Operation Aryans: SMERSH v. Abwehr
In early September, 1943, Adolf Hitler learned of the surrender of fascist Italy, which was the main ally of the Germans. Benito Mussolini himself was arrested. Hitler ordered the occupation of Italian territory, as well as develop a plan for the liberation of the Italian leader. However, all these operations cannot be compared with the actions that the fascists planned to conduct in the East. Developed by the best agents of Nazi Germany - specialists from the Abwehr. If the operation had been successful, the Soviet Union could well have disappeared from the face of the earth ...In the 1944 year, 23 in May, the Soviet surveillance, warning and communication troops discovered near the village of Utta, which is located in the Astrakhan region, an enemy heavy-duty aircraft, which threw a saboteur 24 into the Soviet territory led by German intelligence officer Eberghard von Scheller. This group was entrusted with the task of preparing a base in Kalmyk territory with the subsequent transfer of 36 squadrons of a subunit called “Kalmyk corps of Dr. Doll” there. Sending saboteurs to Kalmykia was engaged in the German reconnaissance "Valley I". The aim of the saboteurs was to organize an uprising among the local population.
The group included a 4 radio operator, 19 sabotage agents and a 7 man from the crew. It was headed by Captain Abwehr Quast, also known by the name of von Scheler. Immediately after disembarking, he sent 9 group members to search for horses, and he himself sent a telegram about a successful landing.
On the same day, our troops, with the help of 4 Hurricane airplanes, departing from Stalingrad, the transport of saboteurs, the U-290 aircraft, was destroyed.
The saboteurs tried to escape in a westerly direction, but they managed to intercept them. NKGB and NKVD killed 2 Kalmyk, 3 German, 1 Azerbaijani, 1 Ossetians, captured 12 group members led by Scheler. Another 14 man was wanted.
From the report submitted to the People's Commissar of the NKVD L.P. Beria, the head of SMERSH V.S. Abakumov and the People's Commissar of the NKGB V.N. Merkulov, it follows that the sabotage group arrived to create a powerful radio center, organize further transfer of saboteurs, as well as establish communication with local gangsters. It was assumed that Dr. Doll would lead the rebellion.
In addition, the report made proposals for the start of a radio game with the Nazis in order to call and destroy two more enemy aircraft with saboteurs.
After the interrogation of prisoners, the Soviet intelligence received additional information on the progress of the operation in this area. So, captain Kvast said that the first two groups, which landed in May 1944, were tasked with establishing links with local rebel groups and ensuring the protection of the main radio station. Each member of the group was armed with one machine gun with two disks, three hand grenades, and also a harness for horses and full uniforms. In addition, one Maxim machine gun, 16 rifles and two light machine guns were allocated to each group. Everything weapon It was Russian. It was supposed to arrive in 4 of the day, that is, the 27 of May, along with 10 thousands of cartridges for machine guns in ribbons, 15-20 thousands of cartridges for machine guns, 10 thousands of cartridges for rifles, as well as several boxes with hand grenades, medicines and dressings, 60 kilograms of tobacco products for 100 days. The assignment was personally assigned by Major Brown, Chief of the Department of Valley I, and Major Cybard, Head of the 1 X Group.
Moreover, during the interrogations, it was possible to obtain equally important information about the existence of the secret special forces "Luftwaffe" "KG-200", which was to ensure the implementation of sabotage and reconnaissance missions. Even before the start of the war, this compound had a special group that was engaged in aerial photography of European territories. At that time, the Luftwaffe was armed with the FW-200 aircraft, which were also called the Condors, as well as the U-86. During the war years, new types of equipment entered the armament of the department, among which was the Junkers-290 bomber, which could simultaneously carry out approximately 100 paratroopers over long distances.
The Soviet command decided to use the fact that Scheler had time to transmit a telegram about a successful landing, as well as the fact that the information about the task had become known, ciphers, radio operators and equipment were captured. The military counterintelligence knew exactly that the German command did not know anything definite about the fate of the group. Based on this, it was decided to start a radio game with the German Abwehr on behalf of the saboteurs who were captured. It was also taken into account the fact that the Germans did not know anything about the movement of Kalmyks into Soviet territory. According to the decision of the Soviet government, Scheller himself and Ober-Lieutenant Ganzen, a radio operator of the German plane, under the alias of Beard and Colonizer, were involved in the radio game.
In the course of the radio game, SMERSH was entrusted with the task of observing possible overflights of enemy aircraft. At the same time, it was reported that the Germans had begun to transfer their agents from Romania on four planes to the territory of Kalmykia and Kazakhstan.
This radio game was named “Aryans” and was conducted by the 3 department of the SMERSH GUUK from two settlements in the Astrakhan region - Enotaevsk and Yashkul. The entire operation took place from May 29 to August 20 1944. In the first radiograms, misinformation about the situation in Kalmykia was transmitted, it was said that the conditions for the work of saboteurs were favorable, and it was also reported that the group had established links with Kalmyk partisans who remained in the rear.
The first radiogram was transmitted already on 30 May. It said on behalf of Kvasta that the U-plane was destroyed, but it was possible to save the equipment. It was reported about the dead, as well as there was a request not to take any action yet. However, the very next day the Germans sent a U-290, which for some time gave light signals flying over the landing area. The Soviet military decided not to take any action.
German aircraft returned to base. Thus, the first goal was achieved - the Germans believed that their group was successfully working in the Soviet rear. This is confirmed by the radiograms received the next day.
Meanwhile, the radio game was gaining momentum. The Soviet counterintelligence continued to "inform" the fascists about the "successes" of the sabotage group, that it had established contact with five small gangster groups, as well as with the Ogdonov detachment. They also transmitted the location of the group and asked for help.
After similar reports of 12 June, a German U-290 aircraft appeared in the area of the operation, which landed paratroopers, dropped cargo and landed in a previously prepared trap. A battle ensued, during which the aircraft caught fire. Three pilots died, and three more managed to escape and hid for three days. Since during the flight the pilots could transmit a radiogram of problems, the Soviet intelligence officers decided to report on interference in the air. And then they transmitted the information that the plane had not arrived. This caused some wariness among the representatives of the Abwehr, so they proposed a new encryption.
In order to demonstrate the activities of saboteurs to search for the "lost" aircraft, information was transmitted that "U-290" had an accident. A little later, Soviet intelligence officers reported that in the detachment more and more often there was discontent due to the lack of food. The Abwehr management suggested changing the place of deployment. In the response radiogram, a message was sent that the group was moving to the area of the Ogdonov gang and therefore interrupts the connection for five days. 6 July communications have been resumed. And in each radiogram, the squad Kvast demanded assistance and reported on the discontent of the group members. However, until August 14 there was no help. In order not to cause unnecessary suspicion among the Germans, the Soviet intelligence officers decided to stop the radio game. Therefore, 13 of August was given an encryption from Quast, in which he said that Ogdonov was defeated, the Kalmyks no longer want to help, and Quast himself was sent to Germany to receive assistance.
During the Aryans operation, the Soviet counterintelligence sent 42 encryption and received 23 in response. Two U-290 aircraft were destroyed, two of the most powerful aircraft engines were captured in good condition. 33 man was killed. But the main success of the operation lay in the fact that the Soviet counterintelligence was able to foil an attempt to organize the insurgency in the Soviet rear.
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