EACH branch of the military sees war in its own way. The pilots are on top, the infantrymen are on the bottom. And from the point of view of a counterintelligence officer, war is full of spies and traitors. Nikolai Pavlovich GRIGORIEV (last name, first name and patronymic changed) saw both in abundance: he began the war on June 22, 1941 as an intelligence officer in the special department of the NKVD rifle battalion and ended on May 8, 1945 in Berlin with the rank of major in the Soviet military counterintelligence with with the creepy name SMERSH.
Anatomy of counterintelligence
NIKOLAI Pavlovich, who came up with this name - SMERSH?
They say that Stalin himself. Military counterintelligence SMERSH (<Смерть шпионам>!) was formed in April 1943. Before this, counterintelligence in the Red Army was carried out by special departments of the NKVD. But even after the reorganization, the senior intelligence officer of the regiment reported not to the regiment commander, but to the head of the SMERSH division.
Have you caught many spies?
Yeah, that's okay. At the beginning of the war, the Germans trained agents very poorly. They hoped for a lightning war and did not bother themselves with developing high-quality legends. Only after the defeat near Moscow did they begin to work against us with all their might. For example, the forgery of Soviet military documents was a very serious issue. The Red Army book was made even better than the real one. That is, the texture of the paper, the location of the text, the font - everything matched perfectly. But the paperclip, which in the Soviet document was made of simple iron wire, was made of stainless steel. This is where they made a mistake: the soldier is sweating, crawling on his belly on the wet ground. Naturally, after a few days our paper clip begins to rust and leaves marks on the paper. But the German one is not.
What else are spies on?<сыпались>?
A lot of things. One agent, thanks to his extraordinary culinary abilities, infiltrated all the way to the counterintelligence department of the rifle division. I had the task of collecting as much information as possible and crossing the front line. By the way, it was his talent for preparing amazingly tasty food in combat conditions that got him burned: I knew for sure that the wanted agent had worked as a cook in the best Moscow restaurant before the war.
Or there was another case: the Germans parachuted an agent to our rear, but for some reason they supplied him not with shag, which the entire army smoked, but with cigarettes. Cigarettes were an unprecedented luxury during the war, so they remembered him when he began to treat the local peasants. We first this agent<вычислили>, and then they took the whole group. And the group, by the way, was supposed to blow up a railway bridge in the front line.
In books about the war they often write that there were too many counterintelligence officers and special agents in the Red Army. How many of you were there really?
There were 3 counterintelligence officers in the rifle regiment. The division was supposed to have 21 people, including a chief and a deputy, a cryptographer, investigators and a commandant, plus a security platoon. There were approximately 400 SMERSH employees in the army. True, the training of most counterintelligence officers was so-so: a month-long course at the counterintelligence department of the front - and go ahead, catch spies.
Well, freelancers, who are usually<стукачами>And<сексотами>they called, how much did you have?
Of course, I had my own agents in the units. Officially, they were called informants and agents. The informants are those of a lower rank, with almost no qualifications. They gave mainly general information about the mentality of the unit. The agents were more prepared; they themselves carried out the investigation of persons suspected of espionage or treason. It would seem that this is a common practice of any counterintelligence. But in the field this is a terribly difficult matter!
According to the state, the department was required to have one informant. It turns out that there are 30 of them in the battalion. I’m waiting for reports from them, and then there’s an attack. By evening, half of my informants had already been killed. Replenishment arrives - and everything begins anew. I call you into my trench one by one. Moreover, you need to talk to as many soldiers as possible so that the others do not suspect anything. I can’t remember how many of them I recruited during the war. But the quality, of course, was low. Sometimes agents also ran over to the Germans!
Betrayal
Were there many defectors?
A lot of! Especially in the first years of the war, when the Germans were advancing. It happened that entire companies left, killing their commanders. Reconnaissance groups that were sent to the German rear also sometimes went over to the enemy. The escape from the forward guard was especially massive: two soldiers were sitting 50 meters ahead of our front line, and they were scared. The two of them could come to an agreement and leave together. Or one killed a comrade and ran over to the Germans alone. Another problem was with fellow countrymen who were drafted into the army from the same village or region. It was easier for them to come to an agreement with each other and commit group treason. They find a German pass leaflet and begin to prepare. SMERSH, of course, was hunting for leaflets and those who read them. But the Germans began to design them as... Soviet party cards with a red cover!
What was the threat to the soldier who was found with the leaflet?
If they were caught red-handed while trying to run over to the enemy, they were tried, shot or imprisoned. And if there was simply a signal that such and such a fighter had seen a leaflet, they would send him to the rear. Then the soldiers got wind of this and deliberately began to have the following conversations:<Да, твою мать, кормят плохо, вчера водки не было, я к немцам убегу!>You can’t bring all such talkative people under the article - there were many of them. So, out of sin, we had to send them away to the rear. And this is all they need:<Спасибо СМЕРШУ, что жив остался!>
SMERSH also fought with crossbows. It’s a simple matter: you put your hand above the trench and you’re hooked. Go to the rear for 10 days. What is 10 days, you ask? This happens a lot in war. Perhaps your chance to stay alive. Therefore, there were many self-shooters. Including those who actually shot themselves. At first, not everyone knew that when fired at point-blank range, powder gases remain on clothing. Then they started shooting through a wet rag or through a flask of water. Sometimes they agreed:<Ты в меня стрельнешь, а я в тебя>. If they were caught, they were either shot or sent to a penal company.
Today marks the 75th anniversary of the creation of the legendary state security agency of the USSR, the military counterintelligence "Smersh", which is considered perhaps the most effective intelligence service of the Great Patriotic War, which made an invaluable contribution to the victory.
According to historians of the special services, the main achievement of the Smersh counterintelligence is that not a single Red Army operation was disrupted due to the actions of enemy intelligence services.
Not a single strategic plan of the Soviet command became known to the enemy. In addition, there was not a single anti-Soviet protest either in the ranks of the Red Army or in its rear, which was so hoped for in Germany.
