One of the greatest catastrophes of the Great War

100 years ago, 26 in October 1916, in the port of Arkhangelsk on the Bakarits site, one of the largest stories non-nuclear explosions, which according to official data claimed more than 600 lives. It was the largest man-made disaster in the history of the city.

During unloading in the port of Arkhangelsk, the steamer “Baron Drizen” exploded, arriving from England with a cargo of metals, vehicles and ammunition, including chemical weapon and explosives. At the time of the disaster, 1600 tons of cargo remained in its holds.

At noon, when the movers dispersed for lunch, there were two consecutive explosions on the steamer — first in the bow of the hold, where shells were stacked, and then, as a result of the outbreak of fire, and in the stern, where the explosives were. The explosions were so powerful that at a distance of several kilometers in the windows the windows flew out, the doors flew open, and the earth tremble was felt even in the neighboring Kholmogory - more than 60 kilometers away. At the berth, where the Baron Drizen stood, two huge craters with a diameter of more than 40 and 60 meters were formed. The blast wave destroyed the nearby Erl-of-Forfer English steamship, the 100-ton crane, the Record tugboat, the buildings of the power station and the fire station. Two more cranes and neighboring moorings were damaged.

The fire started as a result of the explosions. The wind blew fire into dozens of neighboring barracks, warehouses and other wooden buildings. In particular, the mail barge with international parcels burned to the ground. Many cargoes were destroyed, including explosives and projectiles already unloaded, which triggered new explosions that lasted for several hours. Hundreds of people were killed - Russian and foreign seamen, port workers and ordinary residents who were nearby, including women and children. The number of wounded was over a thousand.

From the report of the head of the Arkhangelsk port Veretennikov it is known that the explosions killed 650 people, 839 were injured. However, apparently, these are underestimated figures. In fact, more than a thousand people could die and go missing. Among them are the people of the 14th Arkhangelsk foot squad, Kostroma and Tambov squads, naval half-crew, students of the officer rifle school, Chesma sailors, shooters of a separate guard team, workers mobilized for the construction of the railway and port facilities, etc.

When studying the causes of the tragedy, the investigative commission concluded that it was a diversion. According to archival documents and the memoirs of eyewitnesses, the boatswain Pavel Polko was exposed to undermining the vessel, who later confessed that he had been bought off while the German agent was parking in New York.

Thus, in October, two powerful blows were delivered to Russia. So, apparently, the enemy agents 7 of October 1916, were able to destroy one of the most modern ships of the Russian fleet, the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet, the battleship "Empress Maria". On the battleship there was an explosion of the powder cellar, followed by a series of explosions and the ship sank. Hundreds of people died and were injured. The explosion on the "Baron" was the second powerful blow to the Russian Empire. These two catastrophes have become a kind of "signs" symbolizing the approaching end of the Romanov empire.

Safety Precautions

It is worth noting that during the war in Arkhangelsk, which had strategic importance for the Russian Empire, unprecedented security measures were taken earlier. The activity of the port was controlled by the department of army counterintelligence, the security of the railway and internal roads was ensured by the separation of the Moscow-Arkhangelsk Gendarme Police Department. These departments reported monthly to the Admiral A. P. Ugryumov, personally to the commander-in-chief of Arkhangelsk and the Belomorsk Water District, on a monthly basis.

It was necessary to take into account the fact that in a wooden city fires were common. Do not rule out the possibility of the appearance of saboteurs. Especially a lot of effort was directed at combating potential spies. However, it was impossible to fully ensure safety. The traditional problems for Russia had an effect. Firstly, the haste with which the state-owned port areas and the military port were built in Arkhangelsk did not allow to carry out these works with due secrecy. The entire population of the city was somehow connected with the port. Information about the quantity and quality of cargo delivered to Arkhangelsk, the conditions and place of storage was almost impossible to keep secret (there was a similar problem on the Black Sea). Thus, according to various metropolitan commissions, the leakage of information largely went through local residents.

Secondly, Arkhangelsk turned out to be in fact the only sea port through which state and private cargoes were delivered to Russia, numerous Russian and foreign officials, military and civilian, were leaving and entering. The activities of many foreign consulates in Arkhangelsk during the war expanded. There even appeared new consular offices, in particular the American one. In such a human stream it was difficult to track spies.

In addition, many immigrants from Europe lived in the city itself. In particular, the Baltic (Ostsee) Germans, who retained their mentality and talked to each other mainly in German. In the office of the police master, the governor, the commander-in-chief with the beginning of the war and the patriotic wave, many anonymous denunciations of the alleged espionage activities of these “Archangel Germans” came. In the 1915 year, when the Russian army suffered a heavy defeat, the number of such denunciations especially increased.

It is also worth noting that the authorities could not organize proper protection of the port area due to the lack of unity of command in this matter. Thus, the reloading port area of ​​Bakaritsa was in the joint jurisdiction of the military and naval departments. But the area of ​​the railway was under the jurisdiction of the railway police. The general guard of Bakaritsa was the affair of the Moscow-Arkhangelsk Gendarme Police Directorate of the railway, while the military and naval department were in charge of protecting the goods of state importance.

