Who handed over Hitler's plan for Operation Citadel to the USSR and how much did the Russians cost the services of a spy?

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The grandiose battle on the Kursk Bulge, which lasted 50 days, ended with the victory of the Red Army on August 23, 1943. Germany was not helped by either the latest tanks or selected personnel: before the start of the German offensive, the Soviet command already had secret information about the enemy's plans. This information made it possible to organize a worthy counteraction to the enemy, who was never able to recover from the defeat, and soon began to retreat along the entire front line.

What Operation Citadel envisaged and why Hitler decided to put everything on the line

The Kursk Bulge is the protrusion of the front line, which was under the control of the Red Army, and had dimensions up to 200 km wide and about 120 km deep in the western territory. The Hitlerite leadership planned, by striking from the direction of Orel and Belgorod, to destroy the Soviet troops, closing up their armies "South" and "Center" in the Kursk region. The offensive operation, code-named Citadel, was decided on July 5, 1943.

To participate in the upcoming large-scale battle, the Germans used two thousand aircraft and tanks, 10 thousand pieces of artillery pieces, 50 divisions with a total number of 900 thousand people. Hitler hoped to ram the Soviet defense line, throwing aviation and armored formations into the assault, and then consolidating the success with the help of infantry units.

The subsequent plans of the Wehrmacht included a deployed offensive (Operation Panther) with the aim of reaching the rear of the Soviet troops, for further advancement to Moscow. At the same time, the victory at Kursk was supposed to demonstrate the power of German weapons and confirm its invincibility. To carry out his grandiose plans, Hitler, who deeply believed in a successful outcome of the offensive, decided to take risks, putting everything at stake in the name of achieving the goal.

Who was that mysterious spy who transmitted valuable information about Operation Citadel to the USSR: main versions

Operation Citadel was developed under conditions of increased secrecy: a massive offensive was to be not only large-scale, but also sudden for the Soviet leadership. However, it was not possible to keep the military plans secret - all the data on the upcoming military campaign reached Moscow before they ended up on Hitler's desk.

Only a person from the circle of the Fuhrer could convey information, about which the Germans were well aware. The only problem for them was - no one could figure out the spy with the call sign "Werther" who had been wedged into the top of the Third Reich. Several high-ranking officials were under suspicion at once: Hitler's personal secretary Martin Bormann, the head of the secret police (Gestapo) Heinrich Müller, the head of foreign intelligence Walter Schellenberg.

There were also suggestions that the "Werther" could be either Lieutenant General of Liaison Erich Fellgiebel, or the highest liaison officer in the High Command, Fritz Thiele. However, the guesses about them were not confirmed, since both officers were shot in 1944, as participants in the anti-Hitler conspiracy. Information from the elusive "Werther" came to Moscow until the very end of the war.

What was the work of the secret agent "Werther"

The activities of "Werther" German counterintelligence recorded in the spring of 1942, when they discovered a leak of specially protected data on the course of the war. From this period, the Soviet leadership periodically received information about new types of German weapons, the volume of production of the military industry and, of course, about the plans and intentions of the enemy's high command.

In particular, among the messages sent by "Werther" to Moscow was information about the strategic plans of the Germans for the summer period of 1942; details of the reasons for the delays in the offensive on the Eastern Front; data on the development of chemical warfare agents and experiments on the use of components in an atomic bomb.

However, the most valuable information was reports of preparations for an attack on the Kursk Bulge: thanks to them, the Germans, having lost the advantage of surprise and quantitative superiority in manpower and equipment, suffered a defeat that determined the further course of the war. The promptness of the transfer of new information can be judged by the recollections of the personal translator of the Fuhrer Paul Karel. In his book, he wrote: “There was no doubt that the information transmitted came from the circle of high command. There was a feeling that it was dictated directly from Hitler's Headquarters …”.

How much did the information about Operation Citadel cost the USSR?

Born in Germany, young Rudolph, being a patriot of his country, took part in the First World War. There he realized that he was unable to shoot a man, but continued to go on the attack, deliberately "forgetting" to load the rifle. It is possible that it was during that period that Ressler became acquainted with the future higher ranks of the Wehrmacht, with whom he used to create an intelligence network.

Not accepting Nazi rule, Rudolph moved to Switzerland in 1934. From there after 8 years, he began to cooperate with the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the USSR, receiving the code name "Luci". There is an assumption that "Luci" had about 200 of its people in Hitler's environment. However, he attributed to the most valuable personnel, besides "Werther" with information from the Wehrmacht: "Olga" from the command of the Luftwaffe, "Anna" from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and some "Teddy" and "Bill".

Not being a staunch communist, Ressler worked not for an idea, but for a remuneration, which at times was a very impressive amount. So, for the transfer of data on Operation Citadel, which he received from agent Werther, Ressler was paid about $ 500,000. This amount alone makes it possible to judge the significance of the information, and confirms the opinion of historians that "Luci" was the highest paid employee of the USSR's foreign military intelligence.

The activities of spies cannot be underestimated in any way, sometimes the influence of their work was truly colossal. All of them were distinguished by a special quality - they could get into the trust of even the most suspicious people. So a simple farmer managed to deceive Hitler himself, and thwart many plans of the Nazis.