On the monument to Kalashnikov found a drawing of a German rifle. Why did a German machine gun appear on the Kalashnikov monument?

Mikhail Degtyarev, editor-in-chief of the Kalashnikov. Weapons, ammunition, equipment magazine, told Metro about the connection and differences between the Kalashnikov assault rifle and the German Mkb.42 rifle and why its drawing ended up on the monument to the great Russian gunsmith. According to Degtyarev, this is the result of the inattention of the creators and customers of the monument. And this is the second exactly the same "puncture" of the sculptor Salavat Shcherbakov, who previously armed a Soviet soldier with a German carbine in the monument "Farewell of the Slav" at the Belorussky railway station in Moscow. The expert also dispelled all rumors regarding the possible plagiarism by Mikhail Kalashnikov of German developments when creating his legendary weapon. We also asked questions to the author of the sculpture himself. Recall that today the historian Yuri Pasholok discovered a diagram of the German rifle Mkb.42 on the bas-relief of the monument to Mikhail Kalashnikov.

Shameful negligence.

This is really a drawing of a German machine gun, - says Mikhail Degtyarev. In general, this is of course a shame and scandal. The result of the unprofessional work of a group of sculptors and the customer - the Russian Military Historical Society. It should be noted that the creator of the monument, Salavat Shcherbakov, “distinguished himself” in the patriotic weapons part for the second time. And it's time to excommunicate him from government orders and patriotic themes. In the case of the monument “Farewell of the Slav” at the Belorussky railway station in Moscow, he managed to cross a Soviet soldier with a German carbine. Then there was also a scandal and partially managed to correct the mistake, but now again on the same rake.

Answering the question of how the creators of the monument could stumble upon a drawing of a German machine gun and mistake it for a Soviet expert, he said that this was simply the result of inattention. According to the expert, the big problem is that the creators of the monument did not delve into the weapon specifics at all.

It is completely understandable how a non-professional could stumble upon this image, - the editor-in-chief of the Kalashnikov.Arms, Ammunition, Equipment magazine is sure. There are a lot of discussions on the Web about the primacy and secondary nature of weapons of this period - the 40s of the last century. And the fact that in one place there could be, conditionally, illustrations of a Kalashnikov assault rifle of the first issues and a diagram of the Mkb.42 rifle is nothing surprising. Lots of compilations. And given the fact that these images were not subjected to professional examination, and the sculptors themselves, as shown by their "performance" at the Belorussky railway station even now, do not want to delve into the specifics of the armory. These drawings seemed similar to them, and if they opened the material about the AK, then this is it. I am one hundred percent absolutely sure that they just opened some site and took the image from there. Otherwise, they should be in prison, in my opinion.

son of his class.

We also touched on the topic of the myth that Mikhail Kalashnikov “peeped” the idea of ​​his weapon from the Germans, and the legendary Soviet machine gun itself could be a plagiarism. The expert considers this version completely untenable. He cites the type of car body as an example: the creation of vehicles of a certain shape cannot be considered plagiarism, since they still differ in "stuffing".

This is absolute nonsense, I really do not recommend amateurs to read fabrications on this subject by the same non-professionals, says Degtyarev. You need to read the works of real gunsmiths. I will explain to you the similarity of the Mkb.42 and the Kalashnikov assault rifle with a clear example. Once there was a type of car body "sedan", which is characterized by four wheels, the presence of a hood, a horizontal trunk and the presence of four doors. And then the first sedan appeared and the rest after it, they are also sedans. Only they have a completely different motor, a different transmission, a different braking system, and so on. But the presence of four wheels unites them all, of course.

Thus, the German machine gun, erroneously depicted on the monument, simply gave rise to such a class of weapons, says Degtyarev. And you need to compare the legendary AK with other Soviet counterparts, with which he competed at the creation stage. The exhibition at the Artillery Museum of St. Petersburg is dedicated to this.

And now the Mkb.42 and Sturmgewehr 44 * are class-forming products, - the specialist explains. The Germans were the first to make weapons with this concept. All subsequent ones were followers of this class. And the decision to create Soviet weapons in this class was not made by Kalashnikov at all. And the Kalashnikov should not be compared with the Sturmgewehr, but with a dozen other Soviet developments in this class that non-specialists simply do not know. An exhibition on this topic has now opened at the Artillery Museum of St. Petersburg. It is called "On the way to the AK-47", which contains various domestic products that preceded the Kalashnikov assault rifle. Here you need to compare them with each other. AK simply surpassed them all in terms of the totality of qualities.

