them with divine power, and SS officers swore allegiance exclusively to this banner. The "Bloody Flag" even had a keeper - Jacob Grimminger.

The flag was last seen in October 1944, during one of Himmler's ceremonies. It was initially believed that the Allies destroyed the flag during the bombing of Munich. Nobody knows what happened to him next: whether he was saved and taken out of the country, or whether he was thrown to the walls of the mausoleum in Moscow in 1945. The fate of Jacob Grimminger, unlike the “Bloody Flag,” is known to historians. He not only survived the war, but also took up a minor post as a representative of the city administration in Munich.

5. The Ghost of Pearl Harbor - P-40

One of the most intriguing ghost planes of World War II was the P-40 fighter that crashed near Pearl Harbor. Doesn't sound too mysterious, does it? Only this plane was later seen in the sky - a year after the Japanese attack.

On December 8, 1942, American radar detected a plane heading directly for Pearl Harbor from Japan. Two fighter jets were tasked with checking and quickly intercepting the mysterious aircraft. It was a P-40 fighter that had been used in the defense of Pearl Harbor the year before. What was even stranger was that the plane was on fire and the pilot was apparently killed. The P-40 dived to the ground and crashed.

Rescue teams were sent immediately, but they were unable to find the pilot - the cabin was empty. There was no sign of the pilot! But they found a flight diary, which reported that the specified plane was on the island of Mindanao, 1,300 miles in the Pacific Ocean. But if he was the wounded defender of Pearl Harbor, how did he survive on the island for a year, how did he lift the crashed plane into the sky? And where did he go? What happened to his body? This remains one of the most baffling mysteries.

4. Who were the 17 British from Auschwitz?

In 2009, historians conducted excavations on the territory of the Nazi death camp Auschwitz. They discovered a strange list that contained the names of 17 British soldiers. Opposite the names there were some signs - ticks. Nobody knows why this list was created. Also, several German words were written on the paper, but these words did not help in solving the mystery (“since then,” “never,” and “now”).

There are several assumptions about the purpose of this list and who these soldiers were. The first assumption is that British prisoners of war were used as skilled workers. Many were housed in Auschwitz in camp E715, where they were assigned to lay cables and pipes. Another theory is that the names of British soldiers on the list are the names of traitors who worked for the CC unit during the war - they may have been part of the secret British Schutzstaffel (SS) brigade that fought for the Nazis against the Allies. None of these theories have been proven to date.

3. Who betrayed Anne Frank?

The diary of a 15-year-old Jewish girl, Anne Frank, made her name famous throughout the world. In July 1942, with the beginning of the deportation of Jews from the Netherlands, the Frank family (father, mother, older sister Margot and Anna) took refuge in a secret room in the office of their father's company in Amsterdam, at 263 Prinsengracht, along with four other Dutch Jews. They hid in this shelter until 1944. Friends and colleagues delivered food and clothing to the Franks at great risk to their lives.

Anna kept a diary from June 12, 1942 to August 1, 1944. At first she wrote for herself, but in the spring of 1944 the girl heard on the radio a speech by the Minister of Education of the Netherlands: all evidence of the period of occupation should become public property. Impressed by his words, Anna decided after the war to publish a book based on her diary. And from that moment she began to write not only for herself, but thinking about future readers.

In 1944, the authorities received a denunciation of a group of Jews hiding, and the Dutch police with the Gestapo came to the house where the Frank family was hiding. Behind a bookcase they found the door where the Frank family had been hiding for 25 months. Everyone was immediately arrested. An informant who made an anonymous phone call, which led to the Gestapo, but has not yet been identified - the informer's name was not in the police reports. History offers us the names of three alleged informers: Tonny Ahlers, Willem van Maaren and Lena van Bladeren-Hartoch, all of whom knew the Franks, and each of them could have feared arrest for failure to report. But historians do not have an exact answer as to who betrayed Anne Frank and her family.

Anna and her sister were sent to forced labor at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in northern Germany. Both sisters died from a typhoid epidemic that broke out in the camp in March 1945, just weeks before the camp was liberated. Their mother died in Auschwitz in early January 1945.

Otto, Anna's father, was the only one in the family to survive the war. He remained in Auschwitz until its liberation by Soviet troops on January 27, 1945. After the war, Otto received from a family friend, Miep Heath, who helped them hide, Anna’s notes that she had collected and saved. Otto Frank published the first edition of these notes in 1947 in the original language under the title “In the Back Wing” (a shortened version of the diary, with notes of a personal and censorship nature). The book was published in Germany in 1950. The first Russian edition, entitled “The Diary of Anne Frank,” in a magnificent translation by Rita Wright-Kovaleva, was published in 1960.

2. Amber room

Treasures that have mysteriously disappeared are doubly attractive. The Amber Room - “the eighth wonder of the world” - has always been the object of desire for rulers and kings. They say that Peter I literally begged her from Frederick during a meeting in November 1716, when an alliance between Russia and Prussia was concluded. Peter I immediately boasted of the gift in a letter to Catherine: “... he gave me... the Yantarny office, which has long been desired.” The Amber Cabinet was packed and transported with great precautions from Prussia to St. Petersburg in 1717. Amber mosaic panels were installed in the lower hall of the People's Chambers in the Summer Garden.

In 1743, Empress Elizabeth Petrovna instructed Master Martelli, under the supervision of Chief Architect Rastrelli, to expand the office. There were clearly not enough Prussian panels for the large hall, and Rastrelli introduced gilded wooden carvings, mirrors and mosaic paintings of agate and jasper into the decoration. And by 1770, under the supervision of Rastrelli, the office was transformed into the famous Amber Room of the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoe Selo, adding in size and luxury.

The Amber Room was rightfully considered the pearl of the summer residence of the Russian emperors in Tsarskoe Selo. And this famous masterpiece disappeared without a trace during the Second World War. Well, not completely without a trace.

