This year marks the 45th anniversary of the atomic explosion at the Totsk military training ground. Today, there are few living witnesses to that nuclear test. One of them, a well-known Ural writer and journalist, retired Lieutenant Colonel Semyon Borisovich Shmerling, kept a secret about the events of those days for many years? Today we introduce readers of the magazine to his story about the Totsk atomic test and the fate of its participants. I, at that time a correspondent for the district military newspaper, together with several colleagues published a multi - issue newspaper at the training ground and experienced all the vicissitudes of the exercise: I witnessed the hard work of many thousands of soldiers led by Marshal Georgy Zhukov. He turned out to be one of the first military journalists to visit the epicenter of a nuclear explosion a day later (just a day!) and without special means of protection, which at that time we knew almost nothing about... First of all, I remember the exemplary order and careful preparation for a dangerous and responsible action. Imagine: 188 kilometers of trenches and communication lines were dug at the training ground, 385 trenches for artillery, 400 for tanks and self-propelled guns. The soldiers worked in forty-degree heat and a shortage of drinking water. The crew of the plane trained continuously, dropping a dummy imitating an atomic bomb into the epicenter day after day. Never forget the day and moment of the explosion. Following a deafening crash, terrible even for me, a man who had served in the Great Patriotic War as a battery commander, the wall of the trench pushed me, released me, and pushed again. And when it became possible to look at the giant black pillar, my heart sank: it seemed that it was coming straight at us. Fortunately, it only seemed that the "mushroom" was moving away. And I must admit, soon there was even some euphoria: a "training battle" was held! Everything is in perfect order. But the feeling was sho ... Читать далее