The mysterious "Ilich's Base", or where radio operator Nevolin came from

Let's try to find this patrol missile unit in that area, whose military could have flown to the Otorten area to record the site of the missile crash and collect the debris. In fact, the question of military units and unknown subdivisions in that area is not at all idle. It is very strange that Dyatlov studies completely ignore this most important aspect. I especially remember two testimonies from A. Malakhov's program "Let Them Talk. Dyatlov Pass: Don't Go There" (April 2013). So, at the 33rd minute, Olga Werle, a resident of one of the villages on Lozva, who now lives in Germany, gives her testimony live from the German town of Flaterbach:

"I can't tell you much, because everything was classified, but I remember this incident well. Information was received then that a group of students, and no one said anything about which students. That they allegedly went to the mountains and ended up in the missile forces zone. I know that we had a military unit there, and these military boys came to our dances in the evening. There were rumors that these were missile forces."

Malakhov, in his usual manner, immediately chatted up an extremely interesting witness and removed him from the air. But this is unique information that simply had to be clarified. Well, this is not a Malakhov show, here we will clarify everything sedately and with arrangement according to other testimonies, and there is enough of them. While we are recording - local residents recall that there was some secret military unit in that area and the death of the students of the Dyatlov group is connected with the military from this unit. Note that the testimony does not say a word about the death of tourists from a rocket explosion - it is simply that the military is involved in the death, they say they entered their territory. Let's continue to study other testimonies of the residents of the Vizhaysky region...

At the 38th minute of the above-mentioned TV program, we see the testimony of another resident of those places: "Residents of the surrounding villages also talk about the glowing objects. Moreover, people claim that in the forest not far from the Otorten peak, a secret military base existed for a long time. (then a local resident speaks, who is riding a local bus and the entire bus of local residents agrees with her): "There are ruins there, they are still standing, it's just that there used to be a military unit there, called "Ilicha's Base", that's what people call it... (another passenger on the bus immediately interrupts): "There was a restricted area where they went. You couldn't go there."

That's how wonderful it is! Literally all the Vizhay residents know very well why and by whom the Dyatlov group died. They associate it with the secret zone where the Dyatlov group ended up, that the military of a secret unit was involved in their death. And they even give the name: "Ilicha's Base". I tried for a long time to find this Base by name, and I managed to find this place. But more on that later. For now, we'll record the main thing: all the locals know about the military's involvement in the deaths of the tourists. It's no secret to anyone in those places. But if Malakhov's TV program seems to someone not a very serious source, and the overcrowded Vizhay bus singing in chorus about a secret military unit in their area is a director's trick, we will present more evidence...

A conversation between Maya Piskareva and Vladimir Androsov and other Vizhaysk residents (V.P. - Vladimir Pashin - the son of forester Ivan Pashin, in whose forestry the tragedy occurred and who led Slobtsov's group to "discover" the Tent and the first corpses; V.Ch. - Vladimir Cheglakov, the son of that very captain Cheglakov from Ivdellag, who, together with Pashin, led Slobtsov's group; V.A. - Vladimir Androsov, a local resident; T.N. - local resident Tatyana Rempel, the daughter of that forester I.D. Rempel):

"V.P.: My uncle Ivan Pashin told me, that he was the first to find 2 people near a cedar. There was an explosion. At that time in Vizhay there was one version - a rocket went out of control, radiation after cutting trees exceeded 15 times, 2 groups of soldiers arrived, who after finding the first people, ordered everyone to return home, sometimes the launch of rockets was visible from the village. And Pashin himself believed that the cause of the students' death was a military error in launching rockets.

V.Ch.: My father, Aleksey Cheglakov, also participated in the search for the Dyatlov group in 1959. I was 3 years old at the time, but I remember how my father left to search, and I still have a feeling of fear from that. When I got older, I wanted to find out from my father what happened there, he explained that they were testing a new weapon, and the expedition ended up in the affected area. It was secret and, apparently, they were required to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Those who talked too much are no longer alive...

