Underground Trebeleva

For the first time, the inventor Peter Rasskazov thought of an underground boat at the beginning of the 20th century. Here are just his thoughts and ideas he published in one of the English magazines. What happened to Rasskazov after the revolution is unknown. He disappeared along with his developments.

The idea of ​​creating an apparatus moving underground was returned to before the start of the Second World War. In the USSR, engineer and designer Alexander Trebelev began work on the creation of an underground vehicle. He borrowed the principle of operation of this device from moles. Moreover, the inventor approached the matter very thoroughly. Before proceeding with the creation of the boat, he studied the behavior of the animal when it dug holes with the help of X-rays. The designer paid special attention to the movements of the paws and head of the animal. And only then he began to embody the mole in metal.

The movement of the subterrine Trebelev borrowed from the mole

Trebelev's underground boat resembled a capsule in shape, on the bow of which the inventor placed a drill. She also had an auger and two pairs of feed jacks. These jacks served as the paws of a mole. As conceived by the creator, it was possible to control the subterrine both from the inside and from the outside. That is, from the surface through a special cable. It also provided power to the machine.

Trebelev's creation turned out to be quite viable (it moved at a speed of 10 meters per hour), but needed a lot of improvements. A lot of money was required to eliminate them, so the designer still refused his offspring.

There is a version that shortly before the collision with Germany, Ustinov set the task for the designer Strakhov: to finalize the Trebelev project. And the emphasis should be on the military component of the subterrin. But the war began, and there was no time for fantastic combat vehicles.

German response

In parallel with the USSR, Germany was also puzzled by the creation of underground boats. For example, von Wern (or von Werner) patented an underwater subterranean apparatus, which he gave the name Subterrine. The car could move underground at a speed of 7 km / h, carry 5 people and several hundred kilograms of explosives.

Subterrine wanted to be used in Operation Sea Lion

The military became seriously interested in these projects. In their opinion, he was suitable for the role of "the punisher of Britain." In the Sea Lion special operation, they had to swim to England, and then continue their journey underground. Then deliver an unexpected blow to some important object.

But for some reason, underground boats were abandoned. The military leadership decided that Britain would be defeated in the air. And everything else is trifles. Therefore, the potential of von Wern's creation remained undiscovered. Fortunately for the same British.

But von Wern is not the only German who wanted to build an underground vehicle. Designer Ritter set about turning a more ambitious project, the Midgard Schlange, into reality. The underground boat was named "Midgard Serpent" in honor of the mythical creature. This serpent, according to legend, encircled the whole earth.

The brainchild of Ritter was remarkable for its amazing versatility. It just couldn't fly. And so, the machine, according to the creator's plan, was supposed to move on land and water, underground and under water. It was assumed that the device could move in solid ground at a speed of about 2 km / h. If there was soft soil on the way, its speed increased to 10 km / h. On the ground, the “Snake” could have accelerated to 30 km / h. And under water, its speed would be about 3 km / h.

Inspired and the size of the machine. Ritter dreamed of creating not just an apparatus, but a real underground train with caterpillar cars. Estimated length of equipment "assembly" - from 500 meters. Actually, that's why the project got the name "Midgard Schlange". According to the calculations made by Ritter, the weight of the colossus totaled several tens of thousands of tons. In theory, a crew of thirty people could cope with the control of the "Snake". Underground movement of the car was provided by 4 main drills of one and a half meters, as well as 3 additional ones.

The Midgard Schlange project remained on paper

Since the "Serpent" was conceived as a military vehicle, his armament was appropriate: a couple of thousand mines, more than a dozen twin machine guns, as well as torpedoes. It was planned that the subterrine would be involved in hostilities against France, Belgium and Great Britain. But the project was not implemented. He, like his "relatives" Subterrine, remained on paper.

Soviet "Mole"

After the war in the USSR, they again returned to the subterrins. The most active work in this direction began under Khrushchev. The fact is that he really liked the idea of ​​"getting the imperialists out of the ground." Nikita Sergeevich took the project under his patronage and publicly announced the development of the subway. On the territory of Ukraine, a secret plant for the production of subterrins was promptly erected. And already in 1964 the first boat with a nuclear reactor was ready. She received a telling name - "Fighting Mole".

