Having placed the main emphasis on the armed forces in the impending aggression, the Nazi command did not forget about waging a “secret war” against the Soviet Union. Preparations for it were in full swing. All the rich experience of imperialist intelligence, all the secret service organizations of the Third Reich, contacts of the international anti-Soviet reaction and, finally, all the known spy centers of Germany's allies now had a clear focus and goal - the USSR.
The Nazis tried to conduct reconnaissance, espionage, and sabotage against the Land of the Soviets constantly and on a large scale. The activity of these actions increased sharply after the capture of Poland in the fall of 1939 and especially after the end of the French campaign. In 1940, the number of spies and agents sent to the territory of the USSR increased almost 4 times compared to 1939, and in 1941 - already 14 times. During just eleven pre-war months, Soviet border guards detained about 5 thousand enemy spies. The former head of the first department of German military intelligence and counterintelligence (Abwehr), Lieutenant General Pickenbrock, testifying at the Nuremberg trials, said: “... I must say that already from August - September 1940 on the part of the department of foreign armies General Staff reconnaissance missions for the Abwehr across the USSR began to increase significantly. These tasks were certainly related to the preparations for war against Russia.”
He showed great interest in the preparations for the “secret war” against the Soviet Union. Hitler himself, believing that the activation of the entire huge reconnaissance and subversive apparatus of the Reich secret services will significantly contribute to the implementation of his criminal plans. On this occasion, the English military historian Liddell Hart subsequently wrote: “In the war that Hitler intended to wage ... the main attention was paid to attacking the enemy from the rear in one form or another. Hitler disdained frontal assaults and hand-to-hand combat, which are the basics for an ordinary soldier. He began the war by demoralizing and disorganizing the enemy... If in the First World War artillery preparation was carried out to destroy the enemy’s defensive structures before the infantry offensive, then in a future war Hitler proposed to first undermine the enemy’s morale. In this war all types of weapons and especially propaganda had to be used.”
Admiral Canaris.Chief of the Abwehr
On November 6, 1940, the Chief of Staff of the Supreme High Command of the German Armed Forces, General Field Marshal Keitel, and the Chief of Staff of the Operational Command of the OKB, General Jodl, signed a directive from the Supreme High Command addressed to the Wehrmacht intelligence services. All intelligence and counterintelligence agencies were instructed to clarify available data about the Red Army, the economy, mobilization capabilities, the political situation of the Soviet Union, the mood of the population and to obtain new information related to the study of theaters of military operations, the preparation of reconnaissance and sabotage activities during the invasion, and to ensure covert preparation for aggression, while simultaneously misinforming about the true intentions of the Nazis.
Directive No. 21 (Barbarossa Plan) provided, along with the armed forces, for the full use of agents, sabotage and reconnaissance units in the rear of the Red Army. Detailed evidence at the Nuremberg trials was given on this issue by the deputy head of the Abwehr-2 department, Colonel Stolze, who was captured by Soviet troops: “I received instructions from Lahousen (head of the department - Author) to organize and lead a special group under the code name “A” , which was supposed to prepare acts of sabotage and work on disintegration in the Soviet rear in connection with the planned attack on the Soviet Union.
At the same time, Lahousen gave me for review and guidance an order received from the operational headquarters of the armed forces... This order contained the main directive instructions for carrying out subversive activities on the territory of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics after the German attack on the Soviet Union. This order was first marked with the code “Barbarossa...”
The Abwehr played an important role in preparing the war against the USSR. This one of the most knowledgeable, extensive and experienced secret bodies of fascist Germany soon became almost the main center for preparing the “secret war”. The Abwehr expanded its activities especially widely with the arrival of land admiral Canaris on January 1, 1935 at the “Fox Hole” (as the Nazis themselves called the main residence of the Abwehr), who began to strengthen his espionage and sabotage department in every possible way.
The central apparatus of the Abwehr consisted of three main departments. The direct center for the collection and preliminary processing of all intelligence data concerning the ground forces of foreign armies, including the army of the Soviet Union, was the so-called Abwehr-1 department, headed by Colonel Pickenbrock. This received intelligence data from the Reich Security Directorate, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Fascist Party apparatus and other sources, as well as from military, naval and aviation intelligence. After preliminary processing, Abwehr-1 presented the available military data to the main headquarters of the armed forces. Here the processing and generalization of information was carried out and new requests for exploration were drawn up.
