SMERSH - Counterintelligence Counter-Intelligence
SMERSH military counterintelligence was established in the Soviet Union in 1943. Only after years of 70 years, with many operations carried out by counterintelligence, was removed the "top secret".
The main task of this unit was not only to counter the German Abwer, but also to introduce Soviet counterintelligence officers to the highest echelons of fascist Germany and intelligence schools, destroy sabotage groups, conduct radio games, and fight against traitors to the Motherland. It should be noted that the name of this special service was given by I.Stalin himself. Initially, there was a proposal to name the SMERNESH division (that is, “death to German spies”), to which Stalin declared that there was a lot of spies on other Soviet states and that they also had to fight against them, so it’s better to call the new body SMERSH. His official name was the counterintelligence department SMERSH of the NKVD of the USSR. By the time the counterintelligence was created, the battle of Stalingrad was left behind, and the initiative in the conduct of hostilities began to gradually shift to the troops of the Union. At this time, the territories that were under occupation began to be freed, a large number of Soviet soldiers and officers fled from German captivity. Some of them were sent by the fascists as spies. Special departments of the Red Army and Navy needed reorganization, therefore they were replaced by SMERSH. And although the unit has existed for only three years, they still speak about it.
The work of counterintelligence to search for saboteurs and agents, as well as nationalists and former White Guards, was extremely dangerous and difficult. To systematize the work, special lists, collections and photo albums of those people who needed to be found were compiled. Later, in 1944, a collection of materials relating to German intelligence agencies at the front was published, and a few months later a collection on Finnish military intelligence was published.
Identifying agents who in the past rendered assistance to the fascists, but later surrendered, provided active assistance to the Chekists. With their help, we managed to identify a large number of saboteurs and spies who operated in the rear of our country.
The search and foreign intelligence was carried out by the 4 department of SMERSH, at the head of which was first Major General P. Timofeev, and later Major General G. Utekhin.
Official information states that from October 1943 to May 1944, Soviet counterintelligence officers were transferred to the enemy’s rear, 345 of them were recruited from German agents. After completing the assignments, the entire 50 agent returned. 102 intelligence officers managed to infiltrate enemy reconnaissance, from which 57 later returned, and 31 remained to carry out the task. In total, 26 of the enemy counterintelligence agent and 1103 official employees were identified during this period.
Below are examples of several successful operations conducted by SMERSH.
Junior Lieutenant Bogdanov, who fought on the 1-m Baltic Front, was captured in August 1941. He was recruited by German military intelligence officers, after which he underwent an internship at the Smolensk sabotage school. When he was transferred to the Soviet rear, he surrendered, and in July 1943, he returned to the enemy as an agent who had successfully completed the task. Bogdanov was appointed platoon leader of the Smolensk school of saboteurs. During his work, he managed to persuade saboteurs to cooperate with the Soviet counterintelligence officers 6. In October of the same 1943, Bogdanov along with the 150 students of the school were sent by the Germans to perform a punitive operation. As a result, the entire personnel of the group went over to the side of the Soviet partisans.
Beginning in the spring of 1941, information from Olga Chekhova, a famous actress who was married to Anton Chekhov’s nephew, began to arrive from Germany. In 20's, he moved to Germany for permanent residence. Very soon, she gained popularity among Reich officials, becoming Hitler’s favorite and making friends with Eva Braun. In addition, his friends were the wives of Himmler, Goebbels and Goering. Everyone admired her wit and beauty. The ministers, Field Marshal Keitel, industrialists, gauleiters, and designers, repeatedly asked for help from her, asking her to put in a word before Hitler. And no matter what was discussed: the construction of rocket ranges and underground factories or the development of "weapons retaliation. " The woman wrote down all the requests in a small notebook with a gilded binding. As it turned out, not only Hitler knew about his content.
The information that Olga Chekhova transmitted was very important because it came “first hand” - the Führer’s inner circle, Reich officials. So, it became known from the actress about when exactly the attack would take place near Kursk, about how much military equipment was being produced, and about the freezing of the atomic project. It was planned that Chekhov would have to take part in the assassination attempt on Hitler, but at the very last moment Stalin ordered the interruption of the operation.