The Germans purposefully went to Tsarskoe Selo for the Amber Room, it seems that even before the start of the war, Alfred Rohde promised Hitler to return the treasure to its historical homeland. There was no time to dismantle and evacuate the room, and the invaders took it to Königsberg. After 1945, when the Nazis were driven out of Königsberg by Soviet troops, traces of the Amber Room were lost. Some of its fragments pop up around the world from time to time - for example, one of the four Florentine mosaics was found. It was believed that the room burned down in the ruins of Königsberg Castle. It is believed that the room was discovered by special units of the American army searching for art objects stolen by the Nazis, and secretly taken to the United States, after which it fell into the hands of private collectors. It was also assumed that the Amber Room was sunk along with the steamship Wilhelm Gustloff, or it could have been on the cruiser Prinz Eugen transferred to the United States as part of reparations.

During the Soviet Union, they searched carefully for the Amber Room, and the search was supervised by the State Security Committee. But they didn’t find it. And three decades later, in the 1970s, it was decided to start restoring the Amber Room from scratch. Mainly Kaliningrad amber was used. And today an accurately recreated copy of the lost treasure can be seen in Tsarskoye Selo, in the Catherine Palace. Perhaps she is even more beautiful than before.

1. Link No. 19

This is perhaps the most widely circulated of the mystical stories of the Second World War. Flight 19 (Flight 19) of five Avenger torpedo bombers, which performed a training flight on December 5, 1945, which ended in the loss under unclear circumstances of all five vehicles, as well as the PBM-5 Martin Mariner rescue seaplane sent in search of them " This miracle is considered one of the strangest and most unusual not only in the history of US Navy aviation, but also in the history of all world aviation.
This happened a few months after the end of the war. On December 5, 1945, as part of flight No. 19, a flight of 4 Avenger torpedo bombers, controlled by US Marine Corps and Fleet Aviation pilots, who were undergoing a retraining program for this type of aircraft, led by the fifth torpedo bomber, piloted by Marine Corps instructor pilot Lieutenant Charles Carroll Taylor was required to complete a routine exercise from the refresher program course. “Navigation Exercise No. 1” was a typical one - it involved flying over the ocean along a route with two turns and training bombing. The route was a standard one, and this and similar routes in the Bahamas area were systematically used for naval pilot training throughout World War II. The crew was experienced, the flight leader, Lieutenant Taylor, had flown about 2,500 hours on this type of torpedo bomber, and his cadets were also not beginners - they had a total flight time of 350 to 400 hours, of which at least 55 hours on “Avengers” of this type.

The planes took off from the Navy base in Fort Lauderdale, successfully completed a training mission, but then some nonsense begins. The flight goes off course, Taylor turns on the emergency radio beacon and finds himself in direction finding - within a radius of 100 miles from the point with coordinates 29°15′ N. w. 79°00′ W d. Then they change course several times, but cannot understand where they are: Lieutenant Taylor decided that the planes of the flight were over the Gulf of Mexico (it seems that this error was a consequence of his belief that the islands over which they flew were the Florida archipelago Keys, and a flight to the northeast should take them to the Florida peninsula). The fuel runs out, Taylor gives the command to splash down, and...there is never any more news from them. The PBM-5 Martin “Mariner” rescue seaplane that took off found no one and nothing, and itself also disappeared.

Later, a large-scale operation was carried out to search for the missing aircraft, involving three hundred army and navy aircraft and twenty-one ships. National Guard units and volunteers scoured the Florida coast, Florida Keys and Bahamas for debris. The operation was terminated without success after a few weeks, and all the lost crews were officially declared missing.

The Navy investigation initially placed the blame on Lt. Taylor; however, they later changed the official report and the loss of the link was described as occurring for "unknown reasons." Neither the bodies of the pilots nor the aircraft were ever found. This story seriously added to the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle legend.

These 15 facts are considered mystical and mysterious by the media of those countries that during World War II called themselves allies of the USSR. Whether to share their views on that war and their ability to list many facts, but never mention the USSR as the winner of Nazism, is a personal matter for everyone. What is certain is that any war gives rise to myths and legends that will survive for many more generations.

On the eve of the Victory Day celebrations, a standard set of “war myths” are again popping up online. Well, those where “Stalin is worse than Hitler”, “The USSR was the initiator of the war”, “they were filled with corpses” and other “millions of raped German women”, as well as “the United States was whitewashed in the war, and the Soviet Union only took part slightly”.

These myths do not change from year to year, and knowing that this information wave will again sweep across the Internet, it is worth once again exposing the most popular of them. Fortunately, there is a lot of historical research on this topic, and you just need to convey this information to the widest audience.

We must also remember that all this talk about the Second World War is only partly about the past. Mainly all these myths are about our present and future. By undermining our glorious past, the titanic efforts and sacrifices of the Soviet people during the Great Patriotic War, Russophobic propagandists are simply trying to show that Russia is a monster. It was in the past, it will drop out now and will be like that in the future. A country incapable of anything except mass murder and looting. Which itself also provoked Hitler.

Therefore, in fact, it is necessary to expose this mythology every year as it appears in the current information agenda.

So, one of the popular tales in the liberal, opposition environment is the myth about the friendship of Stalin and Hitler, and that German weapons were “forged in the USSR.” A number of historians have already spoken on this issue at one time. For example, relatively recently, World War II researcher Evgeny Spitsyn in his interview once again spoke about who and how exactly “forged the weapons of the Thousand-Year Reich.”

And it was during the “interbellum” period, between the First and Second World Wars, that the United States and Britain became economically interested with France and other “European democracies.” Which, in fact, until the very end of the 30s were much more afraid of the USSR than of Germany and fascism. Actually, it was the Europeans who supported, for example, the separation of territories from Czechoslovakia. And in general, Germany’s march “to the East”.

As for the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and the active indignation of the “progressive public” about this, Spitsyn explains: “Stalin simply beat European geopoliticians in one click. In fact, by signing the pact a week before Hitler’s attack on Poland, he brought down the entire multi-move and design that had been born in their heads several years before. They were simply indescribable horror. The winners of diplomatic battles of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries believed that they would fool anyone. Don't be fooled!

