Let's see what myths (or not myths?) does the Internet live on this topic?

There are many legends regarding who was the first in the world to start developing underground boats and whether they were developed at all, because there is practically no documentary material on this topic.

Nevertheless, there were still those who wanted to fantasize. One of these dreamers was our compatriot Pyotr Rasskazov. In 1918, he made drawings of such a device. But in the same year he died at the hands of a German agent, who, in addition, also stole all the developments. But they never got involved, since Germany soon lost the war. She had to pay huge indemnities to the winners, and the country had no time for any kind of underground boats.

According to the Americans, Thomas Alva Edison was the first in the world to develop developments in this industry. However, according to more reliable information, at the turn of the 20-30s of the last century, the design of the first underground boat was developed in the Soviet Union. Its authors were engineers A. Treblev, A. Baskin and A. Kirilov. At the same time, it was assumed that the main purpose of the device would be limited to the oil production industry.

Meanwhile, the inventors' brains continued to work. A similar design in the USA was attempted to be patented by Peter Chalmy, an employee of the “invention factory”, which was headed by none other than the famous Thomas Alva Edison himself. However, he was not alone. The list of inventors of the underground boat includes, for example, a certain Evgeny Tolkalinsky, who in 1918 emigrated from revolutionary Russia to the West along with many other scientists, engineers and inventors.

But even among those who remained in Soviet Russia, there were bright minds who took up this matter. In the 1930s, inventor A. Trebelev and designers A. Baskin and A. Kirillov made a sensational invention. They created a project for a kind of “underground tunnel”, the scope of which promised to be simply fantastic. For example, an underground boat reaches an oil reservoir and floats from one “lake” to another, destroying mountain dams along the way. It pulls an oil pipeline behind it and, having finally reached the oil “sea”, begins pumping “black gold” from there.

As a prototype for their design, the engineers took... an ordinary earthen mole. For several months they studied how it makes underground passages and created their apparatus “in the image and likeness” of this animal. Some things, of course, had to be altered: the paws with claws were replaced with more familiar cutters - approximately the same as those used in coal mining combines. The first tests of the mole boat took place in the Urals, in the mines under Mount Blagodat. The device bit into the mountain, crushing the strongest rocks with its cutters. But the design of the boat was still not reliable enough, its mechanisms often failed, and further developments were considered untimely. Moreover, World War II was just around the corner.

It is difficult to say at the moment what was taken as the basis for the development of the boat: either it was a real mole, or the previous developments of scientists. As a result, a small model was created, equipped with an electric motor that drove special devices for its movement and cutting devices. However, the first prototypes were tested in the Ural mines. Of course, this was just a prototype, a smaller copy of the device, and not a full-fledged underground boat. The tests were not successful, and due to numerous shortcomings, the very low speed of the apparatus and the unreliability of the engine, all work on the underground tunnel was curtailed. And then the era of repression began, and most of those who took part in the development were shot.

However, a few years later, on the eve of the Second World War, the Soviet leadership nevertheless remembered this fantastic project. At the beginning of 1940, D. Ustinov, who soon became the People's Commissar of Armaments of the Soviet Union, summoned P. Strakhov, Doctor of Technical Sciences, who was engaged in the design of underground tunneling machines. The conversation that took place between them is interesting. Ustinov wondered whether the designer had heard about the development of an autonomous underground self-propelled vehicle in the 30s, carried out by Treblev. Strakhov answered in the affirmative. Then the People's Commissar said that the designer had much more important and urgent work related to the creation of a self-propelled underground vehicle for the needs of the Soviet army. Strakhov agreed to take part in the project. He was allocated unlimited human resources and material resources, and allegedly after a year and a half the prototype was being tested. The underground boat created by the designer could operate autonomously for about a week; it was for this period that the reserves of oxygen, water and food were calculated.

However, when the war began, Strakhov was forced to switch to the construction of bunkers, so the further fate of the underground apparatus he created is unknown to the designer. But it is quite possible to assume that the prototype was never accepted state commission, and the apparatus itself was sawn into metal, since at that time the army needed planes, tanks and submarines much more.

One of the many myths about the secret super-technique of the Third Reich says that there were developments of underground combat means under code names“Subterrine” (project of H. von Wern and R. Trebeletsky) and “Midgardschlange” (“Midgard Serpent”), (project of Ritter).

In Germany, the same war served as a catalyst for a revival of interest in this idea. In 1933, inventor W. von Wern patented his version of the underground tunnel. Just in case, the invention was classified and sent to the archives. It is unknown how long it could have lain there if Count Claus von Stauffenberg had not accidentally stumbled upon it in 1940. Despite his pompous title, he enthusiastically accepted the ideas outlined by Adolf Hitler in the book Mein Kampf. And when the newly-minted Fuhrer came to power, von Stauffenberg was among his comrades. He quickly made a career under the new regime and, when Verne’s invention caught his eye, he realized that he had attacked his gold mine.

