Smersh is a Russian organisation which for most people made famous in the Ian Fleming Bond novels & the Sean Connery 1963 Bond movie From Russia With Love was actually a real organisation formed to mop up Nazi spy rings targeting the Red Army during WW2, the brutal directorate was officially disbanded in 1946.
Today, however, Smersh is making a return to a paranoid Russia about scheming western spies and looking to protect itself from them.
Smersh that translated into English means ‘Death to Spies’
After the 22nd June 1941 invasion of the USSR by the Germans in Operation Barbarossa, the Chairman of State Defence Committee signed decree No:187/ss. This meant that counter intelligence was handed back to the NKVD (NKVD became the KGB and then what is now known as the Russian FSB) with Viktor Abakumov as Chief.
The Official Statute of Smersh:
*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
*Checking military and civil personnel returning from captivity
Officially, Smersh was in existence until 4th May 1946 when its duties were transferred back to the MGB.
Military News Today 
Leave a comment