Hitler signed the war plan against Poland, codenamed “Weiss,” in April 1939, that is, 4 months before the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Hitler attacks Poland. It is clear that he will not stop at Poland. Where should he go next? According to the plan of the strategists in Paris and London, Hitler was supposed to move further east. He himself wrote about “living space” in the East. And they were already sitting in anticipation; this is why they brought him to power. What is Hitler doing?! He signed an agreement with the USSR and moved his hordes to the west. And we know very well how this ended for European countries.

That is why the pact causes burning hatred among representatives of our liberal public. Stalin defeated European diplomacy and strategy even before the war began.”

Similar information about how the West “moved” Hitler’s Germany to the East, how it provoked a war with the USSR, was given in 2016 by historian Alexander Chausov in his article: “The year 1925 comes, in which the Locarno Conference takes place.

By and large, it was she who determined the advance of the Third Reich, primarily to the East. For example, in the clause that Germany undertakes to respect the territorial integrity of the Western European powers. But everyone somehow forgot about Eastern Europe. The second point is that the Locarno agreements, in a very streamlined form, recognized the right to “the consolidation of all Germans in a single sovereign state.”

And, what is especially important, now the aggressor state was considered the one that first attacked another Western European state. In 1933, Hitler came to power in Germany, and, in fact, the first thing he began to do was to implement the Locarno Agreements as he understood it.

It looked something like this: the Reich seized yet another territory, violated yet another clause of the Versailles agreements, carried out yet another militaristic initiative, and then declared that “with this, Germany’s interests are completely satisfied.” And the European allies “believed” this. Well, people are coming to the East, it doesn’t bother us too much.”

In other words, the West fed and nurtured the fascist monster, and entered the war with it only when it turned out that this monster did not intend to obey the West and act in its global interests.

One way or another, the USSR was attacked by Germany. And it was very difficult for our country. We suffered millions of losses - and in connection with this there are also several “myths”. Firstly, about “being filled with corpses” and that the entire Red Army was captured by the Germans. That's why the United States and its allies defeated Germany. Who fought during the last stages of the Great Patriotic War and entered Berlin is not very clear in this case. But where propaganda myths are created, logic, apparently, is not important.

In this regard, the answer is again given by the historian Evgeny Spitsyn: “For example, the same prisoners who were taken in the first months of the war were said that almost the entire Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army was captured in the first months of the war - there are 3-3 .5 million people. This is a lie that some people are still posting. Serious historians specifically engaged in this calculation - in the first weeks of the war, about 500-550 thousand were captured. Near Kiev, too, the number of prisoners was in the hundreds of thousands, but not 650 thousand, as liberal historians say, about 430 thousand. This is, of course, a lot, but it is not three million people.”

At the same time, the researcher emphasizes, “the most important result of the border battles, the Battle of Smolensk, the battle for Kyiv, etc. was that Barbarossa's plan had failed. They put Hitler behind schedule. The Blitz did not happen, and Hitler lost the war in 1941. This was clear to everyone. The only question was when Hitler's back would be finally broken. Therefore, all those who fought in 1941 must be given the lowest and most sacred bow for the fact that with their lives, in fact, they predetermined our victory in May 1945.”

But that's not all. Those who “wade through” the “heaps of corpses” and “the valor of the allies” stumble upon the notorious German women. There are two million rapes. These figures, as it turned out last year, were invented by Anthony Beevor, a British Sovietologist, and, logically, a fierce Russophobe. He deduced two million rapes from nine (!!!) known cases of rape. By the way, all the guilty Soviet soldiers were put on trial. Yes, unfortunately, such deplorable things happened, but the perpetrators suffered inevitable punishment, and such cases were vanishingly few.

In parallel with rape, the Western and our liberal public are telling absolutely ridiculous things about “bicycle theft.” Allegedly, a certain Soviet soldier tried to steal a bicycle from a Berlin resident and was captured on camera doing this. As it became known back in 2010, a soldier bought a bicycle. At least in the explanatory note for this photograph it is written exactly like this: “Russian Soldier Tries to Buy Bicycle from Woman in Berlin, 1945.”

And finally, we are “treated” to a phrase that is attributed either to Zhukov, or Voroshilov, or Stalin, or generally to Peter I or Apraksin, about “Don’t spare the soldiers, the women are still giving birth” - which is a typical propaganda piece without reference to primary sources. But nevertheless, it is in use among our “liberal public,” which thus shows “the entire inhumanity of the Soviet system.”

In general, all this, of course, is sad. And the fact that on the eve of Victory Day we have to write not about the outstanding feat of the Soviet people, but to expose the dirty tricks that pour on this feat from all sides is the sad reality of today. It is also sad that in the USA and Europe very few people already know the outline of those historical events. But there the business of anti-Russian propaganda has been put on stream.

The main thing is that we, in Russia, remember everything correctly, and understand that we are alive thanks to the enormous sacrifice of our ancestors.

As for the “myths,” the wind of history will dispel them too.

In fact, all Soviet historiography about the war of 1941-1945 is part of Soviet propaganda. It was so often mythologized and changed that the real facts about the war began to be perceived as a threat to the existing system.

The saddest thing is that today's Russia has inherited this approach to history. The authorities prefer to present the history of the Great Patriotic War as it is beneficial to them.

Here are 10 facts about the Great Patriotic War that are not beneficial to anyone. Because these are just facts.

1. The fate of 2 million people who died in this war is still unknown. It is incorrect to compare, but to understand the situation: in the United States the fate of no more than a dozen people is unknown.

Most recently, through the efforts of the Ministry of Defense, the Memorial website was launched, thanks to which information about those who died or went missing has now become publicly available.

However, the state spends billions on “patriotic education”, Russians wear ribbons, every second car on the street goes “to Berlin”, the authorities are fighting “counterfeiters”, etc. And, against this background, there are two million fighters whose fate is unknown.