In 1916, restrictions were imposed on access to and from the port territory. The crews of the neutral courts in general had no right to leave the deck for the entire duration of the stay. Control over the port workers was carried out using license plates. The workers handed over to the employer their passports, which he was obliged to transfer to the gendarme office. In return, they received badges that had to be presented to the guard at the entrance and exit from the port area. When the workers were fired, the badges were again exchanged for passports. The entire port area of ​​Bakaritsa was enclosed with a fence with three guarded gates - for workers, for the lower ranks and for passing trains. However, everything was accompanied by traditional for Russia sloppiness. The guards guarding the fences stood at such a distance that they could not even see each other. That is, there was an opportunity to overcome them. An engineer seconded to Arkhangelsk noticed that the guard missed them without even requesting a pass, although he did not know them by sight, only because of their uniform caps. There was no guarding of the ladders during unloading; tried to put sentries, but they began to smuggle and steal.

In the 1916 year, several meetings took place in the city dedicated to the protection of public goods, including the port fire protection. Of the 32 tugboats in the Arkhangelsk port, five were equipped as fireproof ones. In England, several fire trucks were purchased for the port of Arkhangelsk. In addition to urban fire units, well-equipped units were created in the port areas - on Bakaritsa and in the Economy.

Thus, the authorities were aware of the danger of possible sabotage or accidents and measures were taken to protect the port and ships. However, it was not possible to prevent tragedies with dire consequences.

Warehouses on Bakaritsa, where during the First World War unloaded military cargoes from ships

Steamer blast

The steamship of the Baron Driesen Northern Shipping Company (a requisitioned German merchant ship) arrived in Arkhangelsk on October 17 of New York from New York with thousands of tons of military cargo from New York. The crew of this Russian-flagged steamboat, recruited in the ports of America, was international. But all the officers, including the captain, were Russian nationals.

Having passed all the necessary formalities at the port, the steamer, which delivered the most important state cargo, was immediately put under unloading at Bakaritsa to berth No. 20. Nine days later, hundreds of tons of various ammunition were unloaded from the ship, including 200 tons of asphyxiating gases. At the time of the disaster, 1,6 thousand tons of explosives remained, as well as metals and various equipment.

At noon on October 26, when all the workers dispersed to the barracks for lunch, there was a strong explosion on the ship — first in the nose of the hold, where the shells were. Then, due to the fire that started, the feed exploded and exploded. The explosions were of such power that a huge crater with a diameter of more than 20 meters, filled with water, in which fragments of piles were floating, appeared at the place of the coastal mounts of the pier 60. Next was another funnel with a diameter of 40 meters. Opposite the berth there was the British ship Erl-of-Forfer, which was almost completely unloaded. The blast wave had demolished all the deck superstructures, the mast and the chimney. It was already impossible to restore it, so the treasury was forced to pay compensation to its owners.

In addition, the stoton crane and the Record tugboat sank; two more cranes and neighboring moorings were damaged. Fully burnt postal barge with international parcels. An explosion near the 20 pier, the stone building of the power plant, was completely destroyed. The building of the fire station, which collapsed, buried several people under its ruins, was also badly damaged. The fire that started as a result of the explosions was intensified by the wind, and soon the fire spread to the nearby wooden buildings - 27 barracks and 5 auxiliary buildings. Many cargoes died, some of them were covered with earth or drowned.

At the marinas and on the river at this time stood 49 ships, some of them also had explosives on board. Loads that were on the pier, flew into the air. The explosions followed one after the other - in a few minutes Bakaritsa turned into hell. Whole cars with ammunition flew up into the air, scattering projectiles that exploded in the air or when they hit the ground. Burning boxes of ammunition cracked like machine guns and scattered bullets in all directions. As a result, the wreckage falling from a great height caused considerable damage to the steamboats standing nearby.

After the first explosion, all the minesweepers, tugboats, and fire brigade teams (senior high school and college students) were sent to the crash site at Arkhangelsk at that time. Already after 30 minutes after the first explosion, Glavnach Ugryumov and his technical assistant Fedorov arrived at Bakaritsa. By that time, only a few officers remained in the port area and part of the port, customs and railway employees, many of whom were injured. Additional rescue forces and medical assistance arrived from Vologda on a special train. The cruiser Vindiktiv came out of Yokangi to Arkhangelsk, taking aboard all the carpenters and workers that they were able to assemble. One of the first to come to the crash site on a motorboat was Captain 2 of the rank Polivanov, the security chief of the military district. He, in spite of the continued explosions and debris falling around, began to move steamships away from the docks and put them in safe places with the help of tugs.

Rescue survivors had in the most difficult conditions. The work of evacuating poisonous gas tanks from the fire zone, which were unloaded directly on the piers, was associated with particular danger. Employees of the ambulance train who evacuated numerous wounded men showed great courage: they searched for survivors, organized the delivery of the wounded to the Cathedral Quay, and from there the distribution to the infirmary. All 19 hospitals were prepared to receive the wounded in the city. Fire and explosions continued for several more days. In fact, they stopped only when everything that could burn was burned at Bakaritsa.

