A lot of Ukraine is going to be built underground.
I don’t know whether this is the most encouraging or depressing news I have read all day. But it’s good. Life must go on. Slava Ukraini.
I don’t know how to phrase this. Because on the one hand, yay, safe children. Yay.
But on the other hand, you think about why that’s needed. You realize how absolutely depressing it is that these 5 year old kids are like “Time to go to 1st grade! OH FUCK AN INCOMING MISSILE!!!”
But also, ya know…this will keep them safe from that. I’m 41 years old, so I’m among the last of the Americans who were in school during the soviet era atomic bomb drills. You’d be in 1st grade, and some days you’d have a fire drill. Get you ready for how to escape a burning school safely. Ok, that makes sense. We also had tornado drills. Considering I live in Cleveland that one may have been a little uneeded, but, prepare for the worst hope for the best, ya know? Now with climate change we’ve actually had 2 tornados in 2 years. So NOW it’s actually a useful drill if they still do those in schools.
But we also had a 3rd kind of drill in the late 80s, early 90s. An atomic bomb drill. At the time, I was so confused. The teachers were like “Well the fire drill is in case there’s a fire. The tornado drill is in case there’s a tornado…and THIS drill is in case a massive bomb goes off and blows up the whole city!”
And I got in trouble for asking “How is me sitting on the 3rd floor of a building whose entire 4th wall is just a thin glass layer going to be protected in any way by ducking under my thin wooden desk, if this bomb is actually capable of destroying cities? Shouldn’t we all just get to the basement like we do in tornado drills?”
No. Fuck you! Crawl under your desk, and keep quiet! You gonna die, bitch!
sigh
Really glad russia was never dumb enough to nuke us, because our strategy was fundamentally flawed.
But now, Ukraine is dealing with a FAR more realistic bombing threat than I ever encountered. So this news makes me happy that their planning and strategy is actually realistic. That makes me happy. It just makes me sad that they even have to HAVE a realistic strategy.
I’m 50 and didn’t get those bomb drills- I’m surprised you did.
under desk is the right place for bombs. Ifithe bomb hits your block you are dead no matter what, but if it hits several blocks away the desk protects against flying glass and other such things. That is there is a high livelyhood your buileing survivies but the glass still kills or harms people.
This is also what i heard and makes sense but surely a basement that is already used for Tornado drills is still the safer option?
Technically they never even would have to inform the kids there is a bomb, the essential part is getting to safety quickly. But then how do you red scare them?
You have more warning about a tornado generally. Not much but minutes vs seconds makes a difference. If you can get to a tornado or bomb shelter those are better but getting caught in the open getting there is a problem.
Come to think of it a tornado shelter isnfc built stong enourh. If thick walls will collapse on you that is worse than a thin roof which slows the blast energy and then your desk protects you from the debre
Hey at least the kids aren’t send outside to man the AA guns
German lessons at the anti-aircraft gun: the life of Karlsruhe’s child soldiers as anti-aircraft gunners
From the school desk straight to the anti-aircraft guns - this was the fate of countless young men towards the end of the Second World War, who were deployed as so-called “anti-aircraft gunners” at the age of just 15 to 17 - “loyal and obedient, as befits a Hitler Youth”. The “child soldiers” were also stationed in Karlsruhe - like Wilfried K. and Josef Kessler.
“It was a gripping spectacle as the Karlsruhe batteries staged the purest prize shooting at a four-engined aircraft entangled in the searchlight network,” wrote 17-year-old anti-aircraft helper Wilfried K. from Karlsruhe in 1944 in his diary, which later became known as the “Diary of an anti-aircraft helper”. “At intervals of just a few seconds, our six cannons also roared and spewed a red flame into the night sky.”
The young pupil and almost 40 of his comrades were picked up from the school square on February 15, 1943. Some of the pupils were in Hitler Youth uniform, others had found an old suit. Everyone had a suitcase with them and “nobody knows where we might end up”, writes Wilfried.
Lessons at the anti-aircraft installation - when the siren sounds, the teacher takes cover
Adolf Hitler’s decree of January 22, 1943 on the “war auxiliary deployment of young people in the Luftwaffe” stipulated that schoolchildren born in 1926 and 1927 were to be drafted into the war effort as so-called Luftwaffe helpers - or as they were later called “flak helpers”. The first draft date was planned for February 15. From January 1944, pupils born in 1928 were then called up.
The Luftwaffe helpers (Lwh) were trained by active soldiers on the weapons and equipment, including anti-aircraft guns (Flak), radio and telephone, and lived in accommodation next to the anti-aircraft batteries. To ensure that the helpers did not miss school, 18 hours of lessons were scheduled per week and their school teachers usually came to the anti-aircraft positions to give lessons. As soon as the air raid siren sounded, the teacher took cover and the pupils took their places at the anti-aircraft battery.
Were they pumping the kids full of amphetamines too?
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