2. Stalin really did not want to believe that Germany would attack the USSR on June 22. There were many reports on this matter, but Stalin ignored them.

A document has been declassified - a report to Joseph Stalin, which was sent to him by the People's Commissar of State Security Vsevolod Merkulov. The People's Commissar named the date, citing a message from an informant - our agent at Luftwaffe headquarters. And Stalin himself imposes a resolution: “You can send your source to your *** mother. This is not a source, but a disinformer.”

3. For Stalin, the start of the war was a disaster. And when Minsk fell on June 28, he fell into complete prostration. This is documented. Stalin even thought that he would be arrested in the first days of the war.

There is a log of visitors to Stalin’s Kremlin office, where it is noted that the leader is not in the Kremlin for a day, and not for the second, that is, June 28. Stalin, as it became known from the memoirs of Nikita Khrushchev, Anastas Mikoyan, as well as the manager of the Council of People's Commissars Chadayev (later the State Defense Committee), was at the “nearby dacha,” but it was impossible to contact him.

And then his closest associates - Klim Voroshilov, Malenkov, Bulganin - decide to take a completely extraordinary step: to go to the “nearby dacha”, which was absolutely impossible to do without calling the “owner”. They found Stalin pale, depressed and heard wonderful words from him: “Lenin left us a great power, and we screwed it up.” He thought they had come to arrest him. When he realized that he was called to lead the fight, he perked up. And the next day the State Defense Committee was created.

4. But there were also opposite moments. In October 1941, which was terrible for Moscow, Stalin remained in Moscow and behaved courageously.

Speech by J.V. Stalin at the Soviet Army parade on Red Square in Moscow on November 7, 1941.

October 16, 1941 - on the day of panic in Moscow, all barrage detachments were removed, and Muscovites left the city on foot. Ashes flew through the streets: secret documents and departmental archives were burned.

The People's Commissariat of Education hastily burned even Nadezhda Krupskaya's archive. At the Kazansky station there was a train under steam for the evacuation of the government to Samara (then Kuibyshev). But

5. In the famous toast “to the Russian people,” said in 1945 at a reception on the occasion of the Victory, Stalin also said: “Some other people could say: you did not live up to our hopes, we will install another government, but the Russian people will not accept this.” did not go".

Painting by Mikhail Khmelko. "For the great Russian people." 1947

6. Sexual violence in defeated Germany.

Historian Antony Beevor, while researching for his 2002 book Berlin: The Fall, found reports in the Russian state archives of an epidemic of sexual violence in Germany. These reports were sent by NKVD officers to Lavrentiy Beria at the end of 1944.

“They were passed on to Stalin,” says Beevor. - You can see by the marks whether they were read or not. They report mass rapes in East Prussia and how German women tried to kill themselves and their children to avoid this fate."

And rape was not just a problem for the Red Army. Bob Lilly, a historian at Northern Kentucky University, was able to gain access to US military court records.

His book (Taken by Force) caused so much controversy that at first no American publisher dared to publish it, and the first edition appeared in France. Lilly estimates that about 14,000 rapes were committed by American soldiers in England, France and Germany from 1942 to 1945.

What was the actual scale of the rapes? The most often cited figures are 100 thousand women in Berlin and two million throughout Germany. These figures, hotly disputed, were extrapolated from the scant medical records that survive to this day. ()

7. The war for the USSR began with the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in 1939.

The Soviet Union de facto took part in World War II from September 17, 1939, and not from June 22, 1941. Moreover, in alliance with the Third Reich. And this pact is a strategic mistake, if not a crime, of the Soviet leadership and Comrade Stalin personally.

In accordance with the secret protocol to the non-aggression pact between the Third Reich and the USSR (Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact), after the outbreak of World War II, the USSR invaded Poland on September 17, 1939. On September 22, 1939, a joint parade of the Wehrmacht and the Red Army was held in Brest, dedicated to the signing of an agreement on the demarcation line.

Also in 1939-1940, according to the same Pact, the Baltic states and other territories in present-day Moldova, Ukraine and Belarus were occupied. Among other things, this led to a common border between the USSR and Germany, which allowed the Germans to carry out a “surprise attack.”

By fulfilling the agreement, the USSR strengthened the army of its enemy. Having created an army, Germany began to conquer European countries, increasing its power, including new military factories. And most importantly: by June 22, 1941, the Germans had gained combat experience. The Red Army learned to fight as the war progressed and finally got used to it only towards the end of 1942 - beginning of 1943.

8. In the first months of the war, the Red Army did not retreat, but fled in panic.

By September 1941, the number of soldiers in German captivity was equal to the entire pre-war regular army. MILLIONS of rifles were reportedly abandoned in the flight.

Retreat is a maneuver without which there can be no war. But our troops fled. Not all, of course, there were those who fought to the last. And there were a lot of them. But the pace of the German advance was staggering.

9. Many “heroes” of the war were invented by Soviet propaganda. So, for example, there were no Panfilov heroes.

The memory of 28 Panfilov men was immortalized by the installation of a monument in the village of Nelidovo, Moscow region.

The feat of 28 Panfilov guardsmen and the words “Russia is great, but there is nowhere to retreat - Moscow is behind » was attributed to the political instructor by employees of the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper, in which the essay “About 28 Fallen Heroes” was published on January 22, 1942.

“The feat of the 28 Panfilov guardsmen, covered in the press, is the invention of the correspondent Koroteev, the editor of the Red Star Ortenberg, and especially the literary secretary of the newspaper Krivitsky. This fiction was repeated in the works of writers N. Tikhonov, V. Stavsky, A. Bek, N. Kuznetsov, V. Lipko, Svetlov and others and was widely popularized among the population of the Soviet Union.”

Photo of the monument in honor of the feat of the Panfilov guards in Alma-Ata.