Unfortunately, there were a lot of victims. At the time of the explosion, most of the inhabitants of Bakaritsa were crowded together: it was lunchtime, and the workers were in their barracks, and the officers and employees in the canteen. The dining room suffered less, but there too many people were injured by glasses from broken windows. Barracks almost all burned down, turning into mass graves for hundreds of workers. According to official reports of the Commission of Inquiry, the death toll was more than 600 people, and the number of injured and those who went to hospitals ranged from 829 to 1166. Of the aliens, 51 people died and 15 were injured. These were mostly British (27 dead and 15 injured). Many lightly wounded workers immediately fled to their villages. During the war, the authorities tried to hide the scale of the disaster. As a result, military censorship and the government commission, which conducted a closed investigation into the causes and the identification of the perpetrators of the explosion in the port of Arkhangelsk, bypassed the issue of the victims.

It was also obvious that the catastrophe not only killed hundreds of lives, but also led to huge material losses. According to rough estimates, about 30 thousand tons of military cargo exploded or was destroyed. This figure gives an idea of ​​the terrible power of explosions and fires. Losses amounted to 80 million gold rubles (a huge sum for those times). Many marinas were severely damaged and required restructuring. In the area of ​​the explosion in the space of half a square kilometer all the land was dug. Everything that was here: barracks, warehouses, access roads, etc., was destroyed by explosions and burned down.

After the explosion at Bakaritsa

Causes of tragedy

Immediately after the Baron catastrophe, an investigative commission was appointed to investigate the causes of what happened under the command of Admiral Manikovsky. In the same month, the newest battleship of the Russian fleet, the Empress Maria (As the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet battleship "Empress Maria" died). In addition, the mysterious explosions also occurred on several ships of the Allied fleets. There were also cases of sabotage, fires and explosions on ships carrying military cargo from the United States to the Allies. In America, the German spies were very active. There have even been several incidents of sabotage in factories producing military products.

Thus, it all said that it was a diversion. The Germans had a motive and opportunity. A number of similar cases of sabotage, fires and explosions forced us to assume that the explosion on the Drizen was not an accident, but also the work of enemy agents. Considering that the steamer had just arrived from New York, it was not excluded that the agents who had penetrated on board there hid an infernal machine with a clockwork in the hold.

Based on the testimony of witnesses and expert opinion, the commission rejected the accidental cause of the fire on the steamer Baron Drizen. Everything pointed to "malicious intent", to "an explosion with the help of a hellish machine electrically or with the help of a Bickford fuse with a string of explosive mercury." The investigation of this case was extremely difficult to carry out, since all possible evidence was destroyed. However, the investigators almost immediately came to the “German trace”. It turned out that the head of unloading operations in the port of Arkhangelsk at that time was Edmund Mellenberg, a German by birth. Moreover, there was a note in the documents of the gendarmerie regarding him: "He was involved in the case of military espionage in favor of Germany." In addition, the commission drew attention to the fact that in the morning, a few hours before the explosion, Captain F. Dreiman, Senior Assistant D. Akman and Third Assistant N. Kose (Germans by nationality) left the ship. At the time of the explosion, they were on the other side of the river, in the city. The fact that the commanding staff of the ship left the ship at the beginning of its unloading seemed strange. The captain and his henchmen were arrested.

But there was no obvious evidence against them, and the exact cause of the explosion was not established. By the verdict of the Arkhangelsk District Court, the main suspects remained at large. Including Dreyman and Mellenberg. Under the secret order of the Minister of the Sea, Grigorovich Dreyman, Akman and Kose were released, having established secret supervision over them, and Mellenberg was reinstated in service. The switchman was Pavel Polko’s boatswain - the only one of the Baron Drizen’s team who miraculously survived from the sailors left on the ship (according to the boatswain, he was thrown overboard by the blast wave). During interrogations, he confessed to perfect sabotage. He was sentenced to death, but was released after the revolution.

Started revolutionary confusion finally buried the case. In March, 1917, the Provisional Government created an emergency commission of inquiry, which was to carry out an investigation into the unlawful actions of former ministers. Among the most notorious cases were: the death of the newest battleship "Empress Maria", as well as about the explosions on Bakaritsa and Economy. Thus, the ship “Semyon Chelyuskin” exploded 13 in January 1917, near the port of Saving in Arkhangelsk, hundreds of people were killed and injured. It was believed that the new Archangel tragedy was the result of German sabotage.

The Commission, with the approval of the Provisional Government, took into custody the Minister of the Navy I. K. Grigorovich. During the arrest, numerous documents on disasters in the port of Arkhangelsk were found in the admiral's apartment. It was concluded that the maritime ministry was still trying to hush up the investigation, so as not to wash dirty linen in public. However, nothing serious digging failed. In addition, the transfer of documents from the maritime department to commission investigators was constantly sabotaged under various pretexts. Thus, as with the king, the investigation rolled to a curtailment, and the commission did not complete the work begun on the naval department. After the October Revolution, the commission was eliminated, and all judicial and investigative activities in the affairs of the pre-Soviet period were stopped altogether. The criminals were never punished.

As a result, the causes of the tragedy could be, like the eternal Russian disorder and disorder, for which the high authorities had to answer, so the investigation came to a dead end. So sabotage, for which there were all the conditions. For example, the arrival of “Baron Drizen” due to miscalculations in the organization of unloading at the berths accumulated a huge amount of other ammunition, which dramatically increased the scale of the disaster. In addition, the guards did not show proper vigilance, which could be used by attackers.