The leadership of the Third Reich needed any superweapon that would help achieve world domination. According to information that was made public after the end of the war, underground military devices were being developed in Germany, which were given the names “Subterrine” and “Midgardschlange”. The last of the named projects was supposed to be a super-amphibian, which could move not only on the ground and underground, but also under water at a depth of about one hundred meters. Thus, the device was created as a universal combat vehicle, consisting of a large number of interconnected compartments-modules. The module had a length of six meters, a width of about seven meters, and a height of about three and a half meters. The total length of the device was approximately 400-525 meters, depending on what tasks were assigned to this vehicle. The underground cruiser had a displacement of 60 thousand tons. According to some reports, tests of the underground cruiser were carried out back in 1939. On board it was placed a large number of small shells and mines, Fafnir underground combat torpedoes, coaxial machine guns, Alberich reconnaissance shells, and a Laurin transport shuttle for communication with the surface. The crew of the device consisted of 30 people, and inside it was very similar to the structure of a submarine. The device could reach speeds on land of up to 30 kilometers per hour, under water - three kilometers, and in rocky soil - up to two kilometers per hour.

The underground boat was a device, in the front of which there was a drilling head with four drills (the diameter of each was one and a half meters). The head was driven by nine electric motors, the total power of which was about 9 thousand horsepower. Its chassis was made on tracks, and was serviced by 14 electric motors with a total power of about 20 thousand horsepower.

Underwater, the boat moved with the help of 12 pairs of rudders, as well as 12 additional engines, the total power of which was 3 thousand horsepower. The explanatory note to the project provided for the construction of 20 such underground cruisers (each costing about 30 million Reichsmarks), which were planned to be used for attacks on strategically important French and Belgian targets, and for mining the ports of England.

After the second World War was completed, Soviet counterintelligence near Königsberg discovered adits of unknown origin and purpose, and not far from them the remains of a structure, presumably the “Midgardschlange”.

In addition, some sources mention another German project, less ambitious, but no less interesting, which was started much earlier - “Subterrine” or “Sea Lion”. The patent for its creation was received back in 1933 and it was issued in the name of the German inventor Horner von Werner. According to the inventor's plan, his device was supposed to have a speed of about seven kilometers per hour, a crew of 5 people, and a warhead of 300 kilograms. It was assumed that he would be able to move not only underground, but also under water. The invention was immediately classified and transferred to the archives. And if the war had not started, hardly anyone would have remembered this project. However, Count von Stauffenberg, who oversaw some military projects, came across it completely by accident. In addition, in those years Germany had just developed a military operation called “Sea Lion”, the purpose of which was to invade British Isles. Therefore, the existence of an underground boat with a similar name could be very useful. The idea was as follows: an underground vehicle, with saboteurs on board, would cross the English Channel and then get to the desired location underground. However, as history shows, these plans were not destined to come true, because Hermann Goering managed to convince the Fuhrer that bombing would be enough for the surrender of England, especially since to achieve this goal the Vs were required, and, accordingly, and huge material resources. As a result, Operation Sea Lion was canceled and the project itself was closed, despite the fact that Goering was never able to fulfill his promises.

Meanwhile, machines similar in their functions were developed in England. They were typically designated by the acronym NLE (i.e., Naval and Land Equipment). Their main purpose was to dig passages through enemy positions. Through these passages, equipment and infantrymen were supposed to penetrate enemy territory and organize surprise attacks. English developments had four names: “Nelly”, “Excavator without human intervention”, “Cultivator 6” and “White Rabbit”. Final version English project It was an apparatus about 23.5 meters long, about 2 meters wide, about 2.5 meters high and consisted of two sections. The main compartment was located on caterpillar tracks, and was very reminiscent of a tank. Its weight was one hundred tons. The second compartment, which weighed about 30 tons, was designed for digging trenches up to 1.5 meters deep and up to 2.3 meters wide. The English design had two motors: one drove the conveyors and cutters in the front compartment, and the second drove the machine itself. The device could reach speeds of up to 8 kilometers per hour. After reaching the extreme point of movement, “Nelly” had to stop, turning into a platform for equipment to exit.

However, the project was closed after the fall of France. Before that period, only five cars were produced. By the end of World War II, four of them were dismantled. The fifth car suffered the same fate in the early 50s.

However, the idea of ​​​​creating an underground boat has not sunk into oblivion. In 1945, after the defeat fascist Germany, captured teams of former allies were scouring its territory with might and main. Special agents from Beria's department discovered drawings and remains of a strange mechanism. After studying the finds, experts came to the conclusion that they were looking at a device for making passages underground. General Abakumov sent it for revision.

The project was sent for revision. Leningrad professor G.I. Babat proposed using ultra-high-frequency radiation to supply the “underground” with energy. And Moscow professor G.I. Pokrovsky made calculations showing the fundamental possibility of using cavitation processes not only in liquid, but also in solid media. Bubbles of gas or steam, according to Professor Pokrovsky, were capable of very effectively destroying rocks. Academician A.D. also spoke about the possibility of creating “underground torpedoes”. Sakharov. In his opinion, it was possible to create conditions under which an underground projectile would move not in the thickness of the rocks, but in a cloud of sprayed particles, which would ensure a fantastic speed of progress - tens, or even hundreds of kilometers per hour!

