There is a lot of conflicting information about SMERSH, caused primarily by the secrecy of the activities of this organization. However, the archives are gradually opening up, and with them new facts become available.
special organ
AT last years the word SMERSH has become almost synonymous with punitive organs. So, the head of the Union of Right Forces, Leonid Gozman, even compared SMERSH with the Nazi SS, finding differences between them only in form, and the representative of the Memorial society, Nikita Petrov, called sky-high numbers of SMERSH victims - 70 thousand shot.
However, these data can be easily challenged. Enough to raise the stats law enforcement and see that over the entire period of the existence of SMERSH (1943-1946), a little more than 14 thousand death sentences were passed, including ordinary crimes.
First of all, SMERSH was created as a body counteracting reconnaissance and sabotage activities. Nazi Germany in the Soviet rear, which intensified after the defeat of the Germans at Stalingrad. According to the decision of the State Defense Committee, SMERSH was to replace the Directorate of Special Departments of the NKVD.
The original name of the special organ sounded like "Smernesh" ("Death German spies”), however, this option did not suit Stalin: “Are other intelligence agencies not working against us?”, - said the supreme commander. On April 21, 1943, the final version was recorded - SMERSH.
In action
SMERSH really showed itself on the eve of the Battle of Kursk. His agents managed not only to uncover the Germans' plans for an offensive in the Kursk direction, but also to determine the place and date of the operation. It should be taken into account that the Soviet counterintelligence officers were opposed by experienced and resourceful agents of the German special services, including the Abwehr.
By the beginning of 1943, about 200 German intelligence schools were preparing saboteurs to be thrown into Soviet rear. The Abwehr and the SD developed and tried to implement a plan according to which Kalmykia, the North Caucasus, Kazakhstan, Crimea and other national regions were to become hotbeds of civil war.
The fact that there was no "stab in the back" is the main merit of SMERSH. In that big role played and about 3000 Soviet agents who successfully prevented operations German secret services on enemy territory is still in preparation.
A separate activity of SMERSH was the so-called "radio games" - the deliberate transfer of misinformation to the German side through recruited German agents. From 1943 to 1945, Soviet counterintelligence officers conducted 186 such "radio games", in fact, completely depriving the Germans of the opportunity to get military secrets, while neutralizing over 400 Nazi intelligence officers.
The result of the three-year work of SMERSH was the neutralization of over 30 thousand spies and saboteurs of the enemy. Not a single intelligence service in the world can boast of such results.
On the front line
SMERSH agents fought not only in the rear, but also on the front lines. Moreover, their activities were often associated with greater dangers than those of regular soldiers. According to statistics, the operative served on the front lines for no more than three months, being out of action as a result of injury or death. In total, more than 6 thousand SMERSH employees died during the war years. Four of them were posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Many SMERSH members showed miracles of heroism, such as, for example, Senior Lieutenant A.F. Kalmykov, who with a group of comrades broke into the village, where there was a large German garrison. Calling fire on himself, Kalmykov allowed Soviet troops destroy about 300 Nazis and liberate the village.
There is an episode that took place during the Battle of Berlin, when counterintelligence officers of the 47th Guards Rifle Division of the 8th Army of the 1st Belorussian Front carried out an operation to capture one of the central offices of the Abwehr. Intelligence managed to find the building of the Abwehr on the outskirts of the German capital, disguised as an agricultural institute.
Fight against change
One of the tasks of SMERSH was the fight against traitors to the motherland. For these purposes, his agents developed a very original method. We are talking about the staging of the surrender of entire groups of Red Army soldiers, under the guise of which experienced counterintelligence officers acted. Two similar operations were carried out on June 2 and 3, 1943. As soon as the agents under the guise of defectors approached German soldiers, they threw grenades at the enemy. Such preventive measure made it possible to expect in the future that German troops when real deserters appear, they will be met with fire to kill.
Filter
Immediately after the victory, the allies of the USSR, fulfilling the agreements, began to return many Soviet citizens, including prisoners of war, as well as those who fought against their former compatriots on the side of Nazi Germany. In the USSR, they were met by SMERSH employees. Acting as a kind of filter, they sifted out the trustworthy from the suspicious.
Historians who emphasize the punitive and repressive nature of SMERSH's activities write that Soviet secret services mercilessly dealt with the prisoners, sending them instead of the Nazi camps to the Stalinist ones. However, the evidence suggests that this screening system was by no means blind.
So, in May-June 1945, SMERSH officers identified 26 Red Army generals who had returned from that side of the front. All of them were delivered to Moscow, where a separate decision was made for each of them, based on the materials collected. As a result, 25 military leaders were acquitted, and 11, in respect of which the facts of collaboration with the Nazis were proven, were put on trial.
In total, 58,686 people passed through the SMERSH verification filter, of which 16,456 people were former soldiers and officers of the Red Army, and 12,160 people were draft-age Ostarbeiters. After a multi-stage check, 378 people were identified to some extent involved in cooperation with the Nazi regime. They were not shot without trial, as some historians claim. All of them were sent to the investigators for a more in-depth inquiry.
On April 19, 1943, exactly 75 years ago, the famous Smersh was created - the legendary Soviet military counterintelligence, which existed under this name for only three years, but managed to enter the history of the Soviet country. The Smershevites are still remembered today, and the reason for such a memory is the horror that Soviet military counterintelligence officers inflicted on enemies. Counterintelligence "Smersh" was specific structure, created in wartime and for military tasks.
Strictly speaking, "Dead" was in Soviet country three. The first "Smersh" - the Main Directorate of Counterintelligence "Smersh", which was part of People's Commissariat defense of the Soviet Union. The direct management of the army "Smersh" was carried out by the head of the department, the commissar state security 2nd rank Viktor Abakumov. The second "Smersh" is the Smersh Counterintelligence Directorate of the People's Commissariat of the Navy of the USSR, which was led by Major General of the Coastal Service Pyotr Andreevich Gladkov. The third "Smersh" is the Smersh Counterintelligence Department of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the USSR, which was led by the Commissar of State Security Semyon Petrovich Yukhimovich.