There is no exact information about the boat. According to various sources, its diameter ranged from 3 to 4 meters. And the length varied from 25 to 35 meters. As for the speed, depending on the ground, it changed from 7 to 15 km/h. The crew of the "Mole" consisted of 5 people. In addition to them, the boat could transport another 15 soldiers and about a ton of various cargo.

They counted on the "mole" in the event of a war with the United States

As conceived by the creators, the “Battle Mole” was supposed to destroy underground bunkers, rocket launchers in mines and enemy command posts. Great hopes were pinned on the subterrins in the event of an aggravation of relations with the United States.

"Combat mole" was actively tested in different conditions. Especially well, he demonstrated his capabilities in the Urals, easily biting into the rock. But repeated tests put an end to the project. "Mole" for unknown reasons exploded underground. The crew could not be saved. After the catastrophe, they decided to abandon the creation of subterrins.

Talking about the development of this unique superweapon, it is impossible not to recall the American science fiction thriller Tremors. Unlike the cinematic worm monster that killed every living thing in its path, Soviet designers managed to create its real mechanical prototype.
However, the Soviet mechanical "mole" self-destructed along with the people inside.

Without "Mole" and life is not the same

As is most often the case in the scientific world, designers from different countries were engaged in the development of a machine that could freely pass deep underground and suddenly commit sabotage behind enemy lines. It was one of the fix ideas of the twentieth century. Nevertheless, the leadership in this direction belongs to the Muscovite Petr Rasskazov, who was the first to schematically depict an underground self-propelled vehicle in 1904.

It should be immediately noted here that everything connected with the invention of the "mole" mechanism is from the very beginning accompanied by numerous and varied digressions, strongly smacking of mysticism.

Rasskazov was allegedly accidentally killed by a stray bullet during the 1905 revolution. Then his drawings disappeared, and over time miraculously materialized in Germany.

The two world superpowers started working on a similar project at the same time. In the USSR, in the early 1930s, this project was led by engineer Alexander Trebelev. His German colleague Horner von Werner stepped on his heels.

Treblev, obsessed with the idea of ​​​​building a machine that would copy genuine mole skills, allegedly managed to reach the creation of a prototype. But that was the point. The Nazis also did not launch their “Midgard Schlange” (“Midgard Serpent”, that was the name of the monster from the Scandinavian saga): the project cost fabulous funds, for this reason the scrupulous Germans turned it off.

They took the stolen, but their own

The further history of the creation of the Soviet underground submarine, the further, the deeper it becomes overgrown with conspiracy details, as documentary justifications for certain events are gradually lost. Probably, in this case, these nuances can be attributed to the law of the genre. Or, if you like, on the secrecy of the topic as such.

Nevertheless, it was precisely the borrowed experience of foreign developments of "combat moles" in the Stalinist USSR that was taken as a basis. The fact that its foundation was laid by a Russian scientist, no one else remembered. The topic was personally supervised by the Minister of State Security of the Soviet Union V. S. Abakumov. Apparently, the time has not yet come to find out about the details of the assignment that Viktor Semenovich personally gave to the President of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Sergei Ivanovich Vavilov - these details are still hidden under the heading "top secret".

The sinister secret of the Soviet military "Nautilus": he died, biting into the bowels

It is alleged that the Soviet "Battle Mole" was nevertheless created. And the underground combat vehicle was endowed with hitherto unknown abilities: supposedly it was equipped with a nuclear power plant like a classic nuclear submarine. The technical characteristics of the Soviet mechanical "Earth Tremor" are also described: 35 meters in length, 3 meters in diameter. All this was controlled by five crew members, the speed of the “Battle Mole” was 7 kilometers per hour.

The Soviet "Mole" could bite into the ground with 15 paratroopers on board, by 1962 everything was ready for "practical use". In 1964, a pilot copy of the underground submarine was created to the extent of "getting off the stocks."

The conspiracy theory of the creation of the "Battle Mole" is replete with details that today have no scientific confirmation. In particular, Academician Andrei Sakharov is considered to be one of the founding fathers of the underground combat vehicle.