T.N.: And I remember how one man told my father what a horror they had suffered when they got lost in the area of ​​the Toshemka River. Then the soldiers detained them and brought them to headquarters, after a whole day of identifying them they were released, warning them to be more careful walking in the taiga. But they did not see any warning signs. And already at that time I heard about shoulder straps of a different color. This means that in the taiga there were places where units belonging to other branches of the military were stationed. And then I myself came across shoulder straps of a different color, and with different emblems. Basically, there were wings...

V.A.: The military can wear any shoulder straps, it does not mean anything. We had air defense. They detected enemy aircraft. And at their signal, planes would rise from the airfield 300 km to the east.

M.P.: Radio operator Egor Nevolin, who was participated in the search, from the end of February to May 1959, told in a conversation with Evgeniy Zinovyev: "But here, closer to Ivdel, from Polunochny, behind the 2nd Northern, well, maybe further somewhere, there were some air defense posts... They had radars... whether they had missiles - no one knows, except those who served."

Forester Ivan Pashin, Aleksey Aleekseevich Anyamov, Aleksey Semyonovich Cheglakov

Now we move on to the Ilicha's Base, which local residents mentioned, and that it was there that there was a forbidden place with a secret military unit. It was the military from this mysterious Ilich's Base that destroyed the Dyatlov group. What kind of Ilich's Base is this? And the answer was found unexpectedly, in an interview with Maya Piskareva, Vladimir Androsov from Vizhay, trying to solve the unsolvable riddle with the appearance of radio operator Nevolin with a radio in the upper reaches of the Auspiya, suddenly mentioned a certain Ilich's Base:

"M.P.: Vladimir, here I was asked to find out from you whether it is realistic for 5 people to get on sleds from the Second Northern to the place of the searchers' camp on the Auspiya in 2 hours? Taking into account the folding and unfolding of the radio station? It is known from radiograms that on February 26 at 10.45 Nevolin was in the village, and at 13.00 he had already met the rescue team in the upper reaches of the Auspiya. Was there a winter route for the Mansi from Suevat-Paul to Lozva?

V.A.: As such, the road from Suevat (winter road) never existed. The Mansi could go along their own Mansi trails, and how they traveled, I don’t know. I can only guess that they traveled along a short road towards the Auspiya River, there are many Mansi trails there. The Second Northern is located in the middle between the Ushma River and the Auspiya River. In a day, reindeer can cover 120 km. From the mouth of the Auspiya to the pass 33 km. From the Second Northern to the Auspiya River 14-15 km. Total: 48 km. In summer, it takes 2 days to travel from the mouth of the Auspiya to the pass. The Mansi cover 10 km on sleds in two hours. Five people will never fit on a sled. Only two. In my opinion, he could not have traveled in 2 hours. The Second Northern is an uninhabited village. And what is Nevolin doing there? They could have been dropped there by helicopter, especially since he had a radio station. Did Nevolin and Kurikov leave Suevat together??? Or did they meet somewhere near Auspiya? The Mansi reindeer would not have been driven to the emergency site. There is no food there, and they would have to be driven again to the mouth of Auspiya, where there is food. I wonder why they were not dropped off by helicopter, they could have been dropped off from the Second Northern.

M.P.: It is a mystery why the radio operator could not be dropped off at the pass by helicopter, but was carried on sleds. And what kind of settlement could there be at the mouth of Auspiya?

V.A.: Most likely it was Second Northern. Further upstream from the mouth, about 10 km away, there was the so-called "Ilich's Base". There was a bathhouse, a house, a guest house. He hunted there, starting in 1965-67 and up until 1980-82. Then he died. They burned everything there, and only a vacant lot remained. He himself was from the village of Burmantovo, then he met a woman in Vizhay named Burmantova, I forgot her name, lived with her and then died."

A wonderful person, Vladimir Androsov from Vizhay

Ilich's base. Ilich himself is in the center with a mug in his hand

It turns out that, indeed, in the area we need, 10 km upstream from the mouth of the Auspiya along the Lozva River, there was a similar object: Ilich's base. In fact, it is a spacious estate with a guest house and a bathhouse. Why would a certain visiting Ilich need such wealth and where did he get it from? In addition, he settled at this object in 1963, already on the site of a built outpost. What purposes did this strange and rather large object in an uninhabited area serve? Apparently, during missile tests over the Urals in the late 1950s, a missile patrol unit was stationed there, which recorded the flights of objects and, if necessary, collected missile fragments and recorded the impact site.

