The seizure of classified information, objects, persons who own state secrets - all this is of interest to various states. To ensure security and to combat intelligence, the military counterintelligence service of Russia was created. This professional holiday is dedicated to employees who suppress various subversive activities against their state.
When celebrate
Who is celebrating
This is a professional holiday not only for military counterintelligence officers, but also for all other workers related to this service.
history of the holiday
On December 19, 1918, the Bureau of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) ratified the decree on the unification of the front-line and army Cheka with the military control bodies and on the formation of the Special Department of the Cheka (All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage) under the SNK of the RSFSR. It was the new anti-espionage body. It was this day that became the date of this professional holiday.
About the profession
Military counterintelligence officers work closely with military prosecutor's office and other bodies. They carry out operations to detect and eliminate intelligence of foreign special services, various extremist and terrorist groups, and fight drug trafficking and illegal arms sales. In addition, these specialists provide assistance in improving and checking the combat readiness of units.
It is quite difficult to get into the ranks of military counterintelligence agents, since there is only contract service. An unblemished biography, excellent physical data and theoretical training will be only the first step of several. It is also necessary to graduate from a special educational institution run by the FSB of Russia and go through the most severe selection. A military counterintelligence officer must be a psychologist and have an analytical mindset, have combat skills, prudence, originality of thought and many other qualities.
The head of the Smersh GUKR was General Abakumov, who "beat" the German intelligence service during the Second World War. Despite this, in 1951 he was accused of high treason, detained and shot.
Employees of "Smersh" during the Second World War exposed just over 30 thousand spies, 6 thousand terrorists and 3.5 thousand saboteurs.
The progenitor of military counterintelligence is Adjutant General A. Kuropatkin, who on January 20, 1903 expressed his thoughts about it to Emperor Nicholas II.
On December 19, Russia celebrates the day of military counterintelligence. This date is associated with the day the service was founded in 1918. Then, by decree of the Central Committee of the RCP, on the basis of the army units of the Cheka and military control bodies, a new department of the Cheka was created, which became the prototype of modern military counterintelligence.
In 1943, during the Great Patriotic War, the Smersh unit appeared as part of the military counterintelligence service, which was designed to fight sabotage, terrorism and foreign intelligence officers on the territory Soviet Union... The latter was the main task of "Smersh", even the decoding of the unit's name - death to spies - speaks about it. Throughout the war, Smersh employees managed to suppress the activities of more than a thousand foreign spies.
Currently, Russian counterintelligence is subordinate to the FSB (Federal Security Service), in connection with which the scope of its activities has significantly expanded. In particular, counterintelligence officers are often involved in the development and implementation of operations to combat the sale of drugs or weapons.
In military counterintelligence, there are no fighters who are part of the regular army, they serve here exclusively on contract. Those who want to get into the ranks of counterintelligence must first graduate from special schools under the FSB of Russia, and then go through a tough selection, during which cadres are eliminated who are unable in the future to fulfill the tasks assigned to the counterintelligence officer. Therefore, only the best of the best can get a contract in the military counterintelligence service of the FSB.
This is understandable, because a military counterintelligence officer must have not only good physical data and combat skills, but also an acute analytical thinking, which will allow you to make the right decision in almost any situation. Prudence is one of the most essential qualities for an FSB military counterintelligence officer, because they very often have to find themselves in non-standard and even extreme situations.
On the day of Russian military counterintelligence, its employees receive congratulations from the highest-ranking officials of the state, as well as from the direct command. In 2013, the military counterintelligence service of Russia will celebrate its 95th birthday, throughout this time the service employees have been guarding the peace of the citizens of the USSR and Russia. Even on their professional holiday - the day of military counterintelligence - these people have no right to relax and continue to carry out their difficult service.
WE WILL PRODUCE ANY ATTRIBUTION, TACTICAL ACCESSORIES, CLOTHES AND MUCH MORE WITH A SYMBOL ON YOUR INDIVIDUAL ORDER!
Contact our managers for any questions you are interested in.
On December 19, Russia celebrates the day of the formation of military counterintelligence. On this day in 1918, a Special Department of the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage was created under the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR (VChK) - the military counterintelligence body of the Soviet state.
Military counterintelligence - the activity carried out by special bodies to protect the armed forces and other troops from foreign bodies; component counterintelligence of the state. In the Russian Federation, it is represented by security organs in the troops, which are part of the unified system of organs of the Federal Security Service (FSB).