There are descriptions of the practical application of the “Mole” (they date back to 1964), but this experience is more like the finale of a science fiction story than the result of a scientific experiment: allegedly, at a depth of ten meters, an underground boat exploded, and it was a nuclear explosion. The people who were in the evaporated apparatus died.

... The secret of the Soviet "Big Mole" is reminiscent of the plot with the Dyatlov Pass. But if in the case of the history of the death of a group of Soviet climbers, if not all, then very many details of what happened are open to researchers today, then there are still more ambiguities with the fate of the underground Soviet submarine than any textural certainty on which one could build a reasonable version of the creation and testing of Soviet scientific and technical development.

Perhaps some of you have watched the movie "Earth's Core" directed by John Amisel. According to the plot of the film, the earth's core stops rotating, which threatens the death of all mankind. To save everyone from the impending end of the world, a group of American scientists and engineers are building an underground boat that goes straight to the Earth's core in order to restore its rotation by detonating several atomic bombs. What kind of nonsense, you ask, and you will be right. However, in the 20th century, several states at once seriously worked on the possibility of building underground boats (similar to submarines), or subterrins. Thus, the well-known phrase about “a submarine in the steppes of Ukraine” even acquires some meaning.

The 20th century as a whole was rich in seemingly strange developments, many of which eventually managed to change our understanding of the world. Even before the Second World War, several states at once, including the USSR, Germany and Great Britain, were working on the creation of subterrins. The prototype for all projects was the so-called tunneling shield. For the first time such a shield was used in Foggy Albion during the construction of a tunnel under the Thames back in 1825. With the help of a tunneling shield, metro tunnels were also built in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

In our country, the idea of ​​building an underground boat was addressed at the very beginning of the 20th century. So, back in 1904, Russian engineer Pyotr Rasskazov sent material to a British technical journal describing the possibility of developing a special capsule that could travel long distances by moving underground. However, later during the unrest in Moscow, he was killed by a stray bullet. In addition to Rasskazov, the idea of ​​​​creating an underground boat is also attributed to another of our compatriot Evgeny Tolkalinsky. As an engineer colonel in the tsarist army, in the winter of 1918 he fled the country through the Gulf of Finland. He made a career in Sweden, where at one of the firms he improved the already mentioned tunneling shield.

But real attention was paid to such projects only in the 1930s. The first underground self-propelled vehicle in those years was created by the Soviet engineer A. Treblev, who was assisted in this by A. Baskin and A. Kirilov. It is curious that he largely copied the principle of operation of his device from the actions of the well-known builder of underground holes - the mole. Before starting work on the project, the designer studied the biomechanics of the actions and movements of the animal underground for a very long time. He paid special attention to the paws and head of the mole, and only then, based on the results obtained, he designed his mechanical device.

Subterrine by Alexander Trebelev

It is worth noting that, like any inventor, Alexander Trebelev was obsessed with his brainchild, but even he did not think about using an underground submarine for military purposes. Trebelev believed that the subterrine would be used for digging tunnels for utility needs, conducting geological exploration, and mining. For example, its subterrine could get close to oil reserves, extending a pipeline to them, which would begin to pump black gold to the surface. Even now, Trebelev's invention seems fantastic to us.

The Trebelev subterrine had a capsule shape and moved underground due to the drill, auger and 4 feed jacks, which pushed it like the hind legs of a mole. At the same time, the underground boat could be controlled both from the outside - from the surface of the earth using cables, and directly from the inside. The subterrine was supposed to receive the necessary power supply through the same cable. The average speed of its movement underground was to be 10 meters per hour. However, due to frequent failures and a number of shortcomings, this project was still closed.

