The Palmburg bridge in Kaliningrad. The Palmburg (Berlin) bridge

There is in Koenigsberg (now Kaliningrad in the Russian Federation) one landmark-the Palmer Bridge. Rather, it was. The supports are now sticking out to the sky, like a bridge. But this is not so. The local landmark was covered with numerous fairy tales and legends. Although the bridge is not so old - the citizen of Koenigsberg, the philosopher Immanuel Kant never saw him. The two banks of the Pregol River were joined only in 1935. For ten years, cars and pedestrians moved by it, and neither dream nor spirit knew that the bridge was a surprise. What was it? This will be discussed in the article. And also about what a new evil joke played bridge with people in January 2015.

Construction

In 1929 the Weimar Republic developed a special program according to which the territory of Germany was to be covered by a network of autobahns. As a result, each town was included in the economic infrastructure of the country. On the other hand, it was possible to attract thousands of workers to the construction. If you recall the story, then after the defeat in the First World War, the economy of Germany was in decline. The unemployment rate was appalling. Therefore, the construction of autobahns solved many problems. The program was continued after the National Socialist Party came to power. But A. Hitler already then brought to the construction of autobahns a militaristic idea. The Palmburg bridge was a link on the road connecting Koenigsberg (in East Prussia) and Elbing (now the Polish city of Elblag). Works on its construction were completed in the spring of 1935. They say that the red ribbon was cut by Adolf Hitler himself, who arrived on this occasion in Koenigsberg.

Etymology

The original name of the bridge is Palmburger Brücke. It was given in honor of the estate that is nearby. The owner of a small latifundia was a man, keen on growing exotic plants. There were palms in his greenhouse. Now there is no estate, no exotic plants. In place of the "Palm Gorodok" is an unremarkable village Coastal. But the farm gave the name to the bridge. For a long time it was called - Palmburgsky.

The Berlin Bridge - this is how the crossing over Pregol began after the Second World War. Indeed, Elblong route did not end there. From this Polish city the highway ran straight to Berlin. And the bridge in Kaliningrad played a huge role in the fact that now we are celebrating the end of the Second World War in Europe in May, and not, say, in February. But more on that later.

The secret of the Palmburg Bridge

We have already mentioned that Adolf Hitler built not just roads, but military facilities. This was the Palmburg Bridge. Contrary to appearance and urban legends, he was never a drawbridge. The construction was built as a prefabricated monolithic one. Most of the poles were located on land, since the banks of the Novaya and Old Pregoli are very marshy. Separate fragments of the ferry were concreted directly on the bridge. Thus, the ferry can be called a split and overpass, but not a drawbar. "Surprise" of the bridge was that mines were built into the supports. If necessary, the explosive worked, the central element fell into the water, making it impossible both for the crossing of the ground forces and for the movement of ships along the river. But then, in 1935, the bridge was very functional. The construction of six hundred and thirty-three meters long had four strips. Only two of them were restored in the Soviet era.

The Palmburg (Berlin) bridge and its role in World War II

At the end of 1944 and early 1945, Soviet troops swiftly moved westward. Cities were taken one after another, and it seemed that the end of the war was near. In January, the 11th and 39th armies under the command of Colonel-General K. Galitsky and Lieutenant-General I. Lyudnikov launched an offensive against Koenigsberg. By the end of the month the Soviet troops managed to almost completely encircle the city. The meaning of the Palmburg bridge was understood by both the Russians and the Hitlerites. Behind him stretched a smooth motorway to Berlin. Therefore, fascist Germany tried to destroy the Palmburger bridge, Russia wanted to save it for further advancement of its troops.

On the night of January 29-30, 1945, the commandant of Koenigsberg, Otto Lyash, made a decision. At 0:36 an explosion exploded. As was intended by the engineers in the construction of the bridge, the central fragment collapsed into the water, blocking the channel of Pregoli. The offensive of the Red Army choked, blitzkrieg did not work. Soviet troops were forced to move from offensive to defense, and "protested" at the gates of Koenigsberg until April 9, 1945.

The Palmburg Bridge in Kaliningrad

After the war, the crossing over the sleeves of Pregoli was set up rather miserably: a swarm of logs was laid along the swampy places, and through the rivers - low boards of bridges. Taking into account that the bridge was included in the bypass route around Kaliningrad, the situation became critical. On the ferry there were always congestions, although there were not so many cars in those years as now.

In 1949, the exploded Palmburg Bridge was included in the footage of the famous film "Meeting on the Elbe". The old film captured the pillars staring into the sky. In the early seventies, it was decided to restore the bridge. With a sin in half, two of the four bands were repaired. In the 1990's, the reconstruction of the Berlin Bridge was started again. But the money allocated for this has disappeared in an unknown direction, the construction has died down, and has not started.

Berlin Bridge today

At the beginning of the two thousandth there were again projects on the reconstruction of the sights of Kaliningrad. But they were not allocated funds. In 2012, the government decided to build a new bridge, not far from Palmburg. It was launched in December 2013. This construction on 22 supports and a length of 1780 meters became part of the Southern ring Kaliningrad. In 2014, the government decided to destroy the Palmburg Bridge. What the Red Army men tried to save at this price in 1945 was now subject to demolition. The townspeople were hard at the loss of their sights. But the cruel irony of the Palmburg bridge was that in January 2015, he collapsed himself, crushing the death of two workers and wounding four more.