The Abwehr-2 department, headed by Colonel (in 1942 - Major General) Lahousen, was engaged in preparing and carrying out sabotage, terror, and sabotage on the territory of other states. And finally, the third department - Abwehr 3, headed by Colonel (in 1943 - Lieutenant General) Bentivegni - carried out the organization of counterintelligence within the country and abroad. The Abwehr system also included an extensive peripheral apparatus, the main links of which were special bodies - “Abwehrstelle” (ACT): “Konigsberg”, “Krakow”, “Vienna”, “Bucharest”, “Sofia”, which in the fall of 1940 received the task of maximally intensifying reconnaissance and sabotage activities against the USSR, primarily by sending agents. All intelligence agencies of army groups and armies received a similar order.
There were Abwehr branches at all major headquarters of Hitler's Wehrmacht: Abwehrkommandos - in army groups and large military formations, Abwehrgruppen - in armies and formations equal to them. Abwehr officers were assigned to divisions and military units.
In parallel with Canaris’s department, another organization of Hitler’s intelligence worked, the so-called VI Directorate of the Main Imperial Security Directorate of the RSHA (foreign intelligence services of the SD), which was headed by Himmler’s closest confidant, Schellenberg. At the head of the Reich Main Security Office (RSHA) was Heydrich, one of the bloodiest executioners of Nazi Germany.
Canaris and Heydrich were the chiefs of two competing intelligence services, which were constantly squabbling over their “place in the sun” and the favor of the Fuhrer. But the commonality of interests and plans made it possible to temporarily forget personal hostility and conclude a “friendly pact” on the division of spheres of influence in preparation for aggression. Military intelligence abroad was a generally recognized field of activity for the Abwehr, but this did not prevent Canaris from conducting political intelligence within Germany, and Heydrich from engaging in intelligence and counterintelligence abroad. Next to Canaris and Heydrich, Ribbentrop (through the Foreign Ministry), Rosenberg (APA), Bole (“foreign organization of the NSDAP”), and Goering (“Air Force Research Institute”, which was engaged in deciphering intercepted radiograms) had their own intelligence agencies. Both Canaris and Heydrich were well versed in the intricate web of sabotage and intelligence services, providing all possible assistance whenever possible or tripping each other up when the opportunity presented itself.
By mid-1941, the Nazis had created more than 60 training centers to train agents to be sent to the territory of the USSR. One of these “training centers” was located in the little-known remote town of Chiemsee, another in Tegel near Berlin, and a third in Quinzsee, near Brandenburg. Future saboteurs learned here various subtleties of their craft. For example, in the laboratory in Tegel they taught mainly subversion and methods of arson in the “eastern territories”. Not only seasoned intelligence officers, but also chemist specialists worked as instructors. In Quinzee there was located the Quentsug training center, well hidden among forests and lakes, where “general profile” terrorist saboteurs were trained with great thoroughness for the upcoming war. Here there were models of bridges, sections of railway tracks, and to the side, at our own airfield, there were training aircraft. The training was as close as possible to “real” conditions. Before the attack on the Soviet Union, Canaris introduced a rule: every intelligence officer must undergo training at Camp Quentsug in order to bring his skills to perfection.
In June 1941, in the town of Sulejuwek near Warsaw, a special management body “Abwehr-zagranitsa” was created to organize and manage reconnaissance, sabotage and counterintelligence activities on the Soviet-German front, which received the code name “Walli Headquarters”. At the head of the headquarters was an experienced Nazi intelligence officer, Colonel Shmalypleger. Under an unimpressive code name and an ordinary five-digit field postal number (57219) hid an entire city with high, several rows of barbed wire fences, dozens of sentries, barriers, and security checkpoints. Powerful radio stations tirelessly monitored the airwaves throughout the day, maintaining contact with Abwehrgruppen and at the same time intercepting transmissions from Soviet military and civilian radio stations, which were immediately processed and deciphered. Special laboratories, printing houses, workshops for the production of various non-serial weapons, Soviet military uniform, insignia, false documents for saboteurs, spies and other items.