After research, they came to the conclusion that the device can be used for military purposes. Around the same time, the Soviet engineer M. Tsiferov received a patent for the creation of an underground torpedo - a device that could move underground at a speed of one meter per second. Tsiferov’s ideas were continued by his son, but the problem of maintaining the rocket’s course was never solved. In 1950, A. Kachan and A. Brichkin received a patent for the creation of a thermal drill, which was very similar to a rocket.

They again remembered the development of A. Trebelev. Taking into account the trophy developments, the matter looked promising. Moreover, Comrade Khrushchev, who replaced the deceased Stalin at the helm of the state, became personally interested in the project. For the serial production of underground boats, testing of which, in essence, had not yet begun, a huge plant was urgently built in the Crimean steppes. And Nikita Sergeevich himself publicly promised to get the imperialists not only from space, but also from underground!

Several versions of the created underground tunnels were sent for testing to the Ural Mountains. The first cycle was successful - the underground boat confidently moved from one mountainside to the other at walking speed. Which, naturally, was immediately reported to the government. Perhaps it was this news that gave Nikita Sergeevich the grounds for his public statement. But he was in a hurry. During the second series of tests, a mysterious explosion occurred, and the underground boat with its entire crew died, finding itself walled up deep in the earth's thickness.

The development of underground devices has begun again. Engineers and scientists who were involved in solving this problem proposed a project to create a nuclear underground boat. Especially for the first pilot production, a secret plant was built in the shortest possible time (it was ready by 1962 and was located in Ukraine, near the village of Gromovka). In 1964, the plant allegedly produced the first Soviet underground nuclear boat, which was called the “Battle Mole.” It had a diameter of about 4 meters, a length of 35 meters, and a titanium body. The crew of the device consisted of 5 people; in addition to it, another 15 landing troops and a ton of explosives could be placed on board. The main task assigned to the boat was to destroy the enemy's underground missile silos and bunkers. There were even plans to deliver these boats to the shores of American California, where earthquakes often occur. The boat could have left a nuclear charge and detonated it, thereby causing an artificial earthquake, and all the consequences could have been attributed to the elements.

Tests of a nuclear underground boat, according to some sources, began in 1964, during which amazing results were obtained. Subsequently, tests continued in the Urals, in the Rostov region, since there are harder soils there, and in Nakhabino near Moscow

The photo shows traces of testing. Subterrine passed here.

Further tests were carried out in the Urals, but during one of them a tragedy occurred, as a result of which the boat exploded and the entire crew died. After the incident, testing was stopped. Moreover, when L. Brezhnev came to power, the project was completely closed and classified. And in 1976, for the purpose of disinformation, in the press, on the initiative of the head of the Main Directorate for the Protection of State Secrets Antonov, reports began to appear not only about this project, but also about the existence of an underground nuclear fleet in the Soviet Union, while the remnants of the “Battle Mole” " rusted in the open air.

A faint echo of these works remained only in Eduard Topol’s novel “Alien Face,” where the master of the detective genre describes how they intended to test the subterrine off the coast of North America. The nuclear submarine was supposed to unload the “subterrine” there, and the latter, under its own power, was going to reach California itself, where, as you know, earthquakes occur quite often. In a pre-calculated location, the crew left a nuclear warhead that could be detonated at the right moment. And all its consequences would then be attributed to a natural disaster... But all this is just fantasy: the tests of the underground boat were not completed.

They also say that there are patented technologies for tunneling machines that do not leave behind rocks, because In fact, the tunnel is not cut, but melted. There is even indirect “evidence” that such machines exist, for example the DUMB (Deep Underground Military Bases) program, where there are tunnels, but no rock emissions. Of course, there are a lot of crazy patents, but there is no direct evidence and, in fact, this is all speculation, but the very possibility of the existence of such machines cannot be denied.

Or here’s another thing: the Americans were also engaged in similar developments in the 40s. Their project looked something like this: the boat was a hollow 2- or 3-story cylinder without bottoms, filled with 800 blacks. Some of the blacks, concentrated in the front part of the cylinder, pierced the rocks with a pick, crowbar and shovel. Another group of blacks crushed the falling stones with sledgehammers and hammers and packed them into bags and wheelbarrows. The third group transported waste to the surface. The fourth group pushed the cylinder forward. With good feeding and changing groups, a decent penetration rate was achieved in some places - approximately 2-3 meters per day. In the future, it was planned to install weapons on these devices or fill all available space with dynamite in order to deliver an unexpected blow to the enemy.

Many enthusiasts of creating “underground tunnels” are not happy with the idea of ​​crushing rocks mechanically. As modern tunneling shields show, this process wastes a huge amount of energy. And yet the shield moves at a speed of several meters per day. This is not “swimming”, but rather “crawling”.

