Spear of Longinus from the Belgian Congo. Vigneron submachine gun

28

The Vigneron M2 submachine gun, which was in service with the Belgian army and the Force Publique units of the Belgian Congo, and then the Congolese National Army (author's photo)

“I firmly believe that whoever invented the gunshot weapon, is now paying in hell for his satanic invention, because thanks to him the hand of a vile coward can take the life of a valiant caballero.
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Weapons have always played an extremely important role in the evolution of mankind. And no matter how beautiful, graceful, charismatic or constructively interesting this or that sample was, it necessarily had one main function - the ability to kill. His influence on history cannot be overestimated - weapons have always been a full participant in the most important events, remaining in the shadow of people. And some of its “representatives”, sometimes not distinguished by particularly outstanding technical characteristics, nevertheless left their noticeable and bloody mark on it, which became a turning point in the development of the most important events that affected the fate of individuals, countries and all of humanity.

Spear of Destiny


“But when they came to Jesus, when they saw Him already dead, they did not break His legs, but one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately there came out blood and water…”
The Gospel of John

Perhaps the most famous weapon in the history of mankind was the usual spear of a Roman legionnaire. It was, in modern terms, a piece of standard equipment for an infantryman of the Roman Empire. But the blood of the crucified Christ, which fell on its blade, gave it unique properties. The most common weapon became the Spear of Destiny. And, probably, the only one that has preserved for centuries the name of the person who owned it. And therefore, having another name - the Spear of Longinus. Those who possessed it received the gift to control the fate of not only their own, but also entire states, and even the whole world.



But the role of the Spear of Destiny often fell to a weapon that had nothing to do with the spear that was in the hands of the Roman Longinus when he pierced the body of Christ with it.

Spear of Longinus from the Belgian Congo. Vigneron submachine gun
1. It was at this point that the normal weapon became the Spear of Destiny. Fragment of the icon "Crucifixion", Lower Rhine master, XV century.

On August 30, 1918, the Social Revolutionary Fanny Kaplan at the Michelson plant in Moscow attempted to assassinate Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars. On the morning of the same day, the chairman of the Petrograd Cheka, Moses Uritsky, was killed in Petrograd. These were not the first terrorist attacks against well-known Bolsheviks, but they played a key role in changing the internal policy of the Soviet government.

Kaplan's shots from a Browning M1900 (FN Browning M1900) resulted in the premature death of the leader of the young Soviet Republic, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. Which, of course, influenced the choice of the path for the further development of the state. Who knows how it would have developed in the future if Lenin had remained alive and he had managed to put his ideas into practice the way they were intended. But history does not tolerate the subjunctive mood. The Red Terror and repressions that followed this assassination continued the chain of bloody traces in the history of the world's first socialist state. And at the beginning of this chain stands the Browning M1900 with serial number 150489, which, by the will of fate, ended up in the hands of 28-year-old terrorist Fanny Kaplan, nee Feiga Khaimovna Roytblat.


2. Browning model 1900, from which F. Kaplan shot at V. I. Lenin (rg.ru)

I must say, this browning model has become just some kind of fate for the Russian state. The gun strongly "inherited" in the history of Russia. Small, flat and rather compact, the 1900 made a splash in the handgun market with its appearance. He immediately became a favorite with revolutionaries and terrorists of all stripes. To a large extent, this was facilitated by the relatively low price of weapons.

It was from it that the Socialist-Revolutionary Dmitry Bogrov on September 1, 1911, during the intermission of the play “The Tale of Tsar Saltan” at the Kiev Opera House, shot the Chairman of the Council of Ministers Pyotr Stolypin, the author and initiator of new reforms carried out in the Russian Empire since 1906. Stolypin's government then developed a very wide range of legislative and administrative measures and reforms not only in the field of agriculture, but also in the field of local government and education.

“... The goal of the government is quite definite: the government wants to raise peasant land ownership, it wants to see the peasant rich, sufficient, because where there is prosperity, there, of course, is enlightenment, there is real freedom ...”
Petr Arkadyevich Stolypin


3. Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Russian Empire Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin (wikimedia.org)

It is very difficult to evaluate Stolypin's reforms, because they were never fully implemented. Stolypin himself assumed that all the transformations he planned would be carried out in a comprehensive manner and would give the maximum effect in the long term. The premature death of the reformer significantly slowed down their implementation. And the war and revolution put an end to the implementation of these grandiose plans.