German intelligence officers could not understand where the leak occurred. Very soon, they went to the actress. Himmler volunteered to interrogate her. He came to her house, but the woman, knowing in advance about his visit, invited Hitler to visit.
The woman was arrested by SMERSh officers at the very end of the war, allegedly for harboring Himmler’s adjutant. At the first interrogation, she called the operational pseudonym - “Actress”. She was called to the reception, first to Beria, and then to Stalin. It is clear that her visit to the Soviet Union was kept in strict confidence, so she could not even see her daughter. After returning to Germany, she was provided with lifelong maintenance. The woman wrote the book, but did not say a word about her activities as a scout. And only a secret diary, which was discovered after her death, indicated that she really worked for the Soviet counterintelligence.
Operation Berezino was another successful operation that caused significant damage to enemy reconnaissance. In 1944, in the forests of Belorussia, around 2 of thousands of German soldiers, headed by Colonel Sherhorn, were surrounded. With the help of the saboteur Otto Skorzeny, Hitler's intelligence decided to turn them into a detachment of saboteurs who would act in the Soviet rear. However, for a long time the detachment could not be found, the three Abwehr groups returned with nothing, and only the fourth made contact with the surrounded ones.
For several nights in a row, German planes dumped the necessary cargo. But for the intended purpose, almost nothing came up, because instead of Colonel Sherhorn, who was taken prisoner, Colonel Maklyarsky, who looked like him, and state security major William Fisher were introduced into the squadron. After conducting a radio session with the “German colonel,” Abwehr ordered the detachment to wade into German territory, but not a single German soldier managed to return to his homeland.
It must be said that another of the most successful operations of the Soviet counterintelligence was the prevention of the assassination of Stalin in the summer of 1944. This was not the first attempt, but this time the Nazis prepared more thoroughly. The beginning of the operation was successful. The saboteurs Tavrin and his wife, a radio operator, landed in the Smolensk region, and, using a motorcycle, took direction to Moscow. The agent was dressed in the military uniform of the officer of the Red Army with orders and the Star of the Hero of the USSR. In addition, he also had “ideal” documents from the head of one of the SMERSH departments. To avoid any questions at all, especially for the “major” in Germany, the Pravda number was printed in which an article about awarding it with the Star of a Hero was placed. But the leadership of the German intelligence service did not know that the Soviet agent had already managed to report on the impending operation. The saboteurs were stopped, but the patrol officers did not immediately like the behavior of the “major”. When asked where they were going from, Tavrin called one of the remote settlements. But it rained all night, and the officer himself and his companion were completely dry.
Tavrina was offered to go to the guardhouse. And when he took off the leather jacket, it finally became clear that he was not a Soviet major, because during the “Interception” plan for the capture of saboteurs, a special order was issued regarding the procedure for wearing awards. The saboteurs were neutralized, and a radio station, money, explosives and weapons, which until now no one from the Soviet military had been seen, were removed from the motorcycle carriages.
It was a Panzerknack, a miniature grenade launcher, which was developed in the laboratory of the General Directorate of State Security of Germany. He could easily fit in the sleeve of his overcoat. In addition, Tavrin was also a powerful explosive device as a backup option, which was placed in the portfolio. In the event that it was not possible to make an attempt on the first try, Tavrin planned to leave the portfolio in the meeting room. During interrogations, he confessed everything, but this did not help him. Later the saboteur was shot.
Radio games that were conducted by the Soviet special services on the air are also well known. Conducting such games with the enemy on the radio gave an excellent opportunity to supply German headquarters with disinformation. In total, 183 radio games were conducted during the war. One of the most famous and successful was the radio game Aryans. In May, 1944, near the Kalmyk settlement of Utta, landed an enemy aircraft with 24 German saboteurs on board. Fighters were sent to the landing area. As a result, managed to capture prisoners 12 paratroopers, saboteurs. During a follow-up radio game, 42 radiograms containing misinformation were transmitted to Berlin.
SMERSH existed until 1946. After the war, military counterintelligence again became part of various special services: first the MGB, and then the KGB. But even now the work of SMERSHEVs during the war years is admirable and admirable.
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