Counterintelligence support for the armed forces in Russian Empire was carried out from the moment the regular army was formed, that is, from the beginning of the 18th century. It consisted of searching for enemy spies, revealing possible defectors and traitors in its ranks, and misinforming the enemy. As an independent structure, military counterintelligence first appeared in Russia only before the Patriotic War of 1812, when the Supreme Military Police was created. It was entrusted with the functions of counterintelligence in the army in the field, as well as police functions in the territories that had recently become part of the empire - the Baltic provinces, part of Poland. In 1815, the Supreme Military Police was abolished.
The prototype of modern military counterintelligence emerged in Russia in January 1903, when the Intelligence Department was created at the General Staff, designed to combat espionage. Later, in 1911, special counterintelligence departments were created at the headquarters of the military districts. In addition to suppressing foreign espionage, they also had to deal with obstruction of "those measures of foreign states that could harm the interests of the state's defense."
During the First World War, the military counterintelligence of the Russian army consisted of counterintelligence divisions of the headquarters of the internal military districts, led by the counterintelligence unit of the General Staff, and similar divisions of the headquarters of armies and fronts. The leadership of the counterintelligence of the army in the field was concentrated in the counterintelligence unit of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Headquarters.
In Soviet Russia, counterintelligence activities were initially carried out by the disparately operating bodies of Military control created by the Revolutionary Military Council, as well as emergency commissions (Cheka) to combat counter-revolution, formed by the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR at the fronts.
On December 19, 1918, by a decree of the Bureau of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), the front and army Cheka were merged with the military control bodies, and on their basis a new body was formed - the Special Department of the Cheka under the SNK of the RSFSR. Subsequently, with the formation of special departments of fronts, military districts, fleets, armies, flotillas and special departments under the provincial Cheka, a single centralized system of security organs was created in the troops. December 19 was the birthday of Soviet military counterintelligence.
From the first days, special departments have always carried out their activities in close cooperation with the military command. This approach to organizing the activities of military counterintelligence later became one of the fundamental principles of their work. At the same time, another principle of the activities of military counterintelligence was born, the significance of which was never questioned by anyone: a close connection with the personnel military units, employees of military facilities, headquarters and institutions that are in the operational support of security agencies in the troops.
Bodies of military counterintelligence largely contributed to the victories of the Red Army during the period Civil War... The Great Patriotic War became a serious test for military counterintelligence officers. Thanks to their work, the command of Nazi Germany on the eve of the war did not know either the real size of the Red Army, or the quantitative and qualitative indicators of its weapons. All attempts by the Abwehr to create a stable intelligence network within the USSR to obtain information about the Red Army met with a solid counterintelligence barrier.
During the Great Patriotic War, counterintelligence support for the main operations of the Red Army and Navy was carried out by the military counterintelligence agencies of the NKVD of the USSR, and then by the Main Directorate of Counterintelligence of the People's Commissariat of Defense "Smersh" ("Death to Spies").
The Smersh, formed by a decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR of April 19, 1943, was among the primary tasks assigned to combat espionage, sabotage, terrorist activities of foreign intelligence services and to take measures together with the command to exclude the possibility of unpunished passage of enemy agents through the front line.
Among the most important areas of their activities, there are measures to ensure the secrecy of training offensive operations The Red Army, the capture of agents of the special services of Nazi Germany. On the basis of recruiting abandoned agents of the German special services, the Smersh counterintelligence agencies used radio games for strategic misinformation of the enemy in the interests and on instructions of the Supreme High Command and General Staff Red Army.
Thanks to the well-organized work behind the front, the army chekists often had detailed information about the enemy's agents even during their training in intelligence schools. In total, over the years of the Great Patriotic War, military counterintelligence officers neutralized more than 30 thousand spies, about 3.5 thousand saboteurs and over six thousand terrorists. Over three thousand agents were thrown behind the front line, behind enemy lines; more than 180 radio games were played with enemy reconnaissance centers.
The military counterintelligence service showed superiority in a fierce battle with the German special services and made a significant contribution to the victory in the Great Patriotic War. More than six thousand army chekists fulfilled their duty to the end and died in a battle with the enemy. For exemplary performance of tasks, thousands of military counterintelligence officers were awarded orders and medals, and four officers of the military counterintelligence agencies were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
In May 1946, the military counterintelligence bodies were transformed into special departments and transferred to the Ministry state security USSR (since 1954 - USSR State Security Committee).