Model "Browning" 1900 - a pistol chambered for a relatively weak cartridge. But his shots influenced the history of Russia very powerfully. Two bullets ended the life of a man whose activities could play a crucial role in the development of the economic power of the Russian Empire. A number of historians argue: had Stolypin brought the reform of the economy to the end, then the history of the country could have gone in a different direction ...

But even more fateful was another creation of John Moses Browning - the 1910 model. On June 28, 1914, the Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip shot the heir to the Austrian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and his wife Sofia Chotek with this pistol. Two bullets from a 9mm Browning 1910, number 19074, caused an unprecedented outcry. The terrorist was stunted, small in stature and suffered from tuberculosis. But his shots set in motion a powerful system of military alliances that had developed by that time in Europe. As a result, 38 states out of 59 that existed at that time got involved in an unprecedented massacre, during which about 10 million people died, and more than 20 million were injured and maimed.


4. Two fateful creations of John Moses Browning (top to bottom): M1900 and M1910 (author's photo)

The Second World War brought even more victims to humanity. But weapons continued to kill even in seemingly peaceful times, forcing history to take sharp and unpredictable turns...

Colonial murder


Sixty-one years ago, on January 17, 1961, the anti-government forces of the Congo, with the active assistance of the CIA, killed the leader of the country's democratic movement, one of the main organizers of the declaration of independence of this former Belgian colony, Patrice Emery Lumumba (Patrice Émery Lumumba). After several days of torture, he and his associates Joseph Okito and Maurice Mpolo were shot by the Belgian military.

By all accounts, Lumumba was a brilliant orator, distinguished by remarkable organizational talent and irresistible charm. Thanks to this, in the first elections in the country in May 1960, the National Movement of the Congo party headed by him won 44 out of 137 seats in parliament. The young politician became the first prime minister of the independent Congo. As a result of the current political situation, Brussels was forced to recognize the independence of its colony, hoping to create a puppet state and continue to freely use the country's richest natural resources at its discretion. But in this they miscalculated.


5. Patrice Lumumba (left) and Belgian Prime Minister Gaston Eyskens sign the Congo Independence Act. 1960 (bc.com)

On June 30, 1960, at the solemn ceremony of declaring the independence of the Belgian Congo, in the presence of King Baudouin I of Belgium, Lumumba declared that the Congo would never again be a raw material appendage of the West. This fiery speech actually sealed the fate of the first legally elected head of the Congolese government.


6. Leopoldville June 30, 1960 Force Publique patrol: Belgian officer and Congolese soldier armed with a Vigneron M2 submachine gun (wwiiafterwwii.wordpress.com)

The main mineral deposits and the entire mining industry of the country were concentrated in Katanga. There was a real danger of the nationalization of all its enterprises and, in particular, the fall of uranium mines into Moscow's zone of influence. And interruptions in the supply of cobalt could have an extremely negative impact on the global economy. In addition, the majority of the white population lived there. In this critical situation, the political forces of Belgium, associated with the king, with the tacit support of the CIA, initiated the secession of the province, and its leader, Moise Tshombe, proclaimed himself president of Katanga.

Belgian officers from all over the country began to arrive in Elisabethville, the provincial capital. It must be said that the plans of the new prime minister to "Africanize" the Congolese armed forces caused them a sharp rejection. Prior to that, not a single native inhabitant had a single chance to rise to the rank of officer. But African soldiers subordinate to the Belgians, who did not agree with the actions of the self-proclaimed president, rebelled. In response, the government of the former metropolis sent army units and paratroopers to Elisabethville. And already in July, Moise Tshombe, with the unspoken blessing of Brussels, announced the separation of Katanga from the Congo.


7. Belgian paratroopers armed with Vigneron M2 submachine guns (pinterest)

The idea of ​​the Americans to use the United Nations to prevent Lumumba from getting out of the control of the West failed miserably. The UN actually supported Belgium in secession of the province of Katanga, which naturally caused a sharp negative reaction from the young prime minister. Since without Katanga the country was doomed to poverty.


