The Arctic, the North, unknown distances... They have always attracted romantics seeking the unknown, scientific researchers seeking to discover new lands.
This year marks the anniversary of two Arctic expeditions and the 160th anniversary of the birth of the legendary polar explorer Baron Eduard Toll. These expeditions are connected with Yakutia, with its Arctic zone.
The Second Kamchatka (Great Northern) Expedition - the largest Russian expedition of the 18th century, lasted from 1733 to 1743. It took place under the command of Vitus Bering. Its goals were a comprehensive study of Siberia, clarification of state borders in the East of Russia, studying the possibilities of navigation on the Arctic Ocean, resolving the issue of the existence of a strait between North Asia and America, searching for routes to Japan and the shores of North-West America. These problems were solved mainly Marine units expeditions led by V. Valton, V. V. Pronchishchev, A. I. Chirikov, M. P. Shpanberg, brothers Khariton and Dmitriev Laptev and others.
The expedition also included an Academic detachment, which was engaged in a comprehensive natural science and historical-geographical description of Siberia and its peoples. The Academic team included professors - historians G.F. Miller and I.E. Fisher, naturalists I.G. Gmelin and G.V. Steller, astronomer L. Delisle de la Croyère, translators, students, including Stepan Krasheninnikov, subsequently the first Russian professor of natural history and botany of the Academy of Sciences.
The Great Northern Expedition for the first time made an inventory of individual sections of the coast of the Arctic Ocean, confirmed the existence of a strait between Asia and America, discovered and mapped the Southern Kuril Islands, examined the coast of Kamchatka, the Sea of Okhotsk and individual sections of the coast of Japan.
Many species of flora and fauna were described and sketched, among them there are now extinct ones, the most famous of which is the “Steller's cow”.
The results of the expedition were published worldwide famous works G.F. Miller - “History of Siberia”, “Description of the Siberian kingdom and all the affairs that happened in it from the beginning, and especially from its conquest by the Russian state to this day”, “Description of the Tomsk district of the Tobolsk province in Siberia in its current situation, in October 1734" and other works.
Studies by I.G. Gmelin were published - “Siberian flora”, “Travel through Siberia from 1741 to 1743”, S.P. Krasheninnikov - “Description of the land of Kamchatka”.
75 years since the start of the First Kolyma Geological Exploration Expedition.
On July 4, 1928, the first Kolyma geological exploration expedition landed on the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk, near the village of Ola. It was headed by engineer-geologist Yuri Bilibin. The result of Yu.A. Bilibin’s expedition of 1928-1929 was the discovery of industrial gold-bearing areas in the areas of the Utina River, the Kholodny and Yubileiny springs, which became the main gold mining sites in Kolyma until 1933. Gold was also discovered in other valleys, and some patterns of its distribution and the geological structure of the area began to become clearer. Bilibin put forward a hypothesis about the existence of a gold-bearing zone here hundreds of kilometers long.
The third anniversary date is associated with the name of Baron Eduard Toll, a famous polar explorer, zoologist and geologist, a man with a mysterious fate. This is the 160th anniversary of the birth of this scientist and traveler. Today we will pay our attention to this researcher.
The mysterious disappearance of Eduard Toll in the Arctic ice still remains a mystery for two centuries... Eduard Toll devoted his entire life to searching for the legendary Sannikov Land.
The first to see this unknown, uncharted land was the merchant and mammoth ivory collector Yakov Sannikov from Yakutia. This happened in 1810 during the first Russian expedition to the New Siberian Islands. From the northern tip of Kotelny Island, Sannikov clearly saw high stone mountains, located at a distance of 70 versts.
And it was not a hallucination or a mirage. Firstly, the fact of the “vision” was officially certified by the head of the expedition, collegiate registrar Matvey Gedenshtrom. Secondly, Sannikov was an experienced person, capable of distinguishing a mirage from a real picture. It was they who discovered three islands of the Novosibirsk archipelago - Stolbovoy, Faddevsky, Bunge Land.
Ten years later, with the specific goal of exploring Sannikov Land, an expedition was equipped under the command of naval lieutenant Pyotr Fedorovich Anzhu. But Anjou did not find any land, although he was armed with excellent optical tubes. Having wandered with dog sled guides in the area where Gedenstrom had marked “Sannikov’s Land” with a dotted line, he returned to St. Petersburg with nothing.
However, they did not stop searching for Sannikov Land, although it was believed that no land existed north of the New Siberian Islands. And suddenly, in 1881, the American George DeLong discovered an archipelago of small islands located much north of the dotted line drawn by Gedenstrom.
A new round of searches began for a land that could conceal priceless treasures. These primarily included mammoth tusks.
There was a number of evidence that Sannikov Land could have unique natural and climatic characteristics. For example, in the fall, polar geese from the northern coast flew not to the south, but to the north, approximately in the direction of Sannikov Land. And with the onset of the warm period they returned with offspring. The mythology of indigenous peoples should not be discounted. According to ancient legends, far in the north there was a “mainland of mammoths”, where they grazed freely in green meadows. However, evil underground forces intervened in this happiness, destroying the idyll.
De Long's discovery spurred American industrialists who began to create a joint stock company to develop northern resources. Naturally, Russia could not help but react to this.
In 1885, a research expedition led by Baltic Fleet medic Alexander Bunge was sent to distant shores. Zoologist and geologist Baron Eduard Vasilyevich Toll was appointed his assistant. Russia was in a hurry to formalize its right to the legendary Land.
On August 13, 1886, Toll, standing on the same shore of the same island as Sannikov, saw the same mountains and literally became ill with the thought of searching for an unknown land. He saw these massifs quite clearly, determined the distance to them (about 160 kilometers), and did not even allow the thought that there were only ice blocks there in the distance. For many years, Baron Toll built a theoretical proof of his theory.
The next expedition, led by Toll, took place in 1893. And finally, on July 4, 1900, Eduard Vasilyevich set off from Kronstadt on the whaling ship Zarya to put an end to the protracted dispute about the existence of Sannikov Land. He was absolutely sure of its reality.
The expedition was well prepared, helped by 150 thousand rubles in gold allocated by the Ministry of Finance. Young scientists were recruited - energetic enthusiasts for studying the Far North. The most advanced equipment and equipment were purchased. The food supply allowed autonomous existence for up to three years.
