on June 21, the day before the anniversary of the beginning of the Patriotic war, the editorial staff of "driving" with the assistance of the Ministry of transport of Russia raised from the bottom of lake Ladoga two cars. They stayed underwater for almost 70 years! Why are we bothered machines-veterans?
It is not possible to describe the sentiments that occurred to all, without exception, when a ruby frame was slowly surfaced from under the water, then the engine, the wheels, the remains of the body. What beauty is there in this set of iron, wood and rubber? But all who were present at the rise-no matter, 20 years old or eighty-exploded with applause. Some cried. And when the gait, which was hard to find in the shape of half-torso, was unloaded on the ground, each came up to touch the wet cold metal. I guess that's the only way to feel the connection of time, that little thing that didn' t go off in the first place. MUSIC DETAILED Five years ago, at the Ladoga lake, we met people who were trying to save the living memory of the last war, of those who saved the millionth city during the blockade. In the village of Osinovets, they even managed to organize a small museum "Road of Life". Every summer we together with the director of the museum Alexander Wojciechowski, retired Major Konstantin Ovchinnikov and his friends-divers plunged into the cold water of Ladoga in search of the fallen machines. And they found them-over the years, they described more than 60 cars, railway platforms, airplanes ... Military equipment, as it turns out, the bottom of the lake is litany! The broken half-torso or the fuselage from the Il-2 in the Lidge water can be maintained for a very, very long time. Depth 7 meters. Looks like the car's still pretty good. The tape of our finds was all lengthened, and even the well-preserved objects could not be lifted ashore. A hot dog is undead, and a squall can fly at any moment. Once we lifted the frame from ZIS 5 on plastic smelters, but the strongest gust of wind threw it in the shallow water. It was not possible to get her out of there. LIFE VAFE (official-military-road No. 101 ") is the only transport line that during the Great Patriotic War, through Ladoga lake, binds Leningrad with the whole country. I walked in the water navigation periods, in the winter on ice. In the first blockage of the winter, the ice road opened on 19 November and was in effect until April 24, 1942 (152 days); the last flight of the car was on the step in the water, the place had to unload and carry the goods manually. The drivers ' work here was very dangerous: the highway was under constant bombardment and bombardment by German artillery and aviation. I walked into the ice, about one in four out of the four thousand cars coming along the road. However, each day up to 6,000 tons of cargo was transported on the road. More than 20 thousand people-drivers, mechanics, Zenithchiki, builders, tracks, etc. Some of the ice-tuning girls worked on the ice for up to 700 people! The total number of goods delivered to Leningrad on the way of life in two and a half years has amounted to more than 1.6 million people. In the same period, about 1.4 million tons were evacuated from the city. A person. It was a whole flotilla. This year, the Ministry of Transport has joined our waters. It has become clear that the machines will be raised, or it will not be easy to be! They helped all: road-road vehicles and money, the riders sent a couple of Norilsk with an experienced team at the most difficult moment. When we found and liberated from the cover of the cover on a 7-foot depth of a well-preserved semitorc, we were left with only a rope-and a powerful faucet easily pulled out from the bottom of the 1942 machine. We raised part of the well-preserved frame of the other machinery, and, fixed on the inflatable pontoons, towed to the quay. And then the ordinary crane was overloading the KAMAZ to get to the museum. All the work took two days, but it took many months of preparation. But it was worth it! Because then there was a holiday and dozens of veterans saw, they felt that their heroism is remembered, and their victory is also our common victory. Deputy Minister of Transport Nikolay Asaul was reminded of such important work and courage of the military motorists. The director of the "Road of Life" Museum. Wojciechowski shows the newly raised half-torso and restored the car several years ago. The veterans were talking about their comrades-those who are no longer present; they listened to the war songs and even danced. And from time to time everyone went to "our" machines-to touch them, take a picture nearby, admire the tires some still keep the air, and the battery is charged ... In the external view of the ZIS 5 frame, the aircraft and the aerial shell exploded behind the truck. The riddle was confirmed by divers. " The shell struck somewhere in the area of the body, near the cockpit. The front of the front was strong. The engine was on its own, the front bridge at ten feet away. And the rear bridge and part of the frame is that we have been dragged ashore more or less, " he said. Ovchinnikov. But the main hero of the festival, of course, was a half-torso. We found her near the island of Zelenec, about the middle of the road. There was almost nothing from the cockpit, but any veteran knew instantly the legendary GAZ-AA. It seems to have become one of the symbols of victory-for Leningraders, perhaps even more important than the legendary T-34! The ZIS-5 Bridge was raised in the presence of the veterans and the heads of the Russian Transport Ministry. In the real history of the war, there are very few tussails, but in excess of blood, deprivation, hunger, cold, pain. To Leningrad, which has spent 900 days in the blockade, all of this is true. But the human memory of the election, and Vera Ryabinin, 17 years old from work by the loader (!) to the port of Kobona, more often today brings back hard work 12 to 14 hours a day, not hungry nights in an ice shed, but as they and their friends gathered for the dance. For the first time in life. And I touch the cold and wet metal of the old half-torso, and I hope the driver has survived it, jumped out of the last flash of the truck. That he was picked up by his companions, and in a day's time he was brought back to Leningrad and from the people there. And after the war, he had children. And maybe I even know his grandson. After all, the thread that binds the times has not been interrupted! We will try to find out what part of the trucks that were raised from the bottom of the Ladoga and the names of their drivers. We decided not to restore the cars, but to examine it, to serve in such a way as to pass on the "Road of Life" museum. It's about Vera Rogova, a traffic cop on the Road of Life. Vera Rogova, in the years of war-regulation on the Road of Life:-Our trucks have always opened or removed the cockpit door, so that the driver can jump out. A young driver of a half-torso was remembered: I don't know why he didn' t jump, but the car went under the ice-and he was with her. And the headlights were still burning underwater ... We, the traffic police, ran away and did not allow desperate drivers to come forward when they saw that there was a wormwood in the front. Vera Ivanovna Ryabinin loaded the vehicles with food for the block Leningrad. "I was 17 years old when I was a forklift in Cobon," Vera Ryabinin said. In summer we loaded the barges, in the winter, the cars. One day, in my eyes, German planes sink a barge with flour for Leningrad. We cried, seeing how our work goes to the bottom. But they immediately began to load the next ship. And in the winter it was very cold, and the drivers of my chauffeur pitied me-in the interval between the loading, they took the car to the front of the hot radiator, where it was possible to warm up a little. We would like to thank the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation and the state company Avtodor for help in organizing this action. There's a whole flotilla in the search. The Ecolar sonar shows that there is an unusual object at the bottom. We're planning on lifting cars from the bottom. The first diver's gone!In the search. Depth 7 meters. Looks like the car's still pretty good. This pontoon will have to lift and move the raised objects. It's just got to pump ... The ZIS-5 Bridge was raised in the presence of the veterans and the heads of the Russian Transport Ministry. The Captain's Bridge is never empty. The third attempt was successful!The director of the "Road of Life" Museum. Wojciechowski shows the newly raised half-torso and restored the car several years ago. Editor-in-chief "behind the wheel" A. " This is a day norm of food of the inhabitant of the block Leningrad. That's it! But the city was behind ... " Vera Ivanovna Rogova, a way of life for the road. Vera Ivanovna Ryabinin loaded the vehicles with food for the block Leningrad.