MOSCOW, 22 Jun. Two sunken cars at the bottom of Lake Ladoga were found by members of the second expedition as part of the research project to study historical finds «The Heritage of the Ladoga Depths». According to experts, this is one of the Soviet six-wheeled GAZ-AA (one and a half), which carried provisions and supplies to besieged Leningrad. This was reported in the press service of the expedition.
When exploring the southern section of Lake Ladoga, divers from the Divo diving club, together with partners, discovered two sunken GAZ-AA vehicles, which in 1941–1943 could carry bread for starving Leningraders or transport old people and women.
It was through the lake that the only remaining transport corridor between the city and the mainland ran, which they called the Road of Life, experts explained.
“The bodies of the found artifacts were partially rotted, the plywood cabins were practically decomposed. But the frame, wheels, engine, transmission remained, that is, the metal parts were preserved. The reenactors believe that it is possible not only to restore the cars, but even start them,” the head of the club explained «Divo», 1XPEDITION project coordinator Sergey Kulikov data-crop-width=»600″ data-crop-height=»338″ data-source-sid=»» class=»» />
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He added that the team had already examined, photographed and videotaped the finds, and the data obtained had been transferred to the Faculty of History of I.S. Oryol State University. Turgenev (OSU named after I.S. Turgenev).
«These lorries could belong to the first releases. They were licensed replicas of Ford. Let's not forget that the Gorky Automobile Plant, where these cars were produced, was created with the personal assistance of Henry Ford, the famous automobile king,» said Associate Professor of the Department of Russian History, OSU named after. I.S. Turgenev Roman Abinyakin.
So far, the researchers have not found out exactly how these machines ended up at the bottom, but they suggest two reasons: either they came under aerial bombardment, or they went under water due to weakened ice, the scientist continued.
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Abinyakin drew attention to the fact that three-quarters of the cargo was transported in this direction not by cars, but by ships, barges and ferries. Ground vehicles traveled through snow, water and ice, so such trips were a test for both drivers and cars.
will find out who owned this car and the names of the drivers. It can be said that driving such a car on ice in winter was already a feat, even if you do not take into account the military danger,» the researcher noted.
He added that the artifacts have considerable symbolic significance, since over the entire period of the Road of Life's work, more than 2.3 million tons of goods were delivered to the besieged city and almost 1.4 million people were taken out.
In the future, it is planned to transfer the found cars to museum of the Leningrad region.