Toll, considered one of the leading experts in the field of practical research of the circumpolar territories, was perfectly suited to the role of leader of the expedition. He looked with great interest for answers to the mysteries of the recent geological past: did a continent exist in the area of the modern New Siberian Islands, when and why did it break up, why did mammoths become extinct?
The voyage of Toll's expedition lasted three years. Toll was sure that the land Sannikov saw really existed. But Eduard Vasilyevich could not fulfill his dream.
Having remained to spend the winter on one of the islands, he planned to resume his search in the spring. Toll's group, without waiting for the schooner "Zarya", decided to independently move south towards the continent, but further traces of these four people have not yet been discovered.
In 1903, a search expedition led by Admiral Alexander Kolchak discovered Toll's site on Bennett Island, his diaries and other materials.
In his diary, Toll announced his departure. Since then, no one has seen him or those people who were with him. Many mystics associate the mysterious disappearance of Eduard Toll and three other scientists with the mysterious Sannikov Land.
Toll's diary, according to his will, was given to his widow. Emmeline Toll published her husband's diary in 1909 in Berlin. In the USSR, it was published in a greatly truncated form, translated from German in 1959.
Another scientist was fascinated by the idea of searching for the mysterious land of Sannikov. This was Vladimir Obruchev - a major scientist, holder of the Order of St. Vladimir, 4th degree, Lenin and Red Banner of Labor, academician, geologist, paleontologist and geographer, researcher of Siberia and Central Asia, author of numerous scientific works and textbooks on geology, which have remained relevant until our days.
The northern Yakuts have a myth about a mysterious warm land, lost somewhere far away in the Arctic Ocean. Birds fly there every year to winter and the Onkilons went there - a semi-legendary people who allegedly lived on the territory of Chukotka, and then were expelled by other tribes to the islands of the Arctic Ocean. Obruchev combined this beautiful fairy tale with reports about Sannikov Land and the truly unresolved question of migratory birds that return after wintering with their offspring.
At the very beginning of the twentieth century, Obruchev worked on a geological and geographical expedition in Yakutia. From local residents, Vladimir Afanasyevich heard a mysterious legend about a flowering land located among the endless expanses of the Arctic Ocean. They said that the presence of a warm oasis in the coldest ocean is indicated by flocks of migratory birds that annually fly north at certain times towards the snow-covered and deserted expanses of the Arctic. It was in that direction, according to local residents, that the Onkilon tribe once went.
Since Obruchev was primarily a scientist, he had to present the legend in such a way as not to contradict scientific data. As a result, his Sannikov Land remained warm and fertile due to the fact that it was formed by volcanic activity, and this volcano had not yet cooled down. Together with the Onkilons, there live Wampus - people from the Paleolithic - and fossil animals led by mammoths. This is how the novel “Sannikov’s Land, or the Last Onkilons” appeared.
In 1924, Obruchev completed work on the novel “The Land of Sannikov, or the Last Onkilons.” But it was just a novel - the fantasy of a talented writer. But the plot was still based on real events. The prototype of the main character may have been the scientist, Arctic explorer, and talented geologist Eduard Vasilyevich Toll.
But what did Sannikov and Toll actually see? Mirage? Pile of ice floes? The most popular theory now is that they actually saw an island of fossil ice that melted before its discovery. This is confirmed by the fate of two other islands of the Novosibirsk archipelago - Vasilievsky and Semyonovsky. They were opened in early XIX centuries and completely disappeared by the 30-50s of the 20th century.
The search for Sannikov Land did not stop in the 20th century. There are modern legends about this amazing Earth, exciting the fantasies of researchers and our time. IN different times Inexplicable notes began to appear in the press. We will not judge whether there is some truth in them or whether they are fiction; we will simply consider these myths of our days.
In the middle of the 20th century, military specialists tried to reach Sannikov Land. For their hikes they use the northern mode of transport - reindeer and dog sleds. There were several of these attempts. All expedition participants claim that they saw this uncharted land from afar. But every time an insurmountable obstacle arose in their path in the form of a huge hole. Until now, this mythical land remains inaccessible to researchers.
There are stories among sailors that confirm the legends about an inhabited island in the middle of the Arctic Ocean. Only this can explain the finds of various objects floating from the direction of the Pole. And this was at a time when there was not a single expedition to this area. Polar travelers unanimously talk about the fact that temperatures increase as they move towards the Pole. Another amazing phenomenon: among the solid ice, huge open spaces of water suddenly appear, completely free of ice cover.
Of course, modern space technology makes it possible to take a very good picture of any territory on the surface of the Earth. There are such photographs and Poles. Strange shadows are visible on them. The Americans assumed that these were Russian military facilities. The surprising thing is that it was not possible to find these “shadows,” but they are visible from space.
Not only Russian researchers were engaged in the search for “Sannikov Land”. So, in the twentieth century, an amazing report was received by the British Admiralty. British sailors landed on one of the Scottish islands. Unusual events happened to them. Suddenly people who didn't look like the English appeared. Quite strange things began to happen to the consciousness and vision of the sailors. They managed to return safely to the ship, but were completely demoralized.
In addition, according to the testimony of a famous pilot who flew over the Pole in the 30s, he saw among polar ice a big green oasis. No one believed his story; they assumed that the pilot had seen a mirage.
Members of the American expedition, having found ruins on one of the Arctic islands ancient city, believed that they had found traces of the mythical Atlantis or the so-called Arctida - the island where an ancient highly developed civilization lived. In their report, the travelers described the structures they found. These include houses, temples, palaces and cultural sites. Although most of the buildings are under a layer of eternal ice and only the tops of the buildings are visible, scientists believe that they were built several thousand years ago. It is very difficult to carry out excavations in Arctic conditions, but, according to experts, the architectural style of the city is reminiscent of ancient Greek. Perhaps this city was built at a time when there was a subtropical climate and was a paradise.
Recently, scientists have found that a so-called fusion strip often appears near the mainland and large islands. According to observations, such a confluence strip often occurs in the Laptev Sea, not far from Tiksi. This optical phenomenon occurs in three places: off the coast of the mainland, near the New Siberian Islands and north of the Archipelago. That is, exactly where the merchant Sannikov first saw the new Earth, later called Sannikov Land. Given this discovery, we can say with a high degree of probability that Sannikov Land does not exist.
There is also a Tibetan legend about the White Island. It says that this island is the only territory that will escape the fate of all continents. It cannot be destroyed by fire or water - this is the Eternal Earth.