According to one version, the unreliability of the machine was proved as a result of the first tests. According to another version, just before the war, they still tried to finalize the underground boat on the initiative of the future People's Commissar of Arms of the USSR D. Ustinov. If we are guided by the second version, then in the 1940s, the designer P. Strakhov, on the personal assignment of Ustinov, managed to finalize and improve the Trebelev project. At the same time, this project was immediately designed for military purposes, and the subterrine was supposed to operate already without communication with the surface. For 1.5 years, it was possible to create one prototype. It was assumed that the underground boat would be able to work autonomously underground for several days. At this time, the boat was supplied with the necessary supply of fuel, and the crew, which consisted of only one person, with the necessary supply of oxygen, food and water. But the Great Patriotic War prevented the completion of work on this project, while the fate of the prototype of Strakhov's underground boat is now unknown.

UK Combat Trenchers

Similar projects were developed in the UK. In this country, they were supposed to be used for digging tunnels on the front line. Through such tunnels, infantry and tanks were supposed to suddenly enter the enemy's position, while avoiding a direct assault on ground fortifications. Work in this direction was due to the sad English experience of trench warfare during the First World War. The order to develop underground boats was given personally by Winston Churchill, who was based precisely on the bloody experience of storming well-fortified positions. By the beginning of 1940, it was planned to build 200 of these underground boats. All of them were designated by the abbreviation NLE (Naval Land Equipment - naval and land equipment). To disguise the military purpose of the machines being created, the developers gave them their own names: White Rabbit 6 (“White Rabbit 6”), Nellie (“Nellie”), Cultivator 6 (“Cultivator 6”), No mans Land Excavator (“Excavator without human intervention” ).

The trenchers created in England had the following dimensions: length - 23.47 meters, width - 1.98 meters, height - 2.44 meters and had two sections. The main section was tracked. In appearance, it resembled a very long tank, weighing 100 tons. The front section weighed less - 30 tons and could dig trenches 2.28 meters wide and 1.5 meters deep. The soil excavated by the machine was carried by conveyors to the surface and deposited on both sides of the trench, forming dumps, the height of which was 1 meter. The speed of the device was more than 8 km/h. After reaching a predetermined point, the subterrin stopped and was transformed into a platform designed for the exit of caterpillar vehicles from a dug trench into open space.

Initially, this car was going to be equipped with one Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, which developed a power of 1000 hp. But then, due to the lack of these engines, they decided to replace them. Two Paxman 12TP engines were installed on each underground boat, developing a power of 600 hp. everyone. One motor powered the entire structure, while the second was used for the cutter and conveyor in the front section. The rapid defeat of France in the war and a clear demonstration of the modern war of engines slowed down the implementation of this project. As a result, subterrins were tested only in June 1941, and in 1943 the project was closed. By this time, 5 such devices had been assembled in England. All of them were dismantled after the war, the last combat trencher in the early 1950s. In fairness, it is worth noting that the English project, although it turned out to be useless, was quite real. Another thing is that after all it was only a "perverted" vision of a trencher, and not a full-fledged underground boat.

Subterrines of Germany

Interest in such an unusual project was also shown in Germany. Before World War II, subterrins were constructed here as well. In the 30s of the twentieth century, engineer von Wern (according to other sources - von Werner) received a patent for an underwater-underground "amphibian", which she called Subterrine. The machine he proposed had the ability to move both in water and under the earth's surface. At the same time, according to von Wern's calculations, when moving underground, his subterrine could reach speeds of up to 7 km / h. At the same time, the underground boat was designed to transport the crew and troops of 5 people, as well as 300 kg. explosives, it was originally a military project.

In 1940, in Nazi Germany, the von Wern project was seriously considered; such devices could be useful in military operations against Great Britain. In the plans for the Sea Lion operation being developed, which provided for the landing of German troops on the British Isles, there would be a place for von Wern's submarines. His offspring were supposed to swim unnoticed to the shores of Great Britain and continue moving underground through English territory, in order to then deliver a sudden blow to the enemy in the most unexpected area for the British troops.

The German Subterrine project fell victim to the arrogance of Goering, who led the Luftwaffe and believed he could defeat the British in an air war without any help. As a result, the project of von Vern's underground boat remained in the form of an idea that was not implemented in practice, as well as the fantasies of his famous namesake - the French writer Jules Verne, who wrote his famous novel "Journey to the Center of the Earth" long before the appearance of the first projects of underground boats.

