Underwater stew
In the summer of 1976, a gang of traders was disarmed in Murmansk weapons. The wildest case for those times, at that time it was somehow not accepted to trade weapons. When all the intruders were caught, it turned out the following.
Residents of one of the villages of the Kola Peninsula from a boat on one of the lakes, saw some boxes at the bottom through the clear water. They did not have diving equipment, having taken a sewed fishing tackle (as alcohol is called here), dived into ice-cold water (it is always ice-cold there) and tied one of the boxes with a rope.
Through the efforts of the collective, the box was pulled out and opened. To the delight of the natives, the newcomers in it were wrapped in parchment, the German machine gun MP-40 coated with grease, which had not been completely affected by water. When trying to sell them in Murmansk, the pseudo-merchants immediately fell and, showing the location of the find, went to serve their sentence. To retrieve the boxes, it was decided to attract military divers-sappers. Our group, trained in the courses at the Kamenetz-Podolsk College of Engineering Troops in the specialty diver, was ideally suited to all requirements. In fact, our main specialty was different, but in the last teachings we drew ourselves very beautifully. We managed, using diving equipment, to “mine” the bridge over the mountain river in the Carpathians, and at the top we decided to entrust this task to us.
So, the helicopter flew away, leaving us at the lake with a supply of food, a PSN-20 raft, which was to be used as a floating base, two LAS-5 boats, diving equipment and a Start compressor. We are six conscripts with a commander, Senior Lieutenant Kolesnikov (nicknamed Collie) and two committee members, who were supposed to make sure that we don’t steal anything, to describe everything that we get, and periodically send where necessary. PSN anchored right above the boxes. On the first day they got more than a dozen. Revealed: in six of them were automata MP-40, which in our country are incorrectly called Schmaisers. In two cartridges to them, in the rest - stew of 38-year of manufacture. Everything is well packed and almost not affected by water. Stew tasted. Turned out to be quite edible. We did not have dogs on which it would be possible to test relic meat. I had to myself. Nobody experienced psychological barriers. After a course of survival, on which we had to eat frogs and snakes, we and the mammoth meat from permafrost would have gone for a delicacy. Since the bosses supplied us with standard army sukhpay, mainly consisting of porridge and fairly tired Soviet pork stew (at the rate of a bank for two a day), this gift from the Wehrmacht seemed like God's gift. The next day, they lifted boxes with ice axes, on which were stamps with the image of edelweiss, already familiar with the MP-40 and boxes with strange cans, with a capacity of about 1,5 a liter, consisting of two parts, one above the other. On the small part of the arrow is drawn, where to turn. Having decided that having turned the lower part, you can open the can, one of the committee members did it. There was a hiss. Throwing away the bank, everything, just in case, lay down. Suddenly some unknown mine. However, while the bank was flying, a thought struck everyone - a stew with heating, about which one had heard before. Came up, felt the jar - hot! Revealed. Stew with porridge. And more meat than cereal. Yes! The Germans were able to take care of their soldiers. Ready lunch, cooked in minutes, without consuming fuel, without unmasking yourself with smoke. Calorie and tasty. In the exploration of such suhpay simply indispensable. They discussed for a long time what kind of smart and prudent the Germans were, how great it was in their units. This is, judging by the date of manufacture on the bank, it was already done in 38-th year! And how simple! By turning the bottom of the jar, quicklime and water are brought into contact. As a result of the reaction - heating. Get a soldier gift from the Fuhrer, Faterland remembers you. And how well done, bastards! After lying in the water for more than thirty years, the lime was not extinguished, the tightness was not broken, the stew was not rotten.
Reflecting on the topic: “How did all this get here?”, They came to the conclusion that the Germans, judging by the ice axes mountain hunters, during the retreat, unable to take out the warehouses located on the shore, cut down the hole and drowned property, so that ours would not get it. Most likely, it was in the winter, if everything was stoked from a boat, the boxes would not lie in one pile only in one place in 50 meters from the shore, but would lie in different places. Of course, we searched the lake far and wide. More deposits are not found and weapons, too. Total boxes raised about two hundred. MI-8 flew in several times and removed the accumulated property. In what place of the Kola Peninsula is this lake, we never found out. The helicopter flew by helicopter flew away. But this story 15 years later received an unexpected continuation.
In 1991, fate brought me to the Leningrad Museum, where my friend worked. In the museum, I met an interesting grandfather, who turned out to be a real encyclopedia on equipment, weapons and uniforms of all the armies of the world, starting, probably, from Sumer and Babylon and ending with 2 World War II. The modern army did not seem to interest him. We are talking about the equipment of the Wehrmacht, and I told the story of the German stew. He told, focusing on the mind, forethought and other positive qualities of the Germans, already in 38, who established the release of such a useful invention.
My grandfather listened attentively and said: “The young man, this invention of the Russian engineer Fedorov, made by him in 1897, began to be produced already in the early twentieth century. In 1915, the Russian army began to receive this stew in the trenches, though in small quantities. She recalled in his memoirs, General Shkuro, who was the first world commander of a squad of plastels on the Caucasian front. The Turkish rear units were their permanent habitat, and this canned meat rescued them quickly, calorie-free, did not unmask when cooking. The Danish war was forgotten about it at all. Not to fat. But the Germans in the First World War, having tasted a trophy Russian stew, appreciated the idea and made a release for the Second World War. And now we are excited about it! We always do that. We will invent it and then forget it. years we buy our own invention from foreigners! "
But that is not all! In 1997, in a newspaper I read about a useful discovery made by Japanese scientists. According to the description - it is darling! Bank of stew with a double bottom, quicklime, water. Production of canned goods for tourists and climbers has been adjusted. Soon, perhaps, and we in Russia will be sold. The Irony of Fate. Exactly a hundred years later the circle closed. Prepare money, we will soon buy a Japanese novelty!
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