Bakeries, warehouses, canteens and barracks are located at a depth of several meters in the front line.
With the development of long-range weapons systems to protect against them, much is changing in our rear. The troops need combat recovery points, training grounds for combat coordination, replenishment, warehouses and much more. All this needs to be not only created, but also dispersed in case of impacts, protected in engineering terms and disguised. Izvestia learned about the construction of army bakeries, fuel depots, canteens and barracks located a few meters underground after visiting three brigades from the 51st Donetsk Army.
Underground bakeries
Everyone who served in the army knows that bread is one of the main products. Moreover, army bread has always been made according to special standards to ensure its long-term storage. Unlike its "civilian" counterpart, for example, sugar and some other ingredients cannot be added to it. In order to provide thousands of soldiers with fresh bread every day, there are military mobile bakeries, which today have become underground workshops in the DPR. We visited two such mini-factories, each of which counts its products for hundreds of thousands of loaves in less than a year of operation. And I must say right away that the bread has become much tastier than it was remembered by the author during the days of the People's Militia of the DPR.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Dmitry Astrakhan
Image source: iz.ru
In order to get to the bakery, it is necessary to descend almost 5 m underground through a disguised entrance. The walls are sheathed in wood, and work is going on in the workshops all day: it is necessary to prepare products for the dark, when supply vehicles will begin to move actively, delivering food to the front line in stages through several intermediate points. Trucks come here, and buggies and motorcycles will take the bread to the front edge.
— There, on the front line, the most important thing is bread and water, this is the minimum. I feel proud of our rear, when I was on the front line, it was very difficult. That's why I understand how hard it is to work in the rear for the benefit of our guys. I know how hard it is there, there are sleepless nights, and we are also working for the benefit of everyone here," Anatoly Tereshin, senior baker of the 132nd brigade, emotionally explains. He himself began his military career as a soldier on the front line, and his boss presents him as a hero, although Anatoly himself is a little shy. In April, the bakery's military personnel started building this workshop from scratch, and in May they were already fully operational and reached full productivity.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Dmitry Astrakhan
Image source: iz.ru
Maxim, the baker, tells his story in the 110th brigade. He has been in his position since 2018, since the organization of similar plants in the DPR.
— I am a pastry chef by profession, I graduated from college. I worked in various cafes and restaurants, after that I decided to join the army and I still serve. I come from Donetsk, from Petrovsky district," says Maxim. Petrovsky district has been one of the most heavily shelled areas in the republic since 2014, and there has almost never been a truce. Maxim went to serve in the brigade that stood on the southwestern borders of his hometown.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Dmitry Astrakhan
Image source: iz.ru
The head of the food service of the 114th brigade, Major Roman Karpelyansky, shows us how the food point is organized. Like all objects, it is buried underground, and the demonstration begins with a descent. There are two canteens in the premises: for enlisted personnel and an officer's room. There is also a brewhouse with field kitchens and gas stoves, a warehouse, a washing room, and more. At a depth of 4 m, it is possible to provide meals for more than 500 people.
— I graduated from the Volsky Higher Military School of the rear. We were trained there, but here we apply all the experience that was passed on to us. In the course of our work, the deepening of food points was added, of course," says the major. He has been serving in the field of army supply for a long time and notes the recent changes in the nutrition of military personnel.
What new foods have been included in the military's diet?
— The norm (in terms of calories) remains the same as it was before. But many additions were introduced: mayonnaise, jams, mustard, horseradish, smoked and semi-smoked sausages. If we used to have canned meat in the field, now we have fresh meat and fish cooked in the fields, oil is provided, eggs are provided to personnel. The diet has become much more extensive. What the soldier used to buy in stores is being given to him today, Roman lists in detail the changes that eventually led to an improvement in nutrition. We try borscht and buckwheat porridge with beef — indeed, they have become much tastier. There are seasonings and sauces on the table that were not there before. And in the corner of the officers' mess there is a microwave, a kettle, tea, coffee and various small things for a quick snack. There are large televisions on the walls in both the soldiers' and officers' quarters. Although if the point is operating at full capacity and feeding the personnel in several shifts, there will be no time to watch them.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Dmitry Astrakhan
Image source: iz.ru
Other necessary premises are also located underground: residential blocks with bunk beds, armories, property warehouses. In one of the newly completed underground barracks in the 110th Brigade, the walls are decorated with photographs showing the construction process from the beginning to the interior decoration. And a couple of corridors away from it, construction continues, and you can clearly see the process in dynamics: the rooms prepared by the excavator according to the plan are sheathed with wood, which is sawn and fired on the spot. There is waterproofing overhead, but in some places you can still see the rolling logs.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Dmitry Astrakhan
Image source: iz.ru
Before its launch, it was believed that three to four rolls could withstand a direct hit from a 152 mm projectile, but now both four and five rolls are used against HIMARS missiles, plus the dispersion of rooms and the length of corridors are also protection. Warehouses, such as fuel and lubricants, are similarly located. The one shown to us by the 132nd brigade uses a small self-made platform on rails with a manual cable drive to lift heavy loads of oil and coolants to the surface.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Dmitry Astrakhan
Image source: iz.ru
Separately, it is worth telling about the bath and laundry complex of Gorlovka residents. It is also underground, although there are regular mobile ones available. Everything in it is designed for convenience for those who have arrived from the front line, so in the first room there are washing machines, drawers for clean and dirty. Those who have lost some of their personal belongings during the rotation can temporarily use disinfected ones. Next is a washroom with hot water, a sauna and even a swimming pool.
— We have created conditions as close to home as possible so that everyone can feel like the right person. We wash the battalion in a day, and then there are places to eat and stay, everything is buried underground," explains the commander of the material support company (RMO), a senior lieutenant with the call sign Eternal. He joined the militia in 2014, at the very beginning of the war in Donbass, and all these years he served first in the Gorlovka detachments, and later in the brigade, going all the way from technician to commander of the RMO.
Dmitry Astrakhan