8. Patrol of the UN peacekeeping contingent in the Congo. The soldiers are armed with submachine guns: on the left - Vigneron M2, on the right - M / 45 Carl Gustav (greydynamics.com)

When the Belgian troops began to brutally suppress the uprising of the Congolese, Lumumba turned to a number of countries (including the USSR) for help to repel the Belgian "imperialist aggression". For Allen Dulles, director of the CIA, this was enough to declare Lumumba a sort of "new Castro, if not worse."

“The embassy and the CIA believe that there is a classic power grab in the Congo. Various forces are at work here. Although it is difficult to determine the main factors influencing to predict the outcome of the struggle for power, the decisive period is not far off. Whether or not Lumumba himself is a communist, anti-Western forces are rapidly gaining ground in the Congo, and action must be taken urgently to avoid the emergence of a new Cuba."
Laurence Devlin, CIA Resident in Leopoldville


9. CIA Director Allen Dulles (histrf.ru)

The US National Security Council in the summer of 1960 devoted several of its meetings to Lumumba. As a result, Dwight Eisenhower, the President of the United States, approved the recommendations of the CIA to eliminate the obstinate prime minister. CIA specialists developed several options for killing Lumumba using firearms and poison. As a result, the plan for Operation Blue Arrow was approved.

The physical elimination of Patrice Lumumba was also planned in London. An employee of the British Foreign Office, Howard Smith, drafted a memo on this matter, which proposed various options for the liquidation of the Congolese prime minister objectionable to the West. But MI6 was not officially mentioned in it. Nevertheless, the version of the involvement of British foreign intelligence in this high-profile murder was confirmed shortly before her death in 2010 by Baroness Daphne Park. Between 1959 and 1961 she was consul and first secretary in Léopoldville, while heading the MI6 office in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.


10. US President Dwight Eisenhower (history-doc.ru)

The Belgian intelligence services did not stand aside either. A plan was prepared to kidnap Lumumba, codenamed "Operation Barracuda". The operation was entrusted to a detachment of Belgian commandos under the command of Colonel Louis Marliere. On October 6, the Minister for African Affairs, Count d'Asprimon Linden, sent a telegram to his subordinates in the Congo demanding that Lumumba be put to rest once and for all.


11. Joseph Mobutu (right) and his adviser (center) Colonel Louis Marlier (ikimedia.org)

However, the situation got out of control, and events began to develop according to an unforeseen scenario. On October 10, Colonel Mobutu's soldiers took Patrice Lumumba, who had been retired a month ago, under house arrest. And yet he soon managed to escape. The disgraced prime minister, with a small group of associates, headed for Stanleyville, the capital of the Eastern Province, where former Deputy Prime Minister Antoine Gizenga was gathering armed groups of his associates.

But on December 1, halfway through, the fugitives were arrested by a military patrol and then sent to Leopoldville. The successful military operations of Lumumba's supporters, who by mid-January took control of almost half of the country, caused panic in the ranks of the rebels who overthrew the legitimately elected prime minister. There was a high probability of his release. Panic reigned in the government of the metropolis. African Affairs Minister d'Asprimont Linden demanded that Colonel Marlier "obstruct the release of Lumumba at any cost." But none of the putschists wanted to stain their hands with blood. After much hesitation, it was decided to get rid of the dangerous prisoner by deporting him by plane to Moise Tshombe in Katanga.


12. Joseph Desiree Mobutu. A former senior sergeant who overnight became a colonel. He was appointed by Lumumba as Chief of the Army General Staff. But he took the side of his coup enemies. Subsequently, he established his dictatorship in the Congo for more than 30 years (foreignpolicy.com)

On January 17, a Trans Air Congo DC-4 took off for Elisabethville. On board, in addition to the convoy, there were three captives: Patrice Lumumba, former Minister of Youth and Sports Maurice Mpolo and former Vice President of the Senate Joseph Okito.


13. Patrice Lumumba in captivity (history-doc.ru)

Upon arrival on the way from Luano airport to Elisabethville, the guards stopped the car in a field. The doomed were taken out and offered to pray. Lumumba refused. At 23:00 GMT, the captives were shot. The execution team consisted of four African soldiers and two Belgian commanders. Lumumba was the last to die. The entire execution took no more than 15 minutes. It was precisely the execution, and not an attempt to escape. The bodies of the executed were buried in a common grave. But in order to avoid any investigation, the next day the corpses were exhumed, cut into pieces, then dissolved in a barrel of sulfuric acid.