In fact, thanks to the creation of Smersh in the Soviet Union during the war, a clearly working system was built to counter the mechanism of reconnaissance and sabotage created by the Nazis and perfected for many years in different countries.
In April 1943
The creation of Smersh in the spring of 1943 was dictated by the events that had occurred by that time on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War. First of all, it was about changing the strategic situation in favor of the Red Army. It was clear that now she would go forward and liberate areas of the country previously captured by the Wehrmacht.
But by that time, the German special services had already managed to create in the occupied territory not only their own agencies, including special schools, sabotage centers, but also their own network of agents. This created the threat of terrorist attacks and sabotage in the rear of the Red Army, which could disrupt or at least slow down its offensive operations.
Another argument in favor of creating a new structure was, according to historians of the special services, the need for prompt transfer of information about the state of affairs in the active army, especially during the preparation and conduct of major operations, directly from military counterintelligence to the Chairman of the State Defense Committee of the USSR, People's Commissar of Defense Joseph Stalin.
The creation of the new body took place under the direct control of Stalin. Various options for reorganizing military counterintelligence were brought to his attention, but the head of state did not approve any of them. According to historians of the special services, Stalin understood that in the current conditions it was impossible to separate the leadership of the Red Army and the state security agencies.
At a special meeting on this issue, Stalin advocated separating military counterintelligence from the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs (NKVD) and giving it a special status and functions precisely as the Main Counterintelligence Directorate (GUKR) of the People's Commissariat of Defense.
The history of the name “Smersh” is curious.. Even before the final decision was made to create a new structure, the first Deputy People's Commissar of Internal Affairs, Vsevolod Merkulov, proposed calling it “Smerinsh,” which stood for “Death to Foreign Spies.” But Stalin corrected this phrase, removing the word “foreign” from it, and this was the right decision, since counterintelligence officers had to work not only against the intelligence services of Germany and its satellites (Romania, Hungary, Finland and others), but also against the gangster underground in Ukraine, in the Baltic states and the North Caucasus.
And on April 19, 1943, a resolution of the Council of People's Commissars formalized the creation, on the basis of the Directorate of Special Departments of the NKVD, of the Main Counterintelligence Directorate "Smersh" of the NPO of the USSR and the Counterintelligence Directorate "Smersh" of the People's Commissariat of the Navy. State Security Commissioner of the second rank Viktor Abakumov was appointed head of the GUKR "Smersh" NPO. At the same time, the Counterintelligence Department “Smersh” of the NKVD was created, which ensured the security of the work of the People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs.
The main tasks of Smersh were the fight against espionage, sabotage, terrorist and other activities of foreign intelligence services in units and institutions of the Red Army; ensuring the impenetrability of the front line for intelligence officers and intelligence agents of the enemy; prevention of betrayal and treason in army units and institutions, desertion and self-mutilation at the fronts; filtration work to check military personnel and other persons who were captured and surrounded by the enemy.
In addition, Smersh had to promptly identify facts that could negatively affect the conduct of military operations, including shortcomings in the planning of combat operations, as well as in providing active army and navy units with equipment, weapons, food and uniforms.
Neutralize saboteurs
The high efficiency of Smersh’s activities in neutralizing enemy intelligence officers, saboteurs and their agents is evidenced by the following figures: if by the middle of the Great Patriotic War in the front-line zone, military counterintelligence identified and detained up to 60% of such persons, then by 1945 this number increased to 85%. . Of course, this did not mean at all that the remaining agents reached their intended targets, it was just that “Smersh” was the primary “sieve” for catching them, after which counterintelligence came into action behind the lines of the Soviet troops.
This work of “Smersh” is most vividly described in what is considered by experts to be the best book on military counterintelligence, “The Moment of Truth (In August '44...),” written by Vladimir Bogomolov.
As the Red Army carried out one offensive operation after another in 1944-1945, the enemy’s reconnaissance and sabotage stations, as well as the armed nationalist detachments they supported, remained in its rear. All of them became, essentially, a new enemy for the Smershevites.
Since the beginning of May 1945, the front-line departments of Smersh conducted intelligence and counterintelligence work in the liberated territories of Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria.
In total, during the war, Smersh neutralized over 30 thousand Nazi intelligence agents, more than 3.5 thousand saboteurs and 6 thousand terrorists.
Behind-the-front operations
“Smersh” operated not only on Soviet territory, counterintelligence officers carried out active work behind the front, infiltrating enemy reconnaissance and sabotage schools, as well as parts of the Wehrmacht. For this purpose, during the war, over 3 thousand military counterintelligence employees and agents were sent behind Nazi lines. Until now, not all such Smersh operations have been classified as classified.
Of those operations that have become known, the introduction of Smersh agent Alexander Kozlov into the German intelligence school Saturn is considered a great success. Working there for two years, Kozlov transferred data on almost two hundred German spies to Moscow.
As the head of the Saturn training unit, Kozlov was involved in compromising the most pro-Nazi cadets of the school and contributed to their expulsion. Kozlov persuaded a number of cadets to switch to the Soviet side after being transferred to the USSR. That operation formed the basis for the famous Soviet feature films “The Path to Saturn” and “The End of Saturn.”
Radio game aces
From the point of view of supporting the offensive operations of the Red Army, the work of Smersh in disinformation of the enemy regarding the plans of the Soviet command was also extremely important. An outstanding page in the history of Smersh was the holding of radio games with the Nazis. In a general sense, we were talking about the use of German intelligence radio operators abandoned in the USSR and converted to imitate the activities of not only individual agents, but even entire intelligence networks, to purposefully transmit false information to the enemy and identify the intentions of his intelligence.
Each such radio game was a real manifestation of the operational art of counterintelligence officers, since it required not only the elaboration of all its nuances, but also the manifestation of psychological mastery.
In total, during the war, Soviet counterintelligence conducted up to 200 radio games with the enemy, about two-thirds of which were carried out by Smersh. The radio games turned out to be extremely successful; in many cases, the Germans did not suspect until the end of the war that they were dealing not with their own agents, but with Soviet counterintelligence.
