Bringing down planes with balloons

March 22, 2008

Like all great armed conflicts, the Second World War brought an industrial and technological revolution to all warring nations. Oddly enough, despite the military innovation of that period, to fight bombings over cities and other strategic targets, armies turned to an 18th century invention: aerostats. Moored balloons played a key role in the defense of London, the Invasion of Normandy and the Battle of Moscow, where this system was employed in its most massive and sophisticated way.

Soviet barrage balloon being lowered in 1945

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Stalin’s golden cage

March 2, 2008

In 1931 was opened in the very center of Moscow the biggest and most modern residential complex in Europe. Fully equipped with a wealth of facilities and services, one may say it was a city within the city. Its exclusive apartments were addressed to the most outstanding members of the soviet elite. But what began as a dream turned into a nightmare: in just a few years a third of its residents came to a bad end because of Stalin’s purges, so the building became a symbol of that dark period of repression.

Current view of the building