Air defense command post in Moscow: Historian about the first special underground facility in the USSR
Underground shelters, which were supposed to save from enemy strikes aviation, seemed a rather unusual solution in the 20s of the last century. However, from 1927 to 1933, the authorities of the Soviet Union allocated a huge amount of approximately 22 million rubles for the preparation of equipment, personnel and the creation of underground shelters.
As a rule, these were basements on which a reinforced door was installed, the cracks were clogged and the ceilings were strengthened. Moreover, despite the fact that such shelters could save the civilian population from bombing, they still fell short of specialized protective structures.
He spoke about the first special underground facility in the capital of our Motherland in an interview with the Digital channel. story» Director of the “I Remember” Foundation, historian Artem Drabkin.
According to the expert, planning for the construction of an underground USSR air defense command post in Moscow began in 1938.
At that time there were several plans. Moreover, one of them involved extending an existing metro station. Taking into account the fact that such a bunker would be located at a depth of 30 meters underground, this would allow it to easily withstand being hit by a thousand-kilogram bomb.
As a result, it was decided to build a parallel tunnel near the Kirovskaya metro station (now Chistye Prudy) with several exits and the possibility of access to the metro tunnels. It was in it, at a depth of 50 meters, that the USSR air defense command post was supposed to be located.
The object was called “Transformer 20” and, as the historian said, it was built by Metrostroy in complete secrecy.
As Drabkin put it, in general, at that time it was the first specialized underground bunker in the world.
In his memoirs, the commander of the Moscow air defense Danil Arsenievich Zhuravlev described this object as follows:
The command post made a great impression on me. It was located right here, under the houses, at a depth of 50 meters. On the left side of the long, brightly lit corridor are numerous doors. The corps commander's control center was also located here. The walls are upholstered in velvet to muffle sound, upholstered furniture, well-designed lighting, good ventilation
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