Apparently, the mystery of radio operator Nevolin, who came from nowhere to meet Slobtsov's group, is now easily resolved. Maya Piskareva understood perfectly well that the story with this radio operator, who had magically burst into the Pass with the radio at the very moment Slobtsov discovered the Tent, was an incomprehensible and mysterious thing. She compared all the data on Nevolin from the radio reports and realized that it would be quite far from the nearest settlement where Suevat had the radio. Even on a super-modern amphibian it would take two hours to get there. It was possible to get there from the Second Northern, but it was uninhabited during the campaign. The nearest residential place remained the mysterious Ilich's base, which Androsov had mentioned.

In fact, now everything is more or less clear. The directors of the play did not want to risk the whole action, but they did not want to be seen either. That is why they sent "their" radio operator from that very secret military outpost, the military from which were involved in the tragedy. It is difficult to say now when Nevolin ended up at the Ilich Base, but it is obvious that he was there long before the landing of the first search teams. Considering Nevolin's place of work - the Northern Geological Prospecting Expedition and the specifics of his profession, it is possible that he had long been an informant for the KGB, which was quite common among radio operators among geologists at that time. Most likely, he took part in the first part of the Performance, the unofficial one. And at the end of February, he calmly waited for a signal from the directors when to move to the Pass. Having received this order, Nevolin appeared at the Pass exactly at the moment of Slobtsov's group's descent from the Tent. Well, what miracles! And then he tapped out the necessary radiogram: "Tent found!!! The curtain has opened! The Big Performance of concealing a dirty crime, in which almost all branches of the USSR Government will be involved, has started.

But Nevolin did not just mint the joyful news to the Search Center for no reason, and he used a secret code that no one in the camp knew except him. And no one knew it at the Search Headquarters in Ivdel, except for unidentified people. Vera Ivanovna Podgaynaya, secretary-typist of the head of the Northern Geological Expedition A.M. Sulman, testified that the radiograms from the slope arrived in Ivdel encrypted. She reports that a Special Department was deployed in Ivdel and that it was there that the encrypted radiograms from the search operations were sent. Her story is published in the book by writer Oleg Arkhipov "Forensic Experts in the Dyatlov Group Case", "Istina", Tyumen, 2015 (clip from the book): Encrypted radiograms passed through me, they had all sorts of "sticks" in them, you can't make them out. The radio operator passed them on to me, and I passed them on to Sulman. Then these radiograms were passed on to the Special Department. Prodanov and Sulman were in contact with Moscow. The building of the geological expedition was located in Vtoroye Ivdel. It was demolished long ago... Temnikov worked as a radio operator. Workers often came and asked: "What's going on there?" And what could I say, since all the radiograms were encrypted. When Sulman had a direct connection with Moscow, he asked to close the door and not let anyone into the office."

This is a very strange fact, why encrypt the course of the search? But the main thing: where and from whom could Nevolin have received the codes, if he appeared in the search zone from a remote village, and Sulman was in Ivdel? There is a big question here. Although there are no questions anymore - the search was carried out under multiple controls, and all information passed strict censorship through the sieve of the Special Department. Remember how Maslennikov's dangerous information about 10 pairs of skis turned into an absurd 10 pairs of underwear in the radiogram log? That's it...

Radio operator Egor Nevolin

Nevolin lived first in Ivdel, then moved to Sverdlovsk, but never told anyone a word about those searches. When his comrade, radio operator Vladimir Alekseevich Lyubimov, asked him in 1959 how the search went, Nevolin replied that he had no right to divulge information. Just like that! Although, it would seem, it was an ordinary search for tourists... In 2002, searcher Yevgeny Zinovyev took an audio interview with Yegor Nevolin in Sverdlovsk and sent the tape to Kuntsevich. Nevolin said nothing except how he had to hang up the "American" (a special antenna for the radio). He avoided direct questions, even told about the nuclear underground explosions of the 80s... But to the direct question "what happened there in 1959?" Nevolin answered briefly: the death was connected with fireballs, but all the witnesses were already dead... All subsequent attempts by the "Dyatlov Group Memorial Fund" to contact Nevolin were unsuccessful; he was no longer at his previous address.

