Soviet intelligence is the best in the world. None of these structures on the planet can boast of such a number of brilliantly conducted operations in its entire history - one theft of US nuclear technology is worth something!
Geniuses of Soviet intelligence
Can the CIA, or MOSSAD, or MI6 oppose anyone to Soviet intelligence officers of the class Artur Artuzov (Operations Trust and Syndicate 2), Rudolf Abel, Nikolai Kuznetsov, Kim Philby, Richard Sorge, Aldrich Ames or Gevork Vartanyan? They can. Agent 007. Operations carried out by Soviet intelligence are studied in all special schools in the world. And among this brilliant galaxy it is impossible to name the most-most. In one article, the idea is substantiated that the best Soviet intelligence officer is Kim Philby, in another they call Richard Sorge. Gevorg Vartanyan, who outplayed the Abwehr, according to authoritative and unbiased estimates, is one of the hundred best intelligence officers in the world. And the aforementioned Artur Artuzov, in addition to dozens, brilliantlyconducted operations, led at a certain time the work of such outstanding Soviet intelligence officers as Shandor Rado and Richard Sorge, Jan Chernyak, Rudolf Gernstad and Hadji-Umar Mamsurov. Books have been written about the exploits on the invisible front of each of them.
The luckiest one
For example, the Soviet intelligence officer Yan Chernyak. In 1941, he managed to get the Barbarossa plan, and in 1943, the plan for the offensive of the German army near Kursk. Jan Chernyak created a powerful intelligence network, not a single member of which was ever exposed by the Gestapo - in 11 years of work, his Krona group did not have a single failure. According to unconfirmed reports, his agent was the movie star of the Third Reich, Marika Rökk. In 1944 alone, his group sent 60 samples of radio equipment and 12,500 sheets of technical documentation to Moscow. He died in retirement in 1995. The hero of the USSR. Served as a prototype of Stirlitz (Colonel Maxim Isaev).
Invisible front
Soviet spy Haj-Umar Mamsurov, who participated under the pseudonym Colonel Xanthi in the Spanish Civil War, served as the prototype for one of the characters in Ernest Hemingway's novel For Whom the Bell Tolls. Recently, many materials about Soviet intelligence have been declassified, which make it possible to understand what the secret of its phenomenal victories is. It is very interesting to read about this structure and its brightest employees and collaborators. Few people know about many of them. Only recently, the channel "Russia 1" launcheda project that tells amazing stories about the legendary exploits of Soviet intelligence officers.
Hundreds of little-known and unknown heroes
For example, the film “Kill the Gauleiter. An order for three tells the story of three young scouts - Nadezhda Troyan, Maria Osipova and Elena Mazanik - who carried out the order to destroy the executioner of Belarus Wilhelm Kube. Soviet intelligence officer Pavel Fitin was the first to report to the Kremlin about plans for a German attack on the Soviet Union. There are a lot of them - heroes of the invisible front. Some remain in the shadows for the time being, others, due to the circumstances, are known and loved by the people.
Legendary scout and partisan
Often this is facilitated by well-acted films with talented and charming actors and well-written books, such as, for example, about Nikolai Kuznetsov. The stories “It was near Rovno” and “Strong in spirit” by D. N. Medvedev were read by all children in the Union. The Soviet intelligence officer of the Second World War, Nikolai Kuznetsov, who personally destroyed 11 generals and bosses of Nazi Germany, was known, without exaggeration, to every citizen of the USSR, and at one time he was generally the most famous Soviet intelligence officer. Moreover, his features are guessed in the collective image of the hero of the legendary Soviet film "The feat of the scout", which is still quoted.
Real events and facts
In general, Soviet intelligence officers of the Second World War are surrounded by a halo of glory, because the cause for which they worked and very often gavetheir lives, ended with a great victory for the Red Army. And that is why films about intelligence officers who penetrated the Abwehr or other fascist structures are so popular. But the scripts were not at all far-fetched. The plots of the paintings “The Way to Saturn” and “The End of Saturn” are based on the story of intelligence officer A. I. Kozlov, who rose to the rank of captain in the Abwehr. He is called the most mysterious agent.
Legendary Sorge
In connection with films about Soviet intelligence officers, one cannot but recall the film by the French director Yves Champi "Who are you, Dr. Sorge?" The legendary Soviet intelligence officer, who was in Japan during the Second World War and created a powerful ramified agent network there, who had the nickname Ramsay, told Stalin the date of the German attack on the Soviet Union. The film spurred interest both in the actor Thomas Holzman and in Richard Sorge himself, about whom few knew at that time. Then articles about him began to appear in the press, and for a while the Soviet intelligence officer, the head of the organization in Japan, Richard Sorge, became very popular. The fate of this resident is tragic - he was executed in the courtyard of Tokyo's Sugamo Prison in 1944. The entire residency of Sorge in Japan was failed. His grave is in the same place where he was executed. The first Soviet person to put flowers on his grave was the writer and journalist Vsevolod Ovchinnikov.
Traded for Powers
At the beginning of the movie Dead Season, Rudolf Abel addresses the audience. The prototype of the intelligence officer, who was beautifully played by Donatas Banionis, was another famous Soviet intelligence officer, Konon the Young. Both he and RudolfAbel, as a result of the betrayal of his partners, failed in the United States, were sentenced to long terms and exchanged for American intelligence officers (the famous exchange scene on the bridge in the film). For a while, Rudolph Abel, who was exchanged for the American pilot F. G. Powers, becomes the most discussed intelligence officer. His work in the states since 1948 was so effective that already in 1949 he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner in his homeland.
Cambridge Five
Soviet intelligence officer, head of an organization known as the "Cambridge Five", Arnold Deutch recruited major high-ranking officials of British intelligence and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to work for the Soviet Union. Allen Dulles called this organization "the most powerful intelligence group of the Second World War."
Kim Philby (nickname Stanley) and Donald McLean (Homer), Anthony Blunt (Johnson), Guy Burges (Hicks) and John Cairncross - all of them, due to their high position, possessed valuable information, and therefore the effectiveness of the group's work was high. Kim Philby is called the most famous and most important Soviet spy.
The legendary "Red Chapel"
Another Soviet intelligence officer, the head of the Red Chapel organization, the Polish Jew Leopold Trepper, entered the annals of our country's intelligence. This organization was a horror for the Germans, they respectfully called Trepper the Big Chief. The largest and most effective Soviet intelligence network operated in many European countries. The history of many members of this organization is very tragic. To combat it, the Germans created a special Sonderkommando, which was personally led by Hitler.
Many known, even more unknown
There are many lists of Soviet intelligence officers, there are five of the most successful. It includes Richard Sorge, Kim Philby, Aldridge Ames, Ivan Agayants and Lev Manevich (he worked in Italy in the 30s). In other lists other surnames are called. Robert Hanssen, an FBI officer in the 70s and 80s, is often mentioned. Obviously, it is impossible to name the most, since Russia has always had more than enough enemies, and there have always been a lot of people who gave their lives in a secret fight against them. And the names of a large number of intelligence officers are still classified as "secret".