Capture Hitler
On the eve of the Berlin offensive operation, special operational groups were created in Smersh according to the number of districts of Berlin, whose task was to search and arrest the leaders of the German government, primarily Hitler, as well as to establish storage facilities for valuables and documents of operational importance.
In May-June 1945, Smershevites discovered in the capital of the Third Reich part of the archives of the Main Directorate of Imperial Security, in particular, materials with information on the foreign policy of Nazi Germany and information about foreign agents. And although it was not possible to capture Hitler alive, Smersh helped capture prominent figures of the Nazi regime and punitive departments, some of whom were subsequently charged with committing crimes against humanity.
Refuting Myths
During perestroika and in the early 1990s, one of the most widespread myths was that Smersh was a punitive body that shot military personnel right and left without trial. Smershevites, in principle, could not sentence someone to prison, much less to death, since they were not judicial bodies. Such decisions were made by a military tribunal or a Special Meeting under the NKVD of the USSR.
The arrest of mid-level command staff by counterintelligence officers could only occur with the permission of the Military Council of the army or front, and senior and senior officers - only with the permission of the People's Commissar of Defense. Barrier detachments have never been created under the Smersh agencies, and military counterintelligence officers have never led them.
Another myth says that almost every soldier or officer of the Red Army who was in German captivity then ended up in a Soviet camp. This also has nothing to do with reality: of the 5.5 million “displaced persons”, including prisoners of war, who went through the filtering procedure, less than 60 thousand people were arrested, that is, about 1%.
Finally, the Smershevites were presented as people who allegedly sat in the rear of the advancing units of the Red Army. And this is not true - military counterintelligence officers, in addition to performing their direct duties, participated in battles and at critical moments even took command of companies and battalions that had lost commanders, led Red Army units out of encirclement, and created special-purpose partisan detachments.
Counterintelligence officers fought alongside Red Army soldiers, went on the attack with them and died in the same way. And the percentage of losses among Smersh employees was no less than in the army.
A major role in the truthful and historically accurate narration of those events is played by materials about the work of Smersh, based on documents from the archives of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation. These include, for example, materials from the 12-volume publication “The Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945” and the book “Smersh”. Historical essays and archival documents, “Smersh” on the way to Victory and the book “Smersh” published literally on the eve of the current anniversary. Jamming war.
Counterintelligence "Smersh" existed for three years, until 1946. She completed the tasks that were assigned to her. And the memory of the exploits of counterintelligence officers during the war years, their patriotism and devotion to duty still lives on.
In the spring of 1943, one of the most effective, controversial and mysterious intelligence services in the world was founded - the legendary SMERSH
After the failure of the Blitzkrieg, when the Wehrmacht suffered crushing defeats at Moscow and Stalingrad, Germany began desperately trying to turn the situation around with the help of a “secret war” - massive sabotage deep behind enemy lines.
Since November 1942, a network of intelligence schools was created throughout the Reich, training spies, demolitions, signalmen, and provocateurs for operations behind the front line. Well-trained physically, fanatically devoted to the ideas of Nazism, fluent in Russian and other languages of the peoples of the USSR, the terrorists of the Abwehr (German intelligence) were a formidable and cunning enemy, and the inaccessible forest and swampy areas of western Russia were ideal for basing mobile groups of militants. It seemed that a little more and the communications of the Red Army would be cut off.
Stop the "bastards"
The SMERSH organization is entrusted with the following tasks: A) the fight against espionage, sabotage, terrorism and other subversive activities of foreign intelligence services in units and institutions of the Red Army.<…>From the resolution of the Main Defense Committee of the USSR dated April 21, 1943. In September 1943, in the Moscow region and the recently liberated Voronezh and Kursk regions, SMERSH fighters discovered and detained 28 saboteurs dropped into the Soviet rear from airplanes. The terrorists had explosives with them that looked like pieces of coal. Such bombs were going to be thrown into coal piles at railway stations leading to the front line. The age of Abwehr pets ranged from 14 to 16 years. True facts, unfortunately, were reinterpreted by some publicists to the exact opposite: they say that the school for training young secret killers was a SMERSH project and was located in the USSR - several “masterpieces” of Russian cinema were even filmed on this topic. But we know how things really were.
"Berezina"
“...Our radio picked up the answer. First, a setup signal passed, then a special signal, which meant that our people got in touch without interference (a useful precaution: the absence of a signal would mean that the radio operator was captured and was forced to get in touch). And more great news: Scherhorn’s detachment exists...” Otto Skorzeny. Memoirs. SMERSH fighters were virtuosos of radio games - disinformation transmitted to the “center” on behalf of its agents allegedly operating behind enemy lines. On August 18, 1944, an Abwehr liaison officer, secretly located on the territory of Belarus, radioed: in the Berezina area, a large Wehrmacht detachment survived, miraculously avoiding defeat and taking refuge in a swampy area. The delighted command landed ammunition, food and radio operators at the specified coordinates. They immediately reported: indeed, the German unit, numbering up to two thousand, led by Colonel Heinrich Scherhorn, is in dire need of weapons, provisions and demolition specialists to continue the partisan struggle. In fact, it was a grandiose operation of our intelligence, code-named “Berezina,” with the participation of real German officers who went over to the side of the Red Army and portrayed the surviving regiment, and the paratroopers-liaison officers were immediately recruited by SMERSH, joining the radio game. Germany continued to provide air supplies to “its” detachment until May 1945.
Risky play on Bandura
According to the NKGB of the USSR, in the territory of Southern Lithuania and Western Belarus there is an underground organization of the Polish émigré government in London, the Zhondu Delegation, which has one of the main tasks of conducting operational reconnaissance in the rear of the Red Army and on front-line communications. To transmit information, Delagatura has short-wave radio transmitters and complex digital codes. Vladimir Bogomolov. "In August '44." In June 1944, near the city of Andreapol, SMERSH caught four newly abandoned German saboteurs. The leader and radio operator of the enemy detachment agreed to work for our reconnaissance and informed the Center that the penetration into enemy territory was successful. Reinforcements and ammunition required! The radio game of counterintelligence officers of the 2nd Baltic Front against Army Group North lasted for several months, during which the enemy repeatedly dropped weapons and new agents near Andreapol, who immediately fell into the possession of SMERSH.