After the war, the main opponents of military counterintelligence were the secret services of the leading NATO states. Many military counterintelligence agents had a chance to fulfill their military duty abroad, including in Afghanistan, where they ensured the security of a limited contingent soviet troops.
Since the second half of 1991, the country's state security agencies have entered a period of large-scale reforms. The Office of Military Counterintelligence was part of the system of Russian security agencies under various names.
On August 4, 2004, military counterintelligence was transformed into the Department of Military Counterintelligence of the FSB of Russia, to which the Directorates and departments of the FSB for military districts and fleets, internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and other troops and military formations are subordinate.
The tasks of the military counterintelligence, as well as the purpose, composition, legal basis, principles and directions of activity, powers, forces and means, are determined by the law "On the Federal Security Service" dated April 3, 1995 with the corresponding amendments and additions, as well as "Regulations on the departments (departments) of the Federal Security Service Russian Federation in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, other troops, military formations and bodies (security bodies in the troops) ", approved by the decree of the President of the Russian Federation of February 7, 2000.
The tasks of the security agencies in the troops have become much broader and more versatile than those that were solved by military counterintelligence in the Soviet period. But, as before, in the first place is the identification, prevention and suppression of intelligence and other activities of special services and organizations of foreign states, as well as individuals aimed at damaging the security of the Russian Federation, the Armed Forces, military formations and bodies.
In addition, the main efforts of counterintelligence officers are focused on ensuring the protection of information constituting a state secret. One of the priority tasks for counterintelligence is the fight against terrorism. She also, in cooperation with the military prosecutor's office and other state bodies, counteracts organized crime, corruption, smuggling, drug and arms trafficking, other negative manifestations in the army and navy.
(Additional
On May 12, 1918, by the directive of the Supreme Military Council of the RSFSR, anti-espionage departments were organized at the headquarters of the Red Army - the prototype of the famous special departments. According to experts, it was in 1918 that the process of real formation of military counterintelligence began in our country. If the special services of imperial Russia often lost in confrontation with foreign colleagues, then the work of Soviet counterintelligence officers during the Great Patriotic War was considered more effective. The history of the formation and achievements of Russia's military counterintelligence is in the material RT.
- Soviet scouts at the Pulkovo Heights during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.
- Boris Kudoyarov / RIA Novosti
"Midshipmen, forward!"
Almost immediately after the creation of the first regular military units in Russia, the question of their counterintelligence support and maintenance of law and order in the army arose. The first special services in Russia appeared in the 17th century. However, the Russian knights of the cloak and dagger did not have any specific specialization for a long time.
Order of secret affairs, Preobrazhensky order, Secret Chancery and Secret expedition were engaged in a little bit of everything: the fight against conspiracies against the monarch, intelligence and counterintelligence, the suppression of corruption and embezzlement. Often, tsars and high-ranking officials chose special delegates to carry out secret missions, who were not officially related to special services at all. Although the plots of films about midshipmen are largely fictional, the very style of solving important state problems in the 18th century is largely conveyed in them.
"The special services in the Russian Empire for centuries were not professional, they developed on a semi-diplomatic basis," veteran of the Soviet special services, writer and publicist Mikhail Lyubimov told RT in an interview with RT, adding that until the beginning of the twentieth century, the problem of counterintelligence support for the Russian army was not properly resolved ...
“In 1812, Barclay de Tolly created his own Special Chancellery, which was engaged in military intelligence and counterintelligence, but after the return of troops from Paris, it was disbanded. Also in the 19th century, for some time there was a military police in the Russian army, which proved to be quite good, but it did not act for long and only in part of the country, "Alexander Kolpakidi, a writer and historian of the special services, told RT. A little later, according to the expert, the issues of military counterintelligence were transferred to the jurisdiction of the gendarmes, who were not specialists at all.
Only in 1903, at the initiative of the Minister of War, General Alexei Kuropatkin, an Intelligence Department was created as part of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Army, which oversaw, in particular, foreign military attachés. This division has been reorganized several times. It managed to visit both the St. Petersburg city counterintelligence department, and the counterintelligence department of the Main Directorate of the General Staff. In parallel with it, the Military Espionage Intelligence Division existed in 1904-1908 as part of the Police Department, but was disbanded due to duplication of functions.