Comments

[Rurikovich]

Yeah, and the explosion at "Fort Staykin" in Bombay was the first nail in the coffin of Great Britain
From the point of view of people, such explosions are a chain of accidents. From the point of view of heaven - a pattern
In any case, work with explosives and chemistry should be carried out at a high level of safety technology with the exception of weakness and possible sabotage

[igordok]

Carelessness and sloppiness, in conditions of war, can easily be attributed to the machinations of the enemy. Enough courage to find out the real cause of the explosion, so that this would not happen again.

[Alexey RA]

Quote: Rurikovich

Yeah, and the explosion at "Fort Staykin" in Bombay was the first nail in the coffin of Great Britain

The second! The first was the explosion of Mont Blanc in Halifax.

[Rurikovich]

It is not so important Assuming that "Mont Blanc" was the first nail in the First World War, and "Fort Staykin" the second in the Second World War, isn't it too long a funeral of almost 40 years ?

[Alexey RA]

Quote: Rurikovich

Assuming that "Mont Blanc" was the first nail in the First World War, and "Fort Staykin" the second in the Second World War, isn't it too long a funeral of almost 40 years

The deceased fiercely resisted. But the grave diggers were still stronger.

[creak]

Quote: Rurikovich

Yeah, and the explosion at "Fort Staykin" in Bombay was the first nail in the coffin of Great Britain

Exactly, following the logic of the author, the explosion of the battleship Novorossiysk (nee Giulio Cesare) in the same Sevastopol - what is the key to the coffin of the USSR? You should not look for a black cat in a dark room, especially if it is not there .... Excessive passion for conspiracy theology does not make the author’s arguments more convincing ...
It is no coincidence that at one time the wise old general Dragomirov remarked: “We don't need heroes, we should get rid of the gouging ... "

[antivirus]

Many lightly wounded workers immediately ran to their villages. During the war, the authorities tried to hide the scale of the disaster. As a result, military censorship and the government commission, which conducted a closed investigation of the causes and the identification of the perpetrators of the explosion in the Arkhangelsk port circumvented the issue of victims.
Now it’s clear that SMERSH and the NKVD-MGB could have worked harder. But well-known activities were enough for the Victory.

[Engineer]

Let’s say together thanks to our holy Tsar Nikolashka, who, instead of Alexander III’s plans to build a port on Murman, decided to build a large military and commercial port in the Baltic, which, for obvious reasons, during the war became simply incapable. And Turkey blocked access to the Black Sea ports. Evidently Nikolashka also kissed with a pasha like Putin and Erdogan. And therefore, all goods, namely shells and ammunition, explosives, guns, machine guns and even coal (!!!) from England had to be imported through a small freezing port in Arkhangelsk, and then exported by single-track. Here is the result - a pile of goods, especially weapons, which they simply didn’t manage to take along the single-track road. And after that they will tell me that in our country the economy of Tsarist Russia developed by leaps and bounds, because there weren’t enough cartridges even for one rifle for three. This phrase appeared precisely in this war, and not in the Great Patriotic War, as Bondarchuk and Mikhalkov show.

[Hapfri]

, especially weapons that did not have time to simply withdraw on a single track.

We just had trouble with transportation.
On the road built by Tsar Nicholas through Siberia, they didn’t have time to transport Liz lease on American steam locomotives (a gift from the Allies), which Soviet ships of the Liberty type (90 pcs, a gift from the Allies) had brought to the tiny unequipped ports of the Far East before that.

[Kostya Andreev]

Are you sure that this is a gift and not a purchase paid for by the gold and blood of soldiers. (No matter how arrogant it sounds).
Before writing, could you please provide data on what freight turnover these railway routes were in peacetime and by how much they surpassed these indicators in the military. Do you need to develop me, for example, I don’t know. And why were these ports used?

[Hapfri]

Are you sure that this is a gift and not a purchase paid by the gold and blood of soldiers.

What is the purchase? What were you going to buy? The war was already in full swing.
Ports in the Far East in peacetime, if used, were used only for the supply of equipment from the United States to local enterprises and caviar, gold and furs back. Or forests to Japan. As now it was not a developed territory. In wartime, half of the entire land lease went through these ports. The driver of the next engine saw the lights of the previous train.

[Kostya Andreev]

And the Americans sent the equipment for free, or the Union paid for it all the same. Everyone knows about the engine that saw the lights ahead.
I just can’t understand why you got it. boast of my mind, (as I saw it recently when you claimed that high altitude reduces the loss of bombers)
I’ll explain to you what you wanted to say, you wanted to say that the road capacity exceeded the calculated one, and no one planned to use them like that, but due to the lack of choice, they had to, and the road managed.
and after the war, too, the load on these ports fell, respectively, and the bandwidth returned to normal, that's all
In my opinion

[Alexey RA]

Quote: Kostya Andreev

And the Americans sent the equipment for free, or the Union paid for it all the same.

Lend-Lease - for free. With an obligation to return or pay for non-returned civilian goods after the war.
And so, around the cost of this non-return, discussions flared up. As a result, taking into account inflation for 60 years, the USSR and the Russian Federation paid a fraction of a percent.

In addition, the USSR bought goods for gold that were not supplied under Lend-Lease. And he saved on shipping, sending them with Lend-Lease goods.

[Kostya Andreev]

Dear, free of charge in our life and especially in the economy, nothing happens. and even more so during the war.
As for the discussion, it seems to me that the high contracting parties have thrown each other, the two have thrown each other (as the young people say), although in my opinion we still have to pay.
Well, and your third point, so there is a lot of casuistry. since gold. nickel fur and stuff, anyway invested in the economy and worked.
I think that the United States was not in the loser.