It is possible that it was this land that the merchant and Christian writer Cosmas Indikoplovtus spoke about in the sixth century after the Nativity of Christ in his theological and cosmographic treatise “Christian Topography”. He argued that in the North there was a land where human life originated.
Helena Blavatsky believed that the land of Sannikov was that polar country inhabited by creatures living for ten thousand years. There are no diseases here, and the people living on this earth are perfect.
It is surprising that many travelers have seen Sannikov Land, but no one has been able to set foot on its shores. What do the prophets say about this?
Nostradamus wrote that a select few would live beyond the Arctic Circle, the rest near the Equator. There will be no politics in the lives of these people.
The medieval prophet and astrologer Ragno Nero wrote in his manuscript of predictions “The Eternal Book” that the time would come when the ice would melt in the North and a flowering land would appear there. Or maybe Sannikov Land is this mysterious land?
This mysterious Earth still excites the imagination of many.
Connections with these significant dates As part of the “Arctic Days in Neryungri”, the local history literature department of the Neryungri Library held the event “Arctic. Autograph on the map", where readers got acquainted with the history of the development of the northern lands and met with representatives of the indigenous peoples of the Arctic represented by students of the Arctic School of Education, heard the ancient speech of the peoples of the North, fascinating songs and legends of distant times.
Varvara KORYAKINA, leading librarian of the local history literature department of the Neryungri City Library.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, there were many “blank spots” left on world geographical maps. One of the “whitest” was the Arctic, into whose possessions travelers were not as zealous as in the tropics hung with bananas. This is understandable: wild cold, eternal ice and depressing stories from contemporaries. The only people who voluntarily lived next to polar bears and seals were the indigenous peoples of the Arctic and the Pomors, whose “frostbite” no one doubted...
At the beginning of the 4th millennium BC, one of the first states in human history was formed in the Nile River valley - Ancient Egypt. Any teenager knows about this from their school curriculum, which unfortunately does not contain any mention of the fact that already two to three thousand years earlier people lived not only in Africa, but also, for example, in the north of the European part of Russia. At a time when there were no pyramids and in the project, our ancestors, or so to speak, “geographical compatriots,” inhabited the Kola Peninsula. With primitive equipment, with a way of life extremely far from the norms of civilization, in conditions that we today consider extreme... Three thousand years later, permanent settlements appeared on the coast of the White Sea. The people who lived in them went to sea on primitive leather and wooden boats and made a living by hunting sea animals and fishing. These campaigns gave rise to Arctic navigation. Slavic tribes appeared in the Russian North in V-VI centuries n. e. They traded with the inhabitants of the northern region, in particular, buying furs. In the 10th-11th centuries, Novgorodians appeared here, who by the 12th century made the region a colony of Veliky Novgorod. The shores of the White Sea, Northern Dvina, Onega and Pinega were gradually populated by serfs who fled from the middle zone, with whom the indigenous population - Karelians, Komi, Lapps - were partially assimilated. Then, in the 13th century, the region received the name “Russian Pomerania”, and the descendants of the first settlers began to be called “Pomors”.
In the 15th century, the Pomors made long sea voyages to Grumant (Spitsbergen), Bear Island, and Novaya Zemlya. The Dutch are also actively organizing northern expeditions, looking for a short sea route to India and China. True, for the latter, sailing in northern latitudes does not bring the desired results and only the Russians continue to successfully develop new territories...
STROGANOV COLONY
The archipelago deserves special interest in the Arctic New Earth. The rocky islands, unsuitable for human life, hold many mysteries, one of which is almost forgotten in our time.
At the end of the 15th century, the famous merchants Stroganov founded a fishing colony on Novaya Zemlya for the extraction of sea animals and furs. The business is profitable, and if you believe the few surviving historical documents, bringing multiple profits. Colonists - as a rule, "Strogano peasants" kill walruses, whales, polar bears, and in their free time from fishing they get married and have children. The fur and fat of sea animals are transported to the mainland to Arkhangelsk; the colony is thriving. However, prosperity does not last long and after a dozen years all the settlers die, and the developing fishing center turns into a cemetery...
The main cause of death is considered to be “an unknown infection caused by fogs” - an official of the Arkhangelsk governor Klingstedt wrote about this in 1762. Also, there are references to “mysterious deadly mists” in northern legends, according to which these are nothing more than people whose souls were not accepted by the North Star for all sorts of sins. The fog then shrinks, spreads over vast spaces, extinguishes all sounds, makes it impossible to see anything, drives people crazy, kills them on the spot, or “envelops” them forever.
The death of the “Strogano” colonists was taken for granted by the indigenous inhabitants of those places. According to Nenets legends, newcomers from the mainland were punished for breaking an important taboo. The fact is that in addition to fishing for sea animals, the colonists had another task - they were looking for pearls in the rivers of Novaya Zemlya. And not just pearls, but the legendary “Green Imperishable”, which the Stroganov merchants dreamed of getting...
GREEN INcorruptibles
The Novgorod Stroganovs have been engaged in pearl mining since the 15th century. They mined the precious mineral on the Kola Peninsula in rivers near Lake Onega and the White Sea. The pearl harvest was considerable, since in addition to the domestic market, it was also supplied abroad. The obtained pearls were used in the manufacture of icons, jewelry, various embroideries and ceremonial attire. Pearls can be very different - from white and pale blue, to yellow, reddish and even black. The only major drawback is that it doesn't last long; The life of pearls is on average 250-500 years. Over time, it loses its shine, fades and finally turns into powder...
The mythical “green imperishables” are pearls of a different kind - eternal, unfading, unfading. Pearls acquire such properties only in the rivers of the Far North, receiving their strength from the North Star. Northern shamans say that green pearls choose their own owner, and can either make a person happy or bring disaster upon him.
According to rumors, one such pearl fell into the hands of the Stroganov merchants. A dangerous relic settled like a green spark in their hearts and clouded the minds of everyone who had ever seen it. And it was precisely this legendary green pearl that the settlers on Novaya Zemlya were looking for for the Stroganovs...
The general pestilence that devastated the colony was apparently caused by an epidemic of a virus to which people who came from the mainland did not have immunity. Modern scientists are well aware that permafrost perfectly preserves particles of such “wonderful” things as anthrax and black smallpox, and what the colonists exploring Novaya Zemlya could have “caught”, only God knows. Those who came to the site of the extinct settlement years later found only the end result: pre-river ruins of dwellings, a few graves and... a lot of scattered human bones.