Sculptor's word

It should be noted that according to recent reports, sculptor Salavat Shcherbakov, the author of the monument to gunsmith Mikhail Kalashnikov, is ready to correct the bas-relief of the monument after a conversation with historian Yuri Pasholok, who discovered an error in the composition.

The metro contacted Shcherbakov and asked if it was true that this was the second monument he had made, where the image of German weapons was mistakenly used instead of Soviet ones.

I think it's all not interesting and nonsense, - says Shcherbakov, complaining that the phone did not have any charge left for a long conversation. - The words "similar" and "curiosity" are there. Yes, it’s not necessary at all, well, in general, I’m not interested. So let me not answer.

This is not nonsense, but it takes up very little space and is easily corrected and has nothing to do with the press, - the sculptor explains. There is a specific error and it is corrected. This is just a working moment and it has nothing to do with politics. I am surprised by the interest of the press. Either she has nothing to do, or her political views are so raging ...

* - StG 44 (German: Sturmgewehr 44 - assault rifle of 1944) - a German assault rifle developed during World War II. About 450 thousand pieces were produced. Among the modern type of automata, it became the first development that was mass-produced. It differs from the submachine guns (PPSh, etc.) of the Second World War by a significantly longer range of aimed fire, primarily due to the use of the so-called intermediate cartridge, which is more powerful and has better ballistics than the pistol cartridges used in submachine guns.

On the sculptural composition dedicated to the Soviet designer Mikhail Kalashnikov, they found a drawing of the German automatic rifle StG 44. A historian drew attention to the scheme of the Third Reich assault rifle on the bas-relief on Facebook. “Just don’t say it’s them by accident. For this it is necessary to beat, it hurts and in public. These are sculptor boys, damn it! ”, The caption to the published photo reads.

The StG 44 assault rifle (Sturmgewehr 44, aka MP 43 / MP 44) was developed by designer Hugo Schmeisser during World War II. Until 1945, about 420 thousand copies were made.

“So far we have no data on the error. We have seven automata depicted, the eighth automaton is in the hands of . In addition, we have plumbing and drawing tools. If there is a mistake, we will fix it. Now the most important thing is to separate what is happening from the political chatter,” he said.

According to Shcherbakov, he would like the historian Yuri Pasholok, who discovered the error on the monument, to personally contact the sculptor, "so that I understand what and where the error is." “At the same time, someone says that this specialist from social networks does not really exist. If there is a specialist and he is right, then we will be very grateful and will make certain corrections, ”the author of the monument noted.

At the same time, according to Kononov, the fact that the oversight was discovered suggests that the StG and the Kalashnikov assault rifle are “completely different assault rifles, and it is categorically wrong to accuse Kalashnikov of borrowing”

A monument to Kalashnikov by sculptor Salavat Shcherbakov was solemnly opened at the intersection of Sadovaya-Karetnaya and Dolgorukovskaya streets in the center of Moscow on September 19. In society, the reaction to the new Moscow landmark turned out to be ambiguous. Many Muscovites are embarrassed by the figure of a well-known weapons designer and are unsure that such individuals should be immortalized. This position was indicated, in particular, by the musician.

At the same time, the artist is confused not only by the ethical side of the issue, but also by the aesthetic one. "Okay. Let Kalashnikov. But why such a mediocre, ugly sculpture?”, — says the musician. According to him, even in Soviet times, "this idol" would not have passed the artistic council. “Well, why are we disfiguring our city like that, disgracing ourselves in front of the whole world?” he concluded.

Makarevich was supported by his colleague, the singer who performed last year at the Eurovision 2016 contest. “I can't keep silent... it's disgusting to put such a monument in the center of the capital. A man with a machine gun in his hands! All authorities care so much about the psychological state of children, constantly introducing new bans, and immediately put up a monument to Kalashnikov with a machine gun in the center! What do we teach children? Fight? Make this picture Norma!? There are not enough emotions to express indignation, ”the artist wrote on his Instagram (original spelling).

“No dancer or singer will listen to the opinion of the sculptor, how he danced or sang. This is a profession, and you don’t have to get into it, ”

Shcherbakov said. According to him, even professionals behave modestly and do not absolutize everything as the ultimate truth.

The installation of the monument was timed to coincide with the Gunsmith's Day in Russia. The site published a congratulation to the workers of the military-industrial complex from Russian President Vladimir Putin, in which the Russian leader also mentioned Kalashnikov. “We are rightfully proud of Russian craftsmen, engineers, designers, whose creative genius created unique, world-famous weapons. In the military, heroic history of the Fatherland, the names of such talented gunsmiths as Pavel Zakhava, Georgy Shpagin, Mikhail Kalashnikov will forever remain, ”the text of the congratulation says.