In 1912, the military authorities decided to expand the counterintelligence structure. Corresponding branches were established in the St. Petersburg, Moscow, Vilna, Warsaw, Kiev, Odessa, Tiflis, Irkutsk and Khabarovsk military districts. With the outbreak of World War I, the military counterintelligence agencies were repeatedly reorganized. They were recruited mainly from the Separate Corps of Gendarmes.
“In all this work, there was dilettantism, a lack of understanding why it was needed at all. Spies were caught only from time to time, yielding to the enemy in this matter. The leaders of the special services themselves later admitted that things were not going well for them, and tried to write off everything on the peculiarities of the Russian character, which allegedly hated undercover work. People today read Akunin, watch, excuse me, stupid serials and think that everything was so, that there were ingenious special services in tsarist Russia. But this is not at all the case, ”stressed Alexander Kolpakidi.
After the February Revolution, the counterintelligence units of the police, the gendarme corps and the St. Petersburg military district were defeated, but the Provisional Government retained officers loyal to itself. In March 1917, the work of the army bodies of military counterintelligence was restored.
After the October Revolution, the counterintelligence system lost the remnants of unity. It was dealt with in parallel by the military, political departments, and in January - March 1918 - by the counterintelligence bureau of the Cheka, recruited from tsarist officers, and then defeated by sailors from the same emergency commission.
On the defense of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army
In January - February 1918, the Red Army (RKKA) was created in Soviet Russia. In April of the same year, the remnants of the old tsarist military counterintelligence bodies were planned to be transferred from the army to the Cheka, but Leon Trotsky opposed this.
On May 8, the All-Russian main Headquarters The Red Army, the structure of which implied the existence of a separate military counterintelligence body - the registration service. And on May 12, the Supreme Military Council of the RSFSR adopted a directive on the creation of anti-espionage departments at all the headquarters of the Red Army. In parallel, in July of the same year, a military subdivision was nevertheless created as part of the Cheka.
“The military counterintelligence service in 1918 did not particularly show itself at first. Military specialists were recruited from the tsarist General Staff who helped create the structure, but they themselves did not have the necessary experience, ”stressed Alexander Kolpakidi. On December 19, 1918, the Bureau of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) decided to unite the counterintelligence units of the army and the Cheka into a single system - the Special Department of the Cheka under the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR.
“The decision was due to the fact that enemy agents were infiltrating the army counterintelligence bodies. The military did not like the idea, but they had to submit, ”Kolpakidi explained. According to the expert, the main role in the development of military counterintelligence was played not by the central authorities, but by employees of special departments on the ground. Enthusiasts came to them, who created units literally out of the blue.
“White intelligence and counterintelligence often outplayed red. The war was a class war. Red scouts recruited agents among the rank and file, and white - in the headquarters. In the movie “Adjutant of His Excellency,” the situation is shown very accurately in many ways, ”Kolpakidi said.
After the end of the Civil War, military counterintelligence, according to the expert, worked quite effectively. Despite some excesses like thefts military equipment and isolated riots, control over the troops was established, special officers began to regularly catch spies.
In 1930, as a result of the reorganization of the OGPU, the military counterintelligence as a separate body was liquidated, joining the united Special Department. But in 1936 it was restored as an autonomous unit within the Main Directorate of State Security of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs. In 1938-1941 the special services were reformed several times, but the WRC constantly retained its independent status.
"Death to Spies!"
At the beginning of 1941, the Special Department was withdrawn from the NKVD and transferred to the army, but immediately after the start of the Great Patriotic War, in July of the same year, the special officers were returned to the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs.
During Stalingrad battle, according to experts, a number of facts were revealed indicating that the work of military counterintelligence within the NKVD was not effective enough, and in April-May 1943, on the basis of special departments, separate units of the People's Commissars of Defense, the Navy and Internal Affairs were created , called "Death to Spies!", or Smersh for short.
“They played a colossal role in the Great Patriotic War,” Kolpakidi stressed.
"During the war years, Smersh became the most effective special service in the world, plugging the Abwehr and the RSHA into the belt," said Anatoly Tereshchenko, colonel of the military counterintelligence of the KGB of the USSR, historian and writer, to RT.
According to Alexander Kolpakidi, the myths that former tsarist cadres were allegedly drafted to Smersh have no real basis. “In 1938, against the background of repressions in the internal affairs bodies, new cadres really came to the military counterintelligence. But those who served under the tsar were screened out, ”the expert noted.