CURSED BY THE POLAR STAR
However, there is another version of the quick death of the Stroganov colony. Arkhangelsk local historian V. Krestinin, in notes published in January 1789, writes that the colonists were killed by “unknown warriors with iron noses and teeth.” He heard this story from Mezen sailors, and Andrei Vvedensky, the author of several books about the Stroganovs, writes about this. Vvedensky believed that the inhabitants of the colony were exterminated by the Sharashuts - the descendants of the ancient people of the Arctic and the mysterious inhabitants of the caves of Novaya Zemlya.
Legends about sharashuts circulated among the inhabitants of the Arctic until the beginning of the 20th century. The Nenets believed that on Novaya Zemlya, in deep caves where there are warm lakes, mysterious warriors live, who come to the surface in the form of fog and shadows. Just like many centuries ago, they worship the North Star, collect “green imperishables,” and kill strangers or take them underground.
Historian K. Vokuev, who lives in Naryan-Mar, collected little-known materials on the sharashuts. According to him, it was the Sharashuts who were the very people who were cursed by the North Star. The Nenets historian believes that the main reason for the curse was cannibalism, which, although it was a huge rarity among the peoples of the Far North, still took place...
Now it is difficult to judge how real the attack of the sharashuts on the colonists was; one can only build hypotheses and be at a loss. On Novaya Zemlya they have not been looking for “green imperishables” for a long time, although in the depths of the archipelago there are still “unknown warriors” who, like their predecessors, probably have “iron teeth”. True, they do not sit in caves, but at computers, and everything that happens is hidden from us under the heading “SECRET”.
Andrey Rukhlov9 500
In 1931, cooperation between the USSR and Germany was no longer as broad as two or three years earlier, but it was still very active in many areas of science, technology and industrial production. The countries also cooperated in the military field. Therefore, the Soviet leadership and state security representatives did not see anything reprehensible in the invitation received from the German aeronaut Eckener to a number of Soviet scientists to take part in the Arctic air expedition.
The famous German aeronaut and designer of airships, who were then predicted to have a great future, Dr. Hugo Eckener (1868–1954) arrived in Leningrad on June 25, 1931 on the huge airship “Graf Zeppelin”. The northern capital of Russia greeted him and forty-two other German researchers with orchestras and great enthusiasm. Much was written about the upcoming expedition in newspapers and broadcast on the radio.
Eckener planned to go from Leningrad over the ice of the Barents Sea to Franz Josef Land, from there to Severnaya Zemlya, then fly over the Taimyr Peninsula and Lake Taimyr, head for Novaya Zemlya, and from there return to Berlin. The Soviet leadership gave permission for flights over the territory of the USSR. In those years, there lay an absolutely deserted wilderness, devoid not only of any industry, but even practically of human habitation, a wilderness. Moreover, the terrain is inaccessible even for aviation and airships, and navigation in northern waters has always been a difficult and dangerous matter. Therefore, in the USSR they believed that no one could find out any secrets there, but geographical maps exist independently of the flights of Graf Zeppelin.
The Germans invited the former head of the polar expedition on the icebreaker Krasin, which took place in 1928, the famous professor R. L. Samoilovich, aerology specialist Professor P. A. Molchanov, engineer F. F. Assberg and radio operator of the highest qualifications of E. T. Krenkel. All of them received the go-ahead from the Soviet authorities to cooperate with the Germans in exploring the Arctic - the country's leadership also had considerable interest in information about the inaccessible northern region, which conceals in its depths many different riches.
Before the flight, the Graf Zeppelin airship was quite extensively modified in Leningrad to prepare it for operation in the Arctic. Some of the equipment was removed from the airship, but to make it possible to land on water, the bottom of the gondola was made waterproof and additional floats were installed, like on seaplanes. In addition, they added scientific equipment and cameras for perspective and vertical aerial photography and installed additional radio navigation equipment, without which there was simply nothing to do in Arctic conditions at that time.
Finally, all the work was completed and the Graf Zeppelin headed across the Barents Sea to Franz Josef Land, where in Tikhaya Bay the icebreaker Malygin was already waiting for the arrival of the airship to exchange mail - then this served as the most reliable way of communication in the vast Arctic expanses. The journey from Leningrad to Franz Josef Land took the airship about a day and a half. In Tikhaya Bay he landed on the water for a very short time. Then he got up again and continued the flight along a predetermined route: just in case, the Soviet authorities and state security agencies firmly insisted on strict adherence to the pre-agreed and laid out route.
Later, Professor Samoilovich said and wrote that in almost five days of flight on the airship "Graf Zeppelin" it was possible to do such scientific work and achieve results that, under normal conditions, would require expeditions on icebreakers for several years.
Below, under the airship, completely unexplored areas of the Arctic lay covered with unmelting snow, and members of the expedition continuously conducted aerial photography of the coast, aerological and meteorological observations, took measurements of geomagnetic anomalies, which is very important for navigation, and studied the patterns of ice movement. Previously completely unknown islands abandoned in deserted spaces were mapped. At the end of the expedition, the airship arrived in Berlin without any incident.
At that time there was the International Society for Arctic Exploration. On behalf of this international organization, the Germans soon published a scientific report on the air expedition, richly illustrating it with many photographs. In the country of socialism, the research results of a joint scientific expedition with the Germans to the Arctic were practically not covered either in the general press or in scientific publications.
Now it is difficult to prove irrefutably that the expedition started by Eckener was not at all purely scientific and was not inspired by the German General Staff. However, it can be assumed with a high degree of probability that among the more than forty crew members of the Graf Zeppelin airship who arrived in Leningrad from Berlin, there were probably purely military specialists and intelligence officers who were extremely interested in obtaining information about the Arctic territories of the USSR. This is confirmed by the fact that the German General Staff, naval forces and, in particular, Admiral Karl Dönitz, who was appointed commander of the German submarine fleet in 1939, did not fail to take advantage of the results of the German-Soviet Arctic “scientific” expedition when developing plans for military operations in the northern communications.
Here it is necessary to pay tribute to Soviet intelligence - albeit not in all details, but about the developments General Staff Wehrmacht and naval forces Germany, as well as the sources of their information, became known to the Center. There was no longer any possibility left to prevent the Germans, and Professor Samoilovich answered for the “expedition” to the security officers: he was repressed as a spy of the Germans and an “enemy of the people.”
Meanwhile, Admiral Dönitz developed an original, bold and detailed doctrine for submarine operations in the northern seas. It should be noted that among senior officers navy In Germany, Karl Dönitz was the only convinced National Socialist, loyal to the Fuhrer to the point of fanaticism and enjoying his complete trust: it was not for nothing that in 1945, before his death, Hitler appointed Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz as his successor.