Another much more grandiose project of the German designer Ritter was called Midgard Schlange (“Midgard Serpent”) with a fair amount of pathos. The project received such an unusual name in honor of the mythical reptile - the world serpent, which encircled the entire inhabited earth. As planned by the creator, his car was supposed to move both above and below the ground, as well as on water and under water at a depth of up to 100 meters. At the same time, Ritter believed that underground in soft ground his underground boat could reach speeds of up to 10 km / h, in hard ground - 2 km / h, on the earth's surface - up to 30 km / h, under water - 3 km / h.

However, most of all the imagination is struck by the size of this huge amphibious machine. Midgard Schlange was conceived by the creator as a full-fledged underground train, which included a large number of caterpillar compartment cars. Each wagon was 6 meters long. The total length of such an underground train ranged from 400 meters to 500 meters in the longest configuration. The path of this colossus under the ground should have been punched by four one and a half meter drills at once. Also in the car there were 3 additional drilling kits, and the total weight reached 60,000 tons. In order to control such a mechanical monster, 12 pairs of rudders and a crew of 30 people were needed. The design armament of the huge subterrine was also impressive: up to two thousand 250-kg and 10-kg mines, 12 twin machine guns and special underground torpedoes 6 meters long.

Initially, this project was planned to be used to destroy strategic facilities and fortifications in Belgium and France, as well as for subversive work in English ports. However, in the end, this crazy project of the gloomy German genius was never implemented in any acceptable form. But some technical information regarding the underground boats being developed in Germany nevertheless fell into the hands of Soviet intelligence officers at the end of the war.

Soviet "Battle Mole"

Another semi-mythical subterrin development project is the Soviet post-war project called the Battle Mole. Immediately after the end of the Second World War, the head of SMERSH V. Abakumov attracted professors G. Babat and G. Pokrovsky to the implementation of the project for the construction of underground submarines, they had to work with captured drawings. However, it was only after Stalin's death in the 1960s that real progress was made in this direction. The new General Secretary Nikita Khrushchev liked the idea of ​​"getting the imperialists out of the ground." Moreover, Khrushchev even publicly announced his plans, perhaps he had some reason for that.

Little is known about this development, it was mentioned only in a number of books that do not claim to be authentic. According to available information, the Soviet subterrine "Battle Mole" was supposed to receive a nuclear reactor. The underground boat had an elongated cylindrical titanium hull with a pointed end and a powerful drill in the front. The size of such an atomic subterrine could be from 25 to 35 meters in length and from 3 to 4 meters in diameter. The speed of movement of the apparatus underground lay in the range from 7 km/h to 15 km/h.

The crew of the "Battle Mole" consisted of 5 people. In addition, this device could immediately transport up to a ton of various cargoes (weapons or explosives) or 15 paratroopers with their equipment. It was assumed that such underground boats would successfully hit underground bunkers, fortifications, command posts and silo-based strategic missiles. Such devices were also being prepared for solving a special mission.

In the event of an aggravation of relations between the USSR and the USA, according to the plan of the Soviet command, the subterrins could be used to deliver a full-fledged underground strike on US territory. With the help of Soviet submarines, the subterrins were supposed to be delivered to the American coast in the region of seismically unstable California, after which they were to drill into American territory and install underground nuclear charges in areas where the enemy's strategic facilities were located. It was assumed that the detonation of atomic mines could set off a powerful earthquake and tsunami, which, in which case, could be attributed to ordinary natural disasters.

According to some reports, the tests of the Soviet nuclear underground boat were carried out in different soils - in the Rostov and Moscow regions, as well as in the Urals. At the same time, the atomic subterrine delivered the strongest impressions to the test participants in the Ural mountains. The "battle mole" easily passed through hard rock, destroying the training target at the end. However, during the repeated tests, a tragedy occurred: the subterrine exploded for an unknown reason, and its crew died. After this incident, the project was closed.

The idea to create such a machine that, like a mole, could dig underground passages and go deep into the planet, excited not only the minds of science fiction writers, but also serious scientists and designers.

Today, you will not surprise anyone with various tunneling equipment. With its help, thousands of kilometers of mines and tunnels were dug, through which trains rush, huge streams of water flow, various reserves are stored ...