In addition, well-proven frontline officers were often invited to serve in Smersh. And the military counterintelligence of the People's Commissariat of Defense worked very effectively, exposing over 30 thousand German agents, as well as 10 thousand saboteurs and terrorists during the war years.
“It often happened that Smersh, who had his own agents behind the front in the enemy's intelligence schools, wiped his nose in matters of obtaining information even for foreign intelligence,” Anatoly Tereshchenko stressed.
War after war
For special officers, the war did not end in May 1945. According to experts, the operatives of the military counterintelligence had to catch the German spies and saboteurs left behind by the Nazis, to carry out filtration measures among the prisoners of war.
From the People's Commissariat of Defense, military counterintelligence was transferred to the Ministry of State Security, and in 1954 - to the KGB. According to Alexander Kolpakidi, it has become one of the key divisions of the state security bodies.
“I must say that the WRC coped with its tasks perfectly. In the USSR, she perfectly controlled the army even in the most troubled times, which cannot be said about other countries of the socialist camp, ”Kolpakidi stressed.
According to experts, in post-war period military counterintelligence not only monitored the state of affairs in the army, but also participated in suppressing the activities of traitors from among the employees of the Soviet special services recruited by the US CIA and British intelligence.
“I gave my life to military counterintelligence more than 30 years. During this time, only the unit in which I served has identified more than a dozen CIA spies, ”said Anatoly Tereshchenko.
“Modern Russian military counterintelligence is a continuer of the traditions of Soviet military counterintelligence. Judging by all the signs, it works very effectively, ”said Alexander Kolpakidi.
“We are still meeting with our young colleagues today. They are making great strides in exposing foreign spies. The country needs military counterintelligence. They say that without intelligence, the army is blind. So, without counterintelligence, it is generally defenseless, ”Anatoly Tereshchenko summed up.
On December 19, the Russian Federation celebrates the Day of Military Counterintelligence. This structure is engaged in activities that are very important for the security of the country and the armed forces: "special officers" identify persons cooperating with foreign intelligence services, fight terrorism, crime and corruption, drug addiction and other deviant phenomena in the army. The current date for the Russian military counterintelligence is of great importance - it will be 99 years since the creation of special departments on December 19, 1918 as part of the Cheka of the RSFSR. Almost a century has passed, but military counterintelligence officers are still colloquially called “special officers”.
The path of military counterintelligence in Russia was thorny and difficult. This service has repeatedly changed its names, underwent various organizational changes, but the essence of its work remained unchanged. Despite the fact that the first departments dealing with counterintelligence in the army appeared in the Russian Empire in 1911, the real formation of military counterintelligence in our country is entirely connected with the Soviet period. The revolution needed protection and the organization of structures capable of fighting saboteurs and spies, the Soviet government was already concerned with 1918. First, the Military Department of the Cheka and the Military Control were created. A number of tsarist officers who had previously served in the counterintelligence departments of the army were recruited into the Military Control.
However, the duality in the counterintelligence management system did not contribute to its effectiveness. Victor Eduardovich Kingisepp, an old Bolshevik, a member of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, attached to the Cheka, came up with a proposal to eliminate the duality. Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky heeded Kingisepp's arguments. Already in December 1918. A Special Department of the Cheka was created under the SNK of the RSFSR.
The first head of the Special Department of the Cheka was Mikhail Sergeevich Kedrov. A Bolshevik with a solid pre-revolutionary experience, Kedrov in November 1917 was included in the collegium of the People's Commissariat for Military Affairs of the RSFSR, becoming commissar for the demobilization of the Russian army. In September 1918, Kedrov headed the Military Department of the Cheka, so it was not surprising that he was entrusted with the leadership of the military counterintelligence agencies. On January 1, 1919, Kedrov issued an order ordering the unification of the Military Departments of the Cheka and the Military Control within the framework of the Special Department of the Cheka. The duality of the military counterintelligence system was eliminated.
The most reliable cadres were sent to serve in special departments, preference was given to proven communists. The first congress of employees of special departments even adopted a special decree, in which it emphasized that the requirements for party seniority imposed on security officers should be higher than for other Soviet party, military and civil servants. In 1919, the chairman of the Cheka, Felix Dzerzhinsky, became the head of the Special Department of the Cheka. Thus, he took over the direct leadership of the military counterintelligence agencies. Special departments of the Cheka played an important role in the fight against spies and saboteurs during the Civil War. During the Civil War, counterintelligence officers liquidated a large number of conspiracies in which opponents of the Soviet regime took part. 
