On the eve of the decisive battles on the eastern front, the Abwehr sharply intensified its activities around the Moscow railway. The main brunt of the struggle fell on the shoulders of the SMERSH (Death to Spies) employees.
Here is just one episode of this struggle.
In early February 1943, on one of the platforms near Moscow, our counterintelligence officers detained two suspicious young men. According to the documents, these were servicemen Nilov and Antonov.
At the very first interrogation, both admitted that they were agents of the Abwehr - graduates of the Borisov intelligence school. They were instructed to settle in Lyubertsy and monitor the passage of military echelons, and transmit the collected information by radio to the Saturn reconnaissance center.
Both willingly agreed to cooperate with our intelligence, which started a radio game with the Abwehr, which was codenamed "Borisov". Nilov, who had the call sign "Cat" for the Germans, was settled in a private apartment under the supervision of two officers. We went out of town to conduct communication sessions. Soon, Nilov sent a request to Saturn to send batteries for the radio station, as well as money, allegedly to bribe railway workers.
He said that he settled in the village of Tomilino on Sovetskaya Street. (In fact, it was a safe house where the ambush was on duty.) Saturn reported that the package was ready and would be sent with a reliable courier.
A certain Semenov, a graduate of the same intelligence school, arrived as a courier. He was detained, barely managed to cross the threshold of the safe house. But he appeared empty, explaining that the parcel had been dropped on another parachute, and he could not find it.
The Smershevites decided to use this incident as a pretext to call a second courier. During the next communication session, Nilov reported practically reliable information to "Saturn": they say, Semyonov came without the promised package, because he did not find it in the forest. From "Saturn" they replied that another courier would bring the parcel, and Semenov should immediately return back, crossing the front line in the area of the 33rd Army of Soviet troops.
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It is clear that it was impossible to release Semyonov, and then SMERSH decided to stage his death, allegedly when he crossed the front line.
The stake was placed on the fact that the Germans actively monitored the work of Soviet military radios in the front line.
Soon, the Germans intercepted a radio message from the 33rd Army headquarters, transmitted in plain text to the commanders of all units of the front line of defense. It reported that at the Vasilyeva site, an unknown person did not obey the order to stop, put up armed resistance and fled. The following are the signs of Semenov.
After some time, the commander of one of the units also openly informed the headquarters that an unknown person was killed while trying to cross the front line in his sector, and then the same signs of a real courier were listed. Judging by the subsequent events, "Saturn" believed in this "accident".
The second courier was Nikolai Menshikov, also a graduate of the Borisov school. By pure chance, he was detained by soldiers of one of the units of the 11th Army. In the army counterintelligence SMERSH, the paratrooper was interrogated "with partiality." He, without hiding anything, told who exactly he went to contact.
The leaders of the army counterintelligence decided to act independently and, taking submachine gunners, rushed to Tomilino. Meanwhile, in a safe house, in full combat readiness, another group of Smershevites was ambushed. It is not difficult to imagine how the meeting of two armed groups of counterintelligence officers, not familiar with each other, could have ended.
Fortunately, passing Lyubertsy, the first group turned into the city department of the NKVD, where operatives of the Main Directorate of SMERSH were on duty, and the misunderstanding was clarified.
During interrogations, Menshikov, who was burdened by serving the Germans, himself offered to work for Soviet intelligence.
After a series of conversations, the counterintelligence officers came to the conclusion that this man can be trusted. He was offered to return to Borisov, from where he was supposed to transmit detailed information about the activities of "Saturn" through contacts. But first, the next stage of the Borisov radio game had to be completed.
The courier was accommodated in a hotel according to his fictitious documents, the neatly packed parcel was returned and instructed to transfer it to its destination. At the same time, they did not tell Menshikov that Nilov was already working for SMERSH. They simply explained that our intelligence is monitoring German agents, but is in no hurry to arrest them.
The meeting between Nilov and Menshikov passed without any incidents, while each remained convinced that he spoke with an agent working for the Germans. Then Menshikov was organized a safe passage across the front line.
In "Saturn" he was greeted as a hero, and even promoted, which expanded his access to the secrets of the intelligence school. In the course of the radio game, our counterintelligence services grew in confidence in Nilov. He was accommodated in a private apartment, although surveillance was not removed. But then one day Nilov did not show up for a meeting with the curator. Nor was he at home. The hostess stated that Nilov did not spend the night at all. Outside also blinded her ward.
The missing agent was searched for in police departments, commandant's offices, hospitals, morgues … Did he really run away ?!
Only a week later it turned out that Nilov had been hit by a car and sent unconscious to the hospital. The injury turned out to be quite serious, although, fortunately, not fatal. The front moved further and further from Moscow.
To activate the game, SMERSH has planned to lure another courier out of Saturn. Since the consequences of Nilov's injury still affected, Antonov sat down to the transmitter, asking Saturn for new batteries and money. Saturn responded quickly.
Probably, the Germans decided to arrange a check. They suggested Antonov to cross the front line near Kovel, to rest in the German rear, and then return to his old place. But this option did not suit our counterintelligence officers. A radiogram was sent to Saturn, in which Antonov pointed out the risk associated with crossing the front line. "Saturn" agreed with the arguments of the radio operator, informing that he was preparing a particularly trusted courier.
In February 1944, Hitler dismissed the head of the Abwehr Canaris, and reassigned the department itself to the Main Directorate of Imperial Security (RSHA). The Germans began to act more inventively, in particular, they started checking the radio operators who had settled in the Soviet rear. This should be taken into account by our counterintelligence officers.
Antonov was settled in a safe house, where a group of operatives was secretly. The owner of the house was also aware of what was happening. On August 28, "Saturn" reported: "friend" has left, welcome.
On September 2, in the evening, a man in an officer's uniform with a duffel bag and a PPSh machine gun on his shoulder approached the gate. The hostess took the guest to Antonov's room, who recognized Matvienko in the courier who studied with him. At first, the guest was wary, not letting go of the machine. But then he calmed down, put the weapons and things in the closet, after which he said that a new key phrase had now been introduced to encrypt the radio messages. Antonov invited the guest to have a bite to eat, and before that to wash. Near the washstand, they twisted it, which turned out to be not easy, for the courier offered desperate resistance. Antonov reported the courier's arrival to Saturn, also passing on Matvienko's “request” to allow him to visit his aunt in Kalinin on the way back. Consent was obtained.
It is clear that Matvienko never returned from Kalinin. In early September 1944, "Saturn" offered Antonov to move to Vilnius and from there to conduct reconnaissance for the movement of echelons. On September 25, Antonov radioed from Vilnius that he had settled in the city, but it is very difficult to get information here, since the local population is extremely reluctant to make contact with the Russians. Could you send an experienced partner, preferably a Lithuanian?
"Saturn" suggested Antonov to move to the Grodno region and find a suitable place in the forest for dropping the parachutist and cargo. On the night of October 25, a plane appeared over the site where the fires were lit. A parachutist in the uniform of a Red Army officer landed. He did not even have time to come to his senses, as he was detained by our counterintelligence officers. It was a seasoned fascist agent Klimovich …
"Saturn" continued to call "Cat" until the surrender of Nazi Germany. The leaders of the fascist intelligence center did not understand that all this time they were being led by the nose …
Author: Valery NECHIPORENKO