This is information from a certificate-report, which was prepared based on the investigation materials and signed on May 10, 1948 by the chief military prosecutor of the USSR armed forces, Nikolai Afanasyev. The authorities launched a whole investigation into the “feat of Panfilov’s men,” because already in 1942, fighters from the same 28 Panfilov men who were on the list of those buried began to appear among the living.

10. Stalin in 1947 canceled the celebration (day off) of Victory Day on May 9. Until 1965, this day was a regular working day in the USSR.

Joseph Stalin and his comrades knew very well who won this war - the people. And this surge of popular activity frightened them. Many, especially front-line soldiers, who lived for four years in constant proximity to death, stopped, tired of being afraid. In addition, the war violated the complete self-isolation of the Stalinist state.

Many hundreds of thousands of Soviet people (soldiers, prisoners, “Ostarbeiters”) visited abroad, having the opportunity to compare life in the USSR and in Europe and draw conclusions. It was a deep shock for the collective farmer soldiers to see how Bulgarian or Romanian (not to mention German or Austrian) peasants lived.

Orthodoxy, which had been destroyed before the war, revived for a time. In addition, military leaders acquired a completely different status in the eyes of society than they had before the war. Stalin feared them too. In 1946, Stalin sent Zhukov to Odessa, in 1947 he canceled the celebration of Victory Day, and in 1948 he stopped paying for awards and wounds.

Because not thanks to, but despite the actions of the dictator, having paid an exorbitant price, he won this war. And I felt like a people - and there was and is nothing more terrible for tyrants.

The profession of a nurse, which involves providing medical care to people, carries with it, first of all, a patriotic duty. In the hottest spots, in the very heat of war, a medical worker makes his way. He doesn't pay attention to the explosions and gunshots around him. He has one goal - to pull the wounded out of the fire, from under the rubble, from under the very nose of the enemy. Pull him out of the battlefield to a safe place, and then, not paying attention to your own weakness, provide the necessary medical assistance. In the history of nursing, you can find thousands of examples of courage and courage of nursing staff. Of course, only love for the Fatherland, faith in the victory of their people over the invaders gave them strength in the most difficult moments. Therefore, first of all, a medical worker must be a patriot of his homeland. And one of the moments of cultivating patriotism in the soul of each of us is studying the history of our homeland.

Rice. 1. Territory of the Municipal Educational Institution Secondary School "Prigorodnenskaya Secondary School"

The topic of my research was not chosen by chance. The Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 affected every home and every family. And now, 70 years after the victory, it would seem that what else can be remembered? After all, so much has already been said, so much has been researched. But, despite this, we have settlements in which the echo of war still remains. The last, most relevant example is that in Shchigra in August 2013, a tractor driver plowed another fascist aerial bomb out of the ground.

Goals of work:

Find ways of possible movement of Soviet prisoners of war and fascist troops on the territory of the Shchigrovsky district in the period 1942-1943.

To develop a sense of patriotism among students of the Shchigrovsky Medical College by introducing them to the historical heritage of Russia.

Study:

The study was conducted between May 2013 and October 2013 with the direct participation of students from the Shchigrov Medical College.

The first stage of our work was to collect some archival data:

On the existence of the 3rd army collection point (hereinafter 191 “Dulag”) for Soviet prisoners of war on the territory of the Municipal government educational institution “Prigorodnoye Secondary School” and the 4th army collection point for Soviet prisoners of war;

On the occupation of the territory of Shchigra and adjacent areas (Shchigrovsky, Timsky) in the period from 1941-43. Articles by Korovin V.V. “I will share your path, like a faithful friend.”, Laguticha M. “Occupation and Liberation” describe and document the order that was happening in the occupied zones:

About the main tank battle in the village of Prokhorovka;

as well as about the movement of the Soviet 121st rifle division under the command of A. M. Bushin from Voronezh in the direction of Kursk in February 1943, when the main battles took place in the urban-type village of Kastornoye, the village of Sovetskoye, the village of Mikhailovka (Cheremisinovo district ), station "Udobrotelnaya" (village "Avan-gard").

Notice

Mountain_________________

village______________________

We hereby inform you that you have been recruited for mandatory work

to Germany, and therefore we offer you __________________ at 8 us. morning to appear at_________________ for

medical examination, and by ____________ be ready to be sent to Germany.

Sergeant Major_________________

Volost clerk______________________

Given to a citizen of the village of Sokolya Plota, Timsky district, Kursk region, Nina Timofeevna Bulgakova, that her cat is registered with the Sokolsky elder and tax in the amount of 20 rubles. paid.

Headman____________________________ (signature)

Clerk______________________________ (signature)

But along with this data, an interesting fact emerged about the presence of prisoner of war camps located on the territory of Kursk and nearby regions.

These are the transit and sorting camps “Dulag”, located in Kastorny, Kursk and Belgorod, “Stalag” - a camp for prisoners of war of privates and sergeants in Orel

Rice. 2. “The road from the village. Prigorodnyaya in the village. Sokolye"

In contrast, army collection points performed the task of quickly transferring prisoners of war to camps located in the rear.

It follows from this that the residents of our occupied city and its surrounding areas could have witnessed the sending of Soviet prisoners of war to the above-mentioned transit and sorting camps.

The next stage of our work was the search for information confirming our guesses. From the article “During the years

Great Patriotic War" by D. Sundukov, A. Brusentsev, published on the website "narod.ru" in the historical section: ".4 July 1942 German troops occupied Kastornoye. For seven months they ruled our land. Despite the established “new orders,” the population sabotaged the instructions of the German commandant and avoided being deported to Germany. Our Komsomol members operated underground: Shura Shmykova, who completed a course for radio operators, Natasha Lemberg, who had just completed her tenth year, knew German and French well, and worked as a translator in the economic commandant's office. Lena Demidova and Maria Rykunova, who crossed the front line twice, kept in touch with them...”