On January 17, 2014, on the 53rd anniversary of the death of Patrice Lumumba, the US State Department documented its involvement in the overthrow and assassination of the former Prime Minister of the Congo by releasing a 900-page declassified document titled "The Congo 1960-1968". When studying this treatise, it becomes clear that the possibility of Lumumba's alliance with the "communist enemy" caused the United States serious concerns. It was not the prime minister of the newly independent state who frightened the West, but rather the specter of communism led by the USSR, which was advancing on the Congo and its natural resources. The province of Katanga had the richest deposits of raw materials in the country. Actually, this attracted the attention of the Americans. What is directly indicated by the analytical data given in this confidential document:

"Katanga provides two-thirds of the Congo's mineral production - the entire national production of copper (7% of world production), cobalt (60% of world production), manganese, zinc, cadmium, germanium and uranium."

I must say that 80% of the uranium with which the atomic bombs dropped by the Americans on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were filled, were obtained from ore of Congolese origin. The diamond-bearing south of the Kasai province was also a "tasty morsel". And the Americans simply could not allow such unique natural resources to leak into the wrong hands.

In fairness, it should be noted that although the CIA itself planned the physical elimination of Patrice Lumumba, they did not manage to take a direct part in his murder. The Americans were simply ahead. Figuratively speaking, the “cloak and dagger agency” did it with the wrong hands, by all means pushing Brussels and the rebels to do the dirty work, putting pressure on the former and supporting the latter in every possible way. In particular, the Americans, under the guise of humanitarian aid through the UN, gave Colonel Mobutu a million dollars to pay salaries and purchase provisions for the army in order to win his sympathy in this way.

This applies equally to MI6. The British were clearly aware of the impending assassination, and they "turned a blind eye" to this fact. The US and UK simply allowed it to happen and even actively contributed to this atrocity. Such behavior can clearly be interpreted as complicity in a crime, and nothing else.

The fact that the United States was aware of those tragic events is confirmed by a CIA telegram dated February 7, 1961, detailing the execution of Lumumba and his associates:

68. Central Intelligence Agency Information Report
Washington, February 7, 1961.
TDCS–3/464, 615, Field Report
SUBJECT
Reported death of Patrice Lumumba, Joseph Okito and Maurice Mpolo in Katanga
1. Patrice Lumumba, Joseph Okito and Maurice Mpolo were executed shortly after their arrival in Elisabethville the evening of 17 Jan. Katanga soldiers shot and killed Okito and Mpolo. A Belgian officer of Flemish origin executed Lumumba with a burst of submachine gun fire at 2300Z 17 Jan. An ear was severed from Lumumba's head and sent to Albert Kalonji, President of Sud-Kasai. The three bodies were buried in a common grave.

Chapter 68
Washington, February 7, 1961
TDCS–3/464, 615, Field Report
SUBJECT
The deaths of Patrice Lumumba, Joseph Okito and Maurice Mpolo are reported in Katanga.
1. Patrice Lumumba, Joseph Okito and Maurice Mpolo were executed shortly after their arrival in Elisabethville on the evening of 17 January. Soldiers from Katanga shot Okito and Mpolo. A Belgian officer of Flemish origin executed Lumumba with a burst from a submachine gun at 23:00 GMT on 17 January. An ear was cut off Lumumba's head and sent to Albert Kalonji, President of South Kasai. Three bodies were buried in a common grave.

Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, Volume XXIII,
Congo
, 1960–1968
Collection of documents.

To hide the resonant murder, the Katangese authorities officially announced that Lumumba fled and was killed by local peasants. But as a result of an investigation conducted by the UN under pressure from the progressive public, it turned out that he was killed by the Belgian military on the night of January 17, 1961. Retired Belgian officers themselves shamelessly admit this in the shocking documentary "Murder in Colonial Style" directed by Thomas Gifer. One of them, Gerard Soet, who directly took part in the dismemberment and burning of the corpse of the executed Patrice Lumumba and two of his associates, smiling, hints at the fact that he left Lumumba's two front teeth as a keepsake. Neither he nor his accomplices regretted what they had done and did not suffer any punishment for their crime.

