Moscow metro during the war: during air raids, people gave birth here, listened to lectures and watched a movie

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

When in the summer of 1941 enemy planes roared over Moscow for the first time, a completely different life began for the inhabitants of the capital. But very soon people got used to the phrase "air raid" and the metro became a second home for many. They showed films, libraries and creative circles for children. At the same time, the metro workers continued to build new tunnels and prepared for a chemical attack. This was the subway in the early 1940s …

First air raids

In principle, by the beginning of the war, the metro was prepared to accept the population, and already in the first raids, many platforms and tunnels started working as bomb shelters. During the first raid, on the night of 22.07, half a million Muscovites took refuge in the subway.

However, of course, at first there was an emergency. Somewhere the station was opened at the wrong time, somewhere people could not get information about the entrances to the shelter. And in the area of "Arbatskaya", after dropping a high-explosive bomb, the population ran to the station in panic, people began to fall, and as a result, 46 people on the stairs were crushed to death.

But in the following days, it was possible to quickly re-equip the subway tunnels of the third stage for bomb shelters and make entrances. The workers worked 2-3 shifts in a row. Information signs appeared on the streets, hundreds of metro builders kept order and informed passers-by.

At first, people complained about the terrible stuffiness. It was necessary to strengthen ventilation and organize a constant supply of compressed air to the tunnels under construction, as well as to pump out water without interruption. To be on the safe side, there was a backup power supply and lighting. And by September, special rules were developed for using the metro as a bomb shelter.

They wanted to destroy the metro

October and November 1941 became the most difficult for Moscow: there was a very great danger that the enemy would enter the city. In the area of the Mozhaisk defensive line, the situation was so unfavorable that on October 15, the Civil Code of Defense issued a decree "On the evacuation of the capital of the USSR, Moscow," signed by Stalin. It mentioned that if the enemy appeared at the gates of Moscow, the NKVD was supposed to "blow up enterprises, warehouses and institutions that cannot be evacuated, as well as all the electrical equipment of the metro (excluding water supply and sewerage)."

The metro was immediately closed and began to prepare for possible destruction. At night, preliminary work began, and on the morning of the 16th the metro did not open to passengers. However, in the evening the decision to destroy the subway was canceled.

Subway in November 1941

An important date for the Soviet people was approaching - November 7, and it was decided, despite the difficult situation, to celebrate it in Moscow as solemnly as possible. On the eve of the parade, the Mayakovskaya metro station turned into a gorgeous hall. A meeting of the Moscow City Council and a concert were held here. The head of the facility, who was present at this action, later recalled that his station that day looked like a theater: a stage with a microphone and loudspeakers, spectator seats were installed and, in addition to the usual lighting, bright spotlights were burning. On one of the tracks was a train equipped for a buffet.

Stalin arrived at Mayakovskaya in an electric train. When he walked onto the stage and began his speech, many spectators, who had been dejected by the alarming news from the front for several months, looked at him without stopping, and there was deathly silence, but when he finished his optimistic speech, a storm of applause began. However, many of the spectators noticed that the leader had lost a lot of weight …

By this time, Muscovites had become accustomed to air strikes. According to official statistics, in November, during air raids in the metro, up to 30 thousand people took refuge instead of the estimated 350 thousand. The city authorities were very worried that many Muscovites were dying because of their carelessness: having heard the air raid signal, they stayed at home. On some days, there were 5-6 air raids, and people were simply tired of being afraid. Moreover, women had an unspoken rule in the queues for groceries: if during an air raid someone left the queue and returned after the threat subsided, the “fugitive” was not allowed back. It was believed that the man was cowardly and did not show solidarity with the rest.

Meanwhile, at that time, the metro could simultaneously accept up to 2 million people, and the population was constantly told about the need to go to the metro for the whole night.

Night underground city

Traffic in the metro stopped from 22.00 to 8.00, and all this time the stations worked in the mode of bomb shelters. From the first weeks of the war, comfortable stairs were made to lower people into the tunnels. Thousands of wooden decking, as well as single- and double-deck bunks were installed in the subway.

In the metro itself and near the stations, there were first-aid posts and isolation wards for patients. Children's rooms were opened underground, where children played and held classes, as well as rooms for young mothers with babies, in which there were cots. Of course, there were also toilets in the subway.

Libraries worked in the metro, concerts and film screenings were periodically held, and here Muscovites were offered newspapers and magazines. And, of course, political lectures were constantly held on the subway.

Since the danger of the use of chemical weapons by the Germans was not excluded, the tunnels were also converted into gas shelters. Workers installed special gas-tight bulkheads and sealed doors, as well as fans to purify the contaminated air. Fortunately, these measures never came to fruition.

According to statistics, in 1941, a total of 13, 9 million citizens took refuge in the metro, in 1942 - 303 thousand. More than 200 children were born during the air raids on the metro. During the first year of the war, 70,000 people sought medical help. Moreover, in the first month of air strikes, almost half of all complaints were related to nervous disorders.

New stations

Despite the fact that the metro turned into a real underground city for a while, work on the construction of new stations and the laying of tunnels continued.

At the beginning of the war, the third stage of the metro was already completed, but the metro workers could not start the movement, since they did not have escalators. The fact is that they were produced at the Leningrad factories, and those at that time were evacuated and had not yet begun work in new places. As a result, it was decided to produce them at Moscow factories. The workers in the capital quickly mastered a new business and set to work with such enthusiasm that in a year they produced twice as many tapes as Leningraders produced before the war. Later, an escalator plant was even opened in the Moscow region of Perovo.

In 1943, the metro builders launched a section of the track from the Sverdlov Square (modern Teatralnaya) to the Zavod im. Stalin "(in 1956 it was renamed" Avtozavodskaya "). In the same year, Paveletskaya and Novokuznetskaya were opened, and at the beginning of 1944 they started traffic from Kurskaya to Izmailovsky Park (now Partizanskaya).

And in continuation of the theme, an interesting project "People in the Moscow Metro" - 20 funny, cute and unexpected photos from the metropolitan subway.