SMERSH
Sign in to saveSMERSH () was an umbrella organization for three independent counter-intelligence agencies in the Red Army formed in late 1942 or even earlier, but officially announced only on 14 April 1943. The name SMERSH was coined by Joseph Stalin. The formal justification for its creation was to subvert the attempts by Nazi German forces to infiltrate the Red Army on the Eastern Front.
Key facts
- Government agency.agency_name
- Main Directorate of Counter-Intelligence "SMERSH"
- Government agency.nativename_a
- СМЕРШ
- Government agency.motto
- Смерть шпионам! (Death to spies!)
- Government agency.logo
- СМЕРШ Удостоверение контрразведки 1943.jpg
- Government agency.seal_width
- 150 px
- Government agency.formed
- 14 April 1943
- Government agency.preceding1
- Directorate of Special Departments within NKVD USSR
- Government agency.preceding2
- III Main Directorate within MGB USSR
- Government agency.dissolved
- 4 May 1946
- Government agency.jurisdiction
- Soviet Union newly liberated and newly occupied territories (World War II)
- Government agency.headquarters
- Lubyanka (4th and 6th floors) Moscow, Soviet Union
- Government agency.agency_type
- Military counter-intelligence
- Government agency.parent_department
- State Defense Committee
- Government agency.parent_agency
- State Defense Committee
- Government agency.chief1_name
- Viktor Abakumov
via Wikipedia infobox
Article
14 sectionsContents
- Name
- History
- Operation Barbarossa
- Duties
- Other activities
- GUKR SMERSH HQ organization
- UKR SMERSH units at the front
- Methods
- In popular culture
- In the West
- In Russia
- See also
- References
- External links
SMERSH () was an umbrella organization for three independent counter-intelligence agencies in the Red Army formed in late 1942 or even earlier, but officially announced only on 14 April 1943. The name SMERSH was coined by Joseph Stalin. The formal justification for its creation was to subvert the attempts by Nazi German forces to infiltrate the Red Army on the Eastern Front.
The official statute of SMERSH listed the following tasks to be performed by the organisation: counter-intelligence, counter-terrorism, preventing any other activity of foreign intelligence in the Red Army; fighting "anti-Soviet elements" in the Red Army; protection of the front lines against penetration by spies and "anti-Soviet elements"; investigating traitors, deserters, and self-inflicted wounds in the Red Army; and checking military and civil personnel returning from captivity.