It should be noted that the sculpture depicting the world-famous gunsmith installed in Moscow is not the first work on this topic. The previous monument to Kalashnikov was erected in 2015 at the military memorial cemetery in Mytishchi, where the designer was buried after his death in 2013.

Salavat Shcherbakov told Business FM that he was ready to correct the mistake with the automaton scheme in the sculptural composition. According to him, there was no malice

Monument to Mikhail Kalashnikov in Moscow. Photo: Valery Sharifulin/TASS

The author of the monument to Kalashnikov, unveiled this week, is ready to correct the mistake with the scheme of the machine gun in the sculptural composition. In an interview with Business FM, Salavat Shcherbakov said he wanted to contact the scientist who discovered the bug.

According to the latest data, the Russian Military Historical Society (RVIO) decided to remove the diagram of the German StG 44 assault rifle from the monument. This is reported by RBC.

Yuri Pasholok, a historian and consultant for several leading military museums in Russia, wrote on his Facebook page that the sculpture shows a German Schmeiser assembly diagram instead of an AK-47 diagram. “Just don’t say it’s them by accident. You have to fight for this,” he said.

Yuriy Pasholok is in no hurry to blame the sculptor himself, but he does not want to advise the team that worked on the monument either. Here's what he said in an interview with Business FM:

Yuri Pasholok historian “He has a consultant, so let them work. All these things are taken by a whole bunch of commissions. Where it came from is already a question directly to the people who received it. Whoever put the signature, he, in fact, is responsible, not the sculptor. They had a museum as a consultant, from where they took all these machine guns, but for some reason no one contacted them. Museum - they were asked for materials, they gave materials, and then they see this. You see, the following happened: someone wanted an additional scheme for the machine and got into the Internet. The first thing they found, the syndrome of a designer girl, is called. The task is not to punish him, but simply to correct the monument. I accidentally saw it myself, they showed me at all, I looked - something familiar, looked for it - here it is. Any person, not even an expert, will immediately discover this.

The situation in an interview with Business FM was commented by the author of the sculptural composition, People's Artist of Russia Salavat Shcherbakov. According to him, the erroneous scheme, if it really refers to the German Schmeiser, could have been taken from the Internet. But it is easy to correct this detail, the main thing is that the media do not inflate a political scandal, he believes.

Salavat Shcherbakovsculptor, People's Artist of Russia“We don’t know right now if this is true, because now we just want to meet with the scientist who noticed the error. So far, according to the drawings that we had, we have not yet determined whether there is an error. Second: if it turns out to be a mistake, we will be very grateful to this specialist, this often happens. We can easily fix it, because this is a background fragmentary moment. There are seven automata depicted, they are all taken from the museum, that is, a lot of work. No one from our team could have had a malicious intent to slip something, they could only make a mistake. I think that this error most likely does not exist, but if it does, then this is also not a tragedy. But thanks all the same, and we are waiting for this specialist, who discovered, if he is our friend and supporter of this topic, a monument, then we will be very glad to meet and use his knowledge. The work of art is quite complex, and we always consult on very different issues, we always dive into the material honestly, the automata were taken from the museum in St. Petersburg, seven models - we had them physically, we had access to them, and this is a drawing lying on a drawing board. We could (take) this drawing from the Internet, for example, it says "AK-47". But the Internet is, we know, a garbage dump, there could easily be a mistake.

At the Kalashnikov plant, Business FM confirmed off the record: the scheme on the monument is indeed erroneous. “This is not a scheme for a Kalashnikov assault rifle,” said an employee of the enterprise.

A similar scandal occurred in 2014 with the monument “Farewell of the Slav” at the Belorussky railway station. The sculptors had to remove from it a model of the German Mauser 98k repeating rifle, which had been used by mistake.

On the pedestal of the monument to the gunsmith Mikhail Kalashnikov in Moscow, they found a drawing of the German StG 44 assault rifle, developed in Nazi Germany during World War II by designer Hugo Schmeisser.

The discrepancy was discovered by the military historian Yuri Pasholok, who posted in Facebook a photograph of the monument and a copy of the drawings.

“It's a very small, background thing. I even wonder how they saw her. We took it from sources. And where we took it, it says “Kalashnikov assault rifle”. Something from the Internet, ”Shcherbakov explained the appearance of the German rifle scheme.

The executive director of the Russian Military Historical Society, which ordered the erection of the monument, told the Moscow agency that a fragment of the sculptural composition would be cut down.

