7/11/2005

Who needs that hotel anyway?

This was pretty funny to read.

Apparently engineers looking to demolish a hotel in Moscow found about a ton of explosives that had been placed there in WWII. That tactic was a favorite of the Red Army at the time and was put to extensive use in Kiev after the fascists invaded. Just about all of Kreshatik was blown up and I've been told that the original Uspensiky Cathedral at the Lavra here was also blown up by the departing Red Army. As I wrote last week, it was this targeted demolition that gave the Germans an excuse for the Babi Yar massacre.

Anyway, interesting to see the effects of this stuff 60 years later. And you gotta love quotes like this:

"The boxes held only explosives without detonators so there was no risk of an (accidental) explosion in the hotel,"

Uh huh...