The admiral also tirelessly built up his submarine fleet. In 1935, Germany had only eleven small submarines, and supporters of a “large” surface fleet treated submarines with a certain degree of contempt and distrust. But the stubborn Dönitz saw a great future in them and, as time has shown, he was completely right. He reported his doctrines personally to Adolf Hitler and received his approval and money. By the beginning of World War II, Germany already had fifty-seven well-armed submarines in service, and during the war years the Germans managed to build one thousand one hundred and fifty-three submarines, which sank three thousand Allied ships and two hundred warships.
At the insistence of Dönitz, special submarines were built for war in the Arctic and navigation in the northern seas near the coast - they have their own specific features navigation. Quite naturally, these boats needed special reliable bases for refueling, resting the crews, repairing the chassis and hull, as well as replenishing ammunition and ensuring stable communications with the command and exchange of mail. In the end, even with a significant amount - more than eight thousand miles! - the range of action of German submarines, they still could not sail indefinitely.
Dönitz put forward an extremely bold idea, based on the results of the “scientific” expedition of Eckener-Samoilovich to the Arctic: to create secret bases for German submarines on deserted islands in the estuaries of Soviet northern territory. At that time, it was practically uninhabited and the border of the state was actually not guarded there - from whom should we protect the vast deserted spaces covered with eternal ice, terribly far from other powers?
The admiral’s daring idea became very relevant when allied convoys went to Murmansk, and the Nazis were faced with the task of cutting this artery, which supplied warring Russia with military equipment, food and strategic materials, at all costs. The convoys were subjected to constant air attacks, they were guarded by German raiders and... submarines hiding in secret Arctic bases, putting the sea hunters trying to destroy them at a dead end. The submarines disappeared, and no one could then understand where?
Admirals Dönitz and Raeder were completely confident that the secret submarine bases would not be discovered by Soviet aviation and sailors, and they should be reliably protected from enemy intelligence by the Abwehr. The construction of the necessary structures - buried in ice or even permafrost - was carried out by Todt's department. In 1942, Dönitz moved his headquarters to Paris and from there directed work in the Arctic. It is clear that the German submariners could not manage with one super-secret base; they required several such objects, which, in the event of the sudden discovery and destruction of one or more of them, could duplicate each other. The builders were transported to the work site by submarine, as were the materials necessary for the construction of the facilities. And the Germans already had sufficient experience of construction in snow and ice - during the First World War, German, Italian and Austrian troops fought in the ice in the Alps, building tunnels, bunkers in glaciers and cutting long galleries.
Discovering such secret submarine bases was indeed a very difficult matter - the Third Reich knew how to reliably keep its innermost secrets, and during the war period, Soviet planes practically did not fly over remote areas of the Arctic. Fuel was in short supply, everything was used for the front and for victory, and what should planes do where there were no shipping routes and no housing?
Most likely, the Soviet state security agencies received information about the secret bases of German submarines in the Arctic only after the victory, when active work with prisoners of war who no longer had anything to hide, or they found out everything about this unexpected move of Admiral Karl Dönitz from captured secret trophy documents. However, the Soviet special services also know how to keep their secrets, and the presence of German bases in our northern rear dealt a terrible, almost irreparable blow to the prestige of state security: why would you miss such a thing under your nose! Therefore, neither side officially acknowledged the existence of secret bases.
In the early 60s of the 20th century, on one of the islands at the mouth of the Lena, local residents allegedly discovered a long-abandoned German secret base. They even planned to send an expedition there with the participation of journalists, but the collapse of the USSR began and everyone had no time for secret Nazi bases.
On the coast of the Kara and Barents seas, in the vicinity of Tiksi and on Taimyr, many iron barrels are found that have remained since the time of the American Lend-Lease, but among them there are no, no, and there are barrels with a white spread out eagle clutching a wreath with a swastika in its talons - markings of the Nazi Wehrmacht. Where did they come from? Did the sea really bring it?
Geologists told how on the coast of Taimyr, in the permafrost, they found plaques with swastikas from German naval belts, spoons “decorated” with swastikas and other utensils made of aluminum: it was a very popular metal among the Germans. Did the sea also bring all this into the permafrost?
It is likely that somewhere, in the hitherto uninhabited regions of the Russian Arctic, hidden are the unknown treasures of the Third Reich that collapsed in 1945, delivered there by the submarines of Admiral Dönitz. However, the question of the existence of secret Nazi naval bases in the Arctic remains open, and their mystery remains unsolved.
As global change climate, the eternal ice of the North and South Poles of the Earth is gradually melting, and ancient glaciers present us with new surprises every year. Some of the discoveries become fascinating clues to unraveling the mysteries of the human past, returning to us objects lost in time, or telling us about incredible anomalies that even the world's most famous scientists are unable to explain.
Lately, humanity has been increasingly turning its gaze into space, but there are still many unexplored corners on Earth, and some of these places, rich in enchanting secrets, are the Arctic Circle and Antarctica. Eternal ice continue to melt, and this process allows for incredible discoveries that range from delightful to mysterious or even terrifying.
The ruthless north can be a very formidable and frightening place, because there is still so much we don’t know about it. Scientists and conspiracy theorists constantly argue and ridicule each other for their differences of opinion regarding most of the mysteries of the Arctic. Whether traces of alien civilizations or inexplicable natural phenomena, areas of eternal cold continue to disturb the minds of researchers and theorists who are struggling to unravel the most interesting discoveries that appear from under the ice with enviable consistency.
Perhaps we will not receive answers to all our questions soon, and most of the secrets of the North will remain unsolved, but this is not a reason to turn a blind eye to them. Here is a selection of 15 of the most incredible, creepy and amazing discoveries made in the Arctic and Antarctica in recent years.
15. Giant sea spiders
Photo: Market Business News
Sea spiders, scientifically more commonly referred to as pantopoda, pycnogonida, are typically found in the Caribbean and Mediterranean regions, but the largest specimens of this species have even been found in parts of Antarctica and the Arctic. These amazing creatures are a striking example of polar gigantism, a phenomenon that scientists have been trying to explain for a very long time. No one is quite sure why these spiders and many other creatures living in the coldest regions of our planet grow so large. One theory suggests that the cause may be a lack of oxygen in the icy water.