The figure of radio operator Nevolin was very significant in those events. Receiving and sending ALL radiograms in encrypted form, there is and has never been a more informed person about those events than Nevolin. He was on the search from the first day to the last. That is why Nevolin preferred to remain firmly silent, realizing that in this case it was a matter of life and death. It is strange, but Ivanov decided not to interrogate this most important witness at all. But Nevolin did not always play the role of radio operator. As we remember, it was he who reported important information about the shortage of many things and products in Palatka to Ivdel when Maslennikov temporarily withdrew. Therefore, we are obliged to remove the blame from Yevgeny Polikarpovich, because having such a radio operator and a Special Department to receive his messages, he simply could not have been aware of how his radiograms were being distorted. Well, the signature under the protocol of Labaz's discovery could have simply been forged retroactively, as the signature of Askinadzi was forged, which we wrote about above.

But the role of Yegor Nevolin in this case was more extensive. As the facts show, it was he who helped the directors find the last bodies of the tourists near the platform. Previously, it was believed that the platform under a layer of snow helped to find the Mansi Kurikov, allegedly it was he who discovered a strip of spruce branches near the ravine. But, here's what's surprising, by that time none of the Mansi were in the search area. Not a single Mansi is in any of the photographs of the discovery of the Platform and the last bodies. And what would they do there? They need to feed their families and herd the reindeer, they can't sit around searching for three months. The students changed because they needed to study, and the Mansi left because they simply needed to do housework. Recently, a direct participant in the search in May, Anatoliy Mohov, shared unique information: “- I arrived at the pass at the end of April. And the last four (Nikolay Thibeaux-Brignolle, Lyudmila Dubinina, Semyon Zolotaryov, Aleksander Kolevatov. - Author) were found by our group. It was May 5. That day we were supposed to fly home. We were waiting for a helicopter. And we decided to walk along the pass for the last time. As if to say goodbye to Dyatlov’s group. When we had already descended into the lowland of the Lozva tributary, radio operator Egor Nevolin called us over. Look, he said, the needles from the fir trees have melted out forming a path. And they really looked as if someone had dragged spruce branches along this place. Then Colonel Artyukov came up and said: "Go have lunch, and then we’ll start digging" (Mohov).

So it turns out that when they were about to wrap up the search, an ordinary radio operator Nevolin suddenly appears on the scene and points out exactly where to look for the flooring. Experienced tourists, forensic experts, and experts paid no attention, but the radio operator-geologist turned away from the radio, climbed out of the tent and immediately pointed out exactly where to look. Miracles, and nothing more! But we will not believe in miracles, everything was much more trivial. The directors understood that if the bodies were not found on March 5 and the search was wrapped up, then they would have to resume it soon when the snow began to melt. And then a multitude of dangerous evidence and finds would inevitably come to light, starting with tracks in the snow that would appear when the snow melted and lead straight to Otorten. And the Authorities demanded that the high-profile case be closed as soon as possible. That's when their agent Nevolin from the Special Department in Ivdel was given a coded order: check the place in the ravine again. Well, then it was a matter of technique and the Flooring was discovered, literally a few hours before all the searchers left the pass. That is why all the data in the fake criminal case must be checked again against the testimony of still living witnesses of those events.

Photo by Anatoliy Mohov. Students were not allowed to see the corpses - only the military. Not a single Mansi was there when the corpses were discovered. Standing in the white coat is Ivdel prosecutor Tempalov.

Anatoly Mokhov snapped a whole photo album and there are no Mansi anywhere, mostly military. But he told another important piece of information, that the students were not allowed near the corpses:

"- Did your group just observe?

- No, we made sleds out of skis to transport the bodies. But we were not allowed near the corpses. There was an investigator working there and military men. They put the bodies in sleeping bags, tied them to the sleds and took them up."

It turns out that the corpses were immediately covered in sleeping bags and taken away on sleds to the helipad. Why? After all, Tempalov or Ivanov were simply obliged to call the students to identify their classmates. Sign the protocol, check things, check watches for ownership... Nothing. No protocols or identification - do not allow students, immediately hide the bodies in sleeping bags! But the tip itself to the location of the last bodies was unexpectedly given by Yegor Nevolin, and for this invaluable information we are very grateful to Anatoliy Mohov.