To combat partisan detachments and identify persons associated with partisans and underground fighters, the Nazis organized a counterintelligence agency called “Sonderstab R” at the “Valli Headquarters”. It was headed by the former chief of counterintelligence of the Wrapgel army, Smyslovsky, also known as Colonel von Reichenau. Hitler's agents with considerable experience, members of various white émigré groups like the People's Labor Union (NTS), and nationalist rabble began their work here.
To carry out sabotage and landing operations in the Soviet rear, the Abwehr also had its own “home” army in the person of thugs from the Brandenburg-800 and Elector regiments, the Nachtigal, Roland, Bergman battalions and other units, the creation of which began in 1940, immediately after the decision was made on the large-scale deployment of preparations for war against the USSR. These so-called special units were mostly formed from Ukrainian nationalists, as well as White Guards, Basmachi, and other traitors and traitors to the Motherland.
Covering the progress of the preparation of these units for aggression, Colonel Stolze showed at the Nuremberg trials: “We also prepared special sabotage groups for subversive activities in the Baltic Soviet Republics... In addition, a special military unit was prepared for subversive activities on Soviet territory - a special-purpose training regiment "Brandenburg-800", subordinate directly to the head of "Abwehr-2" Lahousen." Stolze’s testimony was supplemented by the head of the Abwehr-3 department, Lieutenant General Bentivegni: “... From the repeated reports of Colonel Lahousen to Canaris, which I was also present at, I know that through this department a lot of preparatory work was carried out for the war with Soviet Union. During the period February - May 1941, there were repeated meetings of senior officials of Abwehr-2 with Jodl's deputy, General Warlimont... In particular, at these meetings, in accordance with the requirements of the war against Russia, the issue of increasing the special purpose units, called "Brandenburg- 800", and on the distribution of the contingent of these units among individual military formations." In October 1942, a division with the same name was formed on the basis of the Brandenburg-800 regiment. Some of its units began to be staffed with saboteurs from Germans who spoke Russian.
Simultaneously with the preparation of “internal reserves” for aggression, Canaris energetically involved his allies in intelligence activities against the USSR. He instructed Abwehr centers in the countries of South-Eastern Europe to establish even closer contacts with the intelligence agencies of these states, in particular with the intelligence of Horthy Hungary, fascist Italy, and the Romanian Siguranza. Abwehr cooperation with Bulgarian, Japanese, Finnish, Austrian and other intelligence services was strengthened. At the same time, the intelligence centers of the Abwehr, Gestapo, and Security Services (SD) in neutral countries strengthened. The agents and documents of the former Polish, Estonian, Lithuanian and Latvian bourgeois intelligence services were not forgotten and came to court. At the same time, at the orders of the Nazis, the lurking nationalist underground and gangs in the western regions of Ukraine, Belarus, and the Baltic republics intensified their activities.
A number of authors also testify to the large-scale preparation of Hitler’s sabotage and intelligence services for the war against the USSR. Thus, the English military historian Louis de Jong in his book “The German Fifth Column in the Second World War” writes: “The invasion of the Soviet Union was carefully prepared by the Germans. ...Military intelligence organized small assault units, recruiting them from the so-called Brandenburg training regiment. Such units in Russian uniforms were supposed to operate far ahead of the advancing German troops, trying to capture bridges, tunnels and military warehouses... The Germans tried to collect information about the Soviet Union also in neutral countries adjacent to the Russian borders, especially in Finland and Turkey,...intelligence established connections with nationalists from the Baltic republics and Ukraine with the aim of organizing an uprising in the rear of the Russian armies. In the spring of 1941, the Germans established contact with the former ambassadors and attaches of Latvia in Berlin, the former chief of intelligence of the Estonian general staff. Personalities such as Andrei Melnik and Stepan Bandera collaborated with the Germans.”