However, in addition to such peaceful tunneling machines, under cover of secrecy, combat "moles" were developed that could destroy enemy underground communications, destroy its buried and well-protected command posts, and undermine arsenals hidden in rock masses. And they could also imperceptibly break through literally into the deep rear of the enemy, crawl out and land troops where no one was waiting for them. Such underground boats at the beginning of the twentieth century seemed to be almost a superweapon.

It is believed that the first draft of a combat underground self-propelled vehicle was developed by our compatriot, Muscovite Petr Rasskazov back in 1904. But during the revolutionary events that engulfed Moscow at that time, he was killed as if by a stray bullet. At the beginning of the First World War, his drawings disappeared, and later surfaced, of course, in Germany. In the early 1930s, the USSR returned to this idea. The engineer Trebelev was engaged in the creation of the "fighting mole". Moreover, he wanted to design a machine that would copy a real mole. It was even possible to build and test a prototype, but things did not go further.

Also, attempts to create an underground combat vehicle in Nazi Germany were unsuccessful. The project was called "Midgard Serpent" (Midgard Schlange) - after the underground monster from the Scandinavian sagas. The total weight of the underground "serpent" was 60 thousand tons with a crew of 30 people. The project turned out to be insanely expensive to implement, and it was closed. Then almost mystical events began to occur.

The war machine had fantastic abilities

The "snake" is believed to be based on the drawings of Pyotr Rasskazov, stolen by German intelligence at the beginning of the First World War. And the detailed German drawings were already obtained by Soviet intelligence officers at the end of the Great Patriotic War. Traditionally, we recognize only Western authorities. Despite the fact that it was our engineers who were the pioneers in the creation of "battle moles", only the German drawings of an underground miracle forced the competent authorities to push through the start of work on Soviet underground boats. The Minister of State Security of the USSR Abakumov literally demanded that the President of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Sergei Vavilov, create a special group to study the possibility of designing an underground boat. The creation of the "battle mole" was even more classified than the Soviet nuclear project. Information about him is the most approximate. It is known that Khrushchev also actively supported the project. Still, the Soviet underground apparatus could make its way through the thickness of the earth, passing through the rocks like a butter knife. Maybe the extravagant Khrushchev dreamed that the time would come and the steel Soviet fist would come out of the ground right on the lawn of the White House in Washington? She will still be Kuz'kina's mother!

More than 50 years ago, a combat vehicle was created in our country that passed through granite like butter. Infographics: Leonid Kuleshov/RG

According to experts in their publications, the underground combat vehicle was not only built, but also had truly fantastic abilities. They called her, without further ado, "Fighting mole." The underground boat had a nuclear power plant, like a classic nuclear submarine. It is alleged that the Battle Mole had the following parameters: hull length 35 m, diameter 3 m, crew 5 people, speed 7 km/h. He could also carry troops up to 15 fully equipped fighters. The plant for the manufacture of underground boats was built in 1962 in Ukraine. After 2 years, the first copy was made.

The device simply evaporated, and the punched tunnel collapsed

There is evidence that Academician Sakharov also had a hand in the creation of this apparatus. An original technology for crushing soil and a propulsion system was developed. A certain cavitation flow was created around the body of the "mole", which reduced the friction force and made it possible to break through even through granites and basalts. It was assumed that the actions of the "mole" would be mistaken by the enemy for the results of an earthquake.

The first tests gave amazing results. The "fighting mole" really calmly bit into the rocks and went into their depths at an unprecedented speed for tunneling machines. However, during the next test in 1964, a car that penetrated into the Ural Mountains near Nizhny Tagil at a distance of 10 km exploded for unknown reasons. Since the explosion was nuclear, the apparatus itself with the people in it simply evaporated, and the broken tunnel collapsed. The name of the deceased commander of the "Battle Mole" was called in the press - Colonel Semyon Budnikov. But there has never been any official confirmation of this. The project was closed, all documentary evidence about it was liquidated, as if nothing had happened. Why did it happen so? Why, having actually created a unique tunneling machine for underground work that had no world analogues, the USSR abandoned its further development after the very first catastrophe. Rockets exploded much more, but no one turned off rocket science. There were also many accidents and disasters with nuclear submarines, but their designs were eventually brought to almost perfect condition. The answer to this may seem incredible and beyond fantastic. But... There is no other explanation.