As you know, until 1943, the military counterintelligence agencies, called special departments, were part of the structure of the Directorate of Special Departments of the NKVD (UOO), but on April 19, 1943, Stalin decided to reassign the military counterintelligence officers to the People's Commissariat of Defense of the USSR. This decision was made on the basis of considerations of more effective management of military counterintelligence. Just in time for 1943, Nazi Germany, which gradually began to suffer defeat after defeat, stepped up the work of its military intelligence. Subversive groups, spies, enemy demolitionists caused a lot of problems for the fighting Red Army, and therefore it was decided to include military counterintelligence in the structure of the general military command. Moreover, the post of People's Commissar of Defense was then held personally by Joseph Stalin. The duties of the Smersh bodies also included the fight against crime and espionage in the liberated territories of the country, and not only in frontline.
The personnel choice during the appointments of the heads of the Main Directorate, the Directorate and the Smersh Department was not accidental. Viktor Semenovich Abakumov, for example, has established himself as an effective organizer and manager in the state security agencies. For a leader of this rank, Abakumov was a fairly young man - he was born in 1908, he began his service in the OGPU-NKVD in 1932 and made dizzying career, having risen from a trainee in six years economic department authorized representative OGPU for the Moscow region to the head of the UNKVD for Rostov region. Abakumov headed the military counterintelligence in 1941, having been appointed to the post of Deputy People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR and head of the Department of Special Departments of the NKVD of the USSR. It should be noted that the success of Abakumov in this position was really impressive. The bodies of military counterintelligence worked much more efficiently than the counterintelligence officers of the NKGB of the USSR.
The counterintelligence of the Navy was headed by Major General of the Coastal Service Pyotr Gladkov, also from a working-class family, who joined the OGPU in 1934 and quickly rose to the rank of Deputy People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the Byelorussian SSR, and then People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the Lithuanian SSR. Gladkov was appointed head of the Counterintelligence Directorate of the People's Commissariat of the Navy of the USSR from the post of head of the 9th department of the Directorate of Special Departments, and before that Gladkov led the Special Department of the Karelian Front.
Semyon Yukhimovich, who headed the Smersh Department of the NKVD of the USSR, was the oldest among his colleagues - the heads of the Smersh, an employee of the state security agencies - he began serving in the Cheka back in 1920, at the age of twenty, and he came to military counterintelligence almost immediately after the start of service. 
What was the structure of the GUK "Smersh"? The head office staff was approved as consisting of 646 people, including the chief, four deputy chiefs, 16 assistants with an apparatus of 69 operational employees. The Smersh included the Smersh counterintelligence departments of the fronts, the Smersh departments of the armies, corps, divisions, brigades, and military districts. At the disposal of "Smersh" were combat units - platoons, companies and battalions that performed the functions of security and escort, military support operational activities front departments, army, corps, divisional, brigade departments. Also, the departments and departments included subdivisions involved in providing encryption communications. It is worth noting that Smersh, contrary to popular misconception, did not have direct relation to the creation and functioning of the so-called. "protective detachments", which were formed by the bodies of the NKVD of the USSR.
All Smersh servicemen wore military ranks established in the Red Army. The Smersh Counterintelligence Department under the People's Commissariat of the Navy and the Smersh Counterintelligence Department of the NKVD had their own specifics. Interestingly, Viktor Abakumov, unlike the overwhelming majority of his subordinates, retained the special rank of commissar of state security of the 2nd rank and only in 1945 received the rank of colonel general. Semyon Yukhimovich was also the Commissar of State Security, although he headed the NKVD Smersh. Basically, the "Smershevites" wore "all-army" military ranks.
The competence of "Smersh" included several main areas of activity. The most important, as is clear from the name of the Main Directorate of Counterintelligence "Death to Spies", the direction of activity was the fight against German intelligence, which launched a vigorous activity both in the occupied territories and in the rear. Since 1943, the Germans began to actively throw saboteurs and reconnaissance paratroopers into Soviet territory. The fight against reconnaissance and sabotage groups was assigned to the "Smershevites" and, I must say, they coped with the tasks set brilliantly.
Smersh employees liquidated groups of saboteurs abandoned in the "problem" regions of the Soviet rear - Kalmykia, Kazakhstan, and the North Caucasus. These groups were tasked with spreading nationalist sentiments and organizing a local anti-Soviet underground in the places of residence of peoples who had tense relations with the Soviet government. Often, the "Smershevites" had to engage in battle with such formations, neutralizing them and not allowing them to make contact with the local population.
Even more stressful were the working conditions of the Smersh organs in the front line. Counterintelligence officers followed along with the main units and formations of the active army, not only identifying enemy agents, but also engaged in operational work to identify crimes committed by the Nazis in the occupied territories. Naturally, the Smersh organs carried large combat losses, which was due to the specifics of the service, participation in operational activities. During the war years, four Smersh employees received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Senior Lieutenant Pyotr Anfimovich Zhidkov, who served as the detective of the SMERSH counterintelligence department in the 7th sapper and 39th tank brigades, died on November 6, 1943 in Kyiv region. He entered into hand-to-hand combat with several Nazis and, before dying from a grenade fragment, destroyed several Nazis.
Lieutenant Grigory Mikhailovich Kravtsov, the detective of the Smersh counterintelligence department of the 134th rifle division (69th army), died in 1945 in a battle in Poland, replacing a company commander who was out of action. Lieutenant Mikhail Petrovich Krygin, Operations Officer of the SMERSH Counterintelligence Department of the Island Sector coastal defense(Marine defensive area, Pacific Fleet), died on August 14, 1945, already during the Soviet-Japanese war. August 13, 1945 Krygin participated in landing operation and took command. 12 times he raised fighters to attack before he was mortally wounded. Lieutenant Vasily Mikhailovich Chebotarev served as the operational commissioner of the Smersh department of the 19th Guards Tank Brigade of the 3rd Guards Tank Corps and died heroically fighting the enemy in hand-to-hand combat. Many Smershevites replaced the killed or wounded commanders of army and navy units, carried out special instructions from the command. It is known that the "smershevets" served an average of about three months, after which he died or was injured. For example, during the battles for the liberation of Belarus, 236 military counterintelligence officers were killed, 136 people were injured. This is very big numbers, considering that Smersh was not a numerous structure.
In Belarus, on Western Ukraine, in the Baltic States, the Smersh bodies were also responsible for the destruction of the local anti-Soviet underground, including the formation of collaborators and nationalists of various persuasions. Separately, it should be noted the fight against crime of a criminal nature, which was also conducted by the "Smershevites". There was nothing surprising in this, since the Nazi agents often used the underworld to recruit agents and saboteurs, the Nazis, former policemen, and deserters who strayed from the units joined the ranks of criminal gangs. Employees of "Smersh" participated in combing the liberated cities, rural settlements, forest belts, mountainous areas, together with the troops for the protection of the rear of the army of the NKVD of the USSR, catching deserters, criminals, enemy spies.