While collecting data on transit and sorting camps, members of the circle came across information about the state of the Kursk-Belgorod railway; according to historical data, in the period 1942-1943, demolition work was periodically carried out on this section by partisan detachments, from the article “Belgorod during Great Patriotic War - 1941": "For two days - October 23 and 24, 1942 - five kilometers from Belgorod, near the suburban village of Streletsky, Soviet soldiers fought a stubborn battle with superior enemy forces. The last trains left the Belgorod station. The steam boiler room in the locomotive depot was blown up, and a span of the railway bridge collapsed into the Seversky Donets.” , from the book by I. G. Ehrenburg War. 1941 - 1945: “.The people of Kursk not only waited. The people of Kursk fought against the invaders. Railway workers blew up German locomotives. The girls were transporting weapons. The partisans killed the Germans." . This historical information and the study of the railway map of the Kursk and Belgorod regions led us to the idea that the movements of troops and prisoners could take place along the Voronezh-Kursk highway, with access to the village. Besedino, and through it to the 39th railway km and further, already in trains towards Belgorod. But then there should be an additional and shortest possible exit to the Voronezh-Kursk highway from Shchigry.

Studying satellite and topographic maps of the area, we came across a barely noticeable country road leading towards the village of Tim; it is much shorter in distance, hidden from the human eye by plantings, that is, it is quite convenient for the transfer of troops and prisoners of war. This road, going from the village of Prigorodneye to the village of Sokolye, has access to the Voronezh - Kursk highway, passes through several settlements - the village of Avdeevka, the village of Morozovka, the village. Sokolye.

After interviewing several residents of these villages, we learned that in these places in the spring and autumn in their gardens, they dig up a large number of shell casings from the times of the Great Patriotic War.

From the memoirs of Alexey Stefanovich Vorobyov, a native of the village of Lezhenki, living in the village. Sokolye, together with his family for 70 years, fought on the Belorussian Front in 1944-1945 and was wounded near Mozyr (Belarus) in April 1945: “...In the summer of 1942, I and my fellow villagers were captured by the Germans . There were 12 of us in total - 8 girls and 4 guys. We were forced to build a road from Shchigry to Kursk, through fields and plantings. We lived in So-kolya, in the cellar of a destroyed house, which was not far from the dam. We were treated very cruelly. We were fed once every three days. They gave half a bucket of water for everyone. One day they pulled us out to go to work, and we saw our soldiers behind the pond and tried to break through to them. A firefight ensued between the Germans and our soldiers. So we escaped from captivity."

Alexey Stefanovich’s words about the cruel treatment not only of prisoners, but also of villagers are confirmed by the announcement of the Hungarian fascist command, published in the article by Lagutich M. “Occupation and Liberation”:

From the announcement of the Hungarian fascist command:

“During the investigations that were conducted against persons committing deliberate explosions on railways, it was established that this subversive work was being carried out with the help of the population of nearby villages.

The village elders, policemen and peasants made a big mistake when they did not report these cases to the nearest military commandants or did not draw the attention of the sentries to this.

Therefore, I draw the attention of the population to the need to immediately report any impending conspiracy or sabotage. If such actions are discovered and covered up, every tenth person from the places closest to the incident will be executed, regardless of gender and age. This fate awaits all those who hide the conspirators or supply them with food or have information about this...

At the same time, I inform the population that if anyone leads us on the trail or shows us the locations of partisans, paratroopers or saboteurs, they will receive a reward: money, a plot of land, or satisfaction in any request.

Hungarian military command."

A conversation with Alexey Stefanovich served as the basis for conducting an exploratory study. We examined an area with a total area of ​​500 square meters. meters along the perimeter of the forest planting strip at the intersection of the Morozovka - Bogoyavlenka and Morozovka - Dubrova roads, as well as a freshly plowed field in the village of Avdeevka near the Prigorodnyaya - Sokolye road (Fig. 2). Even without carrying out excavations on this territory, traces of the Great Patriotic War were found. Under a layer of autumn foliage, we found cartridge cases from cartridges of different calibers, further detailed study of which confirmed information about the presence of Hungarian troops in the occupied territory, since among the cartridge cases of the “Mauser” cartridge there were cartridges made in Hungary.

Rice. 3. “A plowed shell for an 88-mm Flak anti-aircraft gun in the village of Avdeevka.”

Rice. 4. Students of Shchigrovsky Medical College with Vorobyov A.S.

Rice. 5. “Cases from a Mauser cartridge” on a plowed field. D. Morozovka.

A ravine was also discovered and examined, obviously not of natural origin; according to our assumptions, it was a German trench. The basis for this theory was the finds along the perimeter and in the center of the ravine: cartridge cases for a Parabellum pistol and a Mauser rifle, barbed wire along the edge facing the road. As well as several tin cans, on one of which we were able to make out the inscription USSR, P126E7 and the release date 10.01. 39., it was not possible to determine the exact manufacturer (presumably Leningrad region, Slantsy). These banks allow us to conclude that the location of German troops in this place was quite long.

Rice. 6. “Instead of mushrooms, Mauser cartridges grow here.” Landing of the village of Morozovka"

Rice. 7. “Trench with German bullets. Landing of the village of Morozovka.”

Rice. 8. “Barbed wire around the perimeter of the trench.”

Rice. 9. “Tin can.” Trench".

Rice. 10. “Cases from German lighting cartridges. Landing. Morozovka village"

Rice. 11. “Button from German underwear, soldier’s”

This fact is confirmed by some other finds, already in the search perimeter - aluminum casings from German lighting cartridges, which indicates the location of stationary fascist posts along the road and the maintenance of round-the-clock watch in key places of the road (forks, intersections);

- unusual metal buttons, very small, concave inwards, with four holes inside for fastening - such buttons were used in German soldiers' underwear.

Regarding weapons, in total we discovered more than 50 shell casings from the Second World War, in varying degrees of preservation. Below is a list of those cartridges and cartridges, the series and numbers of which we were able to consider:

Cases and cartridges found in a field near the village of Avdeevka.

