Recently, to their parking lot on the embankment of them. After overhaul, Lieutenant Schmidt in St. Petersburg returned the legendary icebreaker Krasin. This event made me recall one of the glorious pages in the history of the Russian fleet. Indeed, more than 80 years ago, the expedition of Umberto Nobile was rescued, the surviving members of which were taken out of the polar captivity by the “Krasin”, which at that time was commanded by captain Karl Eggy and the famous polar explorer R. Samoilovich.
Umberto Nobile: career start
The future famous engineer-airship was born in the town of Lauro in Italy. After graduating from the Neopolitan University with a degree in electrical engineering and engineering, he began working in the field of railway transport, and in 1911 he entered the Aeronautics School. After 7 years, Nobile, along with colleagues Benedetto Croce and Giuseppe Valle, founded his own company for the manufacture of airships. The very first project of the new enterprise turned out to be very successful, and the T-34 balloon device was acquired by the Italian army.
First polar expedition
In 1923, construction began on a new aircraft N-1, which after the test was called "Norway" and was transferred to the disposal of the polar expedition of Amundsen and Ellsworth. Moreover, Umberto Nobile himself volunteered to command the ship, who had long dreamed of conquering the North Pole.
The expedition started in Rome, and the next route went with stops in the cities of Pulham, Oslo, Leningrad, Vads and Svalbard. On the morning of May 11, 1926, the airship flew in the direction of the North Pole and reached it on the night of May 12. After hanging over him for 2.5 hours, the ship sailed in the direction of Alaska, where an Italian ship picked him up. The news of the conquest of the pole caused jubilation in Italy, and Mussolini made Umberto Nobile a general. At the same time, fascist propaganda in every way belittled the role of Amundsen.
Nobile Umberto: Second Polar Expedition
In 1928 the airship “Italy” was built, on which a crew of 18 people, mainly Italians, flew from Milan to Svalbard. In addition, the ship Citta di Milano, which was supposed to serve as a floating base for the conquerors of the pole, was sent to Kongsfjord Bay. This new, large-scale expedition was conceived by Umberto Nobile as a kind of revenge. The fact is that he wanted to prove that the decisive role in the success of the last trip belonged to him - the designer and captain of the vessel, and not Amundsen, who was the head of the group. Details of the journey were subsequently set forth in detail by Nobile Umberto's book “Wings over the Pole”, which became a bestseller. However, some experts argue that not all the facts cited there are true. In any case, despite difficult weather conditions, the airship with 16 crew members reached the goal of their journey on the night of May 23-24, 1928 and dropped the cross and the flag of Italy.
Catastrophe over the Arctic
For many decades, the identity of Umberto Nobile and the death of “Italy” have been of interest, since the fate of some crew members is still not clear. In addition, disputes over the conduct of the expedition leader during the evacuation do not subside.
So what events took place in the Arctic between the end of May and the middle of July 1928? To answer this question, you should familiarize yourself with the facts presented by the participants of this trip.
So, having conquered the pole, the “Italy” airship set off on its way back with a heavy wind that blew towards them. A few hours later, the aircraft iced up and fell on the ice. At the same time, a motor gondola crashed, an engine driver died, 9 team members, including the commander, were thrown onto the ice, and six people left in the airship were blown away in an unknown direction.
Italy's Polar Odyssey
Caught among the icy desert, 10 crew members began the struggle for survival in the extreme conditions of the Arctic. Fortunately, they managed to save some of the food and equipment, and most importantly, they had a radio transmitter and a tent. However, disagreements soon arose between the survivors. As a result, the Swedish meteorologist Finn Malmgren, as well as the Italians A. Mariano and F. Zappi left the camp.
The fate of the Malmgren group
Having set off on May 30, three team members hoped to reach the station on the shore of Kongsfjord Bay on Spitsbergen. There they were going to report the disaster of “Italy” and return with their rescuers with their rescuers. However, after two weeks of travel, Malmgren, whose arm was broken after the fall of the airship, was so exhausted that he asked his comrades to continue on without him. They did so, and almost a month later, on July 12, they were discovered by the Soviet pilot Chukhnovsky, who was among those who were sent to rescue the Nobile expedition.
Life in an emergency camp rescued from “Italy”
As already mentioned, by a lucky chance, several bags fell out of the airship during the fall, so those in distress had a 4-person tent, one sleeping bag, quite a lot of food, including 71 kg of pemmican and 41 kg of chocolate, as well as a sextant and a gun with cartridges, 3 chronometers and a short-wave standby radio station. In addition, a few days before his departure, Malmgren managed to shoot a bear, and the people in the camp had some stocks of bears.