The military counterintelligence agencies were also entrusted with the task of combating anti-Soviet sentiments and criminal offenses in the ranks of the Red Army and Navy. Of course, this aspect of the activities of the "Smershevites" subsequently raised many questions from critics. Soviet power, since it was the military counterintelligence officers who exposed and brought to justice officers and soldiers of the Red Army who were dissatisfied with the current political system. Given the difficult military and political situation, "Smershevites" developed and brought to justice thousands of Soviet military personnel and civilians, including those who could hardly be called guilty of committing any crimes. In the army and navy, a system that had no analogues in the world was created to spy on military personnel, to quickly identify enemy agents and politically unreliable people. At the same time, the repressive functions of Smersh have been quite exaggerated in the past two decades. In fact, the “Smershevites” were operatives, they did not pass sentences, they did not have the authority to shoot military personnel or civilians without trial or investigation. Although, of course, it was the Smersh bodies that were engaged in filtering Soviet prisoners of war.
German prisoners of war and prisoners of war from the armies of the allies of Germany had to be checked for belonging to intelligence services, for involvement in the commission of crimes on the territory of the Soviet Union and other countries. It was the “Smershevites” who, even then, at the end of the war and the first year after it, revealed a large number of war criminals. As for the Soviet prisoners of war, they were also tested by the "Smershevites" in connection with German intelligence, for the presence of circumstances that could indicate betrayal while in the rear. For example, 11 generals of the Red Army were arrested and convicted, who, while in German captivity went over to the side of the enemy and became part of the established anti-Soviet organizations. After the defeat of Nazi Germany, the Smersh bodies participated in the hostilities against Japan in China and Korea, in the defeat of Ukrainian and Baltic nationalists.
In 1946, the Smersh Main Directorate of Counterintelligence ceased to exist. After the creation of the Ministry of State Security of the USSR on the basis of the People's Commissariat for State Security of the USSR, the structure of the latter included not only all units of the abolished NKGB, but also the bodies of military counterintelligence Smersh. They received the name of the 3rd Main Directorate of the Ministry of State Security of the USSR, responsible for counterintelligence in the armed forces of the USSR. Colonel-General Abakumov was appointed Minister of State Security - this is how Stalin highly appreciated his merits while he was head of the Smersh GUK. For the entire time of its existence in Smersh, there was not a single case of betrayal, going over to the side of the enemy, or giving away secrets. Until now, the "Smershevites" are revered as the elite of the Soviet military counterintelligence throughout the history of its existence.
Last update: 08/14/2017 at 12:34 pm
SMERSH: how the best counterintelligence in the history of the world worked. In the spring, April 19, 1943, one of the most effective, controversial and mysterious intelligence agencies in the world, the legendary SMERSH, was founded.
On April 19, 1943, by the secret Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR No. 415-138ss, on the basis of the Directorate of Special Departments (UOO) of the NKVD of the USSR, the following were created:
Main Directorate of Counterintelligence "SMERSH" of the People's Commissariat of Defense of the USSR, head - Commissar of State Security of the 2nd rank V. S. Abakumov.
Counterintelligence Department "SMERSH" of the People's Commissariat Navy USSR, chief - commissioner of the State Security P. A. Gladkov.
After the failure of the "blitzkrieg", when the Wehrmacht suffered crushing defeats near Moscow and Stalingrad, Germany began to desperately try to turn the tide 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, preparing spies, demolition workers, signalmen, provocateurs for operations behind the front line. Perfectly prepared physically, fanatically devoted to the ideas of Nazism, fluent in Russian and other languages of the peoples of the USSR, Abwehr terrorists ( German intelligence) were a formidable and cunning enemy, and the remote forest and swampy areas of western Russia were ideally suited for basing mobile militant groups. It seemed that a little more - and the communications of the Red Army would be cut.
Stop "bastards"
The SMERSH organization is entrusted with the following tasks: A) combating espionage, sabotage, terrorist and other subversive activities of foreign intelligence services in units and institutions of the Red Army.<…>From the decision of the Main Committee of Defense of the USSR of April 21, 1943 No.
In September 1943, in the Moscow region and the recently liberated Voronezh and Kursk regions, SMERSH fighters discovered and detained 28 saboteurs thrown into the Soviet rear from aircraft. The terrorists carried explosives that looked like pieces of hard coal. Such bombs were going to be thrown into coal piles at railway stations leading to the front line. The age of the Abwehr pets ranged from 14 to 16 years. True Facts, unfortunately, were misrepresented by some publicists exactly the opposite: they say that the school for the training of underage 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 tuning signal passed, then a special signal, which meant that our people got in touch without interference (not an extra precaution: the absence of a signal would mean that the radio operator was captured and was forced to get in touch by force).
And more great news: Sherhorn’s detachment exists ... ”Otto Skorzeny. Memoirs.
SMERSH fighters were virtuosos of the radio game - disinformation transmitted to the "center" on behalf of its agents, allegedly operating behind enemy lines. On August 18, 1944, an Abwehr liaison, conspired on the territory of Belarus, radioed: a large detachment of the Wehrmacht survived in the Berezina region, miraculously escaping defeat and hiding in a swampy area. The delighted command parachuted ammunition, food and radio operators in the indicated coordinates. They immediately reported: indeed, German part, numbering up to two thousand, led by Colonel Heinrich Sherhorn, 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 under code name"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-connectors were immediately recruited by SMERSH, included in the radio game. Germany continued air supply of "its" detachment until May 45th.
SMERSH employees of the 70th Army
Risky game on the Bandura
According to the NKGB of the USSR, an underground organization of the Polish government in exile in London, the Delegation of Zhondu, operates on the territory of Southern Lithuania and Western Belarus, which has one of the main tasks of conducting operational intelligence in the rear of the Red Army and on front-line communications. To transmit information, the Delagatura has short-wave radio transmitters and sophisticated digital ciphers. Vladimir Bogomolov. "In August 44th."