It should be noted that the monument to Mikhail Kalashnikov was erected on the Garden Ring on September 19. It was designed at the initiative of the Russian Military Historical Society.

The Kalashnikov assault rifle (AK) was adopted in 1949. Outwardly, it vaguely resembles the StG 44, but the mechanisms, components and ammunition are different. Despite this, it is widely believed that the Soviet designer "stole" the development.

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Image caption The diagram is located on the back of the monument.

Sculptor Salavat Shcherbakov, who created the monument to Mikhail Kalashnikov, in a conversation with the BBC Russian Service admitted that the monument could have mistakenly depicted a diagram of the German Sturmgever assault rifle. He expressed his readiness to make changes to the composition if the error is confirmed.

The day before, historian Yury Pasholok on his Facebook page said that he noticed on one of the elements of the monument to the famous Soviet gunsmith an explosion diagram of the German StG 44 assault rifle. This diagram is located on the back of the monument, which depicts various modifications of the Kalashnikov assault rifle.

"A mistake could have crept in. We consulted with specialists [when working on the monument]. But if another specialist appeared who thinks differently, we will gratefully accept information from him, if something is wrong, we will correct it. But no evil the intent that someone slipped some goat, devil or devil, there is no such thing," Shcherbakov said.

"Could I have been wrong? Could. Could he [Pasholok] be wrong? So far I have the impression that he is wrong. But I have not met him," the sculptor added.

He noted that when working on the monument, he turned to museums and archives, but "something was also taken from the Internet." "Mistakes could have crept into the Internet, it has already happened," Shcherbakov said.

"I think he [who pointed out the mistake] is a patriot, for sure, so we will find a common language with him. Maybe we will even add something more on his advice," the sculptor concluded.

The fact that one of the elements of the monument depicts a Sturmgever scheme was also confirmed by an expert in small arms, the official Internet representative of the Kalashnikov concern Maxim Popenker.

“I don’t know why this scheme ended up there - because of someone’s incompetence or malicious intent. But it needs to be removed from there. Ideally, take the “consultants” who missed this, give them sandpaper in their hands, and let wash it clean," he wrote on Facebook.

This is not the first time that errors have been found in Shcherbakov's works. In 2014, on the monument of his authorship - "Farewell of the Slav" near the Belorussky railway station in Moscow - a German rifle "Mauser" was noticed. Subsequently, the rifle was cut down from the monument.

Useful error

The Russian Military Historical Society (RVIO), which commissioned the Kalashnikov monument, has already acknowledged that there was a mistake and promised that it would be corrected.

"We want to thank the person who noticed this drawing, because until today we were not experts in the construction of automatic machines. And now we have pointed this out to the sculptor Salavat Shcherbakov. He is on site and is going to dismantle this slab, since he and his apprentice they messed something up," Vladislav Kononov, executive director of the RVIO, told the Moscow agency.

He added that the customer had only one requirement - for the model of the machine that is in the hands of Kalashnikov. "Everything else is a flight of creative imagination of the sculptor and his assistants, so let them figure it out, they will now correct this mistake," Kononov emphasized.

At the same time, he noted that the incident confirms that Kalashnikov was an independent designer and did not rely on other people's developments.

"Thanks to a mistake made through the fault of the sculptor, everyone can see that the StG and the Kalashnikov assault rifle are completely different assault rifles, and it is categorically wrong to accuse Kalashnikov of borrowing," the director of the RVIO concluded.

Kalashnikov vs. Schmeisser

The version according to which Kalashnikov copied his assault rifle from the German StG-44 assault rifle designed by Hugo Schmeisser pops up regularly and is now being actively discussed again on the Internet.

Supporters of this hypothesis point to the external similarity between the StG-44 and AK, as well as the fact that the design of the Soviet machine gun appeared in the post-war period, when a group of German engineers headed by Schmeisser worked in Izhevsk.

The hereditary gunsmith Schmeisser, taken prisoner by the Americans, was forcibly sent to the USSR in 1946 to transfer experience. In 1949, the first Kalashnikov assault rifle of the 7.62 mm caliber, which is called the AK-47 in the West, was adopted by the Soviet army.

Despite the external similarity, the design of the StG-44 and AK are very different. The fundamental differences are in the design of the receiver, the device of the locking unit and the trigger mechanism, the device and fastening of the store, the fire translator and the safety device.

Experts note that the Kalashnikov assault rifle turned out to be lighter than the Sturmgever, structurally more flexible and more reliable, which made it the most common small arms in the world.