An offer you can't refuse
SMERSH bodies have the right to use various special measures aimed at identifying the criminal activities of foreign intelligence agents and anti-Soviet elements. From the resolution of the State Defense Committee of the USSR dated April 21, 1943. Some publicists portray SMERSH as a repressive and punitive apparatus that put you to the wall for the slightest suspicion of treason. Which, of course, is far from the case. Yes, military counterintelligence agencies could carry out seizures, searches and arrests of military personnel. However, such actions were necessarily coordinated with the military prosecutor's office. What SMERSH officers were true professionals in was the further operational development of captured saboteurs, some of whom were Russian emigrants or prisoners of war, intoxicated by fascist propaganda. In 1943-45, 157 Abwehr messengers who came over to our side took part in SMERSH radio games. In May-June 1943 alone, 10 radio stations of converted agents were used to disseminate information about the positions of the Red Army in the Kursk Bulge area. So without counterintelligence, Victory could have come at a much higher price.
"Failures" of SMERSH
The false documents that the Nazis supplied their agents used a stainless steel clip. Such a paperclip was always clean, shiny, and did not leave any traces of rust on the sides of adjacent sheets. In authentic Red Army books, the paper clips were made of iron and always left rusty marks on the pages. L.G. Ivanov. "The truth about SMERSH." During all the radio games during the Great Patriotic War, about 4,000 German saboteurs were detained. SMERSH also had defeats. On February 29, 1944, Ukrainian nationalists from the UPA managed to mortally wound General Vatutin (who had liberated Kyiv six months earlier) - the military leader’s car was ambushed while inspecting the troops’ locations. During the war years, over 30 thousand terrorists and spies were sent to us, almost all of whom were caught or neutralized. This is the merit of the head of the Main Directorate of Counterintelligence (as SMERSH was officially called) - Viktor Semenovich Abakumov, who was later unfairly convicted and executed under Khrushchev.
One and a half truck for Goebbels
The information that Soviet intelligence officers obtained during World War II contributed to the military successes of the Soviets and represented the kind of material that is the ultimate dream for any intelligence agency Allen Dulles. The art of reconnaissance. On the eve of the capture of Berlin, SMERSH created task forces to search for and arrest the leaders of the Reich. The burnt corpse of Paul Joseph Goebbels, whose very name has become synonymous with intoxicating propaganda, was discovered by SMERSH officer Major Zybin. The body should have been delivered to Karlshost, where the SMERSH department of the 5th Shock Army was located. However, the major had only a small Opel at his disposal, in which it was simply dangerous to drive a corpse along the bombed pavements of Berlin: “It will shake you up, and you won’t know who you brought.” I had to allocate a lorry. It was SMERSH that guarded the most valuable documents, evidence and jewelry found in the basements of the Reich Chancellery. The only trophy that the fighters kept for themselves were food vitamins from Hitler’s personal supplies.
Immortality
“SMERSH means “Death to Spies.” Wikipedia. More than 6 thousand SMERSH soldiers and officers died during the war. Hundreds are missing. Four were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Posthumously. SMERSH also had the opportunity to protect those against whom it fought. Counterintelligence officers provided security during the signing of the Act of Unconditional Surrender of Germany. They also guarded Wilhelm Keitel on the road from Berlin to Karlshost, where the historical procedure was to take place: on the eve of May 9, shooting continued here and there in the capital of the defeated Reich; If something happened to the field marshal, there would be no one on the Wehrmacht’s side to sign the surrender. The legendary SMERSH was disbanded in the spring of 1946, forever remaining one of the most mysterious and most effective counterintelligence agencies in the world.
Memoirs of O.G. Ivanovsky is one of the rare books written by officers of the Soviet military counterintelligence “Smersh”. The author writes frankly about the attitude of the troops towards the Smershev security officers, about the methods of operational work of military counterintelligence at its initial level, about the battles, campaigns and raids of the cavalry regiment, in which he was an active participant.
Agent “Nobody”: from the history of “Smersh” Evgeniy Tolstykh
The book is written on the basis of documentary materials from the FSB archives on the history of Smersh. At the center of the novel are the fates and characters of people who found themselves on opposite sides of the visible and invisible front of the Great Patriotic War. The main character is a certain agent Maksimov-Kravchenko-Doronin. Who is he - an officer of Soviet intelligence agencies? Or an SD lieutenant awarded four military decorations of the Reich? It seems that analysts from many intelligence services have worked under his legendary biography...
SMERSH. Everyday life of a front-line counterintelligence officer.
Victor Baranov
Front-line counterintelligence officers, “SMERSH”... Their activities are shrouded in a dense veil of secrets, gossip and fiction, which the author of this book, who himself served for two years in SMERSH and knows first-hand about the work of the “special agents”, tried to reveal. As an active officer of the State Security Committee, V.I. Baranov did not have the right to publish an autobiographical work, but, although this book is not written in the first person, it is absolutely documentary, based on real events and specific facts from the operational work of military counterintelligence.…
The specifics of the work of the intelligence services and the habit of secrecy are incompatible with complete publicity - it is not surprising that SMERSH veterans are reluctant to give interviews and only in exceptional cases write memoirs: their memoirs are a rarity. And this book is among the best. During the Great Patriotic War, holding leadership positions in the GUKR NGO “Death to Spies!”, Dmitry Petrovich Tarasov personally participated in the best military counterintelligence operations that cleared our rear of German agents, and in unsurpassed “radio games” of strategic disinformation...
SMERSH. Stalin's Guard Vladimir Makarov
Unlike the overwhelming majority of modern books about SMERSH, which are a compilation of the same sources and endlessly retell long-known facts, this study is based on only recently declassified documents from the FSB Central Archive, many of which are being published for the first time. This is the true story of the confrontation between Soviet military counterintelligence and Hitler's powerful intelligence services. This is the truth about SMERSH’s secret war against the Third Reich, in which Stalin’s “wolfhounds” defeated the most seasoned saboteurs...