In June 1944, near the city of Andreapol, SMERSH caught four just abandoned German saboteurs. The head and radio operator of the enemy detachment agreed to work for our intelligence and informed the Center that the penetration into enemy territory had been successful. Reinforcements and ammunition needed! Radio game counterintelligence 2nd Baltic Front against the Army Group "North" lasted several months, during which the enemy repeatedly threw weapons and new agents near Andreapol, who immediately fell into the hands of SMERSH.
An offer you can't refuse
SMERSH bodies have the right to apply various special measures aimed at revealing the criminal activities of foreign intelligence agents and anti-Soviet elements. From the decree of the State Defense Committee of the USSR of April 21, 1943. Some publicists portray SMERSH as a repressive and punitive apparatus that put people up against the wall for the slightest suspicion of treason. Which, of course, is far from true. Yes, military counterintelligence agencies could carry out seizures, searches and arrests of servicemen. However, such actions without fail coordinated with the military prosecutor's office.
What SMERSH officers were real professionals in was the further operational development of captured saboteurs, some of whom were Russians from among emigrants or prisoners of war drugged by fascist propaganda. In 1943-45, 157 Abwehr liaison officers who went over to our side took part in the SMERSH radio games. In May - June 1943 alone, 10 radio stations of recruited agents were used to misinform about the positions of the Red Army in the area Kursk Bulge. So without counterintelligence, the Victory could have come at a much higher price.
SMERSH failure
AT false documents, with which the Nazis supplied their agents, a stainless steel clip was used. Such a paper clip was always clean, shiny, and did not leave any traces of rust on the sides of adjacent sheets. In genuine 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. February 29, 1944 Ukrainian nationalists from the UPA, they managed to mortally wound General Vatutin (who had liberated Kyiv six months earlier) - the commander’s car was ambushed during a detour around the location of troops. During the war years, more than 30,000 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 Semyonovich Abakumov, who was later unjustly convicted and shot under Khrushchev.
Lorry for Goebbels
Information that was obtained Soviet intelligence officers during the Second World War, contributed to the military success of the Soviets and was the kind of material that is the ultimate dream for the intelligence of any country Allen Dulles. The art of intelligence. On the eve of the capture of Berlin, SMERSH created operational groups to search for and arrest the leaders of the Reich. The charred corpse of Paul Joseph Goebbels, whose very name has become synonymous with intoxicating propaganda, was discovered by SMERSH officer Major Zybin. The body was to be 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-out pavements of Berlin: “It will shake you and you won’t know who you brought.” I had to allocate one and a half. It was SMERSH who guarded the most valuable documents, evidence and jewelry found in the cellars of the Reich Chancellery. The only trophy that the fighters left for themselves was food vitamins from Hitler's personal reserves. Immortality "SMERSH - means" Death to spies "".
More than 6 thousand soldiers and officers of SMERSH died during the war. Hundreds have gone missing. Four were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Posthumously. SMERSH had a chance to defend those against whom he 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 a historic 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 to sign the surrender from the Wehrmacht. Covered with legends, SMERSH was disbanded in the spring of 1946, forever remaining one of the most mysterious and most effective counterintelligence in the world.
Military counterintelligence SMERSH was created in the Soviet Union in 1943.
"SMERSH" is considered the most effective special service of the times of the Great Patriotic War who 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 operation of the Red Army was disrupted due to the actions of enemy special services.
Not a single strategic plan of the Soviet command became known to the enemy. In addition, not a single anti-Soviet action took place 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, in the conditions of war, a well-functioning system was built to counter the reconnaissance and sabotage mechanism created by the Nazis and perfected in different countries for many years.
The creation of Smersh in the spring of 1943 was dictated by the events that had taken place 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 ahead and liberate the 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 bodies, including special schools, sabotage centers, but also their own agent network. This created a threat of terrorist attacks and sabotage in the rear of the Red Army, which could disrupt or, according to at least, slow down its offensive operations.
Another argument in favor of creating new structure became, according to historians of the special services, the need for prompt transmission of information about the state of affairs in the army, especially during the preparation and conduct of major operations, directly from military counterintelligence to the chairman of the USSR State Defense Committee, People's Commissar of Defense Joseph Stalin.
The creation of a new body was under the direct control of Stalin. He was brought to various options reorganization of military counterintelligence, but the head of state did not approve of any of them. According to historians of the special services, Stalin understood that under the circumstances it was impossible to separate the leadership of the Red Army from the state security agencies.
At a meeting specially assembled on this issue, Stalin advocated the separation of military counterintelligence from the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs (NKVD) and giving it a special status and functions precisely as the Main Directorate of Counterintelligence (GUKR) of the People's Commissariat of Defense.
The history of the name "Smersh" is curious. Even before the adoption final decision On the creation of a new structure, the first deputy commissar of internal affairs, Vsevolod Merkulov, proposed calling it "Smerinsh", which stood for "Death to foreign spies."
But Stalin corrected this phrase by removing the word “foreign” from it, and this was the right decision, since the counterintelligence officers had to work not only against the special services of Germany and its satellites (Romania, Hungary, Finland and others), but also against the gangster underground in Ukraine, in the Baltics and the North Caucasus.
And on April 19, 1943, by a decision of the Council people's commissars The creation on the basis of the Directorate of Special Departments of the NKVD of the Main Directorate of Counterintelligence "Smersh" of the NPO of the USSR and the Directorate of Counterintelligence "Smersh" of the People's Commissariat of the Navy was formalized.
Viktor Abakumov, second-rank commissar of state security, was appointed head of the Smersh NPO. In parallel, the Smersh Counterintelligence Department of the NKVD was created, which ensured the safety 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 in units and institutions of the Red Army; ensuring the impenetrability of the front line for reconnaissance and intelligence agents of the enemy; prevention of betrayal and treason in the units and institutions of the army, desertion and self-mutilation on the fronts; filtration work to check military personnel and other persons who were captured and surrounded by the enemy.
In addition, Smersh had to timely identify facts that could adversely affect the conduct of military operations, including shortcomings in the planning of military operations, as well as in providing active parts army and navy with equipment, weapons, food and uniforms.
O high efficiency The following figures speak for the activities of Smersh in neutralizing enemy intelligence officers, saboteurs and their agents: if by the middle of the Great Patriotic War in the front line military counterintelligence identified and detained up to 60% of such persons, by 1945 this number had grown to 85%.
Of course, this did not mean at all that the rest of the agents were getting to their intended targets, it was just that Smersh was the primary “sieve” for catching them, after which counterintelligence in the rear of the Soviet troops came into action.