In general, it is very cool. you supply warring countries for free, but the factories work. the machine prints, and everyone owes you. Well done Americans, talents

[Alexey RA]

Quote: Kostya Andreev

Dear, free of charge in our life and especially in the economy, nothing happens. and even more so during the war.

It happens during the war. It’s just that the recipients do not pay with gold, but with blood: the USA armed those who fought for them.
For as a result of excessive interwar isolationism, the United States approached the WWII with virtually no army - only the fleet and the Air Force. And frantically from 1939 to 1942 they formed ground forces in a hundred divisions, having as their starting base 3 settlement divisions and 2 marines (with the corresponding number of reservists and military-industrial complex capacities). Even in the USSR in 1939, the starting conditions for the deployment of a mass recruiting personnel-cadre army were better.

[Kostya Andreev]

Dear Alexey, I mostly agree with you. However, when you write about the formation of forces. It should be noted and the former neighbors of the USSR and the USA.
Yes, and about isolationism is also a moot point (I'm not talking about conspiracy theories).

[Alexey RA]

Quote: Kostya Andreev

Dear Alexey, I mostly agree with you. However, when you write about the formation of forces. It should be noted and the former neighbors of the USSR and the USA.

So the isolationists were broadcasting about neighbors: why do we need an army. if we have Canada on the one hand and Mexico on the other; if anyone climbs to us from other continents - fight off the fleet and aviation... And the "globalists" led by FDR, on the contrary, broadcast: You will not be able to sit out: either tomorrow you will have to fight on land outside the realm of the Monroe doctrine, or the day after tomorrow the stronger Axis will come to America (for his circle, the arguments were different: if you intervene in time in the war in Europe, then after the war it will be possible to remove all the cream from victory - which was not possible in the WWII; but the army will have to fight).
Actually, the army issue (and the issue arising from it, of interference by army forces in the turmoil on other continents) was perhaps the only one. along which these 2 currents diverged. On the construction of the fleet, the Air Force and the sale of weapons to warring countries, the positions of globalists and isolationists diverged slightly.

[Monarchist]

True: the United States did not prepare a sheet for war, or rather thought of getting along with the fleet or staying overseas.

[Hapfri]

I think that the United States was not in the loser

The United States, through military orders, emerged from the crisis, boosted the economy, and developed new technologies ....
But the land lease was free.
A third of the powder was American, aluminum, aviation gasoline, rubber. ...

[Monarchist]

G. K Zhukov recalled in 1956: in the spring of 1942 we didn’t even have gunpowder for rifle cartridges. A lot has not been produced in the Soviet Union yet.
Remember Stalin's toast: "To American engines, without which we would not have won the war"

[Alexey RA]

Quote: Hupfri

A third of gunpowder was American

40% for 1944. And 100% dependence on some components for the production of gunpowder.

Quote: Hupfri

gasoline

EMNIP, almost 2/3 - if you subtract from our production mixed gasoline, obtained by mixing ours and Lend-Lease, and recorded entirely in our production (a kind of "double counting").

Statistics is generally a tricky thing: in the domestic production of trucks, for example, they recorded the assembly of "students" and others from imported machine kits.

[Hapfri]

recently when you claimed that high altitude reduces the loss of bombers)

Yes, imagine. Anti-aircraft artillery at high altitudes is ineffective.
The projectile flies a very long time. During this time, the target will already move ....

[Moore]

Quote: Hupfri

Yes, imagine. Anti-aircraft artillery at high altitudes is ineffective.
The projectile flies a very long time. During this time, the target will already move ....

Anti-aircraft fire system at high altitudes? A high-altitude bomber misses the target? No, have not heard...

[Hapfri]

A high-altitude bomber misses the target? No, have not heard...

You did not understand. I just claimed that bombers going at high altitude suffer less loss.
Where did I say that a bomber from a great height does not hit the target?
Moreover, over the target they were reduced. The problem was to find this goal.

[Hapfri]

I just can’t understand why you got it

To the fact that, excuse me, Nicholas II did not build the roads as needed and did not stock up supplies, so that the USSR would be enough.

[Monarchist]

I remembered an anecdote: "the Chukchi says - a bad tsar could not make a reserve for 60 years."
But seriously, then: all the goods delivered under Lend-Lease went through the transporter built according to the order of the Emperor.
Remember yourself when BAM was built

[Alexey RA]

Quote: Hupfri

We just had trouble with transportation.
On the road built by Tsar Nicholas through Siberia, they didn’t have time to transport Liz lease on American steam locomotives (a gift from the Allies), which Soviet ships of the Liberty type (90 pcs, a gift from the Allies) had brought to the tiny unequipped ports of the Far East before that.

We had a cargo problem in the Second World War and in the North. Exactly the same as in WWI - they did not have time to export the convoys delivered.
That's just, unlike the PMV, this problem was solved already in 1942. They sent the Commissioner of the State Defense Committee with a Mauser - and he set up work, raking the berths and warehouses.

[Cat]

Quote: Hupfri

, especially weapons that did not have time to simply withdraw on a single track.

On the road built by Tsar Nicholas through Siberia, Lend Lease did not have time to transport American steam locomotives.