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O. Smyslov’s book is dedicated to one of the mysterious figures of the NKVD-MGB of the USSR, Viktor Semenovich Abakumov. Despite the fact that the KGB of the USSR ceased to exist, Abakumov’s case remains classified. His ascent through the highest ranks of the GPU-NKVD began during the Stalinist purges of the 1930s, when he served as one of L. Beria’s deputies. During the Great Patriotic War, Abakumov was the head of the Main Counterintelligence Directorate of the Red Army SMERSH. He controlled virtually the entire Soviet intelligence network. In October…
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No matter what the anti-Stalinist propaganda lies, the legendary SMERSH was not a branch of the underworld, and the military security officers were fiends of hell and demons in the flesh. Rather, military counterintelligence is comparable to Purgatory, through which hundreds of thousands of German prisoners of war and millions of Soviet citizens who escaped from the “cauldrons”, returning from enemy captivity and from forced labor passed through during the Great Patriotic War. Contrary to popular myths, SMERSH’s activities were not limited to forceful arrests with “swinging the pendulum” and shooting with both hands “Macedonian style”...
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Varyag, looking around Russia, has an enemy. However, he always had many enemies, but never something like this. Timofey Bespaly is a former SMERSH employee, then the head of a colony in Magadan, and now a dangerous lone wolf. He has beastly intuition, incredible combat skills and is ready to rip out the throat of anyone who stands in his way. Bespaly challenged Varyag, and the beholder accepted him, especially since not only the life of Varyag, but also the entire thieves' empire is under threat. The game has begun, but it is not yet known by whose rules...
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Summer 1943, Kursk salient, twelve days before the start of Operation Citadel. “Smersh” is engaged in a tense battle with enemy reconnaissance and sabotage groups operating in the rear of the Red Army. During one of the operations, a group of armed men dressed in Soviet uniforms is captured by Major Titov's detachment. The results of the interrogation are shocking. Titov and his comrades will have to deal not with German saboteurs, but with an absolutely incredible enemy. An enemy who simply intends to destroy all of humanity. Time...
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James Bond heads to France to neutralize the French politician Le Chiffre, the head of a large trade union and at the same time an agent of SMERSH. Having squandered a huge sum from the union treasury, Le Chiffre hopes to win at the casino with his last money in order to save his life and reputation. Agent 007 will enter the game with his next task: to ruin Le Chiffre and eliminate him from the political arena... All of England admires the multimillionaire who sponsors the Mooncracker ballistic missile project. True, quirky and shocking in its manners...
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After the defeat of the Nazis in mid-August 1943 at the Kursk Bulge, the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command sought to make the most of the victory achieved. The troops of the Central, Voronezh and Steppe Fronts received the task of liberating the left bank of Ukraine and, simultaneously advancing in the strip from Cherkassy to Poltava, reaching the Dnieper, immediately crossing it and seizing bridgeheads on the right bank of the river, thereby creating conditions for the liberation of the right bank of Ukraine. This operation, grandiose in concept, consisted of delivering several powerful strikes by forces from all 3 fronts in order to cut through the German defenses and prevent the enemy from consolidating along the lines of the Desna and Dnieper rivers.
On August 26, 1943, troops of the Voronezh Front delivered the main blow in the Sumy-Prilutsk direction, breaking through the massive enemy defenses to a depth of 30 kilometers. However, the further offensive faltered. Field Marshal Manstein figured out General Vatutin's plan and with a series of dagger counterattacks the Nazis managed to slow down the advance of the Red Army. Both sides tried to make maximum use of the short operational pause for their own purposes, bringing fresh reserve units to the front line and intensifying reconnaissance activities. Several Abwehr maneuver groups were sent to the front line in order to identify the dislocations of Soviet units and identify weak areas for a counteroffensive.
On a gloomy predawn morning, two shadows in German-style camouflage coats, camouflaged by branches and foliage, glided almost silently through the forest, vigilantly peering into the gloomy wilds and listening to every rustle. Swiping the flashlight beam across the dial, the short, stocky man gestured to his companion toward the deep ravine:
“Kurt, it’s almost time for the radio show.” It is urgent to inform the Center about the Russian tank group in the Krasnokutsk area.
Leaning close to the radio operator’s ear, the commander of the maneuverable reconnaissance group whispered:
- Just at the pace! The Bolsheviks have an excellent bearing service.
Nodding, Kurt began to unwrap the transmission. Carefully observing the practiced professional movements of his subordinate, German intelligence non-commissioned officer Alex Podolsky fidgeted impatiently at his “fifth point”, wanting to get out of this dangerous area infested with the enemy as quickly as possible. Having tapped out a message to the Abwehr, the radio operator hastily put the short-wave radio into a duffel bag and stared questioningly at the commander.
“Then we’ll go west, along the bed of the Merla River,” Podolsky muttered, checking the further route with the map.
— On its shore there is a camouflaged army observation and correction point. It is in this underground dugout that we will sit out the coming day. Let's hope that the hole survived and was not damaged by the bombing.
Peering into the cloudy sky, the non-commissioned officer muttered:
- Hmmm, it will soon begin to get light. We need to hurry up. Kurt, go first, and I'll clean up the traces of our stay in the ravine.
Having emerged from the ravine, the radio operator secretly rushed forward. But before he had time to cover even a few meters, the silence of the pre-dawn forest was destroyed by the crackling of breaking branches and a piercing cutting cry:
- Anxiety! Forest Satan!
The very next moment, jumping out of the bushes like a jack-in-the-box, the Red Army soldier fired deafeningly into the air and, continuing to scream inwardly, let go. In several powerful jumps, Alex covered the distance and, barely distinguishing the silhouette of a soldier weaving between the trees, shot him twice in the back. But the bullets did not reach the target, but only accelerated the fugitive.
- Blockhead! Idiot! Because of you, we are on the verge of failure! - bringing down angry curses on the head of the radio operator, Podolsky rushed about like a hunted animal!
- Why are you frozen, cretin?! Let's take our feet to the river!