Most vividly about this work "Smersh" is described in the best book about military counterintelligence "The Moment of Truth (In August forty-fourth ...)", written by Vladimir Bogomolov.
As the Red Army carried out one offensive operation after another in 1944-1945, the reconnaissance and sabotage residencies of the enemy, as well as the armed detachments of nationalists supported by them, remained in its rear. All of them became, in essence, a new enemy for the Smershevites.
From the beginning of May 1945, the Smersh front departments 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.
"Smersh" acted not only on Soviet territory, counterintelligence officers conducted active work behind the front, infiltrating enemy reconnaissance and sabotage schools, as well as in parts of the Wehrmacht. For this purpose, during the war years, over 3 thousand employees and agents of military counterintelligence were thrown into the rear of the Nazis. Until now, not all such Smersh operations have been classified.
Of those operations that have become known, the introduction of the Smersh agent Alexander Kozlov into the German intelligence school Saturn is considered a great success.
Working there for two years, Kozlov transferred data to Moscow for almost two hundred German spies. As the head of the training department of Saturn, Kozlov was engaged in compromising the most pro-Nazi cadets of the school and contributed to their expulsion. Kozlov persuaded a number of cadets to go over to the Soviet side after being transferred to the USSR. That operation formed the basis of the famous Soviet feature films"The Path to Saturn" and "The End of Saturn".
In terms of providing offensive operations The work of Smersh on disinformation of the enemy regarding the plans of the Soviet command was also extremely important for the Red Army.
An outstanding page in the history of "Smersh" was the conduct of radio games with the Nazis. In a general sense, it was about using German intelligence radio operators abandoned in the USSR and recruited to imitate the activities of not only individual agents, but even entire intelligence networks, to purposefully transmit false information to the enemy and reveal the intentions of his intelligence.
Each such radio game was a real manifestation operational art counterintelligence officers, because it required not only the study of all its nuances, but also the manifestation of psychological skill.
Total during the war Soviet counterintelligence conducted up to 200 radio games with the enemy, of which about two-thirds were carried out by Smersh. Radio games turned out to be extremely successful; in many cases, until the end of the war, the Germans did not suspect that they were dealing not with their agents, but with Soviet counterintelligence.
On the eve of the Berlin offensive operation in Smersh, special operational groups were created for the number of districts of Berlin, whose task was to search for and arrest leaders German government, primarily Hitler, as well as the establishment of repositories of valuables and documents of operational importance.
In May-June 1945, the Smershevites discovered in the capital of the Third Reich part of the archives of the Main Directorate of the Imperial Security, in particular, materials with information on issues foreign policy Nazi Germany and information about foreign agents. And although Hitler could not be taken alive, Smersh helped to capture prominent figures Nazi regime and punitive departments, some of which were later charged with crimes against humanity.
During perestroika and in the early 1990s, one of the most widespread myths was that Smersh was a punitive body that shot servicemen right and left without trial or investigation. Smershevites, in principle, could not sentence someone to imprisonment, and even more so to execution, since they were not judiciary. Such decisions were made by a military tribunal or a Special Meeting under the NKVD of the USSR.
The arrest of the same average commanders counterintelligence officers could only take place with the sanction of the Military Council of the army or the front, and senior and top management- only with the permission of the People's Commissar of Defense. Barrage detachments were never created under the Smersh organs, and military counterintelligence officers never led them.
Another myth says that almost every soldier or officer of the Red Army who was in German captivity then fell into soviet camp. This also has nothing to do with reality: out of 5.5 million “displaced persons”, including prisoners of war, who went through the filtration procedure, less than 60 thousand people, that is, about 1%, were arrested.
Finally, the Smershevites were presented as people who allegedly sat out 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, created partisan detachments special purpose.
Counterintelligence officers fought together with the Red Army, they also went on the attack with them and died in the same way. And the number of losses among Smersh employees in percentage was no less than in the army.
An important role in the truthful and historically accurate narrative 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, the materials of the 12-volume edition "The Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945", the book "Smersh". Historical essays and archival documents”,“ Smersh ”on the way to Victory ”and the book“ Smersh ”, published literally on the eve of this anniversary. Jamming war".
Counterintelligence "Smersh" lasted three years, until 1946. She completed the tasks that were set before her. And the memory of the exploits of counterintelligence officers of the war years, their patriotism and devotion to duty still lives on.
- Tags: ,
Smersh (short for "Death to Spies!") - the name of the series independent friend from a friend of counterintelligence organizations in the Soviet Union during World War II.
The main department of counterintelligence "Smersh" of the People's Commissariat of Defense (NPO) - military counterintelligence, head - V.S. Abakumov. Reported directly to the People's Commissar of Defense I. V. Stalin.
Directorate of Counterintelligence "Smersh" of the People's Commissariat of the Navy, Head - Lieutenant General of the Coastal Service P. A. Gladkov. Subordinated to the People's Commissar of the Navy N. G. Kuznetsov.
Department of counterintelligence "Smersh" of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs, head - S. P. Yukhimovich. Reported to People's Commissar L.P. Beria.
On April 19, 1943, by the secret Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR No. 415-138ss, on the basis of the Directorate of Special Departments (UOO) of the NKVD of the USSR, the following were created:
Main Directorate of Counterintelligence "Smersh" of the People's Commissariat of Defense of the USSR, head - Commissar of State Security 2nd rank V.S. Abakumov.
Directorate of counterintelligence "Smersh" of the People's Commissariat of the Navy of the USSR, head - Commissioner of State Security P. A. Gladkov.
On May 15, 1943, in accordance with the aforementioned decision of the Council of People's Commissars, for the intelligence and operational services of the border and internal troops, police and other armed formations of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs, the order of the NKVD of the USSR No. 00856 was created:
Department of counterintelligence (ROC) "Smersh" of the NKVD of the USSR, head - commissar GB S. P. Yukhimovich.
These three structures were independent counterintelligence units and were subordinate only to the leadership of these departments. The main department of counterintelligence "Smersh" in the NPO was directly subordinate to People's Commissar of Defense Stalin, the department of counterintelligence "Smersh" of the NKVMF was subordinate to People's Commissar of the Fleet Kuznetsov, the department of counterintelligence "Smersh" in the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs was directly subordinate to People's Commissar Beria. The assumption expressed by some researchers that Beria and Abakumov used the Smersh structures for the purpose of mutual control is not supported by documents from archival sources.