A few days before the war, and especially with the outbreak of hostilities, the Nazis began to send sabotage and reconnaissance groups, lone saboteurs, spies, spies, and provocateurs into the Soviet rear. They were disguised in the uniforms of soldiers and commanders of the Red Army, employees of the NKGB, railway workers, and signalmen. The saboteurs were armed with explosives, automatic weapons, telephone listening devices, supplied with false documents, and large sums of Soviet money. Those heading to the rear were prepared with plausible legends. Sabotage and reconnaissance groups were also assigned to regular units of the first echelon of the invasion. On July 4, 1941, Canaris, in his memo to the headquarters of the Wehrmacht High Command, reported: “Numerous groups of agents from the indigenous population, that is, Russians, Poles, Ukrainians, Georgians, Estonians, etc., were sent to the headquarters of the German armies. Each group consisted of 25 or more people. These groups were led by German officers. The groups used captured Russian uniforms, weapons, military trucks and motorcycles. They were supposed to penetrate into the Soviet rear to a depth of fifty to three hundred kilometers in front of the front of the advancing German armies in order to report by radio the results of their observations, paying special attention to collecting information about Russian reserves, the state of railways and other roads, as well as about all activities carried out by the enemy..."
At the same time, the saboteurs were faced with the task of blowing up railway and highway bridges, tunnels, water pumps, power plants, defense enterprises, physically destroying party and Soviet workers, NKVD employees, Red Army commanders, and sowing panic among the population.
To undermine the Soviet rear from the inside, introduce disorganization into all parts of the national economy, weaken the morale and combat stamina of the Soviet troops, and thereby contribute to the successful implementation of their ultimate goal - the enslavement of the Soviet people. All the efforts of Hitler’s reconnaissance and sabotage services were aimed at this. From the first days of the war, the scope and tension of the armed struggle on the “invisible front” reached its highest intensity. In its scale and form, this struggle had no equal in history.
The future hero was born in 1919 in Odessa, almost immediately after graduating from the Industrial Institute he was drafted into the Red Army, and already in August 1941, as part of a sabotage group, he was sent behind enemy lines.
While crossing the front line, the group was ambushed, and out of five people, only Chekhovich survived, and he had nowhere to take much optimism - the Germans, having checked the bodies, were convinced that he only had a shell shock and Konstantin Alexandrovich was captured. He managed to escape from it two weeks later, and after another week he already got in touch with the partisans of the 7th Leningrad Brigade, where he received the task of infiltrating the Germans in the city of Porkhov for sabotage work.
In Porkhov I met Evdokia Vasilyeva, from whom I rented a room; she soon became Konstantin’s wife. They had a son, Oleg.
Chekhovich earned money by repairing watches and, fulfilling an assignment from the partisan command, got the Germans to hire him as an electrician at a local power plant. Having achieved some favor with the Nazis, Chekhovich received the position of administrator at a local cinema. This cinema became a mass grave for 760 German soldiers and officers - an inconspicuous “administrator” installed bombs on the supporting columns and roof.
There were few explosives, so the experienced Chekhovich decided to lay the charge in such a way as to bring down the load-bearing wall, then the ceilings of the building would not withstand it and would collapse like a house of cards. On that ill-fated day for the Germans, the new film “Circus Artists” was showing, so the hall with 600 seats was overcrowded. Not only senior officers came, even the head of the local concentration camp “Zapolyanye” Kholomek came with his assistants and mistresses...
The explosion of a German cinema in Porkhov, which occurred on November 13, 1943, was reported literally the next day by the Sovinformburo. Even on a national scale, this was an event: in an instant, 2 generals and more than 40 senior Wehrmacht officers, not to mention the lower ranks, died under the ruins. Among the victims were many members of the Abwehr-Nord special forces unit, which was engaged in training and transporting agents to the Soviet rear. About 764 fascists were killed in the explosion.
According to local residents, in order to hide the true losses, the garrison command ordered three or four people to be buried in one grave at a time. In total, 192 crosses with a laconic inscription appeared at the German cemetery in the coming days after the explosion: they died on November 13, 1943.
Chekhovich left Porkhov immediately after the explosion. Later, among the wreckage, the Germans found a clock, which, as the occupiers found out, was repaired by Konstantin Chekhovich shortly before the sabotage. The Germans had no doubt about who organized the explosion.