At the same time, the radio operator Biaggi at first was not able to establish a connection with the “Citta di Milano”, and later the signals transmitted to him were not recognized and they simply ignored them. However, this ship nevertheless came to the rescue of the Nobile Umberto expedition, but since the exact coordinates of the location of the Red Tent camp, as it was later called, were not known, all searches were in vain.
Disaster Detection
On June 3, Nikolai Schmidt, a radio enthusiast from the North Dvina province, caught a signal from the Biaggi radio station and reported this by telegram to Moscow. An Italy Crew Assistance Committee was immediately created, headed by Joseph Unshlikht, and on June 4 the information that Umberto Nobile and some of his crew were alive were transmitted to the Italian government. Thus, on June 8, a radio link was established between Città di Milano and the Italian radio operator, who transmitted the exact coordinates of the camp.
Unsuccessful attempts
Today, when asked about which icebreaker saved the expedition of Umberto Nobile, most people who are interested in the history of the Russian fleet will answer that it was the Krasin icebreaker. However, in reality, the Soviet icebreaker Malygin was also sent to help the crew of Italy, and from the very first days after the catastrophe, the Norwegian whaling ships Braganza and Hobbies chartered by the Italian government were engaged in the search for those in distress.
In addition, Roald Amundsen, who had already had more than strained relations with Nobile for several years, having forgotten about all the insults, from the very first days after the disaster began to seek funds to organize a rescue expedition. Finally, on June 18, he took off on a Latam-47 aircraft with a French military crew on board on Svalbard, but he never arrived at his destination. What happened is not known to this day, since the Norwegian military, who set off in search of the Amundsen group, found only a float and an empty gas tank.
Einar Lundborg Mission
The main thing that the Krasin icebreaker (expedition of 1928) became famous in the period between the two world wars is the salvation of the Nobile expedition. However, the general himself was not on board at that time. The fact is that on June 23, the Swedish military pilot Einar Lundborg transported him with his dog Tina to the Swedish air base. This act of the commander who threw his subordinates was subsequently often reproached with Nobile, but, according to the members of the expedition, Lundborg was ordered to take out only the general.
The salvation of the crew of “Italy”
Be that as it may, on June 23, the Krasin set off from Bergen to the camp in distress. On board the icebreaker was a plane controlled by Boris Chukhnovsky. It was he who discovered Mariano and Zappi, about which he informed the Krasin command on the radio. However, during an emergency landing on the ice, the plane damaged the landing gear and could not take further part in the expedition to rescue “Italy”.
On July 12, the icebreaker took Mariano and Zappi, and in the evening of the same day and five other members of the second polar expedition, Umberto Nobile. Then they all transferred to the Città di Milano and, reaching the port of Narvik, returned to Italy by train.
Umberto Nobile and the death of “Italy”: history and legend
Thus, only 8 people returned alive from the second polar expedition on the airship. In addition, several people were killed who were engaged in the search and rescue of its members, including the Italian crew and the French military under the command of Amundsen. Therefore, it is not surprising that over time, the odyssey of the crew of “Italy” acquired many legends, but no one ever tried to doubt which icebreaker saved the expedition of Umberto Nobile.
In particular, it was suggested that Zappi could eat the remains of Malmgren, since at the time of his salvation he was wearing a Swede, and he himself looked more vigorous and full of strength than his unfortunate comrade - Mariano. Another legend was that about 20 minutes after the fall of the airship, the surviving crew of the Italy crew saw a column of smoke in the east. According to one version, in this way, the six remaining on the aircraft could ask for help. In support of it, the following arguments were made: the smoke could not be from the fire on the airship, since there was quite a lot of gasoline and hydrogen, and the flame should have burned much more strongly.
“Red Tent”
Now you know which icebreaker saved the expedition of Umberto Nobile and some details about the events that preceded it. Subsequently, most of them formed the basis of the script for the movie "Red Tent". This film, shot in 1969, is unique in its stellar international cast. Suffice it to say that the director M. Kalatozov invited Peter Finch, Sean Connery, Claudia Cardinale, Eduard Martsevich, Nikita Mikhalkov, Yuri Vizbor and Boris Khmelnitsky. Believe me, the film is worth it to watch.
Today, Krasin returned to its duties as a museum ship, and those who are interested in how and which icebreaker saved the expedition of Umberto Nobile can visit him and find out a lot of interesting facts about the past of this honored veteran of the Russian fleet.