On April 21, 1943, I. V. Stalin signed GKO Decree No. 3222 ss / s “On approval of the regulation on the Main Counterintelligence Directorate of the NPO (“Smersh”) and its local bodies.” This decision is kept secret.
On May 31, 1943, I. V. Stalin signed GKO Decree No. 3461 ss / s “On Approval of the Regulations on the Counterintelligence Directorate of the NKVMF Smersh and its local bodies.” This decision is kept secret.
The first order on the personnel of the GUKR "Smersh", April 29, 1943, (order No. 1 / ssh), the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR I.V. Stalin established new order titles officers new Glavka, who had mainly "Chekist" special titles:
“In accordance with the regulations approved by the State Defense Committee on the Main Directorate of Counterintelligence of the People’s Commissariat of Defense “SMERSH” and its local bodies, - ORDERS: 1. Assign military ranks established by the Decree to the personnel of the SMERSH bodies Presidium of the Supreme Council USSR in the following order: TO THE OFFICIAL STRUCTURE OF SMERSH AUTHORITIES: a) having the rank of Junior Lieutenant of State Security - ML LIEUTENANT; b) having the rank of lieutenant of state security - LIEUTENANT; c) having the rank of senior lieutenant of state security - ST.LEUTENANT; d) having the rank of captain of state security - CAPTAIN; e) having the rank of major of state security - MAJOR; f) having the rank of lieutenant colonel of state security - LIEUTENANT COLONEL; f) having the rank of colonel of state security - COLONEL.
2. The rest of the commanding officers with the rank of commissar of state security and above - to assign military ranks on a personal basis.
However, at the same time, there are enough examples when military counterintelligence officers - "Smershevites" (especially senior officers) wore personal ranks of state security. So, for example, lieutenant colonel of the State Security Service G.I. Polyakov (the rank was awarded on February 11, 1943) from December 1943 to March 1945 headed the SMERSH counterintelligence department of the 109th Infantry Division.
Employees of all three Smersh departments were required to wear uniforms and insignia military units and the connections they serve.
On May 26, 1943, by Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR No. 592 of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR (published in the press), senior officials of the Smersh bodies (NPO and NKVMF) were awarded general ranks.
The head of the GUKR of the NPO of the USSR "Smersh" V.S. Abakumov is the only "army Smershev", despite his appointment, concurrently, as Deputy People's Commissar of Defense (he held this post for a little more than a month - from 19.04 to 25.05.1943), kept for until July 1945, the "Chekist" special title of commissar of the State Security Service of the 2nd rank.
On July 24, 1943, the head of the UKR of the NKVMF of the USSR "Smersh" P. A. Gladkov became a major general of the coast service, and the head of the ROC of the NKVD of the USSR "Smersh" S. P. Yukhimovich remained until July 1945 the commissar of the State Security Service.
In 1941, Stalin signed a decree of the State Defense Committee of the USSR on the state check (filtration) of the Red Army soldiers who were captured or surrounded by enemy troops. A similar procedure was carried out with regard to the operational composition of the state security agencies. The filtration of military personnel provided for the identification of traitors, spies and deserters among them. By a decree of the Council of People's Commissars of January 6, 1945, departments for repatriation affairs began to function at the headquarters of the fronts, in which employees of the Smersh bodies took part. Collection and transit points were created to receive and check Soviet citizens liberated by the Red Army.
"SMERSH": Historical essays and archival documents. M. 2005
It is reported that from 1941 to 1945. Soviet authorities arrested about 700 thousand people - about 70 thousand of them were shot. It is also reported that several million people passed through the “purgatory” of SMERSH and about a quarter of them were also executed. During the war years, 101 generals and admirals were arrested: 12 died during the investigation, 8 were released for lack of corpus delicti, 81 were convicted by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court and a special meeting.
To monitor and control dissent, SMERSH created and maintained a whole system of surveillance of citizens in the rear and at the front. Threats of violence led to cooperation with secret service and baseless accusations against military personnel and civilians.
Also today it is reported that SMERSH played a big role in the spread of the Stalinist system of terror to the countries of Eastern Europe where regimes friendly to the Soviet Union were established. For example, it is reported that in the territory of Poland and Germany after the war, some former Nazi concentration camps continued to function "under the auspices" of SMERSH as a place of repression of ideological opponents of the new regimes (as a justification, information is given that in the former Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald for several years after the war, more than 60 thousand opponents of the socialist choice).
At the same time, the reputation of SMERSH as a repressive body is often exaggerated in contemporary literature. The GUKR SMERSH had nothing to do with the persecution of the civilian population, and could not do this, since work with the civilian population is the prerogative of the territorial bodies of the NKVD-NKGB. Contrary to popular belief, the SMERSH authorities could not sentence anyone to imprisonment or execution, as they were not judicial authorities. Sentences were passed by a military tribunal or a Special Meeting of the NKVD.
The detachments under the bodies of "Smersh" were never created, and the employees of "Smersh" never led them. At the beginning of the war, protective measures were carried out by the NKVD troops to protect the rear of the Army in the field. In 1942, barrage detachments began to be created with each army at the front. In fact, they were intended to maintain order during the battles. Only at the head of the detachments of the Stalingrad and South-Western fronts in September-December 1942 were employees of special departments of the NKVD.
To ensure operational work, guarding places of deployment, escorting and guarding those arrested from parts of the Red Army, the Smersh bodies were allocated: for the Smersh front department - a battalion, for the army department - a company, for the department of the corps, division and brigade - a platoon. As for the detachments, the barrage services were actively used by Smersh employees to search for enemy intelligence agents. For example, on the eve of the offensive operations of the fronts, measures taken by the frontier service with the participation of the Smersh organs acquired a large scope. In particular, military garrisons were combed, up to 500 or more settlements with adjacent forests, non-residential premises, thousands of abandoned dugouts were inspected. During such “cleansings”, as a rule, people were detained big number persons without documents, deserters, as well as military personnel who had documents in their hands with signs indicating their production in the Abwehr.
Military counterintelligence officers "Smersh" sometimes not only performed their direct duties, but also directly participated in the battles with the Nazis, often at critical moments took over the command of companies and battalions that had lost their commanders. Many army security officers died in the line of duty, assignments of the command of the Red Army and the Navy.