Moreover, the Trans-Siberian Railway and Nicholas II. Under the last king, it was completed and nothing more. The initiator of the Trans-Siberian Railway was Alexander III and his court. And the Russian people built the railway, however, to Murmansk too.
The port in Libau was a terrible mistake of Nicholas II, which may have cost us Port Arthur.

[Alexey RA]

Quote: Kotischa

The port in Libau was a terrible mistake of Nicholas II, which may have cost us Port Arthur.

So Port Arthur was terrible mistake. Entrusted panimaish ©, the matter of choosing a fleet base for civilian officials from the Foreign Ministry.

[your1970]

Hapfri
read about "Edinburgh" for a start - before writing about "gifts" ... These "gifts" were paid for with gold, platinum and furs. We had to pay them for these "gifts" in the 90s, Stalin refused to pay
"Gifts"

[Alexey RA]

Quote: your1970

read about "Edinburgh" for a start - before writing about "gifts" ...

Read first - from what time the Lend-Lease Act was extended to the USSR.
The first deliveries to the USSR went for money.

Quote: your1970

We had them for these "gifts" in the 90s, Stalin refused to pay

So the USSR and the Russian Federation actually refused to pay. For really, taking into account inflation, a fraction of a percent was paid: the bucks of the late 40s and the bucks of the 80s - 90s are completely different money.

[Aleksander]

Quote: Engineer

Let’s say together thanks to our holy Tsar Nikolashka, who instead of plans Alexander III build a port in Murman, decided to build a large military and commercial port in the Baltic

30 of August 1892 of the year exactly Emperor Alexander III approved the design of the base in Libau, and on October 19 the emperor’s support received a plan for building fortifications there. Emperor Alexander III personally arrived in Libau and laid the foundation.

In fulfillment of the will of his father, Nicholas built both Libau and the port ALEXANDROVSK (now Polar) in the bay of Catherine on the Kola Peninsula on June 7 1899 Nicholas II approved the following opinion of the Council of State: "The city settlement and port at the Yekaterininskaya harbor should be named "ALEKSANDROVSK"and rename the Kola Uyezd within its present borders to Aleksandrovsky" (Third Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire, No. 17123).

Quote: Engineer

from England had to be imported through a small freezing port in Arkhangelsk, and then exported by single track

Arkhangelsk was used because a railway was laid there, and there was nothing in the direction of Alexandrovsk from St. Petersburg, no one and never in the world had ever laid roads on permafrost. And enormous funds were spent on the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway, which Nikolai began and brought to the end, which the Russian Far East saved. And it was under Nicholas that the world's first railway was built beyond the Arctic Circle-Murmansk to Romanov-on-Murman.

Quote: Engineer

our tsarist economy developed by leaps and bounds,

Speaks about it 1900 World Exhibition in Paris, which was visited by 50 million people and where the exposition of Russia was the largest and occupied 24 000 m2
Of the thematic departments (palaces) presented at the 18 exhibition, Russia did not participate in only one - the colonization department.
During the exhibition, the Russian exposition received 1 589 awards: 212 highest, 370 gold medals, 436 silver, 347 bronze and 224 honorary reviews
"This is a miracle!" - such a description was given by the famous bridge builder Eiffel to the bridge of the Russian engineer Lavr Proskuryakov-the longest bridge in Eurasia. He, together with Marconi, Diesel, studied the exposition of Russia for half a day .....

[3x3zsave]

Sorry, but those who broadcast about the railway through permafrost probably mean Tyumen, not Murmansk. This does not reduce the heroism of builders and railway workers, but permafrost disappeared there about 3000 years ago, believe me, I was born and raised on the Kola Peninsula and I know the history of a small homeland

[Aleksander]

Quote: 3x3zsave

permafrost, probably means Tyumen, and not Murmansk.

From the textbook: "permafrost on the map of Russia: along the Kola Peninsula, in its central part, its southern border passes. Further, permafrost crosses the East European Plain near the Arctic Circle, - Read more on SYL.ru: http://www.syl.ru/article/197798/new_vechnaya-mer
zlota-vechnaya-merzlota-na-karte-rossii

[jjj]

I will say a little on the road.
In World War I, from Vologda went to Vologda.
Before the Great Patriotic War, a road was urgently built from the Obozerskaya station in the direction of Onega, but without going into it, and further along the White Sea to the Kola Peninsula and access to Murmansk.
From Isakogorka station, a road was built to Molotovsk to the deep-water port. Well-known "Liberty" did not enter Arkhangelsk. The shallow water of the Birch Bar at the mouth of the Northern Dvina interfered. Therefore, the main ports for receiving Lend-Lease were Molotovsk and Murmansk, and not Arkhangelsk

[Kostya Andreev]

eternal Russian disorder and disorder
But the author will be able to write this interestingly in relation to French Normandy, or German lx blucher, or an American steamboat exploding on the river, or a titanic or ferry estonia.
No, it cannot, because disorderlessness and disorder is a distinguishing feature of Russians in the opinion of such authors. And the rest of the nation is the standard and the underdeveloped Russians still to develop and develop.

