Is it true that the name "Molotov cocktail" was invented in the USSR?

In the blogs and in the media, a version is often found, according to which the Molotov cocktail was invented in the USSR, and named after one of the many years of state leaders Vyacheslav Molotov, who was responsible during the war for the production of bottles with incendiary mixture. We decided to check if this is so.

The version of the Soviet origin of the name “Molotov cocktail” can be found in several books dedicated to the armament of the times of the Great Patriotic War. For example, about that It is said In the book of Yuri Temirov “An Encyclopedia of Dungery. War ”:“ The current situation forced the State Defense Committee to resort to emergency measures. On July 7, 1941, he decides on the use of bottles with a combustible mixture in the fight against tanks. The soldiers christened this weapon “Molotov’s cocktail” (by the name of Vyacheslav Molotov - the then Deputy Stalin for the GKO). ” There is a similar interpretation and in book “Tanks of the Second World War. Anti -tank weapons of infantry - guns, grenades, grenade launchers. ” There, however, another version is presented in the notes. There is a story about Soviet history of the name and in Blogs.

In the Russian -speaking "Wikipedia»Versions of the origin of the name are listed one after another as equivalent. In other languages ​​- in particular, in English, French and Finnish there is no such thing. The first version says that the “cocktail” was called the Finnish military during the war with the USSR 1939-1940. The second - that the bottles of incendiary mixture were made in the Soviet Union and informally named after the deputy chairman of the GKO.

The Soviet version was confirmed by Molotov himself. In the 1980s, the former chairman of the Soviet Government (Council of People's Commissars) talked with the art of Yuri Bychkov. This episode is later Entered In the Book of Bychkov "In the front line." Molotov said the following: “I do not remember the name of the inventor, but the fact is that from the first days of the war, bottles of incendiary mixture that inflicted great damage began to be used against enemy tanks. As a member of the State Defense Committee, I signed a decree on the mass production of such shells and followed the progress of its execution. ” And then Molotov already spoke directly about the name: “Enemy intelligence worked well, however. This Germans nicknamed the bottles with the incendiary mixture “Molotov cocktail” - therefore, the leakage of information from the government is evident. ”

In the USSR, from the very beginning of the war, bottles with an incendiary mixture of the Constitutional Court were produced from the very beginning of the war. On July 7, 1941, the GKO adopted a resolution “On anti -tank incendiary grenades (bottles)”, the capacity was supposed to provide the People's Commissariat of the Food Industry. And Vyacheslav Molotov then actually held the post of deputy head of the GKO. But the technique and the name appeared much earlier.

Finding the discoverer of bottles with an incendiary mixture is not easy. But they were widely used during the Civil War in Spain of 1936-1939. And after that, during the Soviet-Finnish war, the bottles became famous.

In Finnish historiography, the discoverer of the Molotov cocktail They think Captain Eeri Kuitinenen. Back in 1937, he adapted the Spanish weapon to the weather conditions of Finland. To a bottle filled with a combustible mixture, storm matches were wrapped, capable of burning a minute after fire. In 1939, the innovation of Captain Kuitinenen was useful: on November 30, Soviet troops invaded Finland. The production of bottles was put on the stream, under this was Resurpted One of the largest vodka factories.

But why Molotov? In 1939, Vyacheslav Molotov was responsible for the foreign policy of the USSR and held the post of People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs, combining him with the post of chairman of the Council of People's Commissars. He signed a pact with Hitler Germany, he negotiated secret protocols to the pact, he was the face of the USSR in the international arena and the personification of state propaganda. December 4, a few days after the start of the war, Molotov declared League of Nations: "The Soviet Union is not at war with Finland and does not threaten the war of the Finnish people." Molotov assured that the USSR, on the contrary, helps Finland and concluded an agreement on mutual assistance and friendship (meant the puppet government of Finland, delivered by Moscow).

For Finland, it was Molotov who became a symbol of aggression. So, Bombs RRAB-3, equipped with cassette ammunition, the Finns began to be called the "bread baskets of Molotov."

Term appeared In February 1940, he referred to Molotov’s statement about “humanitarian goods”, which the USSR seemed to drop into Finnish cities. But Molotov cannot find such a quote, this is most likely a city legend. Apparently, we are talking about the same letter to the League of Nations. In addition, one of the main resistance songs was Njet Molotoff, which said the lies of the Soviet leader, and he himself was preparing an unenviable fate

In this context, the phrase “Molotov cocktail” appeared. The use of the term can be traced by Swedish press 1940: From January, the name is found in the newspapers constantly. Thus, the name of Molotov with an incendiary mixture was dubbed long before the start of the Great Patriotic War and the appointment of Vyacheslav Molotov by the deputy chairman of the GKO. And this name was not at all complimentary. As for the memories of Molotov himself, it is unlikely that they can be trusted. Perhaps the veteran of Soviet politics, which by that time was over 90, forgot some details. Or decided to maintain a convenient myth for himself.

Thus, there is no doubt that in the USSR bottles with incendiary mixture were produced. But the name "Molotov cocktail", like the similar bottles themselves, appeared earlier, and it was invented by the Finns during the war of 1939-1940.

Photo on the cover: social networks

Not true

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