In the coldest seas, giant sea spiders grow up to 90 centimeters in length. However, despite their impressive size and eerie appearance, these creatures are completely harmless, and technically they belong to a separate class of marine chelicerates rather than arachnids.
14. Long-nosed chimera
Photo: Siberian Times
The Rhinochimaeridae, better known as the longnose chimera, is one of the rarest fish species on Earth and has only been caught twice in history, the second time being caught by a fisherman in the icy waters of the Davis Strait in Northern Canada. It's so rare sea creature gets caught in the net for a fairly simple reason - the amazing fish usually swims at depths from 200 to 1900 meters, and for humans this is not the most accessible environment.
It is not surprising that the rare chimera was nicknamed Pinocchio for its long nose. In addition, it is often confused with the rhinoceros shark due to the similarity of their mouths and noses. This is why the long-nosed chimera is often mistakenly called a ghost shark. In fact, the deep-sea chimera belongs to the family of nosed chimaeras from the cartilaginous class. Interesting distinguishing feature- an extremely poisonous spine grows in front of the first dorsal fin of the fish, which usually serves as protection from predators, and this dangerous process easily folds into a special recess when the chimera is not in danger.
13. The melting of eternal ice can provoke new viral epidemics
Photo: Gizmodo
Global climate change has long been the cause of increased melting of Arctic ice. The size of the glaciers of the Arctic Ocean decreases more and more every summer. As a result, unusually warm weather is causing melting glaciers to release microbes that had previously been dormant for centuries.
In August 2016, an unexpected outbreak anthrax caused the death of a 12-year-old boy and the hospitalization of 72 fellow villagers. The cause of the epidemic was contamination of local groundwater with the corpse juices of thawed deer that once died from this dangerous infection. The Siberians suffered because everything was poisoned drinking water in the village.
Here is another precedent: in Norway, the bodies of 6 young men who died back in 1918 from the Spanish flu were discovered, and a perfectly preserved virus was found in the blood of the dead. There is concern among experts that the frozen graves of smallpox victims will also lead to future outbreaks of the deadly virus.
12. These puppies are 12,000 years old
Photo: redorbit.com
In 2001, researchers who went to the northeast of Yakutia in the hope of discovering the remains of ancient mammoths there found the perfectly preserved remains of puppies from the Ice Age. Five years later, Sergei Fedorov, an employee of the World Mammoth Museum at the North-Eastern Federal University, went to the site of the discovery of the ancient puppy and found not one, but two well-preserved bodies of animals from the Ice Age.
Frozen puppies could theoretically help scientists find out when and where exactly dogs separated into a separate subspecies of wolves and became the first tame animals in human history. A study of the findings showed that the puppies died at the age of approximately 3 months, and they died, most likely, after being caught in an avalanche. Scientists are going to use the remains of the discovered animals for research on the chronology of the domestication of this species, because so far in the scientific community there is still no consensus on the timing and place where dogs were first domesticated by humans.
11. Secret Nazi base in the Arctic
Photo: Siberian Times
In October 2016, Russian scientists discovered a secret Nazi base. An object called Schatzbraber or "Treasure Digger" was found on the island of Alexandra Land, and it was built about a year after the invasion German troops to the territory of Russia.
Apparently, the base was completely abandoned in 1944, when Nazi scientists were poisoned by polar bear meat. The second time people appeared here was 72 years later. Russian polar explorers discovered about 500 different artifacts at the base, including rusty bullets and documents from World War II, all of which were hidden in bunkers for many years. The base has been preserved in excellent condition thanks to extremely low temperatures.
There are versions that the object was created to search for some ancient relics and sources of power, the existence of which Adolf Hitler himself believed. Although more skeptical experts believe that the secret base provided the Nazis with information on weather conditions, which could give Germany significant advantages in planning the movement of its troops, ships and submarines. The Russians are now using this island to build their own military base.
10. An Ancient Giant Virus
Photo: National Geographic
In 2014, in the eternal ice of Siberia, researchers discovered a virus called Pithovirus that had lain untouched in the cold for nearly 30,000 years, and it turned out to be a truly gigantic non-cellular infectious agent. The find is recognized as unique, because Pithovirus is the largest representative of viruses known to modern science.
In addition, the virions discovered in the Arctic are genetically much more complex than ordinary viruses. Pithovirus contains 500 genes. By the way, Pandoravirus, discovered in 2013 and now recognized as the second largest virus on the planet, has as many as 2,500 genes. By comparison, HIV contains only 12 genes. What's even creepier is that after a hibernation of 30 thousand years, the giant virion is still active and capable of infecting amoeba cells.
Many scientists believe that it is extremely difficult to become infected with this prehistoric virus today, although under optimal conditions such a danger is still possible. For example, if you find the body of a person who died from this infection. This scenario is highly unlikely, but the idea that the eternal ice harbors unknown and potentially dangerous microorganisms waiting to be discovered has some experts worried.
9. 100-year-old photos from Antarctica
Photo: Heritage Trust
In 2013, specialists from the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust worked on the restoration of the old research base and found a box with 22 undeveloped negatives from 100 years ago. Photos were taken famous explorer Ernest Shackleton during an expedition across the Ross Sea, and they waited for almost a century to finally be rescued from the ice and revealed. The famous research group intended to travel around the entire Antarctica and drop off supplies for Shackleton. However, the mission was disrupted because several members of the expedition, including the eminent figure of the “heroic age of Antarctic exploration,” unexpectedly got stuck on Ross Island, where they almost died. Their ship was carried out to sea during severe bad weather, but the group was still saved.
A photographer from Wellington (New Zealand) took up the development of old negatives, and the result of his work is right in front of you. Obviously, the vintage images have suffered a bit from extreme weather conditions, but they still provide an amazing echo of the legendary polar exploration days and learn even more about the expedition 100 years ago.
8. Gravity anomaly discovered in Antarctica under the ice sheet
Photo: Ohio State University
In December 2016, scientists discovered a huge object hidden under the eternal ice of Antarctica. The discovery was made in the Wilkes Land area and is an anomalous area approximately 300 meters in diameter, located at a depth of approximately 823 meters. The find was called the Wilkes Earth gravitational anomaly, and it was discovered in a crater with a diameter of 500 kilometers thanks to observations from NASA satellites in 2006.