Fiercely pushing Kurt to the side, the non-commissioned officer rushed into the thicket of the forest, carefully listening for the sound of pursuit. Only after sweeping along the floodplain of the shallow Merla for about a kilometer, Podolsky commanded “Halt!”
- And where did this crazy man come from?! It’s just a pity that he didn’t make a hole in your empty skull! – glaring at the crouched radio operator, the Abwehr man feverishly thought: “He definitely couldn’t notice me. At the time when this donkey began to shoot and squeal as if it had not been cut, I was still in the ravine.” Having let off steam and noticeably calmed down, Podolsky stretched his lips in a malicious grin:
- Keep your head up, Kurt, we’ll wrap the commissar’s scum around our finger! Let's play dark horse!
Raising his amazed eyes at the laughing commander, the radio operator just shrugged his shoulders, not understanding why he was happy and what kind of “dark horse” game this was.
The only thing Podolsky did not mention was the unsightly role of radio operator Kurt in this game. Alex borrowed the “dark horse” trick from Polish smugglers, who before the war often crossed the border in this cunning way: one person climbs on the back of another and in this way crosses the neutral zone, after which the “horse” immediately returns back. All the attention of the border guards is directed to his tracks, and the impromptu rider unhindered goes deep into the territory. When going on raids, Podolsky, just in case, preferred to take as partners strong, hardy guys who could be used as draft force. And during this outing, the smuggling trick came in handy.
The story is based on real events.
Early in the morning, an alarming group of military counterintelligence arrived at the location of the battalion, whose fighter discovered, as he claimed, the “forest shaitan.” Tatar Ildar Shirifulin, who arrived at the front with the latest reinforcements, waddled in front of the commander of the SMERSH group, Captain Zakarlyuk, not at all according to regulations. He could hardly restrain a smile from the awkward appearance of the Red Army soldier.
“Did you discover an enemy spy in the forest?” Why the hell were you hanging around away from your unit? — the military counterintelligence officer muttered, pinning Shirifulin with a gloomy look. In response, he blinked frequently and shook his head negatively:
- No, the national commander, I only saw the devil! The stewed pig was fatty and Ildar’s stomach became very bad. Often you need to go to sartire. And the sergeant screamed loudly: “It stinks,” she said, “Get away,” she said. So Ildara went into the forest.
With difficulty delivering this tirade, Shirifulin devotedly stared at the formidable officer. Listening to this nonsense, Zakarlyuka began to boil more and more:
- Why the hell did you run? Why were you given the rifle? Why didn’t you shoot the saboteur in the back?
“Why,” the Tatar repeated stupidly, which caused a new attack of indignation from the SMERSHevts.
“Ildar was very confused. Shaitan is scary.
Clenching his fists until he crunched and clenching his jaw so as not to yell at the dense Red Army soldier, Zakarlyuk with grief found out where exactly Shirifulin noticed the enemy spy and what he was wearing.
“It was very dark, and the forest spirit hit Ildar with fire.
Bulging his eyes filled with fear, the Tatar began to utter some kind of gibberish, pointing a calloused finger towards the river. Having sent the unfortunate warrior out of sight, the captain rushed into the thicket. The fighters of his group were already snooping around looking for traces of the uninvited guest from the other side.
- Oh, I don’t envy the battalion commander! He will sip his goryushka with such a replenishment! - Noisily releasing bluish cigarette smoke, Zakarlyuka nodded to his deputy foreman Rumyantsev:
- What will you please me with? Did you manage to find anything?
- It's trampled a lot! The battalion soldiers chose this forest for their carnal needs. In general, the matter is “at the seams,” Rumyantsev grumbled gloomily, pointing to the glistening surface of water in the distance.
“Only, as I understand it, he moved towards the river - there’s no better escape route.”
- Yes, I agree! — nervously trampling the cigarette butt into the ground, the captain concluded.
- So, let’s go along different banks of the Merla. He won’t forever wander through the water; somewhere he will get out onto land. We first take to the left - as I understand it, this spy is rushing to our near rear, exploring the location of units.
Captain Zakarlyuk was considered one of the best employees of the military counterintelligence department of the 38th Army. The former border guard, who mastered the German language well during his service on the temporary Soviet-German border formed as a result of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, joined SMERSH in April 1943, one might say, from the moment of the founding of this body. For almost half a year of service, Zakarlyuki’s combat account included about 15 exposed enemy agents.
He put together a captain and a crew to match himself - the Zakarlyuk fighters, seasoned in battle, fluent in all types of weapons, and able to read tracks, did not know fatigue and were eager to get into the thick of it.
Without even realizing what a formidable enemy was pursuing them, Alex Podolsky non-stop drove Kurt forward, comfortably settling on his scruff. Only when the river was far behind did the non-commissioned officer condescendingly allow his subordinate to rest. The radio operator, exhausted and barely able to stand, immediately fell onto the grass. Having frowned at the completely exhausted Kurt, and realizing that there was no point in using him further as a horse, Podolsky said gloomily:
- There’s no need to lie around, slacker, prepare the transmission!
During the radio session, he informed the Center that the situation was out of control and plan “B” was coming into effect a little earlier than planned.
- You return back and that same night cross the front line in the previously established square. Well, I’ll still linger in the rear of the Bolsheviks.
- What about the underground dugout? “We intended to sit there until dark,” the radio operator exhaled discouragedly. But having run into the commander’s fierce gaze, he immediately bit his tongue.
“Don’t even dare open your mouth in my presence, cretin.” Pray to God that I didn’t shoot you like a dog near the ravine when you almost failed the whole thing! — Alex hissed furiously, taking out a Red Army uniform from his duffel bag.
According to the plan for a multi-step operation developed by German intelligence, Podolsky, after examining the enemy’s front line, was supposed to, under the guise of a Soviet officer, go to the far rear and report by radio about the hidden reserves of the Bolsheviks and the amount of equipment heading to the site of hostilities. The freedom of the Abwehr man was not limited by any time limits. Podolsky had to either wait for the counter-offensive of the Wehrmacht units and join them, or, after the battery supply in the transmitter had expired, notify the Center in advance about the place and time of crossing the front line.