In 2002, a special commission of the Belgian parliament restored the details of the assassination of the first prime minister of the independent Congo. In its conclusions, the commission noted that King Baudouin of Belgium was aware of the plans to liquidate Lumumba. It was also established that the country's government provided financial and military assistance to the enemies of the recalcitrant prime minister, and also provided them with transport.


14. Mercenary troops in the Congo (warhead.su)

A Belgian officer executed the first Prime Minister of the independent Congo by shooting him with a Vigneron submachine gun. The vile murder of a patriot and fighter for the freedom of his country provoked a long-term political crisis and actually put an end to the democratic development of the young state, and ultimately to its real independence.

The ensuing numerous military coups, mutinies, long years of the reign of the most cruel dictator, bloody ethnic wars led to numerous human casualties. Only as a result of the second Congolese war, which broke out in 1998-2002 on the territory of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the devastation that followed, more than 5,4 million people died, including from hunger and disease. What made this war one of the bloodiest in world history and the deadliest conflict since World War II.

Today, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, possessing the untold wealth of its subsoil, remains one of the poorest countries in the world. About what this country would be like with a young and charismatic prime minister named Patrice Emery Lumumba, now we can only guess ...

Lumumba, who was in power for only 10 weeks, did not have time to do almost anything. Disputes about his role in the history of the Congo still do not subside. "Political meteor", "idealist", "mad dog", "martyr of freedom" - all this is about him. He fell into the millstones of history and died, but left his bright mark in it.

“The only thing we wanted for our country was the right to a dignified existence, to dignity without hypocrisy, to independence without restrictions ...
The day will come when history will have its say."
Patrice Lumumba


15. Patrice Lumumba (valenteshop.ru)

The tragic events in the Belgian Congo forced such two superpowers as the USA and the USSR to radically change their international policy towards the countries of the African continent. Prior to that, neither one nor the other did not perceive the states of Africa as independent players in the international arena. If earlier the CIA did not even have an African department (the continent was under the jurisdiction of the departments of Europe and the Middle East), then in subsequent years the American intelligence presence in Africa increased several times.

Moscow has also taken steps to create its sphere of influence in African countries. The USSR began to provide all possible support to the partisans of South Africa. And in the 70s, together with Cuba, he actively intervened in armed conflicts in Angola and the Horn of Africa.


16. Cuban volunteers in Angola (russian7.ru)

What was the Vigneron submachine gun, which, figuratively speaking, became the “Spear of Destiny” in the hands of a Belgian officer, who, unlike Longinus, did not see the light and did not repent of his crime? We will talk about this separately.


17. The Vigneron M2 submachine gun is an active participant in the turbulent historical events that took place on the African continent in the 60s of the XX century (photo by the author)

To be continued ...
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28 comments
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  1. +6
    2 March 2022 17: 43
    We, who lived in the USSR and studied history from those textbooks, only smile when they tell us how good it is in Belgium and what kind of Belgians are darlings, and the royal family are almost saints in life. They are creatures, one of the bloodiest dynasties, after the British, of course, so the devil himself tells fortunes. And the Belgians, they could only fight with the natives, the Germans notably fell asleep on them in the last century, moreover, in a few days, capturing the country.
    1. +10
      2 March 2022 17: 49
      Enlightened Europe: zoo in Belgium, 1958. Congolese families with children as exhibits


      And these racists are teaching us democracy...

      Yours faithfully,
      1. Fat
        +4
        2 March 2022 19: 10
        hi Yuri. Great article, very good illustrations. Thanks
        1. +4
          2 March 2022 19: 32
          Great article, very good illustrations. Thanks

          Thanks for your kind words! Glad you liked it! Soon there should be a sequel - actually about the very "Vigneron".

          Yours faithfully,
      2. +3
        2 March 2022 19: 54
        Yura, thanks! smile Great article! good
        Not just a story about weapons, but even a kind of excursion into history. I read it in one breath and with pleasure.
        I was a boy when these events took place in the Congo, and then we shot the film "Black Sun", which, by the way, is very mediocre.
        Frames from the film, weapons immediately show who filmed and where.


        I hope they don't drag out the sequel. drinks
        1. +1
          2 March 2022 20: 07
          Kostya, thank you for your feedback. The article was submitted for moderation 4 days ago. Published surprisingly quickly. Thanks to the moderator!

          The first part, in fact, is an excursion into history. The second is purely technical, with a detailed review of the design and its analysis.
          The role of weapons in certain moments of human history is a very interesting topic.