Many researchers suggest that the huge anomaly is all that remains of a giant prehistoric asteroid. It was probably 2 times (or according to other sources 6 times) larger than an asteroid, because of which the dinosaurs once became extinct. Researchers also believe that this is celestial body and became the cause of a global catastrophe that provoked the Permian-Triassic extinction 250 million years ago, when 96% of marine inhabitants and about 70% of land creatures died.
As always, conspiracy theorists have a different opinion. Many of them believe that this crater was once either an underground base of aliens, or a secret refuge of the fallen angels from the Bible, or even a portal to the inner part of the Earth, where there is a separate world (the hollow Earth hypothesis).
7. Mysterious Arctic civilization
Photo: Siberian times
In 2015, 29 kilometers south of the Arctic Circle, scientists discovered traces of a mysterious civilization from the medieval period. Despite the fact that the discovery was made in the Siberian region, archaeologists have established that these people were related to Persia.
The remains were wrapped in furs (presumably bear or wolverine skins), birch bark and covered with copper objects. In conditions permafrost bodies in such a “wrapper” were literally mummified, and therefore perfectly preserved to this day. In total, at the site of the medieval site, researchers discovered 34 small graves and 11 bodies.
Initially, it was believed that only men and children were buried there, but in August 2017, scientists discovered that among the mummies there was also a body that once belonged to a woman. Scientists nicknamed her the Polar Princess. Researchers believe that this girl belonged to a high class, since she is so far the only representative of the fair sex discovered during these excavations. Work with artifacts is still ongoing, so it is possible that many more amazing discoveries await us ahead.
6. The mystery of the warships HMS Terror and HMS Erebus
Photo: mirror.co.uk
The bomber ships HMS Terror and HMS Erebus were refitted specifically to take part in Sir John Franklin's infamous lost Arctic expedition of 1845-1847. Both ships, under the command of Franklin, set off on a journey through the uncharted regions of the Far North, but in the area of Canadian territories they were captured by ice, and none of the 129 crew members, including the captain himself, never returned home.
In 1981-1982, new expeditions were undertaken, the purpose of which was to explore the islands of King William and Beechey Island. There, scientists discovered the bodies of some of the members of Franklin's expedition, perfectly preserved to this day thanks to the process of natural mummification. According to the conclusion of forensic experts, the cause of death of these polar explorers was poisoning from low-quality canned food, tuberculosis and harsh weather conditions incompatible with life. As a result of examining the remains, experts also came to the conclusion that members of Franklin’s expedition at some point literally went mad from exhaustion and even began to eat each other - suspicious cuts and notches were found on their bodies, indicating cannibalism.
Then on September 12, 2014, an expedition in the Victoria Strait area discovered the wreckage of HMS Erebus, and exactly 2 years later (September 12, 2016) members of the Arctic Research Foundation found HMS Terror, and in almost perfect condition condition.
5. Unidentified sounds coming from the bottom of the Arctic Ocean
Photo: Incredible Arctic
In 2016, near the Eskimo settlement of Igloolik, Nunavut, in the Canadian Arctic region, strange sounds were recorded coming directly from the bottom, frightening even the wild animals living in these waters. A team of scientists sent by the Canadian military had to determine the source of the sounds and find out whether a foreign submarine had sailed onto government territory. But in the end, all they found was a school of whales and 6 walruses. After making sure that the suspicious signals did not pose any danger, the military curtailed the operation and left the area.
The origin of the mysterious sounds still remains unknown, but adherents of conspiracy theories believe in several fantastic versions, including messages from the inhabitants of the mythical Atlantis, signals from an underwater base of alien creatures, or even the voices of giant deep-sea animals about which science still knows nothing.
4. Bloody Falls
Photo: National Geographic
Discovered back in 1911 by Australian geologist Griffith Taylor, the blood-red waterfall is a 15-metre stream flowing from the Taylor Glacier (named after its discoverer) into the ice-covered West Lake Bonney. Lake Bonney). The water of the waterfall is colored rusty due to the high content of iron oxide in it.
A study of samples from this waterfall showed the presence of 17 various types microbes The existence of living microorganisms in the extreme weather conditions of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, where Blood Falls is located, may indicate that life at the lowest temperatures may be found not only on Earth, but also on other planets with similar conditions, including Mars and the oceans of Europa (a moon of Jupiter).
Scientists still don’t quite understand how the microorganisms of Bloody Falls manage to survive with virtually no light, partly without oxygen, and other nutrients, being content only with processing iron and sulfur. Researchers believe that studying this amazing natural world can provide answers to many other scientific mysteries.
3. New look bees
Photo: Siberian Times
The glacial bumblebee, also known as Bombus glacialis, was first discovered in 1902 on the island of Novaya Zemlya, and scientists believe it is the only creature to survive the last ice age. In addition, DNA tests of this insect conducted in 2017 showed that the glacier bumblebee is an entirely separate species of insect, different from all modern bumblebees.
The discovery of the Arctic bumblebee suggests that Novaya Zemlya was once either partially or completely free of the glaciers that now cover the area in a dense layer. Scientists also believe that these creatures lived on other Arctic islands, although no evidence for this version has yet been found.
What if there are still many intriguing discoveries ahead for researchers, and the eternal ice hides from us more than one species of hitherto unknown creatures? Glaciers continue to melt, and new sensations are probably just a matter of time.
2. Arctic sinkholes
Photo: NBC
Mysterious craters have been appearing in Siberia for a long time. One of the largest such craters was discovered in the 1960s, and it was called the Batagaika crater. The funnel expands every year by about 15 meters in diameter. In addition, new craters began to appear on the eastern coast of the Yamal Peninsula. For example, on the morning of June 28, 2017, local reindeer herders noticed flames and columns of smoke in the area of the village of Seyakha. It was there that researchers discovered 10 new Arctic craters.
The explosion that occurred was actually due to global warming. Eternal ice has recently been melting more and more actively, and because of this, previously sealed methane reserves are being released from underground here and there, which provokes the emergence of new failures.
But what about the fantastic versions of conspiracy theorists? In the case of funnels, lovers of conspiracy theories also make quite interesting assumptions. For example, they believe that the craters are former bases of frozen UFOs that periodically leave the Earth, leaving behind mysterious holes in the frozen soils. Another common version says that Arctic craters are gates to the other world.
1. Discovery of the missing ghost ship HMS Thames
Photo: Wikipedia
In August 2016, near the village of Goroshikha, south of the Arctic Circle, the abandoned British steamer HMS Thames, believed to have sunk back in 1877, was discovered. The ship was found by two researchers from the Russian Geographical Society in the Northern area sea route. This route was very popular among polar explorers in the early 19th century, but voyages along it were often unsuccessful until the early 20th century.