[Monster_Fat]

It is unlikely that 1600 tons of explosives exploded. Exploded no more than 300-500 tons. If 1600 tons of explosives were detonated (though it is not clear what type of it is not known from what the author cited) the city would be completely destroyed, and the opposite side would also get it, as for example, in the explosion of the steamer Mont Blanc in Halifax. By the way, this is not the only explosive disaster that happened in the Arkhangelsk port during the First World War. In 1917, the steamers "Semyon Chelyuskin" (the author mentions him) and "Bayropia" and port warehouses in the Arkhangelsk port of Economy also exploded. About 300 people died.

[jjj]

Bakaritsa is located on the left bank of the Northern Dvina. At the time of World War I, this is even beyond the city limits. Therefore, nothing threatened Arkhangelsk. Opposite Bakaritsa on the right bank is the Factoria district - a traditional place for traders and sawmills. Places are also underpopulated

[cap]

A prolific author, burns not childishly.
Pepper is certainly good but in moderation.
Mistakes were and will be during the fighting, there are more or less of them, here the role of the individual plays, and not least.
Historians cannot be envied; to remain impartial in materials about the war; it is difficult to get away from personal preferences and views.

[DimerVladimer]

Quote: cap

ludovy author, burns not childishly.
Pepper is certainly good but in moderation.
Mistakes were and will be during the fighting, there are more or less of them, here the role of the individual plays, and not least.
Historians cannot be envied; to remain impartial in materials about the war; it is difficult to get away from personal preferences and views.

Quite right - the author is constantly distorting about the "shpien stories".
For the most part, explosions in chemically hazardous industries, warehouses, storage cellars and during transportation - this is a violation of the production technology, transportation and storage and gouging!

Remember the series of explosions at ammunition storage warehouses in Russia in previous years - in most cases they began during the "disposal" of old ammunition - someone lit a cigarette in the wrong place, someone dropped a box of ammunition, somewhere a pile fell apart - boxes rotted, etc. Only in one case was an external fire to blame - in the rest - SUCKING while working and storing explosives!

A person gets used to walking on a "barrel of gunpowder" - the feeling of danger is dulled and he unconsciously throws out any stupidity.

[DimerVladimer]

Immediately after the Baron disaster, a commission of inquiry was appointed to investigate the causes of the incident, led by Admiral Manikovsky. In the same month, in Sevastopol, for an unclear reason, the newest battleship of the Russian fleet - “Empress Maria” was killed (How the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet died battleship “Empress Maria”). In addition, mysterious explosions also occurred on several ships of the Allied fleets. There were also cases of sabotage, fires and explosions on steamboats carrying US military cargo to the Allies. In America, German spies worked very actively. There have even been several cases of sabotage in factories producing military products.

These conspiracy theories are unsubstantiated.

Meanwhile, it has long been known that the decomposition of gunpowder in artillery cellars very often led to similar explosions. As on the battleship Empress Maria, so on other ships.
What is an explosion on Mikas’s battleship at the base of the fleet - also a diversion? Russian saboteurs :)))

"... On the night of September 12, 1905, in the Mikasa aft cellar, which stood on barrel No. 11 at the Sasebo naval base, an explosion of powder charges for 152-mm guns occurred. According to one information, 251 people, according to others 114, were injured of varying degrees of severity 343. The ship landed on the ground at a depth of eleven meters with a slight roll on the starboard side, the battleship's sparder completely went under the water, but the superstructures, masts and pipes remained on the surface.
The main damage to the hull was a hole about 25 m long in the area of ​​the stern barbet installation and ten more small holes from both sides in other parts of the ship. The commission of inquiry suggested that, most likely, the ship died from a double explosion of the stern artillery cellar, caused by the ignition of the ammunition, and the subsequent detonation of one of the torpedoes. During the proceedings, it was established that the cause of the fire, which ignited the charges in the cellar, was an attempt by several sailors to extract an alcohol-containing liquid from the fuel of signal rockets by burning carbon compounds (such as coke)! (is this exactly about Japanese sailors ???) based on methanol. The process was carried out in a small bath, accidentally overturning which, the sailors poured the burning fuel onto the closed, but not battened down hatch into the cellar. "

http://alternathistory.com/vzryv-na-bronenostse-m
ikasa

The explosion on the armored cruiser Maine in Cuba.

Or the explosion of EBR Liberte
On the morning of September 25, 1911, the citizens of Toulon (France) woke up from the sounds of violent explosions. Residents whose windows went straight to the embankment were the first to see that the Liberté squadron battleship was shrouded in black smoke. Another powerful explosion hit the people who didn’t recover from the shock literally in 15-20 minutes. He was so strong that windows blasted out in nearby buildings. The whole picture around looked like a mess: all around the wreckage, helpless people, screams ...
The shocked France immediately launched an investigation, during which 3 possible reasons for the explosion of the armadillo were revealed: a short circuit in the powder cellar; careless handling of fire, or arson; spontaneous combustion of gunpowder. If the first version was discarded almost immediately, then the second remained in question. Some believed that sabotage on the Liberte was possible. But, in spite of such assumptions, they came to the conclusion that if it was a diversion, they would all adjust to set fire to the aft powder cellar, because it was located next to the living quarters where the officers were located. Experts tightly took up the analysis of the third version, it then turned out to be the most probable. It was found that in cellars with gunpowder, the temperature often rose above 30 degrees. Some of the gunpowder that was delivered to Liberte was stored there longer than the due date. Medium and small caliber powder charges were stored in the ship’s cellars, which had already been inserted once into the gun’s barrel during firing. The charge, which was in the warmed barrel, eventually acquired the property of quickly decomposing and, falling back into the cellar, represented a great danger.

