Usage edit
The following names were people who were either Soviet Communist GRU or Communist International agents who were associated with the Red Orchestra espionage groups that was located chiefly in Belgium, France and the Low Countries before and during World War II. These groups were led and controlled by the Jewish Red Army Intelligence agent Leopold Trepper, who was the technical director of a Soviet Red Army Intelligence in western Europe. The members often came from a Jewish background.
Trepper directed seven GRU networks in France and each had its own group leader with a focus on gathering a specific type of intelligence.[1] Trepper constructed them in a manner so that there independent, working in parallel with only the group leader having direct contact with Trepper.[1] Regular meeting places were used for contact point at predetermined times and that could only be set by Trepper. This type of communication meant that Trepper could contact the group leader but not vice versa and stringent security measures were built in at every step.[1] The seven networks in France were as follows,
- Group Andre. It remit was to collect intelligence on the German economy and industry. Its cover name was Andre
- This group was run by Leon Grossvogel who was a Polish-French Jewish and communist businessman who effectively created and ran the Simex company for Trepper but gave up the work to exclusively work within the espionage network. His other task was the control of the wireless equipment and communication needs of the network. As part of his remit he was responsible for finding safe houses, rendezvous points for other networks and letter drop locations.[2]
- Group Harry. Its remit was to collect intelligence from French military and political groups, from within the Deuxième Bureau and within Vichy intelligence, from the Central Committee of the French Communist Party, from Gaullist groups and from UK groups.[2]
- This group was run by Henry Robinson. Robinson was a German Jew and communist. Unlike Trepper who worked for the Red Army Intelligence, Robinson was a Communist International (Comintern) agent who had been running his own vast Comintern espionage network in the UK, France, Belgium and Germany before Trepper arrived in Europe. There was an intense dislike between the two men due to Robinson being forced to hand over his network to Trepper when he arrived in France, even though Robinson was senior to Trepper. The Comintern organisation had lost prestige with Stalin who suspected it of deviating from Communist norms and Robinson was suspected of being an agent of the Deuxième Bureau and who was subsequently in ideological conflict with the aims Soviet intelligence. This changeover been facilitated in a meeting organised by General Ivan Susloparov. The group provided Trepper with intelligence on General Henri Giraud, the Dieppe Raid, coverage of Allied bombings in France and planning for Operation Torch.[3]
- Group Professor. It was established to collect intelligence from White Russians emigrant groups as well as from groups in the German Wehrmacht.[4]
- This group was run by Basile Maximovitch. Maximovitch was a former Russian mining engineer who had offered his services to Trepper and was particularly important to him as the niece of German general Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel, Margarete Hoffman-Scholz fell in love with Maximovitch. At the time von Stülpnagel was Commander of Greater Paris and this gave Maximovitch access to intelligence that came from German High Command.[5]
- Group Arztin. It was created to gather intelligence from French clerical and royalists groups. They also had a special arrangement with Bishop Emanuel-Anatole-Raphaël Chaptal de Chanteloup of Paris.[2]
- This group was run by Anna Maximovitch who was the sister of Basile Maximovitch. Her profession as a neurologist enabled her to open a clinic in Choisy-le-Roi, a moneyed area of Paris which enabled her to pick up gossip and recruit from her patients. One of those patients was Countess de Rohan-Chabot who was came from the noble House of Rohan. The countess rented the Chateau Billeron to Maximovitch at relatively low cost to host her clinic. This gave Maximovitch access to very high ranking French nobility and administrative folk including Rohan-Chabot's husband who was a French officer.[5]
- Group Simex. This group collected intelligence from German administrative departments and industrial firms as well as provided the financing for the Trepper organisation. It was the Simex company.
- This group was run Alfred Corbin who was a French commercial director who took over the running of the firm in Paris from Leon Grossvogel. At first Corbin did not know the Simex company was an espionage organisation and after a certain time became to suspect. Ultimately he accepted the position and used his business journeys to courier.[6] Communication between the Simex company and its main customer, the Todt Organization, provided information on German military fortifications and troop movements. As a bonus, these communications supplied some of Trepper's agents with passes that allowed them to move freely in German-occupied areas.
- Group Romeo. Their remit was to gather intelligence from US and Belgian diplomats.[7]
- This group was run by the communist Isidore Springer who was a Belgian diamond dealer. Mainly concerned with recruitment and acted as a courier between different groups in different countries.[8]
- Group Sierra. This group collected intelligence from groups around French admiral François Darlan and French general Henri Giraud. The group also had contacts with French government and administrative departments of France.[7]
- This group was run by the Jewish Soviet intelligence officer, Anatoly Gurevich.
References edit
- ^ a b c Kesaris, Paul. L, ed. (1979). The Rote Kapelle: the CIA's history of Soviet intelligence and espionage networks in Western Europe, 1936-1945 (pdf). Washington DC: University Publications of America. p. 88. ISBN 978-0-89093-203-2. Retrieved 27 November 2020.
- ^ a b c Kesaris, Paul. L, ed. (1979). The Rote Kapelle: the CIA's history of Soviet intelligence and espionage networks in Western Europe, 1936-1945 (pdf). Washington DC: University Publications of America. p. 89. ISBN 978-0-89093-203-2. Retrieved 27 November 2020.
- ^ Kesaris, Paul. L, ed. (1979). The Rote Kapelle: the CIA's history of Soviet intelligence and espionage networks in Western Europe, 1936-1945 (pdf). Washington DC: University Publications of America. pp. 342–344. ISBN 978-0-89093-203-2. Retrieved 27 November 2020.
- ^ Kesaris, Paul. L, ed. (1979). The Rote Kapelle: the CIA's history of Soviet intelligence and espionage networks in Western Europe, 1936-1945 (pdf). Washington DC: University Publications of America. p. 89. ISBN 978-0-89093-203-2. Retrieved 27 November 2020.
- ^ a b Kesaris, Paul. L, ed. (1979). The Rote Kapelle: the CIA's history of Soviet intelligence and espionage networks in Western Europe, 1936-1945 (pdf). Washington DC: University Publications of America. p. 315. ISBN 978-0-89093-203-2. Retrieved 27 November 2020.
- ^ Kesaris, Paul. L, ed. (1979). The Rote Kapelle: the CIA's history of Soviet intelligence and espionage networks in Western Europe, 1936-1945 (pdf). Washington DC: University Publications of America. p. 269. ISBN 978-0-89093-203-2. Retrieved 27 November 2020.
- ^ a b Kesaris, Paul. L, ed. (1979). The Rote Kapelle: the CIA's history of Soviet intelligence and espionage networks in Western Europe, 1936-1945 (pdf). Washington DC: University Publications of America. p. 90. ISBN 978-0-89093-203-2. Retrieved 27 November 2020.
- ^ Kesaris, Paul. L, ed. (1979). The Rote Kapelle: the CIA's history of Soviet intelligence and espionage networks in Western Europe, 1936-1945 (pdf). Washington DC: University Publications of America. p. 359. ISBN 978-0-89093-203-2. Retrieved 27 November 2020.