          I also remember this movie. And then, as a child, I still could not understand what kind of weapon the soldiers had. And then, already when I began to collect models, I thought that they had an XK-53. But it turns out that a tuned stormtrooper is clearly visible in the first photo. Kostya - special thanks for this!
          Childhood is a golden age...

          Yours faithfully,
          1. +2
            2 March 2022 20: 18
            ... weapons have always been a full participant in the most important events, remaining in the shadow of people.

            I liked this wording the most, it is so precise in its elegance. good

            And the "camouflaged stormtrooper" is a product of the work of gunsmiths from Mosfilm, but what to do, there was no M16, so they got out as best they could. request
            1. +1
              2 March 2022 20: 47
              Thank you, Kostya, for appreciating my literary efforts. wink

              Yes, the masters from Mosfilm were distinguished by their ingenuity.

              Yours faithfully,
              1. +2
                2 March 2022 20: 57
                Thank you, Kostya, for appreciating my literary efforts.


                You know how to write and it pleases. smile

                Mosfilm were distinguished by their ingenuity.


                So on without fish ... I saw a lot of things in their storage, made according to the same principle. wink
        2. +2
          3 March 2022 17: 42
          I hope they don't drag out the sequel.


          Today, literally just posted the second part.

          Yours faithfully,
          1. +2
            3 March 2022 18: 22
            Today, literally just posted the second part.


            I'm already there. smile
    2. 0
      3 March 2022 17: 05
      Creatures they are one of the bloodiest

      Who exactly are the bloody creatures then? I hasten to announce the "breaking news" - King Leopold II of Belgium, who actually committed the monstrous cruelty of the genocide in the Congo, he died back in 1909. Over a hundred years ago.
      1. 0
        3 March 2022 17: 58
        In addition to the king, they had enough of their own characters. The Belgian mercenaries of the 1960s were not distinguished by "tenderness" for their victims ...

        Yours faithfully,
  2. +1
    2 March 2022 19: 07
    Regarding P.A. Stolypin, the author is mistaken - his resignation by the tsar was already a foregone conclusion and he would not have had time to carry out any reforms. If not for the assassination, his premiership would have ended in about a month.
    1. +3
      2 March 2022 19: 37
      History does not tolerate subjunctive moods. Maybe they would not have sent Stolypin into retirement. But the murder of the reformer definitely put an end to his endeavors. The fact that there were many opponents of the reforms in the tsar's entourage is for sure. And they did everything to remove Stolypin from power.

      Yours faithfully,
    2. 0
      2 March 2022 19: 41
      If not for the assassination, his premiership would have ended in about a month.

      Quite right, the destruction of the community, undertaken by Stolypin, led to the mass impoverishment of the peasants. In fact, he undertook an experiment to introduce capitalism into agriculture. He received only a mass of destitute and evil peasantry.
  3. +1
    2 March 2022 21: 18
    I must say that 80% of the uranium with which the atomic bombs dropped by the Americans on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were filled, were obtained from ore of Congolese origin.

    The ore was indeed from the Congo. In the mid-30s, approximately 1500 tons of it was taken from the Congo to Belgium, and then the 3rd Reich got it as trophies.
    After the end of WW II, part of this uranium ended up in the USA, and part in the USSR. So both their and our bombs were many percent made from the same Congolese uranium.
    1. 0
      2 March 2022 21: 21
      A very interesting fact. Thanks!

      Yours faithfully,
      1. +1
        2 March 2022 21: 24
        For 12 years in retirement, I have been reading every memoir that can only be found on the Internet. Lots of completely unexpected information.
        drinks
        1. 0
          2 March 2022 23: 28
          In addition, remember such interesting facts! Thanks again!

