Russian special services declassified 267 documents of the SMERSH counter-intelligence agency, which mention a failed attempt to assassinate the Soviet leader in 1944.
A group of two German spies, major Pyotr Tavrin and a typist, junior lieutenant of the Red Army, Lidia Shilova, disguised themselves as SMERSH operatives. When they were arrested on September 5, 1944, by the NKVD members, they were dressed in Soviet uniform.
They had forged documents on them and a portable grenade launcher, a radio-controlled mine, all sorts of forms of identification and more than a hundred stamps of Soviet institutions in their car.
An urgent request sent to Moscow confirmed that these people didn’t serve in the military counter-intelligence. Then, the detained admitted to being German agents, planted in the USSR to liquidate Stalin and agreed to cooperate.
They revealed all their ciphers, code tables and specially stipulated means of notification in case of a failure; Shilova explained how to get in contact with the Germans.
To learn the further intentions of the Nazis, a Funkspiel (a German term describing a technique of secret transmission) was conducted with the ‘Zeppelin’ German intelligence unit, which received the name ‘Tuman’ (‘Fog’). The Germans were certain that everything was going according to plan. Agent Tavrin reported that he had “gained entry into the Kremlin and even attended one of the government meetings”, with the last report from him dispatched in April 1945. According to special services, this Funkspiel prevented other attempts of assassination against the top officials of the Soviet state.
Dear readers,
Our website and social media accounts are under threat of being restricted or banned, due to the current circumstances. So, to keep up with our latest content, simply do the following:
If using any of Russia Beyond's content, partly or in full, always provide an active hyperlink to the original material.
Subscribe
to our newsletter!
Get the week's best stories straight to your inbox
