A foreigner or a young Russian would be hard-pressed
to decipher a phrase like УI work at a boxФ. However, in the
A ban on
travelling to this region was introduced after the war, somewhere around 1950.
The very documents regulating the ban were classified. In most regions the ban only
applied to certain towns and districts, however the
For
everybody else the ban was a high wall. The only chance for a visitor to enjoy
the beauty of
Accordingly
it was a lot more difficult for the Ural residents to go abroad than for people
living in other Soviet regions, though the task was not easy for anyone.а And notwithstanding frequent exchange of
popular jokes about the severe security regulations, not even in the
not-so-sober friendly chat were the УsecretФ names ever mentioned.
The
deliberately ugly fences hid the У the worldТs very
bestФ facilities where the people worked wonders.а And in the afternoons the Уwonder makersФ in
their worn coats merged with the evening crowds, and even their next door
neighbours learned that theyТd lived next to a Уcreator of unique systemsФ only
years after, when the authorities placed a memorial board on the wall of the
house.а
These were
the times when the history of the Urals was written in invisible ink. The ink
that slowly becomes readable only today, and even now, not all of it.
One of the worldТs largest production plants
Acclimatization
was difficult: thousands of the Kharkov Engine Works employees with their
families came to Nizhny Tagil by the beginning of
winter of 1942Ц the winter that turned out to be unbelievably cold even by Ural
standards Ц and the newcomers had to move into whatever flimsy accommodation
was available.а The facility was no ordinary
steam engine manufacturer:а it was there
where the famous T-34 was made right before the war.
As time was
precious production soon started on the facilities of the engine works, which
was at that time only five years old. Despite all the problems and close
attention of the Уcompetent authoritiesФ they learned again how to make strong
armour. And made 25 thousand tanks before the Victory Day.
Germany at the peak of its power when it attacked the USSR had only about four
thousand.
And then Е
they continued making tanks. The T-72 designed and produced there in great
quantities was the symbol of the Soviet might of the 1970-80Тs. Over the 28
years of its production about thirty thousand units were made. This was the
most mass produced tank in the world, which, same as the Kalashnikov, even
today Ц forty years after it was designed! - is still in the inventory of
dozens of armies worldwide. Including Russia.
УVagonkaФ
today is hundreds of square kilometres of workshops and tens of thousands of workers.
This is the largest tank manufacturer in the world Ц and in the category
Уgeneral worksФ it ranks second only to the mega-works of Boeing in Seattle.
Another
local masterpiece, which boggles the mind with its size, is the proving ground
which for decades was kept under the seal of absolute secrecy, and access to
which today is open for everyone during the work of Russian Expo Arms.а The length of its shooting range is several
dozen kilometres.
Key to nuclear power problem
Another
record-breaking company was set up in 1945 south of Nizhny Tagil near Verkh-Neivinsk. A small territory, no endless trains filled
up with the finished product. For five years the people working there failed to
make any success despite the repeated visits of Comrade Beria with all the
inevitable consequences. It was only in 1950 when they managed to tame the
erratic equipment to which there was nothing even remotely similar anywhere
else in the world.а The daily yield of
the product was
The product
was enriched uranium. However, its final conversion took place somewhat further
north, in Lesnoy. And plutonium was produced further south, in the town of
Ozersk. There the work went better from the very beginning, and for that reason
the first Soviet atomic bomb was armed with plutonium.
And the
aforementioned record was made when in the 1950Тs the facility operated at the
limit of its capacity Ц that was the most Уenergy savingФ company in the
country, it consumed 3% of all electricity generated in the
Heirs of the samurai
By the 1970's,
however, it was an even smaller facility at the
outskirts of
After World
War II the USSR has done a lot to institute a ban on biological weapons. It
ardently condemned the imperialists who had allegedly used it in Korea and
then, again allegedly, continued their Уinhuman researchФ. The USSR was one of
the first to join the relevant international convention loudly proclaiming its
humanistic policy on every occasion.
In reality,
however, the laboratories and production facilities continued to operate. The
name of one of such facilities was "
But it was
the native city that was eventually hit with the terrible weapon. Because ofа the personnel's
negligence, on 3 April 1979 the spores of the dangerous bacteria were carried
with the ventilation into the atmosphere. Several dozen victims, the city in
panic, and the rumours of the events finally reachedа the Уpotential enemyФ. However,
American experts for a long time refused to believe that a facility as
dangerous as that could have been placed within the limits of a city with a
population of one million.
а
Dead hand
Already
over half a century of peace has been maintained thanks to a general belief
that it is senseless to be the first to start a nuclear war: no matter how hard
the enemy would be hit, enough missiles would survive to cause in response an
utter destruction of the offender. This concept had a weak link though Ц what
if the top leadership of the nation would not have time to reach shelter and
would be destroyed in the first strike before it had time to issue a retaliation
command?а
By the mid
1980Тs the
The said
bunker was located in the north of our region in the depth of the Kosvinski Kamen mountain. Granite. Armoured doors. Capable of withstanding a
direct hit by a thermonuclear warhead. This particular granite mountain was
chosen from many others for its unique stratigraphyа - different rock layers form a huge electric
capacitor resonant with extremely low radiofrequencies. If the explosion
destroyed all antennas on the surface it would still not cause a problem. The
very mountain rock would act as an antenna sending the order to all remaining
missiles in their underground silos: FIRE!а
Enjoying the openness
Thus it is
not surprising that people of the older generation in the Urals developed such
a liking for foreign travel today: they fulfil their dreams of remote lands
which in their childhood seemed to be only wishful thinking. In our travel we
also fulfil the dreams of our parents who never had a chance to see the world.
The ban on
visits by foreigners was lifted on 4 July 1992. Both the arms race and the cold
war came to an end. УVagonkaФ now sells its tanks in the export market. The
Novouralsk facility is engaged in Уde-enrichmentФ converting weapon-grade
uranium into UCN fuel. Right after the accident the lethal У
Insert:
Today, four
territories in the
- west of
the Nizhny Tagil Ц Ivdel
railway, south of river Ivdel and north of the Kushva - Serebryanka line (with
the exception of the railway itself and the towns mentioned)
- the district bound by the line Verkh-Neivinsk
Ц Kalinovo Ц Murzinka Ц Belorechka Ц Neivo-Rudyanka Ц
Verkh-Neivinsk (with the exception of the towns
themselves)
- the
district bound by the line Poldnevaya Ц Mauk st. Ц Tyubuk
Ц Kasli Ц Argayash -а Karagaikul Ц Tyubuk Ца Kosmakova Ц
crossing point of the Poldnevaya Ц Mauk line with the Chelyabinsk and the Sverdlovsk regions
borders (with the exception of communities mentioned)
- Yuruzan -а
Pervukha Ц Meseda Ц Ekaterinovka - Polovinka -а Sovkhozny (with the exception of Yuruzan).ааааа