There have been attempts to speed up the mining process more than once. In 1948, engineer M. Tsiferov received a USSR author's certificate for the invention of an underground torpedo - a device capable of independently moving through the earth at a speed of 1 m/s (for comparison: the speed of Trebelev's unit is 12 m/h). Tsiferov proposed a method of drilling using a hidden explosion. He designed a special drill head that resembled a giant drill with cutting edges. The powder compartment contained a charge that exploded from an electric fuse. At the moment of the explosion, the powder gases created a pressure of 2-3 thousand atmospheres in the combustion chamber! With enormous force they burst out of the narrow slots of the head, their jet streams rotating the drill. As soon as one checker burned out, a new one was supplied from a special compartment.

However, the rod or cable on which the drill hangs may break when diving more than 10-12 km, unable to withstand its own weight. To overcome this limitation, Tsiferov also proposed an underground... rocket. It was turned upside down to burn and actively push the soil out of the hole being made. Half a century has passed since the first application. The inventor's son is currently improving underground rockets. But they have not been introduced into widespread practice. Why? The fact is that such a process is difficult to manage. A launched rocket actually goes tens of meters deep in a matter of seconds. But will her path be straight? After all, the subsoil is heterogeneous, and there is a very high chance that the projectile will “lead” to the side. And a Caucasian proverb says that even a lame man walking on the right road will overtake a horseman galloping in the wrong direction...

It is unknown whether such underground boats are being developed today. This topic is both secret and at the same time mythical, and a country that has such devices in its arsenal will, of course, receive a great advantage. If we talk about the scientific value of such devices, it is obvious that only with their help will it be possible to answer fundamental questions about the structure of the planet.

Here's what the skeptics say:

Why is an autonomous underground tunnel impossible:

1. With the classical scheme of drilling rocks (with a milling cutter or a bit), a huge amount of heat is generated, which is removed by the drilling fluid. Where will the underground tunnel get enough drilling fluid? And out of nowhere. For the same reason, it will not be able to wash away the drill cuttings from under the bit (milling cutter), and after a couple of minutes the cuttings will clog the bit tightly.

2. Where will the underground tunnel take the drilled rock? When drilling wells, cuttings are carried upward by drilling fluid. We have already talked about drilling mud reserves. The option of “throwing it into a tunnel” is not an option, since the volume of drilled rock due to its looseness will be greater than the volume of the tunnel. Simply put, if you freeze water in a glass and then crush the ice, all of it will not fit into the glass.

3. Option with “melting” the rock. OK, let's imagine an underground tunnel equipped with such a powerful nuclear reactor that it melts the rock around it. Where to put the melt? Throw it back? In this case, it forms a plug, tightly clogging the tunnel from behind. Well, in the end, no one thinks about returning the same way, and we have a reactor. BUT! Where to remove the heat, which sooner or later will melt the underground tunnel itself or, at least, bring the temperature of its insides to the temperature of the reactor? A refrigerator of any design is not suitable here - since the heat needs to be removed somewhere in any case, and where will it be taken in a molten tunnel?

The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy was made -

Talking about the development of this unique superweapon, it is impossible not to recall the American science fiction thriller “Tremors.” Unlike the movie monster worm, which killed all living things 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” life is not the same

As is most often the case in the scientific world, the designers were engaged in the development of a machine that could freely pass deep underground and suddenly commit sabotage behind enemy lines different countries. This was one of the fix ideas of the twentieth century. However, the leadership in this direction belongs to Muscovite Pyotr 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 that strongly smack 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 began working on a similar project at the same time. In the USSR in the early 30s, this project was led by engineer Alexander Trebelev. Hot on his heels was his German colleague Horner von Werner.

Treblev, obsessed with the idea of ​​​​building a machine that would copy genuine mole skills, allegedly managed to create a prototype. But that's where it ended. 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 amounts of money, for this reason the scrupulous Germans curtailed it.

They took something stolen, but it was theirs

The further history of the creation of the Soviet underground submarine becomes increasingly overgrown with conspiracy theories, as the documentary evidence for certain events is gradually lost. Probably, in this case, these nuances can be attributed to the law of the genre. Or, if you prefer, on the secrecy of the topic as such.

However, it was the borrowed experience of foreign developments of “combat moles” in the Stalinist USSR that was taken as a basis. No one else remembered that it was founded by a Russian scientist. 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 task 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 combat Nautilus: it died while biting into the depths

It is alleged that the Soviet “Battle Mole” was nevertheless created. And the underground combat vehicle was endowed with unprecedented abilities: it was supposedly equipped with a nuclear power plant like a classic nuclear submarine. Describes and specifications Soviet mechanical "Tremors": 35 meters in length, 3 meters in diameter. All this was controlled by a five-man crew, 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 an underground submarine was created to the point of “going off the stocks.”

The conspiracy theory behind the creation of the “Battle Mole” is replete with details that currently have no scientific confirmation. In particular, Academician Andrei Sakharov is considered one of the founding fathers of the underground fighting machine.

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

... The mystery of the Soviet “Big Mole” is reminiscent of the Dyatlov Pass story. But if in the case of the story 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 with the fate of the underground Soviet submarine there are still more ambiguities than any textural certainty on which it would be possible to build a reasonable version of the creation and testing of Soviet scientific and technical development.