An interesting episode in the history of military counterintelligence is the transfer to the Special Department of the Cheka of responsibilities for protecting the state border of the RSFSR, which followed in November 1920. From July 1920 to July 1922 The special department of the Cheka was headed by Vyacheslav Rudolfovich Menzhinsky, who then replaced Dzerzhinsky as head of the OGPU. In January 1922, the Secret Operations Directorate (SOU) was created, in which in July 1922 two departments were allocated - counterintelligence, responsible for general counterintelligence on the territory of the country and the fight against counterrevolutionary organizations, and a special one, responsible for counterintelligence work in the army and in the navy. It was in the 1920s - 1930s that the military counterintelligence bodies were further strengthened. In 1934, the Special Department became part of the Main Directorate of State Security (GUGB) of the NKVD of the USSR as the 5th department (since 1936), and in 1938, after the abolition of the GUGB, on the basis of the 5th department, the 2nd Administration of special departments of the NKVD of the USSR. However, in 1938, at the initiative of Lavrenty Beria, the Main Directorate of State Security was re-established. In its composition, the 4th Special Department of the GUGB, in charge of military counterintelligence, was revived.
The most serious test for the military counterintelligence officers was the Great Patriotic War. In 1941, the Office of Special Departments was recreated, which included the 3rd Directorate of the People's Commissariat of Defense of the USSR and the Special Department of the NKVD of the USSR. On April 19, 1943, by a decree of the State Defense Committee of the USSR, the legendary Main Directorate of Counterintelligence "SMERSH" of the People's Commissariat of Defense of the USSR was created.
The slogan "Death to spies!" Was chosen as its name. SMERSH was directly subordinate to the People's Commissar of Defense Joseph Stalin, and Viktor Semenovich Abakumov was appointed head of SMERSH, who previously held the post of Deputy People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR and head of the Directorate of Special Departments of the NKVD of the USSR, and before that headed the Directorate of the NKVD of the USSR in the Rostov Region. In addition to the SMERSH GUKR of the People's Commissariat of Defense, its own SMERSH department was created in the People's Commissariat of the USSR Navy, and the SMERSH department was created at the USSR People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs under the leadership of Semyon Yukhimovich. For better conspiracy, all SMERSH operatives were ordered to wear the uniform of those troops in which they served.
The SMERSH organs were entrusted with the duties of combating spies of enemy intelligence services, combating desertion and deliberate self-mutilation at the front, with the abuse of command personnel, and with military crimes. The very abbreviation SMERSH terrified not only the enemy, but also criminals and lawbreakers in the ranks of the Red Army, deserters and traitors of all stripes. As the occupied territories of the Soviet Union were liberated, the SMERSH authorities began to clarify the events that took place during the occupation, including identifying persons who collaborated with the Nazi occupation authorities. It was the SMERSH organs that played the main role in identifying and arresting many war criminals - policemen, punitive officers and their accomplices from among Soviet citizens. Today, in some publications, SMERSH bodies are shown exclusively as ruthless "punishers" who allegedly shot in the back of their own soldiers and persecuted Soviet servicemen for the smallest violations, sometimes on trumped-up charges.
Of course, in the activities of SMERSH, like any other structure, there were mistakes and excesses and, given the specifics, these mistakes could lead to broken lives and cost someone's life. But blaming the entire SMERSH for these mistakes and even crimes is unacceptable. The Smershevtsy fought with their hands against the Nazi invaders, policemen, collaborators, participated in the elimination of gangs of criminals and deserters who were operating in forests, in the countryside and in liberated cities. The contribution of SMERSH to the restoration of Soviet power, law and order in the liberated territories of the Soviet Union is invaluable. Many SMERSH counterintelligence officers were killed in battles with the enemy, died in the line of duty in the rear. For example, during the fighting for the liberation of Belarus, 236 SMERSH employees were killed and 136 more employees were missing. SMERSH operatives served on average for three to four months, after which they dropped out due to death on a combat mission or due to an injury received. SMERSH employees Senior Lieutenant Pyotr Anfimovich Zhidkov, Lieutenant Grigory Mikhailovich Kravtsov, Lieutenant Mikhail Petrovich Krygin, Lieutenant Vasily Mikhailovich Chebotarev were posthumously awarded the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union. But a lot of Smershevites did not receive gold stars, although they fully deserved it - the authorities were not particularly generous for awards to counterintelligence officers.