The ship was built to explore the Gulf of Ob and the Yenisei River, and to pave the optimal trade route to the shores of Russia. The crew abandoned this ship after wintering on the Yenisei coast, since HMS Thames became completely frozen during the crew's absence. The locomotive was dismantled as much as possible and sold in parts, and after that its crew, led by Captain Joseph Wiggins, returned home to Great Britain. Agree, there is something eerie and sad about the discovery of the remains of a ship that has drifted across the northern seas for the past 140 years...
SPECIAL SECRETS OF THE ARCTIC
Secret German bases found after the war, which provided support for German ships and submarines in our Arctic, were sometimes mentioned in past years, but only in “one line.” But even such brevity in these days gives this line the right to life, and military historians and researchers the hope that a detailed study of Nazi secrets in the Arctic will still be carried out.
The first secret Nazi point found in the Soviet Arctic back in 1951 was Kriegsmarine base No. 24. The famous Soviet historian Boris Weiner and the famous ice captain Konstantin Badigin told about it to a wide range of Soviet readers. Let's try to tell you what is known today, 56 years later, about this base, as well as about some other similar secret objects in the Arctic.
From the book People, Ships, Oceans. A 6,000-year adventure of seafaring by Hanke HellmuthUnderwater tanker for the Arctic Oil can rightfully be called a subversive of the foundations of the economics of world shipping. It brought about a complete revolution in ship propulsion technology and in the composition of merchant tonnage. Moreover, it changed the sea itself. As a result
From the book Secrets of Lost Expeditions author Kovalev Sergey AlekseevichForeign travelers are eternal prisoners of the Arctic Scandinavian history mentions two particularly cold European countries neighboring each other: Carialand, stretching from Gulf of Finland to the White Sea, and Biaramy
From the book Bermuda Triangle and other mysteries of the seas and oceans author Konev VictorArctic exploration On June 5, 1594, Dutch cartographer Willem Barents sailed from the island of Texel with a fleet of three ships to the Kara Sea, where they hoped to find the Northern Passage around Siberia. At Williams Island, travelers met a polar bear for the first time.
From the book Walking to the Cold Seas author Burlak Vadim NikolaevichGeese flew in from the Arctic. There are many kind eccentrics in the world. And thank God! Without them, like without jokes, without songs, without funny pranks and amusements, life would be dull. And many years of travel convinced me that they are necessary even on serious and dangerous journeys. Sometimes in
From the book In Search of the Land by Sannikov [Polar Expeditions of Toll and Kolchak] author Kuznetsov Nikita Anatolievich“Kolchakovsky” trace on the map of the Arctic Russian polar expedition 1900–1902. left a significant mark on the toponymy of the Arctic. Main Hydrographic Directorate in 1906–1908. printed maps No. 679, 681, 687, 712, compiled by Kolchak. A number of things are also associated with his name
From the book Arctic Secrets of the Third Reich author Fedorov A FWAR ON THE ROUTES OF THE SOVIET ARCTIC IF THERE IS WAR TOMORROW As you know, the Kara Sea was originally considered the Russian sea, and in the first years of the Great Patriotic War- also the deep rear of our state. But reality already showed in 1942 that it had ceased to be
From the book Country of Ancient Aryans and Mughals author Zgurskaya Maria Pavlovna From the book Mysteries of History. Facts. Discoveries. People author Zgurskaya Maria PavlovnaAryans come from the Arctic? We have already said that the German National Socialists were looking for the Arctic ancestral home of the Aryans. However, oddly enough, it was not a German, but an Indian who was the first to express such a hypothesis. In 1903, Indian nationalist and Rigveda scholar Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar
author Team of authorsPEOPLES OF THE ARCTIC AND SUBARCTIC The subpolar region, including the Arctic (tundra) and the Subarctic (boreal forests), is generally believed to have been divided into five stable ethnocultural areas since ancient times: Nordic Paleo-Germanic in the North of Europe, Paleo-Uralic in the North
From the book World history: in 6 volumes. Volume 3: The World in Early Modern Times author Team of authorsPEOPLES OF THE ARCTIC AND SUBARCTIC Golovnev A.V. Tundra nomads: Nenets and their folklore. Ekaterinburg, 2004. Krupnik I.I. Arctic ethnoecology. M., 1989. Linkola M. Formation of various ethno-ecological groups of the Sami // Finno-Ugric collection. M., 1982. pp. 48–59. Menovshchikov GA. Eskimos.
From the book History of Humanity. East author Zgurskaya Maria PavlovnaAryans come from the Arctic? We have already said that the German National Socialists were looking for the Arctic ancestral home of the Aryans. However, oddly enough, it was not a German, but an Indian who was the first to express such a hypothesis. In 1903, Indian nationalist and Rigveda scholar Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar
From the book Commanders of the Polar Seas author Cherkashin Nikolay AndreevichArctic sky. November 1990...The silvery right hand of the plane is lifted over the white expanse. Northern Ocean from above it looks like wrinkled blue jelly... And here are the first ice floes. They turn white with crushed shells. Very soon the blue will disappear under the white - it's all gone
From the book "Chelyuskin's Campaign" author Author unknownZoologist V. Stakhanov. Animal world Arctic The study of the geographical distribution of animal species in the polar seas and on the islands located among them has great value to take possession of the riches of the North. Thanks to many years of work by the State
From the book Sea Wolves. German submarines in World War II author Frank WolfgangChapter 6 FROM THE ARCTIC TO THE BLACK SEA The Atlantic was the scene of the most decisive submarine warfare, but this should not obscure from us the fact that in other seas submarines had to fight a difficult battle with superior enemy forces. Twenty boats that
From the book De Aenigmate / About the Mystery author Fursov Andrey IlyichSmall secret German bases on the territory of the Soviet Arctic Since 1938, the Kriegsmarine implemented a plan for the gradual creation of small secret underground bases in the Soviet Arctic. All approaches to the base sites were mined. The Nazis remained true to their
From the book Secrets of the Russian Revolution and the Future of Russia author Kurganov G SG. S. Kurganov and P. M. Kurennov SECRETS OF THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION AND THE FUTURE OF RUSSIA (Secrets of world politics) As for Russia, it all comes down to 20 million Masonic soldiers. (G.S. Kurganov). Even before the Second World War, G.S. Kurganov said: “Either I will go to bed alive, or I will find out