Incredible combat vehicles created for various tasks never cease to amaze to this day.

What seemed to us like science fiction in the work of Grigory Adamov (one of the best science fiction writers of the USSR), “The Secret of Two Oceans” was actually a device created at that time: an underground cruiser.
A vehicle capable of making its way through solid rock, committing sabotage behind enemy lines!

In 1976, on the initiative of the head of the Main Directorate of State Secrets, Antonov, reports about this project began to appear in the press. And the remains of the underground cruiser itself rusted in the open air until the 90s. Now they seem to want to declare the former landfill a restricted area.
A faint echo of these works remained only in Eduard Topol’s novel “Alien Face,” where the master of the detective genre describes how they intended to test the subterrine off the coast of North America. The nuclear submarine was supposed to unload the “subterrine” there, and the latter, under its own power, was going to reach California itself, where, as you know, earthquakes occur quite often. In a pre-calculated location, the crew left a nuclear warhead that could be detonated at the right moment. And all its consequences would then be attributed to a natural disaster... But all this is just fantasy: the tests of the underground boat were not completed.

From fantasy to reality

Nevertheless, there were still those who wanted to fantasize. One of these dreamers was our compatriot Pyotr Rasskazov. Despite his last name, he was not a writer at all, but an engineer, and he expressed his idea not in words, but in drawings. Why, they say, he was killed in troubled times First World War. And his drawings mysteriously disappeared and “surfaced” after some time not just anywhere, but in Germany. But they never got involved, since Germany soon lost the war. She had to pay huge indemnities to the winners, and the country had no time for any kind of underground boats.

Meanwhile, the inventors' brains continued to work. A similar design in the USA was attempted to be patented by Peter Chalmy, an employee of the “invention factory”, which was headed by none other than the famous Thomas Alva Edison himself. However, he was not alone. The list of inventors of the underground boat includes, for example, a certain Evgeny Tolkalinsky, who in 1918 emigrated from revolutionary Russia to the West along with many other scientists, engineers and inventors.

"Mole" under Mount Grace

But even among those who remained in Soviet Russia, there were bright minds who took up this matter. In the 1930s, inventor A. Trebelev and designers A. Baskin and A. Kirillov made a sensational invention. They created a project for a kind of “underground tunnel”, the scope of which promised to be simply fantastic, right down to the installation of metal lighting poles along the route of the vehicle. For example, an underground boat reaches an oil reservoir and floats from one “lake” to another, destroying mountain dams along the way. It pulls an oil pipeline behind it and, having finally reached the oil “sea”, begins pumping “black gold” from there.

As a prototype for their design, the engineers took... an ordinary earthen mole. For several months they studied how it makes underground passages and created their apparatus “in the image and likeness” of this animal. Some things, of course, had to be altered: the paws with claws were replaced with more familiar cutters - approximately the same as those used in coal mining combines. The first tests of the mole boat took place in the Urals, in the mines under Mount Blagodat. The device bit into the mountain, crushing the strongest rocks with its cutters. But the design of the boat was still not reliable enough, its mechanisms often failed, and further developments were considered untimely. Moreover, World War II was just around the corner.

Meanwhile in Germany

However, in Germany, the same war served as a catalyst for a revival of interest in this idea. In 1933, inventor W. von Wern patented his version of the underground tunnel. Just in case, the invention was classified and sent to the archives. It is unknown how long it could have lain there if Count Claus von Stauffenberg had not accidentally stumbled upon it in 1940. Despite his pompous title, he enthusiastically accepted the ideas outlined by Adolf Hitler in the book Mein Kampf. And when the newly-minted Fuhrer came to power, von Stauffenberg was among his comrades. He quickly made a career under the new regime and, when Verne’s invention caught his eye, he realized that he had attacked his gold mine.

After the end of the Great Patriotic War, not far from Königsberg, Soviet counterintelligence agencies discovered adits of unknown origin, and nearby the remains of an exploded structure, it was assumed that these were the remains of the “Midgard Serpent” - an experimental version of the “Weapon of Retribution” of the Third Reich, some fiction writers even associated this with the famous “Amber Room”, which the Nazis hid in one of these adits.

Von Stauffenberg brought the matter to the attention of influential officials of the Wehrmacht General Staff. The inventor was soon found and all conditions were created so that he could put his idea into practice. The fact is that in 1940 the General Staff developed Operation Sea Lion, the main goal of which was the Nazi invasion of the British Isles. Underground boats would be very useful in this operation: having plowed the ground under the English Channel, they could freely deliver detachments of saboteurs to the UK, who would sow panic among the British.

The development is based on Horner von Wern's patent, registered back in 1933. The inventor promised to make a device with a capacity of up to 5 people, capable of moving underground at a speed of 7 km/h and carrying a warhead weighing 300 kg (this is quite enough to carry out impressive sabotage). Moreover, von Wern’s boat “floated” both underwater and underground.

The Germans managed to develop and test this boat.