What external force did not allow the "Mole" to deepen?

Long ago, legends appeared that inside our planet there is another intelligent life - there is its own underground and completely unknown to us civilization that really controls the Earth, and maybe the entire solar system. And as if there are some portals that allow the chosen ones to enter this other world, as well as exit it. Nazi mystical scientists from the secret society Ahnenerbe seriously looked for these portals. Not the fact that they were not found. However, you can enter the interior of the Earth only if you are allowed to. And so the civilization of "Middle-earth" is protected by a powerful energy sphere and rocky armor, known to us as the earth's crust of the planet.

It is believed that the deepest well in the world is located on the Kola Peninsula. Indeed, during the Soviet era, it managed to break through to 12,262 meters deep. This is a world record. But even in Soviet times, work on the well began to be curtailed, allegedly because of their high cost. Today it is completely destroyed, the inlet is welded. However, there is a version that drilling was stopped for another reason. When it became possible to lower the video equipment into the wellbore to its entire depth, it turned out that the vertical depth was 8 km. And then, for some unknown reason, the drill began to spin in a horizontal plane, as if it had stumbled upon an obstacle of impenetrable strength. So I clocked over 4 km.

Or maybe another civilization exists not in space, but under our feet, and its guards did not want the Soviet "mole" to penetrate the forbidden limits

What external force did not allow to go deeper by more than 8 km?

Many cases have been recorded when people heard the rumble of working mechanisms coming from somewhere underground, although no underground work was carried out within a radius of thousands of kilometers. Submarine acoustics also recorded some technological noise coming from the ocean depths. We are looking for aliens in outer space. Or maybe another civilization exists literally under our feet? And her guards did not want the Soviet "mole" to penetrate the forbidden limits. After all, the technical characteristics allowed the "Battle Mole" to reach the center of the Earth. That is why the unique underground machine was destroyed. And the secret of the long-standing Soviet project is unlikely to ever be fully disclosed.

No need to tell anyone about submarines. But few people know that along with underwater projects, underground combat vehicles were developed. As conceived by the inventors, the underground tank burrowed into the ground, like a mole dug an underground tunnel and came to the surface behind enemy lines in the most unexpected place. (website)

Underground warfare in ancient times

Even in ancient times, tunnels were used during the siege of fortresses. Tunnels were dug under the city walls in order to collapse them, and sometimes underground passages were dug up to the very center of the city. Reception effective, albeit long. But in those days, the siege lasted for 7-10 years, so the ancient heroes had plenty of time. Alexander the Great thus in 322 B.C. took Gaza, Sulla in 86 BC Athens, Pompey in 72 BC Palencia.

With the invention of gunpowder, tactics have changed slightly. An unmeasurable charge of gunpowder was laid into the gallery dug under the fortress wall, blown up and soldiers rushed into the gap, destroying everyone who was still alive after the terrible explosion. This is how Kazan was taken by Ivan the Terrible after a long siege.

First underground world

World War I was marked by the transition to siege warfare. Enemy lines of fortifications became impregnable. Several rows of barbed wire delayed the attackers, machine guns mowed them down by the hundreds. Ground offensives ended in huge losses and almost never led to a breakthrough in the enemy's defenses.

The return to the traditions of underground warfare in such a situation was quite natural. In 1916, the British organized 33 tunnel companies with 25,000 men. Digging tunnels as a way to break into the enemy's defense line was used both in the Russian army and in the German one.

The troops now have wiretapping services, staffed by specialists-hearers to detect underground attacks of the enemy. In the event that the enemy was found to be conducting underground work, they dug a counter-gallery in order to capture and blow up the enemy tunnel. Serious battles were played out underground: tons of dynamite were torn, soldiers converged in hand-to-hand combat.

The appearance of the tank gave the idea of ​​​​creating the same underground machine.