Group photo of soldiers and officers of the counterintelligence department SMERSH of the USSR of the 70th Army in Berlin
After the victory over Nazi Germany, the SMERSH counterintelligence service was engaged in the study and filtration of soldiers and officers returning from German captivity. In May 1946, the SMERSH bodies were disbanded, on their basis special departments were revived, transferred to the jurisdiction of the USSR Ministry of State Security. Subsequently, the special departments retained their functions as part of the USSR State Security Committee. On March 18, 1954, the Third Main Directorate of the KGB of the USSR was created as part of the KGB, which was responsible for military counterintelligence and the activities of special departments. 1960 to 1982 it was called the Third Directorate, and in 1982 the status of the Main Directorate of the KGB of the USSR was returned. 
Special departments were created in all military districts and fleets. In the Soviet troops stationed outside the country, the Directorates of special departments of the GSVG (Group of Soviet Forces in Germany), SGV (Northern Group of Forces in Poland), TsGV (Central Group of Forces in Czechoslovakia), YUGV (Southern Group of Forces in Hungary) were created. A separate Directorate of Special Departments operated in the Strategic Missile Forces, and in 1983 the Directorate of Special Departments was created, which was responsible for counterintelligence work in Internal troops Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR.
from February 1974 to July 14, 1987 The Third Directorate was headed by Lieutenant General (since 1985 - Colonel General) Nikolai Alekseevich Dushin (1921-2001). In the Red Army, he entered service in 1940, after graduating from the Stalingrad military-political school he served as a company political instructor, commander of a rifle company on the Far Eastern Front, and in 1943 he was transferred to the SMERSH military counterintelligence agencies. Nikolai Dushin served in the structures of military counterintelligence all his life - he devoted almost half a century to special departments. From December 1960 to June 1964, Nikolai Alekseevich headed the Directorate of Special Departments for the GSVG, then from June 1964 to August 1970. was the head of the 1st department of the Third Directorate of the KGB of the USSR. In 1987, Dushin was removed from his post - allegedly in connection with the revealed violations of the work of special departments in military units in Far East... In fact, to all appearances, the 66-year-old colonel-general fell under the unfolding flywheel of the "cleansing" of the state security organs and the armed forces of the USSR from the patriots - the communists. Recall that it was in 1987-1989. the "liberation" of the Soviet power structures from the "old cadres" of the Stalinist draft, in which M.S. Gorbachev and his entourage could see the danger to their plans for "perestroika" and the collapse of the Soviet state.
In Soviet times, "special officers" worked in every large military unit Soviet army and the Navy. In peaceful conditions, they were entrusted with the duties of monitoring the moral, psychological and ideological situation in military collectives. Military counterintelligence agents played a very important role during the participation of the Soviet Union in the armed conflict in Afghanistan. Many military counterintelligence officers passed afghan war, participated in hostilities, in secret operations against the mujahideen. These skills were useful to them and the younger generation of military counterintelligence officers already in the post-Soviet era, when on the territory the former USSR a number of armed conflicts broke out. 
Many people today know the name of Admiral German Alekseevich Ugryumov - Hero of the Russian Federation. In honor of German Ugryumov, the ship of the Caspian Flotilla (in which the officer began his service), streets in Astrakhan, Vladivostok, Grozny are named. Coming from the military counterintelligence agencies of the Navy, in which he served from 1975 to 1998, in the late 1990s, German Ugryumov came to the central office of the FSB of the Russian Federation - as the first deputy head of the Military Counterintelligence Directorate of the FSB of the Russian Federation, supervised the activities of the military counterintelligence of the Russian Navy. In November 1999, German Ugryumov headed the Department for the Protection of the Constitutional System and the Fight against Terrorism of the FSB of the Russian Federation. He planned and developed numerous operations to combat terrorists in the North Caucasus, and on January 21, 2001, Vice Admiral Ugryumov was appointed simultaneously as the head of the Regional Operational Headquarters in the North Caucasus. Unfortunately, on May 31, 2001, only at the age of 52, German Ugryumov died suddenly in his office on the territory of the headquarters of a Russian military group in the village of Khankala (Chechen Republic).
Today, employees of military counterintelligence bodies, no matter how society treats them, continue to carry out their heavy and dangerous service to protect national security of the Russian state. On this significant day for them, it remains only to congratulate the military counterintelligence officers and veterans of the service on the holiday, to wish them more success and fewer losses.