However, the initiative was seized by Hermann Goering, chief of the Luftwaffe. He convinced the Fuhrer that there was no point in engaging in a “mouse race” when the valiant aces of the Third Reich could bomb Britain from the air in a matter of days. By order of Hitler in 1939, work on the underground boat was curtailed. The famous air war began in the skies of Britain, which the British eventually won. The Wehrmacht soldiers were never destined to set foot on British soil.

Khrushchev's dream

However, the idea of ​​​​creating an underground boat has not sunk into oblivion. In 1945, after the defeat of Nazi Germany, captured teams of former allies scoured its territory with might and main. The project fell into the hands of SMERSH General Abakumov. The experts concluded that this is a unit for moving underground. In the spring of 1945, it was discovered at Lubyanka that one self-taught Russian engineer, Rudolf Trebeletsky, who had graduated from high school and Moscow University as an external student and was shot during the repressions in 1933, took part in the German project. Copies of the drawings he brought from Germany were found in the special storage.

Trebeletsky significantly improved von Wern's invention. Now the boat could move equally successfully both underground and underwater. In addition, he invented a “thermal super circuit”, which greatly facilitated progress underground. He named his boat “Subterina”.
Trebeletsky told his classmate, the famous science fiction writer Grigory Adamov, about his ideas. Adamov used Trebeletsky’s ideas in his novels “The Secret of the Two Oceans” and “Conquerors of the Subsoil.” For mentioning secret technologies, Adamov was punished with complete oblivion during his lifetime and died before his 60th birthday.

The project was sent for revision. Leningrad professor G.I. Babat proposed using ultra-high-frequency radiation to supply the “underground” with energy. And Moscow professor G.I. Pokrovsky made calculations showing the fundamental possibility of using cavitation processes not only in liquid, but also in solid media. Bubbles of gas or steam, according to Professor Pokrovsky, were capable of very effectively destroying rocks. Academician A.D. also spoke about the possibility of creating “underground torpedoes”. Sakharov. In his opinion, it was possible to create conditions under which an underground projectile would move not in the thickness of the rocks, but in a cloud of sprayed particles, which would provide a fantastic speed of progress - tens, or even hundreds of kilometers per hour!

They again remembered the development of A. Trebelev. Taking into account the trophy developments, the matter looked promising. But Beria, with the support of Ustinov, convinced Stalin that the project was futile. But in 1962 the project was developed - in Ukraine. For the mass production of underground boats, the testing of which, in essence, had not yet begun, in the town of Gromovka, on the orders of Khrushchov, a strategic plant for the mass production of underground boats was built! So this is where the famous saying comes from... And Nikita Sergeevich himself publicly promised to get the imperialists not only from space, but also from underground!
By 1964 the plant was built. The first Soviet underground boat was titanium with a pointed bow and stern, with a diameter of 3 meters and a length of 25 meters, a crew of 5 people, and could accommodate 15 soldiers, and a ton of weapons, speed - up to 15 km/h. The combat mission is to detect and destroy enemy underground command posts and missile silos. Khrushchev personally inspected the new weapons.
Several versions of the created underground tunnels were sent for testing to the Ural Mountains. The first cycle was successful - the underground boat confidently moved from one mountainside to the other at walking speed. Which, naturally, was immediately reported to the government. Perhaps it was this news that gave Nikita Sergeevich the grounds for his public statement. But he was in a hurry.

Photos from open sources

There is no need to tell anyone anything about submarines. But few people know that, along with underwater ones, projects for underground combat vehicles were being developed. According to the inventors, the underground tank was buried in the ground, like a mole digging 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, undermining was used during the siege of fortresses. Tunnels were dug under the city walls with the aim of collapsing them, and sometimes underground passages were dug all the way to the very center of the city. The procedure is effective, although it takes a long time. But in those days, sieges lasted 7-10 years, so the ancient heroes had plenty of time. Alexander the Great thus in 322 BC. took Gaza, Sulla in 86 BC. Athens, Pompey in 72 BC. Palencia.

With the invention of gunpowder, tactics changed slightly. An immeasurable charge of gunpowder was placed into a gallery dug under the fortress wall, it was exploded, and soldiers rushed into the resulting gap, destroying everyone who was still alive after the terrible explosion. This is exactly how Kazan was taken by Ivan the Terrible after a long siege.

First underground world

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

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A return to the traditions of underground warfare in such a situation was quite natural. In 1916, the British organized 33 tunnel companies numbering 25 thousand people. Digging tunnels as a way to break into the enemy's defense line was used in both the Russian and German armies.

The troops now have wiretapping services, staffed by listening specialists to detect underground attacks by the enemy. If the enemy was detected carrying out underground work, they dug a counter-gallery with the aim of capturing and blowing up the enemy tunnel. Serious battles took place underground: tons of dynamite were torn, soldiers fought hand-to-hand.

The appearance of the tank gave rise to the idea of ​​​​creating the same underground vehicle.

