Their invention is returning to the Russians again. Heated stew

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

In the summer of 1976, a gang of arms dealers was neutralized in Murmansk. The case for those times was the wildest, since in those days it was somehow not accepted to trade in weapons. When all the intruders were caught, the following became clear.

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 transparent water. They did not have diving equipment, so after taking a sip of an awl taken for fishing (as the alcohol is called here), one of them dived into the icy water (it is always icy there) and tied one of the boxes with a rope.

Through the efforts of the team, the box was pulled out and opened. To the delight of the aborigines, it turned out to be brand new, wrapped in parchment, covered with grease, German machine guns MP-40, completely unharmed by the water. When trying to sell them in Murmansk, the would-be traders were immediately caught and, having shown the place of the find, went to serve their sentence.

To retrieve the boxes, it was decided to involve military divers-sappers. Our group, trained at the courses at the Kamenets-Podolsk School of Engineering Troops, specializing in a diver-sapper, ideally suited all the requirements.

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 the commander Senior Lieutenant Kolesnikov (nicknamed Collie) and two committee members who were supposed to watch so that we did not steal something ourselves, describe everything that we get, and periodically send where we need to.

PSN anchored directly above the boxes. On the first day, more than a dozen were obtained. They opened it: six turned out to be MP-40 submachine guns, which in our country are incorrectly called Schmeisers. In two there are cartridges for them, in the rest - a stew of 38th year of manufacture. Everything is perfectly packaged and hardly damaged by the water. We tried the stew. It turned out to be quite edible. We didn't have dogs on which to test the relic meat. I had to myself.

Nobody experienced psychological barriers. Since the authorities supplied us with standard army food rations, mainly consisting of porridge and pretty boring Soviet pork stew (at the rate of a can for two a day), this gift from the Wehrmacht seemed like a godsend. The next day, boxes with ice axes were lifted, on which there were stamps with the image of edelweiss, the already familiar MP-40 and boxes with strange cans, with a capacity of about 1.5 liters, consisting, as it were, in two parts, one above the other.

An arrow is drawn on the small part where to turn. Deciding that by twisting the lower part, you can open the jar, one of the committee members did it. There was a hiss. Throwing away the can, everyone, just in case, lay down. Suddenly some unknown mine. However, even while the can was flying, the thought dawned on everyone - a heated stew, which we had heard about before. They came up and felt the jar - it's hot! Opened up. Stew with porridge. Moreover, there is more meat than porridge. Yes! The Germans knew how to take care of their soldiers.

A ready-made lunch prepared in a matter of minutes, without consuming fuel, without revealing yourself with smoke. High in calories and tasty. In exploration, such a dry ration is simply irreplaceable. We discussed for a long time how smart and prudent the Germans were, how well they had the support in the units. After all, judging by the date of manufacture on the can, it was made already in the 38th year! And how simple it is! By turning the bottom of the can, quicklime and water are brought into contact. As a result of the reaction, heating. Get a soldier a gift from the Fuhrer, vaterland remembers you. And how well they did, you bastards! After lying in the water for more than thirty years, the lime has not extinguished, the tightness has not been broken, the stew has not rotted.

Reflecting on the topic: "How did all this get here?", They came to the conclusion that the Germans, judging by the ice axes of the mountain rangers, when retreating, unable to take out the warehouses located on the shore, cut an ice hole and drowned property so that ours would not get it. Most likely, it was in the winter, if everything was drowned from the boat, then the boxes would not lie in one heap only in one place 50 meters from the shore, but would lie in different places.

Of course, we searched the lake up and down. More deposits were not found and weapons, too. In total, about two hundred boxes were raised. MI-8 flew in several times and took out the accumulated property. Where this lake is located on the Kola Peninsula, we never found out. They flew in by helicopter, flew away by helicopter.

But this story 15 years later received an unexpected continuation. In 1991, fate threw me into the Leningrad Museum, where my friend worked. In the museum, I met an interesting grandfather, who turned out to be a real encyclopedia in terms of equipment, weapons and uniforms of all the armies of the world, starting, probably, with Sumer and Babylon and ending with World War II. The modern army did not seem to interest him. They talked about the equipment of the Wehrmacht, and I told the story with the German stew. He told, resting on the mind, prudence and other positive qualities of the Germans, who already in the 38th year established the release of such a useful invention.

Grandfather listened carefully and said: Young man, this invention of the Russian engineer Fedorov, made by him in 1897, began to be produced already at the beginning of the twentieth century. In 1915, the Russian army began to receive this stew in the trenches, albeit in small quantities. in the memoirs of General Shkuro, who was the first world commander of the Plastun detachment on the Caucasian front. The Turkish rear was their permanent habitat, and this stew helped them greatly.

Fast, high-calorie, does not unmask when cooking. Then the release was stopped, and after the civil war, they completely forgot about it. Not to fat. And the Germans in the First World War, having tasted the trophy Russian stew, appreciated the idea and set up production by the Second World War. And now we admire them! It's always like this with us. We will invent, then we will forget. And many years later we buy our own invention from foreigners!"

But that's not all! In 1997, I read in one of the newspapers about a useful discovery made by Japanese scientists. According to the description - she is darling! A can of stewed meat with a double bottom, quicklime, water. The production of canned food for tourists and climbers has been launched. Soon, perhaps, it will also be on sale in Russia. The Irony of Fate. Exactly one hundred years later, the circle was closed. Get your money ready, we will soon be buying a Japanese novelty!