Watching how the radio operator confidently worked on the key, the non-commissioned officer mentally pumped up the situation: exactly how to eliminate a dangerous witness. “Simply shooting Kurt is a rather risky step,” Podolsky thought, fussily putting on his Soviet uniform. “If the Ivans discover his corpse with a hole in his head, they will immediately suspect something is wrong and continue to dig the ground with their noses! What remains is a slow-acting poison - by the time of his death, Kurt will already be God knows where and my humble person will remain a secret for the Bolshevik counterintelligence.” This thought caused the Abwehr man to have a fit of unbridled joy. Without taking his sharp gaze off the radio operator's back, Podolsky reached into his duffel bag and pulled out a small spike with a toxic substance applied to the tip. Holding the needle between his fingers, Alex came close to his subordinate.
- Leave the radio to me, you won’t need it anymore. If you find something worthy of attention along the way, you will personally report it to the Center. Well, good luck to you, Kurt! - Breaking into a malicious grin, Podolsky hit his subordinate hard on the shoulder, plunging a poisoned thorn into his body. Groaning from the sudden pain, the radio operator felt his hand go numb for a moment. Not paying much attention to the fleeting burning sensation in his forearm, which passed very quickly, Kurt hobbled away. He didn’t even realize that the deadly poison was already slowly spreading throughout the body, and in about 40 minutes, or at most in an hour, death would occur. But Alex was well aware of the effects of this substance. But he felt nothing but contempt for his subordinate moving away towards the river. “You will have to remember to say that this idiot died a heroic death in battle, fighting to the last for great Germany.”
In fact, the liquidation of the radio operator was not provided for by any instructions. But, accustomed to not leaving any traces, Podolsky decided to clean up the dangerous witness at his own peril and risk. Throwing his duffel bag behind his back, the Abwehr man rushed along the river to square 77/24. It was there that an army observation and correction point was located, hidden under the thickness of the earth, which Alex recklessly told the radio operator about. “It's a good thing Kurt doesn't know its exact location! Otherwise, out of harm’s way, we would have to look for another shelter to sit out until dark.”
Alex Podolsky was an incredibly secretive, reserved person, and even his colleagues from the Abwehr knew little about his past. And the past of the former lieutenant of the Tsarist Army Alexander Podolsky, frankly speaking, was turbulent. After the defeat of Denikin’s army, he emigrated to Poland, then moved to Romania, where he came to the attention of the Abwehr. While studying at intelligence school, Alex impressed the teachers with his logic of thinking and comprehensive knowledge, especially in the field of chemistry. Alex had been interested in this science for a long time, and had a good understanding of poisons and toxic substances. But Podolsky was not destined to become a great spy. And despite his extraordinary abilities, he was sent to the eastern front, where there was an acute shortage of employees who spoke Russian.
Sergeant Kivalov waved his hand invitingly, attracting the commander’s attention, and pointed to a boot print left by someone on the coastal strip.
“Comrade captain, a trail left no more than 2 hours ago, there, the water in the excavation has not dried up yet,” the sergeant muttered quietly, kneeling down.
- So, size 43-44, German-style boot. But, judging by the print, its owner weighs no less than a hundredweight, and more! Look how the soil has been squeezed in, huh?! Having carefully examined the find, Zakarlyuka thought deeply.
“And what do you say, Rumyantsev, about the trace of such a belly,” he nodded to the approaching deputy.
“I have a hard time believing that the Germans will send a fat guy on reconnaissance missions.” For such a task, a person needs to be hardy and light on his feet.
“And here you hit the nail on the head, sergeant major,” the captain chuckled, scratching the back of his head.
— Yes, during my service at the border post I met such cunning people that they crossed the border on someone else’s hump. I feel like we are now faced with just such a case. This means that we will act on the basis that there are two spies.
Ordering the fighters to stretch out in a chain, Zakarlyuka rushed the group into the forest wilds. About half a kilometer later, the SMERSH men heard some movement ahead and the muffled crack of a broken branch. Synchronously falling to the ground, the counterintelligence officers froze in anxious anticipation. And within a minute, a man in a camouflage suit camouflaged with leaves came out of the thicket right at them.
But he walked somehow strangely, stepping wide with his feet and staggering from side to side, as if drunk. Having let the enemy a little closer, Kivalov threw his powerful body forward and dealt a crushing blow. Without having time to react to the attack, Kurt fell like a bag to the ground, showing no signs of life.
- Did you kill him? - Zakarlyuka exclaimed in bewilderment, gesturing to the soldiers to continue searching for the second saboteur.
- No, you shouldn’t! So healthy and so frail.
Grunting angrily, the captain tried to tear the scout off the ground, but he only whispered something inarticulately and looked around with a meaningless look.
- Not really drunk?
Having given the prisoner a sharp slap in the face, Zakarlyuka growled in broken German:
-Where is your partner? What mission were you sent to our rear? Well, speak up!
- Podolsky! I! I'm dying! — shuddering from the spasm that pierced his body and rolling his eyes upward, the Abwehr man tried to say something else, but only a guttural groan escaped his lips. Pulling back his eyelid with a dull, petrified pupil, SMERShevets swore angrily. He clearly understood that it was no longer possible to help a prisoner from whom life was slowly coming out, drop by drop. But you can still try to extract at least some information from a dying person.
- Hold on, hold on! Now we will give you an injection, and the pain will go away! Just don't be silent!
Telling a deliberate lie, Zakarlyuka began to frantically whip the guy on the cheeks and massage his ears, trying to bring him to his senses.
-Where, where did Podolsky go? Speak!
For a moment, having escaped from the clutches of death, focusing his dull gaze on the Soviet officer, Kurt squeezed out:
— River, observation path, underground. Drink!
- We'll be here in a jiffy! - Zakarlyuka growled, tearing the flask from his belt. After taking a small sip, the Abwehr man leaned back and closed his eyes. But the very next second a powerful spasm twisted his body in half.
The dying convulsions of the German radio operator did not last long. Twitching once again, as if from an electric shock, Kurt went limp, and his face, distorted by terrible pain, began to turn blue.