For example, Art. Lieutenant A.F. Kalmykov, who promptly served the battalion of the 310th Rifle Division, was posthumously awarded the Order of the Red Banner for the following feat. In January 1944 personnel battalion tried to storm the village of Hosiya Novgorod region. The offensive was stopped by heavy enemy fire. Repeated attacks yielded no results. By agreement with the command, Kalmykov led a group of fighters and penetrated the village from the rear, defended by a strong enemy garrison. The sudden blow caused confusion among the Germans, but their numerical superiority made it possible to surround the daredevils. Then Kalmykov called on the radio "fire on himself." After the liberation of the village on its streets, except for the dead Soviet soldiers, about 300 corpses of the enemy were discovered, destroyed by the Kalmykov group and the fire of Soviet guns and mortars.
In total, during the war years, four SMERSH employees were awarded the highest award - the title of Hero of the Soviet Union: Senior Lieutenant Pyotr Anfimovich Zhidkov, Lieutenant Grigory Mikhailovich Kravtsov, Lieutenant Mikhail Petrovich Krygin, Lieutenant Vasily Mikhailovich Chebotarev. All four were awarded this title posthumously.
Viktor Semyonovich Abakumov (April 11 (24), 1908, Moscow - December 19, 1954, Leningrad) - Soviet statesman, Colonel General (07/09/1945, Commissar of State Security of the 2nd rank).
Deputy People's Commissar of Defense and Head of the Main Directorate of Counterintelligence "SMERSH" of the People's Commissariat of Defense of the USSR (1943-1946), Minister of State Security of the USSR (1946-1951).
Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 2nd convocation.
On July 12, 1951, V.S. Abakumov was arrested and charged with high treason and a Zionist conspiracy in the MGB.
After Stalin's death, the charges against Abakumov were changed; he was charged with the "Leningrad case", fabricated by him, according to the new official version.
He was put on trial in closed court in Leningrad and on December 19, 1954 he was shot in Levashovo near Leningrad.
In 1997, the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court reclassified the verdict under the article “military malfeasance” and was replaced by 25 years in prison.
Alexander Anatolyevich Vadis (1906-1968) - counterintelligence officer, deputy minister of state security of the Ukrainian SSR, lieutenant general (1944).
Born in Ukrainian peasant family. From 1913 to 1917 he studied at the gymnasium in the city of Bakhmut. From November 1918 he was homeless in Kyiv. From June 1920 to November 1922 he served in the Red Army. After demobilization, a laborer at the kulak Vilchinsky in the village of Konyushevka. In 1923 he joined the Komsomol. From August 1924 secretary of the regional branch of the Komsomol of Ukraine, Nemirovsky orphanage, Vakhnovka township. From September 1925 Communard in the commune "Plowman". Since December 1926, the head of the district children's bureau of the district committee of the Komsomol of Ukraine, since July 1927, the executive secretary of the Vinnitsa district committee of the Komsomol of Ukraine. Member of the CPSU (b) since April 1928. Again in the Red Army cadet in the 96th rifle regiment 96th Infantry Division from November 1928 to November 1930.
Since 1930 in the GPU of Ukraine. In 1938, head of the Berdichevsky city department of the NKVD, head of the 4th department of the 3rd department of the UGB NKVD of the Ukrainian SSR. In 1939, the head of the 3rd department of the UGB of the UNKVD of the Kamenetz-Podolsk region. In 1941, head of the UNKVD, head of the UNKGB of the Ternopil region, head of the Special Department of the NKVD of the 26th Army. In 1941-1942, Deputy Head of the Special Department of the NKVD of the South-Western Front. In 1942, head of the Special Department of the NKVD of the Bryansk Front. In 1942-1943 he was the head of the Special Department of the NKVD of the Voronezh Front. In 1943-1945, he was the head of the SMERSH counterintelligence department of the Central - Belorussian - 1st Belorussian Front - the Group of Soviet Occupation Forces in Germany. In 1945-1946, head of the SMERSH counterintelligence department, head of the counterintelligence department of the MGB of the Trans-Baikal-Amur Military District. In 1947-1951 he was the head of the Main Directorate of Security of the Ministry of State Security of the USSR for railway and water transport. In 1951, Deputy Minister of State Security of the Ukrainian SSR.
November 24, 1951 dismissed from the Ministry of State Security of the USSR. In 1951-1953 he worked in the ITL system of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs. In 1952 he was expelled from the Communist Party for abuse of office. On December 25, 1953, he was dismissed from the bodies of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs "due to the facts of discrediting." On November 23, 1954, by the decision of the Council of Ministers of the USSR No. 2349-1118ss, he was deprived military rank general and all military awards "as having discredited himself during his work in the bodies ... and unworthy in connection with this high rank general." Following this, he was deprived of his pension, and in 1955 he was evicted from his apartment. Until his death in 1968, A. A. Vadis lived in a rented room in a communal apartment and worked as a watchman. After 1957, when Marshal G.K. Zhukov was removed from the post of Minister of Defense, he was offered to write a penitential letter to N.S. Khrushchev and apply for reinstatement to the CPSU, but he categorically refused to do so.
Mikhail Dmitrievich Ryumin (September 1, 1913 - July 22, 1954) - a prominent figure in the NKGB - USSR Ministry of State Security, colonel, Deputy Minister of State Security of the USSR (October 19, 1951 - November 13, 1952).
Born into a peasant family in the village of Kabanye, Kabansky volost, Shadrinsk district, Perm province (now the Shadrinsk district Kurgan region). Member of the CPSU (b) since 1943.
Initial period[edit]
In 1929 he graduated from eight classes of the 2nd stage school in Shadrinsk.
From May 1929 to February 1931 he worked as an accountant in the agricultural artel "Drummer" in his native village.
From April 1930 to June 1930 - a student of the Shadrin accounting courses of the regional Union of Consumer Societies.
From June 1930 to February 1931 - an accountant in the artel "Drummer".
From February 1931 to June 1931, he was an accountant-instructor of the Kabanevsky District Kolkhoz Union, the regional post office (Ural Region).
From June 1931 he studied at communications courses in Shadrinsk, after graduating in September 1931 he worked as an accountant, senior accountant, accountant-instructor of the communications department of the Ural region (September 1931 - June 1933), at the same time in 1931 - 1932 he studied at Komsomol branch of the Communist University named after V. I. Lenin (Sverdlovsk).
In September 1934 - March 1935 he studied at the courses of the Union of Archives, but did not graduate from them.