1. Sleeve length 25 mm - P131s 7 - D.W. M. A.G., Werk Berlin-Borsigwalde, Berlin 7.63x25 mm Mauser pistol cartridge
2. P25s* 3 37 — manufacturer not identified
3. P25s*1 36 — manufacturer not identified
4. P25s*11 36 — manufacturer not identified
5. P131s* 3 39 - D.W. M. A.G., Werk Berlin-Borsigwalde, Berlin
6. P131s* 8 39 - D.W. M. A.G., Werk Berlin-Borsigwalde, Berlin
7. P131s* 4 39 - D.W. M. A.G., Werk Berlin-Borsigwalde, Berlin
8. P120s*18 35 – Dynamit A. G., Werk Hannover-Empelde
9. P69s*49 36 - Trading company Sellier & Bellot has traditionally occupied a key position in the production of ammunition and is one of the oldest engineering companies in the Czech Republic, which is also one of the oldest in the world.
10. P69s* 83 37 – Sellier & Bellot, Czech Republic
11. P249 s* 12 38 – Finower Industriewerk GmbH, Finow/Mark,
12. P249s* 2 36 – Finower Industriewerk GmbH, Finow/Mark,
13. P340s* 2 38 – Metallwarenfabrik Silber^tte, St. Andreasberg, St. Andreasberg
14. Non-intact cartridge case length 53mm - 1735 - Blank rifle cartridge, also used for throwing the VPGS-41 rifle grenade. On the bottom: plant - 17 (Barnaul), year of manufacture - 35 / or a cartridge for the Mosin rifle, manufactured at the Podolsk cartridge plant No. 17
15. Cartridge length - 75 mm (code not defined) - Slightly less common than the 7.92 mm German rifle cartridge. It was used by the German army and the Soviet militia to fire French Lebel rifles and Hotchkiss machine guns.

Shell casings found in the field and plantings of the village of Morozovka

1. Sleeve aux*15 40 - Polte Armaturen und Maschi-nenfabrik A. G., Poltestr. und Fichtestr., Werk Magdeburg, Sachsen
2. Ps*8 37 - Polte Armaturen-u. Maschinenfa-brik A. G., Werk Magdeburg, Sachsen
3. P28s*10 38 - DeutscheWaffen-u. Munitionsfa-brik A. G., Werk Karlsruhe. G. Durlach
4. P186s*6 37 — manufacturer not identified
5. P 131 s*38 38 - D.W. M. A.G., Werk Berlin- Borsigwalde, Berlin
6. P131 s*8 39 - D.W M. A.G., Werk Berlin-Borsigwalde, Berlin
7. Sleeve *42* - Csepel Arsenal, Budapest, Hungary
8. Pk 67 dz 40 – Wytwornia Amunicji nr.2, Poland
9. P316 S*22 36 - Westfalische Metallindustrie, Westfalen.

4 of them were from Parabellum pistol cartridges, judging by the code located on them - “aux” - the cartridges were manufactured in Germany at the Polte Ar-maturen und Maschinenfabrik A. G., Poltestr. und Ficht-estr., Werk Magdeburg, Sachsen” were used during the Second World War as weapons of a limited standard by privates and non-commissioned officers (who were entitled to pistols) in the technical branches of the German armed forces, in the police and military SS. As for the other cartridges found, it is noteworthy that in some places of the forest belt they were located in the ground at a distance of 2 m - 4 m from each other and practically on the same longitudinal line. The cartridge cases were of the same type, but with different inscriptions. An analysis of these cartridges showed that the live cartridges were for a Mauser rifle model 98, 98a, 98k with a range of 2000 m, since the caliber of all cartridges was 7.92. The inscriptions on the cartridges told their own unique story.

Each sleeve has 4 alphanumeric marks that are responsible for certain characteristics: manufacturer code, material code, batch number and year of manufacture.

For example, the case we found 36 P316 22 S, said that it was released in 1936, made of la-tuni, batch number 22, factory code P316 (Westfalische Metallindustrie, Westfalen), this is a classic German-made rifle case "Mauser").

But the 40 Pk 67 dz cartridge case made us dig deep into the literature and find its history. This cartridge case (40 Pk 67 dz) was produced in the city of Rembertov, 15 km from Warsaw in 1940, for the Mauser rifle and has a brass coating.

We were helped in this by the article “Cartridges of Poland”, printed in the September issue of the magazine “MASTERRUZHIE” for 2006: “In February 1921, the Polish Ministry of Defense opened the first state plant for the production of rifle cartridges, including the production 7.92x57 Mauser cartridge. After the occupation of Poland in 1939, the company for the production of Polish cartridges Zaklady Amunicyjne “Pocisk SA”, located until 1935 in Rembertov (15 km from Warsaw), was renamed in 1939 to Wytwornia Amunicji nr.2. This factory designated the cartridges with the letters “Pk”.

An interesting and unusual find was a cartridge case with the code *42*

During the analysis, it was found that such cartridges were produced for arming the Hungarian army at the Csepel Arsenal in Budapest for the G.98/40 rifle. This rifle (also known as the Puska 43M) was developed at the Hungarian arms factory FEG in Budapest in 1941, commissioned by the German Army, chambered for the standard German 7.92x57 Mauser rifle cartridge. To save time and resources, the rifle was created based on the design of the Hungarian 35M rifle. In parts of the German Army, this rifle had the index Infanterie Gewehr 98/40 or briefly Gew.98/40 or G.98/40. In 1943, the G.98/40 rifle, with minor cosmetic changes, was adopted by the Hungarian Army under the designation 43M.