To strengthen the version with a separate remote patrol of missile troops in that area, I will cite another extremely important eyewitness testimony. This is military medic Vladimir Senchenko, who worked for many years in the Ivdelsky district. Here is what he said in 2017: "In those years, military tests were conducted in the Ivdelsky district, missiles were tested. All the locals knew about it. They were often called fire snakes. When I lived in Maslovo, I saw 5-6 launches every winter. By the way, there were none in the summer. They were only conducted in the winter. Yes, everything was classified, but even the last losers knew that weapons were being tested in the north, including nuclear weapons... When I graduated from medical school, I was sent to Vizhay. But I didn’t make it to Vizhay, I worked in the settlement of First Northern. I was placed there with geophysicists, at least that’s how they were initially introduced to me. Supposedly they were making some maps and all that stuff. On weekdays, these people would disappear into the taiga, and on weekends they would relax in the settlement. One fine day, it was Monday and I had a day off, one of them, the youngest, stayed at the base. He was probably 25. He offered me a drink, I didn’t refuse, we sat down. I asked him why he didn’t go with everyone else. And then he started telling me. I won’t go, he said, not at all, how do you live here? He said it’s impossible to live here, there’s radiation everywhere. It turned out they weren't geophysicists. They walked around the taiga and collected all sorts of junk left over from the launches. I, he said, want to live. The next day he planned to go to their office, get paid and leave the village. Only when I came home after work the next day, I couldn’t get into the apartment. It turned out there was a shot. He locked himself in the room and shot himself. This instead of going home. Two guys came, took the body. Me for interrogation. I pretended to be, as we used to say, “a rag”... Let me remind you, the launches were mostly done in the evening. At least, it was at this time of day that local residents, including me, observed them most often in those years. At that time, Dyatlov's group was just setting up camp for the night. The second important point: all missiles were equipped with a self-detonation system during testing. The most secret part at that time was the rocket fuel, for better ignition, an oxidizer based on nitric acid was added to it. Therefore, the electronics blew up the fuel tank. The missiles were then flying at a low altitude, and Dyatlov's group was standing on a mountain. There is every reason to believe that we are dealing with a self-detonation of a missile that occurred close to them... It is a mistake to believe that a missile falls apart when it detonates. The missile body itself went a little further. According to the instructions, helicopter pilots took it away at the first opportunity, but no later than three days later. They, as a rule, flew after them. Large parts were assembled at the earliest opportunity, and small parts were assembled even before the 70s" (the original is no longer available, something similar is posted here).

Apparently, the residents of those places knew well about the missile tests in the Ivdelsky district and about the missile patrol in the First Northern- Ilich's base area. Apparently, the emergency descent of the missile and the radio-controlled detonation of the object became the possible causes of the terrible tragedy that happened to the Dyatlov group.

Some researchers sometimes kick back: where are these search teams? They must have helicopters, but no one has seen them in those places. I will quote the recollections of a resident of those places, the already mentioned Vizhaytsin Androssov: "That day we were waiting for an MI-4 helicopter with cargo. It was not there all day and only in the evening we heard the roar of the propellers. I automatically glanced at my watch - it was about 8 o'clock in the evening, and the question immediately arose: "Whose helicopter is this?" Civil aviation at that time of year flew only until 7 in the evening (helicopters). After some time we saw it - it was going in a zigzag and passed over us - everyone saw a star on the fuselage - belonging to the Ministry of Defense. Then it turned west of us and landed, even turning off the engine. They took off somewhere an hour later, which was clearly audible. Apparently, they were looking for something that fell from above." (Vinogradov).

So there were more than enough missiles, missile patrols, and military helicopters in those places.

Lozva in the area of ​​Ilicha base and Ilich's base itself (on the right)

The fishermen who took these photos never understood why this place was called Ilich's base. Well, thank God, why should they bother with our problems? The taimen were biting great.

List of the sportsmen who were at the site of the death of the Dyatlov group

It turns out that radio operator Nevolin was at the Pass before everyone else! With a radio! Does that happen in real life? It happens if Nevolin was part of a group that knew beforehand about the tent location and this group was stationed there in advance.