Subterranean von Wern

In 1933, an underground tunnel was patented in Germany by engineer von Wern. The machine was supposed to be used for mining, geological exploration, digging tunnels for city communications, etc. But of course, the military was the first to pay attention to it. 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 Claus von Stauffenberg (the one who would plant a bomb under the now unloved Fuhrer in 1944), showed him his project, and he introduced it to the Wehrmacht leadership. The German generals, who were planning a landing in Britain in the near future (Operation Sea Lion), liked the idea of ​​​​attacking England from underground, and 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 about his beloved Luftwaffe, managed to convince Hitler that instead of dozens of underground tanks it was better to build the same number of bombers, and von Wern’s project was closed without even going beyond laboratory experiments.

Nazi "Midgard Serpent"

The project of engineer Ritten had a more successful fate. Independently from Verne, he developed his own version of the underground vehicle in 1934, calling it the “Midgard Serpent,” planning the vehicle primarily for the assault on the French Maginot Line. Ritten's project was striking in scale. The “Snake” was an entire 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 exiting to the surface.

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

The Germans planned to build 20 of these underground cruisers, but everything came down to money. The production of one “Snake” required 30 million Reichsmarks. It is believed that the project remained on paper. However, former SS-Hauptsturmführer Walter Schulke claimed that the traction unit was built and tested in 1944 near Königsberg. 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 personal instructions to begin the development of 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 and moved at a speed of 8 km/h; total length 23.5m, width 2m, height 2.5m. By 1943, 5 cars were built, the last one survived until the early 50s.

Made in USSR

There were plenty of enthusiasts in Russia developing their own underground tunnel projects. Engineer Pyotr Rasskazov created his project back in 1904. In the 30s, engineer Treblev worked in this direction.

In 1945 the idea was returned to. Allegedly, the impetus was the remains of the “Midgard Serpent” found near Koenigsberg. Treblev's drawings were retrieved from the archive. In 1946, the single-seat vehicle built was tested in the Urals. At a speed of 10 m/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 “Kuzka’s mother,” the underground crawlers were supposed to crawl to the United States, plant and detonate nuclear charges under strategic objects, causing major earthquakes.

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

Does the underground tunnel have a future?

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

On the eve of World War II, the Soviet Union and Germany were actively developing new weapons - combat subterrines (underground boats), designed to strike strategically important enemy targets literally from underground.

The ideas of underground warfare were not forgotten even after the victory over Germany, but developments in this area are still under a veil of secrecy. According to some reports, 50 years ago in the USSR a successful prototype of a new type of combat vehicle was created.

Back in 1904, Russian inventor Pyotr Rasskazov published material in an English magazine about a self-propelled capsule that could move underground. Moreover, his drawings subsequently surfaced in Germany. And the first underground self-propelled vehicle in the 1930s of the last century was created by the Soviet engineer and designer A. Trebelev, who was helped by A. Kirilov and A. Baskin.

The operating principle of this underground boat was largely copied from the actions of a mole digging a hole. Before starting to design the subterrine, the designers carefully studied the biomechanics of the movements of the animal placed in a box with earth using X-rays.

Particular attention was paid to the work of the mole’s head and paws, and based on the results obtained, its mechanical “double” was constructed. Trebelev's capsule-shaped subterrine moved underground due to a drill, an auger and four stern jacks, which pushed it like the hind legs of a mole.

The machine could be controlled both from the inside and from the outside - from the surface of the earth using a cable. The underground boat also received power via the same cable. The average speed of the subterrine was 10 meters per hour.

But due to a number of shortcomings and frequent failures of the device, the project was closed. According to one version, the unreliability of the subterrine was revealed already during the first tests. According to another, just before the war they tried to finalize it on the initiative of the future People's Commissar of Armaments of the USSR D. Ustinov.

According to the second version, at the beginning of 1940, designer P. Strakhov, on the personal instructions of Ustinov, improved the Trebelev subterrine. Moreover, this project was initially created exclusively for military purposes, and the new underground boat was supposed to operate without communication with the surface.

Within a year and a half, a prototype was created. It was assumed that it would be able to work autonomously underground for several days. For this period, the subterrine was supplied with fuel, and the crew, which consisted of one person, was supplied with oxygen, water and food. However, the war prevented the completion of the project. The fate of the prototype of the Strakhov underground boat is unknown.

Interest in underground boats was shown not only by Soviet Union. Before the war, subterrines were also developed by German designers. In the 1930s, engineer von Wern (according to other sources - von Werner) filed a patent for an underwater-underground “amphibian” which was called Subterrine.

The device had the ability to move both in the water element and under the surface of the earth, and, according to von Wern’s calculations, in the latter case the subterrine could reach speeds of up to 7 kilometers per hour. At the same time, the Subterrine was designed to transport a crew and troops of five people and 300 kilograms of explosives.

In 1940, Germany was seriously considering von Wern's design for use in military operations against Great Britain. In the plans of Operation Sea Lion developed by Hitler, which envisaged the landing of German troops on the British Isles, there was also a place for von Wern's submarines.

His amphibians were supposed to quietly sail to the British shores and continue moving underground through English territory, and then deliver a surprise attack on the British defenses in the most unexpected area for the enemy.