- Fought back, bastard! – muttering sullenly, SMERShevets rose to his feet. With his hand trembling with excitement, he fished a cigarette out of his cigarette case. The very first puff dispelled gloomy thoughts and made my brain work in the right direction. Soon the soldiers, disgruntled by their failure, returned. From their downcast faces, Zakarlyuk immediately realized that the search for the second spy had led nowhere.
- Heads up, eagles! We'll kick around some more! Let's get the bastard out, even from underground.
Grinning at the successful pun, the captain ordered him to arrange contact with the army's counterintelligence department.
After it became known that the second Abwehr might be hiding in an underground observation post, which is located somewhere near the river, painstaking work began to locate him. Zakarlyuk rushed like crazy around the filtration camps where prisoners of war captured as a result of the last battles were kept. At the same time, his colleagues sent operational requests and directives to various authorities. Military counterintelligence paid special attention to artillerymen, signalmen and military engineers. By evening, luck finally smiled on the SMERSHites and one captured fentfebel-spotter remembered such a point, located on the banks of the Merle. Having learned in which square the dugout was located, Zakarlyuka immediately took a combat stance - after all, they found a dying spy just 7 kilometers from this place.
Having securely blocked the square from different sides, the captain clung to the eyepiece of his binoculars. But no matter how hard SMERShevet tried to see a hatch or some kind of outlet in the thick grass, nothing came of this venture.
- Properly, bitches, they equipped the den! It won't be possible to take it forcefully.
Biting his lip, Zakarlyuka feverishly wondered what to do next.
- Comrade captain, let me snoop around this cache. Well, there must be at least some kind of ventilation for air flow! – Kivalov grumbled quietly without taking his eyes off the bushes, in which, according to the captive spotter, there was a camouflaged observation post.
“I’ll shoot a rocket launcher into the vent, and then, like a cork from a bottle, it will pop out, huh?” I've pulled this trick once before. So they barely pumped out the German man; he almost died from suffocation and gases.
- Leave it alone. – Zakarlyuk muttered dully. “I need this spy alive!” Yes, by all appearances, he is a seasoned wolf. He'll foolishly swallow an ampoule of poison! Did you see how he killed his partner?! That's it! This one will stop at nothing!
Having rolled onto a hillock, the captain decisively commanded:
- So, we’ll wait until he leaves the lair himself. Kasyan, you are the first to take over the shift. The rest should rest. Change is every hour.
An hour passed in anxious anticipation, then another, and only towards the end of the day, when darkness thickened over the forest, there was some kind of revival in the bushes.
- So, keep your eyes peeled! If anything, shoot only at the legs! That's it, take positions!
This command was absolutely unnecessary - the fighters already knew perfectly well how to act. And Zakarlyuk’s buhtel was more for order and his own peace of mind. In the meantime, having got out of the thickets, Podolsky carefully moved towards the river in order to continue his journey along its bed. But the military counterintelligence officer foresaw such a move by the enemy in advance and put the experienced Rumyantsev and Kivalov in his path. Alex only at the last moment noticed two shadows rushing towards him from different directions. But the Abwehr man did not have time to resist - Kivalov slammed the butt of the PPSh into the back of his head, and Rumyantsev, who arrived in time, twisted the scout’s arms until his joints cracked. Not paying attention to the groans and screams, Zakarlyuka deftly searched the prisoner, first of all tearing off an ampoule of potassium cyanide from the collar of his tunic.
- Don’t break your eyes, you nit! Otherwise, now I’ll cut off the mudyo and say that it happened!
Catching the hunted, meaningful gaze of the Nazi agent, SMERSHEVETS could not hold back a contemptuous grin:
- Look, how you twitched, you bitch - that means he’s dragging it our way! – he nodded cheerfully to Rumyantsev. – And this should make the upcoming conversation easier!
Wiping the smile off his face and narrowing his eyes predatorily, Zakarlyuk pulled the knife from his belt:
“I’ll spoil you, I’ll cut you into shreds, but I’ll find out for what purpose I was thrown into our rear and what I managed to scout!”
“There’s no need to shake the air in vain, captain,” Podolsky drawled wearily, without raising his head. “I am not one of the rabid fanatics of the Reich, and provided my life is spared, I am ready to testify.”
- ABOUT! The court will decide that,” Zakarlyuka muttered phlegmatically. – But so be it, I will record in the protocol the fact of voluntary cooperation. In addition, Herr Podolsky, the friend whom you doomed to a terrible death, managed to give exhaustive testimony. And if I catch even the slightest contradiction, blame yourself, yeah?!
Such awareness of the Soviet counterintelligence officer finally broke Alex, and he nodded dejectedly:
- Write it down.
During the interrogation, Podolsky, as if in spirit, laid out everything about his intention to penetrate deep into the rear of the Red Army in order to discover the enemy’s hidden reserves and equipment heading to the front. At the same time, Alex especially noted that he never had time to begin the task. The Abwehr man also spoke about a Soviet tank group camouflaged in the forest, which he and Kurt discovered in the Krasnokutsk area. Podolsky was completely sure that the radio operator had time to testify before his death and that hiding this fact from the officer was stupid and dangerous. Shocked by this statement from Zakarlyuk, he immediately contacted the leadership and warned about the opening of the tank formation by the enemy.
The headquarters of the Voronezh Front immediately responded to this message and undertook a hasty withdrawal of armored vehicles to reserve positions. It should be noted that this step turned out to be very timely - the very next morning the Nazis rushed into a counter-offensive, bringing down all their firepower on the square where the tank group had previously been located. The retaliatory strike was not long in coming. And after the German bombers had bombed in vain and turned back, our T-34s rushed to attack. The dagger tank breakthrough, reinforced from the sky by attack aircraft, brought complete confusion to the enemy ranks and accelerated the disorderly retreat of the Nazis. Thus began the great battle for Ukraine! But the soldiers going on the attack had no doubt that the invaders would not have long to trample the Ukrainian soil and for many occupiers it would become the last refuge.
The story was written based on NTN materials.