In Day of Memory and Grief JSC “MOESK” Unveils Monument to Creators of Electrical Barriers

On 22.06.2013 JSC “Moscow United Electric Grid Company” in cooperation with the administration of a town settlement “Nakhabino”, Command and Council of Veterans of Russian Federation Engineering Corps will hold the solemn ceremony of unveiling of the Monument to the Creators of the Electrical Barriers.

The monument, designed by Andrey Efimov, Doctor of Architecture, twice laureate of Russian Federation State Prize, will become the part of the memorial complex “Moscow Defense Line” in village Nefed’evo in Krasnogorsk District.

Descendants of those, who in far 1941 constructed electrical obstacles at the approaches to Moscow, fulfilling the resolution # 373 of State Defense Committee dd. 02.08.1941, were invited to the ceremony.

At that time such works were organized by The Western Front Command of special works, headed by M.F. Ioffe, a military engineer of the 2d rank. But there were not any specialists on high-voltage electrical equipment in the Red Army, that’s why State Defense Committee obliged A.I. Letkov- People’s Commissar of substations, to pick out electrical engineers and some teams of electricians with special tools and transport, from the staff of “Mosenergo”.

By October of 1941 electrical barriers, which total length was more than 200 km, had enveloped Moscow in a big semi-ring from the North to the South, and in the middle of November they were placed operational readiness. In the history of military science this experience was one-of-a-kind – such large-scale systems of electrical barriers had never been constructed before.

Electrical barriers were made of barbed wire and wooden poles in the form of a four- rowed anti-personal obstacle. Wire of the last row, the nearest to our positions, was fixed with the help of insulators or rubber tubes and it was under voltage. Every 50-70 meters of a barrier, electric current was supplied through underground wires from installed underground substations, which transformed three-phase electric current of 6000 volt into single-phase electric current of 1500 volt. These substations were situated in mined dugouts at a distance of 1,5-2 km from electrical barriers. Electrical power was supplied from “Mosenergo” base substations through overhead power lines. In fact, Yuri Vavilov, Chairman of the Council of Veterans, thinks that the unique complex of electrical barriers became the part of Mosenergo system through electrical power transmission lines and substations.

According to achieve documents, German troops came close by the electrical barriers not far from villages Nefed’evo and Kozino. This sub-district war diary on switching on the electrical barriers during the period from 02.12. to 05.12.1941 was kept safe. In particular, on 4.12.1941 excessive current peaks were observed, judging by which, enemies tried to force electric obstacles many times. But all their efforts to pass the line of the electrical barriers were not successful.

As can be seen from the above, the electrical barriers played a positive role in the general defense system of the capital and helped to defend the capital from the Hitler invaders.

In commemoration of those events JSC “Moscow United Electric Grid Company” erected the commemorative token a year ago. As a result of the searching work of the Company’s Council of Veterans and the Engineering Corps Council of Veterans, names of specialists in power engineering and military engineers, who took part in the construction of electrical barriers, were made known. So these names will be engraved on the monument in Nefed’evo, which was erected on the initiative of “MOESK” and at “MOESK” expense.

“Our decision to erect the Monument to the Creators of the Electrical Barriers fits utterly and completely for the Company’s social policy, focused on veterans care, commemoration of their glorious and heroic achievements, patriotic education of the youth”, - considers Pyotr Sinyutin, Director General of JSC“MOESK”.