The Subterrine project was ruined by the arrogance of G. Goering, who led the Luftwaffe and expected to defeat the British in the air war without help from underground. As a result, von Verne’s underground boat remained an unrealized idea, like the fantasies of his famous namesake Jules Verne, who wrote the science fiction novel “Journey to the Center of the Earth” long before the appearance of underground boats.

Another even more ambitious project of a German designer named Ritter was named with a fair amount of pathos “Midgard Serpent” (Midgard Schlange) in honor of the mythical reptile - the world serpent encircling the entire inhabited earth.

This machine was supposed to move above and below ground, as well as through and under water at a depth of up to one hundred meters. It was assumed that the “Snake” would move underground at a speed of 2 km/h (in hard ground) to 10 km/h (in soft ground), 3 km/h under water and 30 km/h on the surface land.

But what is most striking is the colossal size of this gigantic machine. Midgard Schlange was conceived as an underground train consisting of many compartment cars on caterpillar tracks. Each is six meters long. The total length of the “snake” phalanx cars connected together ranged from 400 meters, in the longest configuration - more than 500 meters.

Four one-and-a-half-meter drills made the path for the “Snake” in the ground. In addition, the vehicle had three additional drilling kits, and its weight was 60,000 tons. To control such a colossus, 12 pairs of rudders and 30 crew members were required.

The armament of the giant subterrine was also impressive: two thousand 250-kilogram and 10-kilogram mines, 12 coaxial machine guns and six-meter underground torpedoes. Initially, it was planned to use the “Midgard Serpent” to destroy fortifications and strategic objects in France and Belgium, as well as to undermine British ports.

But in the end, the underground colossus of the Reich never took part in any of the combat operations. There is no exact information about whether at least a prototype of the “Snake” was made or whether this idea, like the Subterrine, remained only in paper form.

It is known that the attackers Soviet troops They discovered mysterious adits near Koenigsberg, and nearby - a destroyed car of unknown purpose. In addition, technical documentation describing German underground boats fell into the hands of the intelligence officers.

After the war, the head of SMERSH V. Abakumov tried to implement the subterrine project, who attracted professors G. Babat and G. Pokrovsky to work with captured drawings and materials. But it was possible to truly advance in this area only in the 1960s with N. Khrushchev coming to power.

The new leader of the USSR liked the idea of ​​“getting the imperialists out of the ground.” Moreover, he even announced these plans publicly. And, apparently, there were already compelling reasons for such statements by that time. In particular, it is known that in Ukraine, near the village of Gromovka, a secret factory for the production of underground boats was built.

In 1964, the first Soviet subterrine with a nuclear reactor was released, called the “Battle Mole”. However, little is known about this development. The underground boat had an elongated titanium cylindrical body with a pointed end and a powerful drill.

According to various sources, the dimensions of the atomic subterrine ranged from 3 to almost 4 meters in diameter and from 25 to 35 meters in length. The speed of movement underground is from 7 km/h to 15 km/h. The crew of the "Battle Mole" included five people. In addition, the vehicle could carry up to 15 paratroopers and about a ton of cargo - explosives or weapons.

Such combat vehicles were supposed to destroy fortifications, underground bunkers, command posts and missile launchers in mines. In addition, the “Battle Moles” were preparing to carry out a special mission. According to the plan of the USSR military command, in the event of aggravation of relations with the United States, the subterrines could be used for an underground attack on America.

With the help of submarines, it was planned to deliver the “Battle Moles” to the coastal waters of seismically unstable California, then drill into US territory and install underground nuclear charges in those areas where American strategic objects were located.

If atomic mines were activated, powerful earthquakes and tsunamis would occur in the region, which could be attributed to normal natural disaster. According to some reports, tests of the Soviet nuclear subterrine were carried out in different soils - in the Moscow region, Rostov region and in the Urals.

The testing of the newest “miracle weapon” took place on the territory of the Sverdlovsk region, near the city of Kushva, in the area of ​​Mount Grace. The first Ural test was completed successfully. All test participants were amazed by the results of the first launch in the conditions of hard Ural soils - the underground boat passed through at low speed from one mountain slope to another.

However, during the second test, in the thickness of the rock of Mount Grace, an experimental machine with a nuclear reactor exploded for unknown reasons, the entire crew of the boat died due to the explosion, and the boat remained immured in the thickness of the rock. The fate of the boat's nuclear reactor remains unknown.

Mount Grace with a chapel on top, 1910

After the accident, the project was closed, and all data on testing the latest weapons were either destroyed or classified. There was no official confirmation of the tests and still is not.

After the project was closed, according to some reports, they tried to repurpose the equipment and prototypes of the installations for civilian needs and adapt combat vehicles for mining needs, for example, for the construction of the metro. But military technology required significant improvements before it could be used in a civilian environment.

As a result, it was decided not to spend money on refurbishment of machines and their processing, but simply to liquidate everything. This marked the end of the history of the underground combat vehicle. Unfortunately, Soviet designers failed to make the fairy tale come true.

Materials used from the article by Andrey Lyubushkin from the site