At that time, new varieties of smokeless powder were still poorly studied for decomposition at temperatures above 30 degrees during storage.

[DimerVladimer]

Quote: Engineer

because there wasn’t enough cartridges even for one rifle for three. This phrase appeared precisely in this war, and not in the Great Patriotic War

And the Great Patriotic War also took place in 1941, 1 rifle for three - with mass mobilization, still say that prototypes of tanks from the ranges didn’t take weapons from museums (for example, T-28 without engines as stationary firing points in the battle of Moscow) - 2 the defeated front near Kiev, near Vitebsk - with the loss of armaments - what was it to compensate for?

[Alexey RA]

Quote: DimerVladimer

And WWII also took place in 1941, 1 rifle for three - with mass mobilization

"1 rifle for three" was already at the very beginning of the war - in some mechanized corps formed in the spring of 1941. One of the mechanized corps commanders directly reported that the motorized division was defended by a consolidated regiment, and 2/3 of its personnel were in the forest without weapons.

Well, after the start of the mobilization, the states were first cut.

For this purpose, the division states were revised, and their personnel requirement for rifles was reduced by 2100 units. (by 20%), submachine guns - by 1033 pcs. (86%), 288 light and machine guns. (52%), anti-tank guns - by 36 pcs. (the second artillery regiment of divisions was liquidated) or by 54%. Thus, the need for an infantry division in armament was almost artificially lowered by almost half, while reducing the number of personnel by only 26% (state 04/600 from 29.07.41 compared with state 04/400 from 05.04.41). In the old states, according to the Order of the NCO No. 0074 dated 20.08.41/XNUMX/XNUMX, only a few divisions of the active army were preserved, which had a small shortage of weapons.

© "Artillery supply in the Great Patriotic War 1941-45."
And then they began to save not on front-line units, but on those who conducted studies + on marching units.

In addition to reducing the staffing requirements of the troops, in the first months of the war it was necessary to resort to such a measure as the establishment of reduced standards for the issue of service armaments for each series of formations according to the GKO Decisions. So, the rifle divisions with extended formation periods were given weapons in two stages: at the beginning - the minimum necessary for practice (1500 rifles, 27 light machine guns, 9 machine guns, 9 50 mm and 3 82 mm mortars, one 45 mm and one 76-mm guns for each division), then - the rest to the norm.

© "Artillery supply in the Great Patriotic War 1941-45."
The units directly at the front were still trying to arm the state.

[DimerVladimer]

Quote: Alexey RA

"1 rifle for three" was already at the very beginning of the war - in some mechanized corps formed in the spring of 1941. One of the mechanized corps commanders directly reported that the motorized division was defended by a consolidated regiment, and 2/3 of its personnel were in the forest without weapons.

My grandfather fought near Smolensk.
He hit just 2/3 of the squad without rifles - one with a rifle runs ahead in the attack, two run after him until they kill him ...
In the forest without weapons - it’s only beautifully written in the documents, according to the stories of my grandfather, they were covered by German tanks on the march, 1/3 is armed - the rest are not (this is before the Vitebsk disaster). The defeat was complete, everything ended quickly - disorganization - the fighters were chased across the field by tanks, surviving prisoners ...

[Alexey RA]

Quote: DimerVladimer

In the forest without weapons - it’s only beautifully written in the documents, according to the stories of my grandfather, they were covered by German tanks on the march, 1/3 is armed - the rest are not (this is before the Vitebsk disaster).

I was mistaken - they were not motorized rifles, but tankers.
27th tank division:

By night from June 24 to 25, 1941, the division entered the Baranavichy area. Most of the division, which had no weapons, headquarters, rear structures, as well as heavy weapons (howitzers, anti-aircraft mounts), to which there was no ammunition, were concentrated in the forest 18 kilometers from Baranovichi. An armed third of the division (up to 3 soldiers) took up defense on the western outskirts of Baranavichy. On June 000, 26, the part of the division that occupied the defense came under attack from the tank units of the Wehrmacht and was dispersed. The remnants of the division began to retreat towards Stolbtsov, in the town of Mir (1941 west of Stolbtsov), where the corps command was located. However, no command of the corps was found, and the division, being subjected to shelling, went to the Uzd. By that time, it was no longer an integral combination: even the command staff of the division was dispersed (for example, the division commander with a group of soldiers went to his own in late July 18 in the Smolensk region). The scattered remnants of the division were collected by its commissar in Uzda and redirected to Pukhovichi, and then in the direction of Borisov.

On August 1, 1941, the division was excluded from the lists of the army.

[midshipman]

In Moscow, in the Kuntsevo district, there was also an explosion on the railway. Ammunition train was blown up. Dear Alexander, please find and publish an article about the undermining of trains on the railways of our country. I have the honor.

[kig]

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%92%D0%B7%D1%80%
D1%8B%D0%B2_%D0%B2_%D0%93%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B8%D1%84
%D0%B0%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B5

[ZIS]

Given the defeat of Nazi Germany, it can be assumed that all of its archives fell into our hands or the hands of the Allies, it is unlikely that they were destroyed due to the prescription, and the fascists had other problems, I think there was our Russian tweaking.