          Yours faithfully,
    2. Fat
      +2
      3 March 2022 05: 56
      hi It's all right, but a little inaccurate.
      The ore was mined and enriched by hand at Shinkolobwe mine in the Belgian Congo.
      The mine was operated by the Belgian company Union Minière du Haut Katanga (modern Umicore).
      The Belgians began to store uranium ore in the port of New York as early as March 1938 (they had information that it could have military purposes).
      The final deal was made in September 1942 between Lieutenant Colonel Kenneth Nichols of the United States and Edgar Sengier (UMHK) and Albert de Vlischauer (Minister of Colonies and Plenipotentiary of the Belgian Congo) for the Belgians.
      The deal had enough uranium ore for the required prototype and 200 working bombs. The amount was not specified, as no one knew how much it would take.
      A month after the liberation of Belgium (September 1944), the Belgians deceived the US government by “unilaterally revising the agreement” ... they doubled the price of uranium ore. As one government official put it, “What are the Americans going to do about it? Return Belgium to the Germans?.
      And in March 1949, the Belgian government again deceived the Americans by imposing a 70% tax on the sale of uranium ore in the United States.
      Not the best moment for Belgium to screw up with their friends and allies.

      Until 1954, the US could not find enough high-quality uranium ore, so it remained dependent on the Belgians and had to pay exorbitant prices for the ore (the exact figures are still classified). The US continued to import Congolese ore until 1964.
      (c) Thierry Etienne Joseph Rotti, NATO Senior Comptroller
      In general, the Americans intercepted uranium intended for the French nuclear program. The USSR did not get anything from the Congolese ore; after the end of the war, the Soviet nuclear program for the first time used uranium ore from the Sudetenland.
      1. +1
        3 March 2022 17: 26
        It's all right, but a little inaccurate.


        Thank you for a very detailed and interesting addition.
        Can you provide a link to the original source?
        When preparing materials, I found so many inconsistencies.

        Yours faithfully,
        1. Fat
          +1
          3 March 2022 18: 37
          hi Юрий. https://translated.turbopages.org/proxy_u/en-ru.ru.267b23c4-6220de01-d7164ab0-74722d776562/https/www.quora.com/Where-did-the-US-get-uranium-for-the-atomic-bomb - перевод
          https/www.quora.com/Where-did-the-US-get-uranium-for-the-atomic-bomb - original
          Sincerely.
          1. +1
            3 March 2022 20: 14
            Thank you so much!!!

            Yours faithfully,
  4. +1
    3 March 2022 00: 45
    Julius Caesar got from daggers.
    1. 0
      3 March 2022 17: 32
      Also a topic - you can at least approximately determine what kind of daggers that killed him could be.

      Yours faithfully,
  5. +1
    3 March 2022 06: 54
    A hooligan song from my childhood.
    Who does not know where Marina lives?
    She lives in a bamboo forest.
    She is "used" by three Negro giants
    Mobutu, Tshombe and Kasawabu.
    1. 0
      3 March 2022 17: 40
      The song is unfamiliar to me, but the characters are listed very accurately.
      Kasawabu - President of the DRC
      Mobutu - an active participant in the coup, then became the dictator of the Congo, renaming it Zaire.
      Tshombe is the president of the province of Katanga, separated from the Congo, and an ardent opponent of Lumumba.

      Yours faithfully,

"Right Sector" (banned in Russia), "Ukrainian Insurgent Army" (UPA) (banned in Russia), ISIS (banned in Russia), "Jabhat Fatah al-Sham" formerly "Jabhat al-Nusra" (banned in Russia) , Taliban (banned in Russia), Al-Qaeda (banned in Russia), Anti-Corruption Foundation (banned in Russia), Navalny Headquarters (banned in Russia), Facebook (banned in Russia), Instagram (banned in Russia), Meta (banned in Russia), Misanthropic Division (banned in Russia), Azov (banned in Russia), Muslim Brotherhood (banned in Russia), Aum Shinrikyo (banned in Russia), AUE (banned in Russia), UNA-UNSO (banned in Russia), Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People (banned in Russia), Legion “Freedom of Russia” (armed formation, recognized as terrorist in the Russian Federation and banned)

“Non-profit organizations, unregistered public associations or individuals performing the functions of a foreign agent,” as well as media outlets performing the functions of a foreign agent: “Medusa”; "Voice of America"; "Realities"; "Present time"; "Radio Freedom"; Ponomarev; Savitskaya; Markelov; Kamalyagin; Apakhonchich; Makarevich; Dud; Gordon; Zhdanov; Medvedev; Fedorov; "Owl"; "Alliance of Doctors"; "RKK" "Levada Center"; "Memorial"; "Voice"; "Person and law"; "Rain"; "Mediazone"; "Deutsche Welle"; QMS "Caucasian Knot"; "Insider"; "New Newspaper"