During the identification of cartridges and cartridges found in the area of ​​the villages of Morozovka and Avdeevka, two cartridges were found that can be attributed to the cartridges of the Soviet army. This find may be confirmation of the presence of a reconnaissance or guerrilla Soviet detachment advancing from the village of Tim. Since in this settlement, based on maps of the military situation of the Soviet and German fronts, the front line passed. This is confirmed by the story of M.A. Bushin, commander of the 121st Infantry Division, about the operation to liberate the city of Shchigry in February 1943: “The division headquarters at that time was five kilometers east of the city at the fork in the Cheremisinovo-Tim road... »

The results of the search work, the presence of a large number of cartridges from German cartridges, a shell from the German 88-mm Flak anti-aircraft gun, the testimony of an eyewitness and participant in the events of that time A.S. Vorobyov confirm our guesses about the position of German troops on the border of Shchigrovsky and Timsky districts in the period of 1942, about the possible movement of prisoners of war for their further transfer to the “Dulag” transit and sorting camps, and then in an unknown direction.

The presence of a large amount of live ammunition of fascist troops in the area of ​​​​the intersection of the Morozovka - Bogoyavlenka and Morozovka - Dubrova roads tells us not only about the good armament of the fascist army, but also about the possible defensive position occupied in relation to such strategic objects of that time like roads. This especially applies to the section of road we are studying, leading to the Voronezh-Kursk highway. This road was important for the Nazis as a possible reserve for retreat and for receiving reinforcements during the winter of 1942-1943. Since this section of the road connects the exit to Besedino, and therefore the approach to the railway track, with the occupied Shchigry region, bypassing such a settlement as Tim, from which in December 1942 an offensive operation of our troops was planned with the aim of liberation of the Kursk region from fascist occupation. This fact is confirmed not only by a map of the situation on the Soviet-German front in December 1942, but also by the memoirs of E. Krestikova, a former division signal operator: “The 121st division included the 297th artillery regiment. It consisted of three divisions. The third division interacted with the 705th Infantry Regiment. After heavy battles for Voronezh, Kastornoye and other points, we were missing many artillerymen. The losses were especially heavy in the seventh battery. When approaching Shchigry, many girls from other units expressed a desire to replace retired soldiers and become artillerymen.

The division commander allowed the girls to stand near the combat weapon. By the end of February 2, 1943, we occupied a settlement near Shchigry. A hot battle for the city ensued.

Our girls fought off enemy counterattacks all day. The fascists equipped observation posts and embrasures on the roofs of houses, from where our forward positions were clearly visible and shot through. For two days we fought fierce battles near Besedino, then for the villages of Klyukva, Lebyazhye, Kolpakovka and then for Kursk.” .

As the collected historical and literary information shows, in February 1943, Soviet soldiers did everything to isolate the German troops located in the Shchigrovsky region and push them towards Belgorod. From the article “Belgorod during the Great Patriotic War - 1941”: “After the glorious victories won in the Battle of the Volga and the offensive battles of the first half of 1943, the troops of the Bryansk, Central and Voronezh fronts penetrated deeply into the enemy’s position west of Kursk. The front line here formed an arc, with Belgorod on its southern ledge and Ponyri on the northern. On July 12, near Prokhorovka, the largest tank battle in the history of war began, in which one thousand two hundred tanks operated simultaneously. The enemy was stopped, suffered huge losses, and then, after several stubborn battles, was thrown back to Belgorod.” .

Conclusion: The information obtained at this stage of the research revealed many new facts about the occupation of Shchigry. Of course, so far we have not been able to carry out more detailed research in the area of ​​the village of Morozovka, which is due to the seasonality of the search work, as well as the need for the direct participation of the employees of the Kursk Museum of Local Lore in the organization of further archaeological activities. Therefore, we transferred all the historical data and artifacts obtained during the research to the Shchigrovsky branch of the Kursk Museum of Local Lore for detailed study, and we hope for further joint cooperation in this direction.

The road running from the village of Prigorodnyaya to the village of Sokolye with access to the Voronezh - Kursk highway could have been an important strategic object both for transporting prisoners of war to the transit and sorting camps of Kursk and Belgorod, for supplying the fascist army, and for its retreat to February 1943.

Active search and research activities in the field of the historical heritage of their Motherland contribute to the development of feelings of patriotism, respect and love for their Fatherland among students of the Shchigrov Medical College.

Kopylovich Malvina Vitalievna, teacherLLC SPO "Shchigrovsky Medical College" (Kursk region)

From the collection “Historical Research: Materials of the II International. scientific conf. (Chita, December 2013).”

Literature:

1. R. Spikelet. Article “In Shchigry, a tractor driver discovered a German air bomb.”
2. Military-patriotic page “Memoirs of participants in the battles for Shchigry”, gas. District bulletin No. 10, 01.02.2013
3. Alexander Gfüllner, Aleksander Rostocki, Werner Schwarz “List of Nazi prisoner-of-war camps.”
4. D. Sundukov, A. Brusentsev. Article “During the Great Patriotic War.”
5. Railway map of the Kursk region.
6. Map - diagram of the Kursk region.
7. Satellite map of the Kursk region.
8. Summary table of rifles designed by Mauser for smokeless powder.
9. Stamps and codes of German cartridge case manufacturers before 1945.
10. A. Bortsov “Cartridges of Poland” Magazine “Mastergun” No. 114, 2006.
11. Article "Belgorod during the Great Patriotic War - 1941."
12. Map of the Battle of Kursk. Defensive battle in July 1943
13. Soviet prisoner of war camps in Belarus, directory, Minsk - 2004.
14. Ehrenburg I. G. War. 1941 - 1945. M., 2004. P. 366-381.
15. Map "The situation on the Soviet-German front in December 1942."
16. S. Monetchikov. “Parabellum”: If you want peace, get ready for war” J. BROTHER” for special forces, No. 8, 2006.
17. Map “Counter-offensive near Moscow and the general offensive of the Soviet army in the western direction, December 5, 1941—April 20, 1942.”
18. M. Lagutich. Article "Occupation and liberation".
19. Archive of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation - 417, op.9855, d.2, l.96; op. 27266, building 4, l.100
20. Modern small arms of the world.
21. Cartridges for Wehrmacht pistols. Magazine "Weapons" No. 10 2000
22. Archival materials of the local history museum of the Lomonosov district of the Leningrad region.