Von Verna Underground

In 1933, an underground vehicle was patented in Germany by engineer von Wern. The car was supposed to be used for mining, geological exploration, digging tunnels for city communications, etc. But the military was the first to pay attention to it, of course. Having no funds to implement the project, the Germans classified it and put it in the archive so that France and England would not get ahead of them.

In 1940, Vern met with Klaus von Stauffenberg (thus, in 1944 he would plant a bomb under the already unadored Fuhrer), showed him his project, and he acquainted the Wehrmacht leadership with it. The German generals, who were planning a landing in Britain in the near future (Operation Sea Lion), liked the idea of ​​​​attacking England from under the ground, Werner was given considerable funds. According to the project, the Verna tank with a crew of 5 people, moving at a speed of 7 km / h, carried a warhead of 3400 kg.

However, Goering, caring for his beloved Luftwaffe, managed to convince Hitler that instead of dozens of underground tanks it would be better to build the same number of bombers, and the von Wern project was closed without even going beyond laboratory experiments.

Nazi Midgard Serpent

More successful was the fate of the project engineer Ritten. Independently of Verne, in 1934 he developed his own version of the subway, calling it the "Midgard Serpent", planning the car primarily for the assault on the French Maginot Line. Ritten's project was striking in its scale. The Serpent was a 500m train consisting of compartments measuring 7m long, 6m wide and 3.5m high, with a bedroom for 30 people, three repair shops, a radio station, a kitchen and a lifeboat for access to the surface.

The train was pulled at a speed of 3 to 10 km / h (depending on the nature of the soil) by a head car with 4 drilling rigs and 9 electric motors that drive them. Another 14 engines fed the undercarriage. Plus 4 electric generators and a fuel tank for 960 cubic meters. Armament - a thousand 250kg mines, a thousand 10kg mines, an underground Fafnir torpedo 6m long. and 12 twin machine guns.

The Germans planned to build 20 of these underground cruisers, but everything came down to money. The manufacture of one "Snake" required 30 million Reichsmarks. It is believed that the project remained on paper. However, the former SS Hauptsturmführer Walter Schulke claimed that the traction unit was built and tested in 1944 near Koenigsberg. The tests ended unsuccessfully, the Serpent exploded and remained underground along with 11 crew members.

Made in England

Similar research and development work was carried out in England. At the end of the 30s, W. Churchill gave a personal instruction to start developing underground tanks. It was planned to produce 200 cars by 1940. In secret documents, the machines were referred to as "Excavators" and "Cultivators". The British underground train consisted of 2 sections, moving at a speed of 8 km / h; total length 23.5m, width 2m, height 2.5m. By 1943, 5 cars were built, the last survived until the early 50s.

Made in USSR

There were plenty of enthusiasts developing their projects of underground vehicles in Russia. Engineer Peter Rasskazov created his project back in 1904. In the 1930s, engineer Treblev worked in this direction.

In 1945, they returned to the idea. It is alleged that the remnants of the Midgard Serpent, found near Koenigsberg, became the impetus. Raised the drawings of Treblev from the archive. In 1946, the built single-seat machine was tested in the Urals. At a speed of 10m/h, she passed through Mount Grace. However, the design did not prove to be reliable enough, and the project was closed.

Work resumed under Khrushchev. According to the plan of the Secretary General, who threatened to show the Americans "Kuzkin's mother", the underground rovers were supposed to crawl to the United States, lay and detonate nuclear charges under strategic objects, causing large earthquakes.

In 1964, the built “Battle Mole” was tested there in the Urals. A 35 m long underground ship with a crew of 5 people carried 15 landing troops and 1 ton of explosives, speed - 7 km / h. During the second test, the car exploded, the crew died. The work stalled, and Brezhnev, who replaced Khrushchev, stopped them altogether.

Does the underground have a future?

Whether such machines are currently being developed is a mystery shrouded in darkness. Theoretically, this is quite possible. At one time, Academician Sakharov (yes, the same one) and Professor Pokrovsky were looking for ways to increase the speed of moving an underground vehicle underground. They proved that in a cloud of hot particles a car can move underground at a speed of tens and even hundreds of km/h. So it’s too early to shelve the “Battle Mole” project.