Some multi-storey buildings from the Stalin era still have strange turrets. There are many funny legends associated with young people. One of them says that during the time of Stalin, in each of these towers there were NKVD observers who kept order. Another reason is that it used to house a meteorologist. And the third says that the towers were made for machine gunners guarding objects of national importance. But these are just rumors. In fact, the towers are part of the military history of our country. Buildings on Gagarin Square in Moscow. Defense system The first such watchtower appeared in Petrograd in 1918. This happened after the First World War, when in 1916 Germany tried to drop aerial bombs on the city. Fortunately, this failed. It was winter, there was a snowstorm and enemy airships did not reach the Northern capital of Russia. One managed to return to the airport, and the second fell. Moreover, the Germans did this to the British and successfully bombed London. In 1915, the German airship LZ-38 dropped 89 incendiary bombs and 60 land mines on the city. Losses and destruction on the ground were small, but the British were seized by panic – 42 people died. Petrograd was also disturbed by German planes, which sometimes circled over the city. In order not to repeat the fate of the British capital, at the request of the military, the architects of Moscow and Petrograd began to equip houses under construction with observation posts. Everything is according to plan, but most of the houses with turrets appeared in the 1930s. The country was preparing to repel another attack by “European priests.” The towers were supposed to serve as observation posts for air defense fighters in Moscow, Leningrad and some other cities. For this purpose, a platform was built inside each along the perimeter, and on some towers it was built on the outside and equipped with railings. The construction of brick towers was not chaotic. It was carried out according to a plan developed at one of the closed departments of Leningrad civil engineering. Each observer from his own point had to look at a certain territory that was in his area of \u200b\u200bresponsibility. Novokuznetsk, Kemerovo region. View of Mayakovsky Square from Ordzhonikidze Street, 1966. In peacetime at the beginning of the 20th century, watchtowers were used by firefighters as observation posts. In bureaucratic correspondence they were called by the abbreviation VNOS, which stood for: aerial surveillance, warning and communications. At first, the towers were actually under the control of the NKVD. And in wartime they were called MPVO (local air defense) towers, and there were observers on them. They watched the incendiary bombs fall and alerted civil protection teams, who rushed to the site and extinguished the incendiaries by throwing sand at them. During the Great Patriotic War alone, 180 MPVO towers were erected in Leningrad. Duty in the towers Mostly girls served in the MPVO, because men were at the front. For example, the Moscow MPVO had 17 thousand soldiers. Of these, more than 90% are girls and women. At first they were not even given military uniforms. The girls stood at the post in civilian clothes. For this, career military personnel nicknamed them “the local regiment of cheerful ragamuffins.” But everyone had a notepad, binoculars and a landline phone. Sound recording devices were installed on some towers. Thousands of frozen, exhausted students and schoolchildren watched the skies of Moscow and Leningrad for days on a schedule: two hours on duty, four hours off. They did not leave the post, even being wounded by shrapnel and bleeding. And if the telephone cable breaks, a “live” connection was immediately established. In peacetime at the beginning of the 20th century, the towers were used by firefighters as observation posts. In bureaucratic correspondence they were called by the abbreviation VNOS. Enemy air raids and artillery shelling did not stop day or night. And often during our rest we had to clear away garbage and put out German incendiary bombs. There was no time to rest. The only help the girls received from their commanders was civilian life in the barracks. According to the recollections of air defense soldiers, standing on the roof during an air or artillery attack was scary. “It was very scary, but then I got used to it,” recalled A. Semenova, a fighter from the Leninsky district of Leningrad, who was on duty at the MPVO tower at house number 29 on Izmailovsky Prospekt. And observer of the 330th MPVO battalion L. Mikhailova, who was on duty on the roof of house No. 128 on the Obvodny Canal, recalled how her assistant froze in fear: “She stood and shook. Shells fell all around, but she stood and could not move from fear. I had to conduct observation alone… And then my assistant got used to it.” Now the turrets are no longer needed – they have fulfilled their function and have become unusable. But some residents of Moscow and St. Petersburg remember the country’s history and are trying to restore the towers in honor of the heroic events of the past. Several years ago, the project was discussed at one of the military-historical forums by activists of the construction of Kolpachny Lane No. 6 in Moscow. And in St. Petersburg such a decision has already been made. Perhaps the most significant MPVO towers will soon become historical landmarks of the city.
Why were towers needed on Stalin’s houses and why did they scare everyone? • Russia today
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