I have already expressed my opinion about the participation of the military in the tragedy associated with the death of the Dyatlov group. Rather, he expressed doubts that the military were involved in this in the article “The Dyatlov Group. My opinion on the role of the military in this matter."
But disputes with me continue and the main argument is the version of Alexander Kas. Allegedly, he convincingly proves that the group died at the hands of a special VOKhR detachment, which was part of the military unit guarding the Ivdellag branch.
Well, let's try to understand this evidence.
In the thirtieth chapter of his story, Cas lays out in detail how everything was in his opinion. It all starts with a failed test of the Tempest intercontinental cruise missile. According to Kas, it was a similar rocket that flew into the area of Mount Otorten and fell due to a technical malfunction.
Let's start with the rocket.
The Tempest intercontinental missile was launched from a test site near Akhtubinsk. In order for the rocket to hit the area of Mount Otorten, it had to be launched towards the North Pole, because the launch towards Novaya Zemlya took the rocket far to the west. About three hundred kilometers.
Promotional video:
I roughly marked the location of Mount Otorten on the map.
Of course, such a deviation can be admitted, but in this case, firstly, the missile must self-destruct, and secondly, isn't the deviation too large for 1959? Do not forget that in 1957 the first satellite of the Earth was launched into space. That is, there are clear successes in the field of rocketry. With such deviations of hundreds of kilometers, the Soviet Union was hardly able to launch something into space. But were the first Soviet cruise missiles really launched in this direction?
There is a table showing launch dates and test results.
From this table we can see that the first successful flight of the Tempest rocket took place on March 29, 1959. The rocket flew 1,315 kilometers. This was the first flight with such a range. The question arises: if this rocket was launched towards Novaya Zemlya, where did it fall? To which settlement in Tatarstan or Bashkiria? Given the population of these places, 90% should have fallen on residential buildings. Or self-destruct in the sky above them.
And where did the rocket launched on April 19, 1959, which flew 1766 kilometers, fell? After all, to Novaya Zemlya from the landfill, the straight line distance is about three thousand kilometers. Hopefully in the places where these missiles fell, the settlements were cleared? After all, there will be tens of thousands of witnesses who will suddenly be told about the fall of this rocket. Suddenly they see the wreckage.
But the most remarkable thing is that there were no launches on February 2. The only launch in February is marked on the 20th. But then the rocket did not even start. This rocket was launched later on April 19 after replacing the accelerator. By the way, in terms of range, it just flew the required distance to Mount Otorten.
Then there was a launch in October and the rest of the launches were carried out along the Great Highway, that is, towards Kamchatka.
Here vague doubts creep into my mind: maybe the previous launches were in this direction? After all, it is much safer in every sense to direct the rocket towards the steppes of Kazakhstan. And it's much easier to look for the wreckage if something happens. The probability of hitting a settlement is extremely small.
So I think the Tempest cruise missiles were not fired in the direction of Novaya Zemlya at all. And therefore, the probability of its fall a few kilometers from Otorten is practically zero.
This circumstance puts an end to Kas's version. But I will still consider hypothetical options with the fall of the rocket and the participation of VOKHR in this case.