From May 1934 to September 1935 - Chief Accountant of the Communications Department of the Sverdlovsk Region.
In September 1935, he was drafted into the army (private, from September 15, 1935 he served at the headquarters of the Ural Military District, from December 15, 1935 to July 1936 - an accountant-economist of the headquarters).
In July - August 1937 he again worked as the chief accountant of the communications department of the Sverdlovsk region.
Since September 13, 1937 - accountant-auditor of the financial sector Central Administration river routes of the People's Commissariat of Water Transport of the USSR.
From September 27, 1938 - chief accountant, then, until June 1941 - head of the planning and financial department of the Moscow-Volga Canal Administration.
After the outbreak of World War II, he was sent to work in the NKVD.
In the NKVD-MGB
Studied at high school NKVD USSR (July 22 - September 1941), then was on investigative work in the NKVD NGO - Smersh OKR of the Arkhangelsk Military District: investigator, senior investigator of the 4th department of the NKVD NGO in the Arkhangelsk Military District, from May 21, 1943 - Deputy Head , from January 17, 1944 to December 15, 1944 - head of the 4th (investigative) department of the Smersh ROC of the Arkhangelsk Military District. From December 15, 1944 to March 23, 1945 - head of the 4th (investigative) department of the Smersh ROC of the White Sea Military District.
Then transferred to central office GUKR "Smersh" (then the Ministry of State Security of the USSR), held the following positions:
Senior investigator of the 1st department of the 6th department of the Smersh GUKR (March 25, 1945 - May 22, 1946);
Deputy Head of the 2nd Department of the 6th Department of the 3rd Main Directorate of the USSR Ministry of State Security (May 22, 1946 - September 21, 1949);
Senior Investigator of the Investigative Department for special important matters MGB (September 21, 1949 - July 10, 1951).
In 1951, he received a reprimand for losing a folder with investigation materials in an official bus. He also hid facts from the leadership that compromised his relatives - Ryumin's father was a fist, his brother and sister were accused of theft, and his father-in-law served with Kolchak during the Civil War.
M. Ryumin was called a "bloody dwarf" for the fact that he "knocked out" testimony, torturing people with torture. In 1948, he "obtained" materials for the arrest of Marshal G.K. Zhukov.
Ryumin participated in the investigation initiated by Abakumov on the orders of Stalin in the case of "Marshal" - to prepare materials for the arrest of Georgy Zhukov. He led the case of the arrested Hero of the Soviet Union, Major P. E. Braiko, beating him, forced him to sign a statement in relation to "one of the Marshals of the Soviet Union." Also, seeking evidence against Zhukov and Serov, he burned his tongue with a cigarette to the arrested former storekeeper of the Berlin NKVD operations sector A. V. Kuznetsov.
Moved forward thanks to the "cause of doctors." Nikolai Mesyatsev, while still only a Komsomol trainee, in 1953 conducted an audit of the materials of the investigation on the “doctors' case” and established that it was fabricated on the initiative of Ryumin. In an interview with the Sovetskaya Rossiya newspaper, he recalls:
The initiator [of the doctors' case] must be considered the head of the investigation department, Ryumin, known as a notorious careerist ... Some believe that the impetus for the emergence of the "doctors' case" was Stalin's alleged suspicion that former members The Politburo of Kalinin, Shcherbakov, Zhdanov, the doctors who treated them are to blame. The MGB decided to confirm the "guess" of the leader. A statement from an employee of the Kremlin hospital, Lydia Timashuk, appears. An expert commission is created, headed by Ryumin. And the car started spinning.
-
On July 2, 1951, at the request of D. N. Sukhanov (assistant to G. M. Malenkov), he sent a statement addressed to I. V. Stalin, in which he accused the Minister of State Security of the USSR V. S. Abakumov of concealing important materials about the death of the Secretary of the Central Committee A. S. Shcherbakov, in obstructing the investigation of the cases of the arrested Professor Ya. Dozens of employees of the MGB were also arrested, and the next day a closed letter from the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks “On the unsatisfactory situation in the USSR Ministry of State Security” appeared.
From July 10, 1951 - Acting Chief, from October 19 - Head of the Investigative Unit for Particularly Important Cases of the USSR Ministry of State Security. At the same time, on October 19, 1951, he was appointed Deputy Minister of State Security of the USSR and a member of the Collegium of the MGB. In 1952, at the direction of Stalin, he led the Mingrelian case.
By the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR of November 13, 1952, he was suspended from work in the MGB and sent to the disposal of the Central Committee of the CPSU for failing to solve the "case of Abakumov" and "the case of doctors" (they "still remain unsolved to the end").
On November 14, 1952, he was appointed senior controller of the Ministry of State Control of the USSR (for the Ministry of Finance and the State Staff Commission).
Arrest and execution
On March 17, 1953, after the death of Stalin, he was arrested and kept in the Lefortovo prison. During interrogations, he denied accusations of enemy activity, willingly admitting individual mistakes. He expressed his desire to work in any post where the party sends him. Twice I spoke with L.P. Beria. For the first time, he encouraged Ryumin that he could be pardoned if he "fully reveals his insides." On March 28, 1953, the second conversation took place, ending after 25 minutes with the phrase: “I will see you again and you will not see me. We will eliminate you." Later, Ryumin began to assert that the case against him was created by "enemies of the people Beria, Kobulov, Goglidze and Vlodzimirsky, whom he interfered with."
July 2-7, 1954 Military Collegium Supreme Court The USSR considered in a court session the case on the charge of M. D. Ryumin of a crime under Art. 58-7 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR. The report on this meeting stated: “The judicial investigation established that Ryumin, during his work as a senior investigator, and then the head of the investigative unit for especially important cases former Ministry state security of the USSR, acting as a hidden enemy Soviet state, for careerist and adventurous purposes, he took the path of falsifying investigative materials, on the basis of which provocative cases were created and unjustified arrests of a number of Soviet citizens, including prominent figures in medicine, were made ... Ryumin, using investigation methods prohibited by Soviet law, forced the arrested to incriminate themselves and other persons in the commission of the gravest crimes - treason, sabotage, espionage, etc. The subsequent investigation established that these charges had no basis, those involved in these cases were completely rehabilitated ”(Pravda, July 8, 1954).
On July 7, 1954, he was sentenced by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR to capital punishment with confiscation of property.