Senior Lieutenant Konstantin Chekhovich was nominated for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, but for some reason this award did not take place.
Exactly 70 years later, local authorities under decided to perpetuate the partisan’s feat. A decision was made in early November to install a memorial plaque to Chekhovich on the building where the cinema was located.
The article talks about who saboteurs are, what they do, what are the methods of fighting them, and who they might be. Let's talk about the German saboteurs of the Second World War.
Start
During wars, there was always a need to strike behind enemy lines in order to weaken his position. This became especially relevant at the beginning of world clashes, when clear front lines and political courses made it clear where people were and where they were aliens. According to the dictionary, a saboteur is someone who carries out various types of activities behind enemy lines and causes damage to him. Moreover, his actions are sometimes aimed not only at military targets, but also at civilian ones. This definition can also be applied to a person who is just preparing for activities of this kind.
1941-1945
There were also differences in the boots. Or rather, the wooden nails with which they were propped up. The Germans had them square, while the Russians had them round.
Modern world
Who is a saboteur in modern world? The principles have not changed. All armies of the world are engaged in their training. True, there is no such profession as “saboteur”; when the need comes, they become scouts, special forces soldiers, and sometimes paratroopers.
Recently, Latvian search engines found a cache of German saboteurs that had lain in the ground for more than 70 years! The iron capsule contained weapons, ammunition, explosives and detonators. Everything was preserved in perfect condition.
So now we know who they are, and we understand the meaning of the word “saboteur.”
Quiz about the Great Patriotic War
In preparation for the celebration of the anniversary of the Victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War, in order to increase student interest in historical events, the heroic past of our people, quizzes were developed and conducted for students in grades 2 and 3-4. Children could get answers to questions from different sources (books, movies, the Internet, parents).
For 2nd grade students.
What is the name of:
Manual explosive projectile?
A shelter from which soldiers shoot?
Troop review?
Who are the partisans?
What child heroes of WWII do you know?
Complete the lines of this song:
……………………………………..
……………………………………..
List the hero cities of the Soviet Union?
What do you call a soldier who engages in subversive activities behind enemy lines?
What is a private in the army called?
An old, experienced warrior, participant in many battles?
A day of celebration in honor or memory of some outstanding event?
A brave, courageous person?
Reward for the feat?
The name of which animal became the name of a German tank?
A sculptural structure in memory of a person or event?
For students in grades 3-4.
In what year did the German army launch an attack on Stalingrad?
In what battle did more than a thousand tanks and self-propelled artillery units fight?
And what year was this battle?
Germany's first major defeat in the war?
4. What was the name of the Marshal of the Soviet Union, four times
Hero of the Soviet Union, twice holder of the highest
Military Order of Victory?
5. What is a concentration camp?
6.Former name of modern Volgograd?
7. What awards (orders and medals) of the Second World War do you know?
8. Why are there many monuments in European countries?
Soviet soldiers?
9. What was the name of Hitler’s “blitzkrieg” plan?
10. Select from the list states that during the Second World War
Liberated Soviet troops?
Poland Nigeria
Romania Czechoslovakia
Brazil Canada
Hungary USA
Yugoslavia Bulgaria
11. Why do you think warriors Red Army,
without hesitation, they sacrificed themselves for the sake of victory over
enemy?
12. Which famous designers and inventors
Do you know who created the WWII weapons?
13. How many days did the siege of Leningrad last?
When did it start?
14. What days of Russian military glory are associated with
WWII events?
15. On the walls of which fortress is this inscription: “There were five of us: Sedov, Grutov I, Bogolyubov, Mikhailov, Selivanov V. We took the first battle. We’ll die, but we won’t leave!”?
16. Complete the lines of this song:
Days and nights at open-hearth furnaces
Our Motherland did not close its eyes.
……………………………………..
……………………………………..
17.Name the countries that united with the Soviet Union in the fight against fascism?
18.What is the name for admitting the complete defeat of one
from the warring parties?
19. Who was the commander-in-chief Soviet army in years
WWII?
20. Which Moscow streets are named after WWII heroes?