"Eustace to Alex ": Why the head of Soviet intelligence, the legendary "Alex", was in disgrace

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

He led Soviet intelligence in the most difficult and dramatic period of our history and worked much more successfully and efficiently than the well-known Walter Schellenberg. And although many scouts were subsequently declassified and awarded well-deserved awards, Fitin's name has sunk into oblivion for many years …

Largely thanks to the TV series "" and the excellent play of O. Tabakov, many remember the head of the foreign intelligence of the security service, SS Brigadefuehrer Walter Schellenberg.

And at the same time, Alex, to whom Stirlitz in this film sent his encrypted reports (Eustace to Alex …), remained completely unknown, appearing in the credits of this series only as "".

And although some time after the war it became known who was hiding under the pseudonym "Alex", how much do we know about Pavel Fitin?

The agrarian from a poor peasant family, who was sent to work in a publishing house, did not think that he would have to serve in the NKVD. I didn't think, but had to. In the late 1930s, the Great Terror destroyed almost all intelligence, affecting both agents inside the country and foreign residents. There was no one to work.

And in the context of the impending world war, intelligence was simply necessary. Then began a massive recruitment of Komsomol members to serve in the NKVD, regardless of their specialty. In 1938, Pavel Fitin, who was then 31 years old, was also called up. Starting with a junior lieutenant, a year later he became the chief of foreign intelligence. Amazing take off!

Fitin had not only to actually re-create the intelligence structure, but also to learn how to establish relations with both the most experienced security officers, in whose eyes he was just a boy, and with novices like himself. Quickly becoming an experienced leader, he managed to do both, earning the respect of both the rank and file and the marshals.

Dispatches for Stalin

Fitin's scouts worked well, one after another their alarming messages about Hitler's intentions to attack the USSR were sent to Moscow. In the first half of 1941 alone, 120 such encryption messages were transmitted.

Fitin had to personally report to Stalin intelligence data about the threat of an attack, but Stalin did not believe him, was irritated, and called them disinformation. But Pavel Mikhailovich stubbornly continued to study the reports and again reported on them, claiming that the source of the information received was verified and reliable. And although the Germans changed the date of the attack several times, in the last ciphers the date was accurate - June 22, 4 a.m.

During the war, the scouts provided the command with important information about the upcoming operations on the Eastern Front, as well as about what was happening in Germany and about the plans of the Allies. Thanks to intelligence, it was possible to prevent negotiations between Germany and the Allies on a separate peace.

Our diplomacy also owed the brilliant successes at the Tehran, Yalta and Potsdam conferences to intelligence officers who supplied mountains of invaluable information. All plans of Churchill and Roosevelt were known to Stalin in advance.

The work of Soviet intelligence officers was admired by Allen Dulles, the CIA director, who called the information obtained by them, "".

Building a nuclear shield

The brilliant work of both Fitin himself and his intelligence was an operation called "Enormoz", the purpose of which was to obtain top-secret materials related to nuclear weapons.

In September 1941, London agents received information about the past meeting of the Uranium Committee, dedicated to the development of new weapons: "", "".

And although at that time, technologies using uranium were almost unknown to anyone, Fitin paid special attention to this report and reported it to Beria. At first, the leadership did not support Fitin's fears.

Fitin, realizing that the matter was serious, sent out to all the heads of the residencies the most serious tasks - to urgently transmit to the Center any information regarding atomic weapons, which the scouts themselves had no idea about then.

In the spring of 1942, the intelligence leaders presented to Stalin the state of affairs and the prospects for the creation of atomic weapons by the allies, and proposed to do this in our country as well. In the autumn, after consulting with the famous physicists A. Ioffe, N. Semyonov, V. Khlopin and P. Kapitsa, Stalin issued a decree "".

Soviet nuclear physicists set to work, and intelligence officers supplied them with invaluable materials obtained abroad.

Academician Igor Kurchatov wrote: "".

"" Was entrusted to Beria.

For a long time, Western intelligence services did not even suspect that Soviet intelligence officers knew about new developments. And when at the Potsdam conference, US President Truman announced the test "", he was surprised by Stalin's calm reaction.

On August 29, 1949, the first Soviet atomic bomb, which was an exact copy of the American one, was tested in Semipalatinsk, and this is the great merit of Fitin's scouts and himself.

Pavel Fitin held his post until June 1946, and then was transferred to another job.

In his memoirs, he wrote: "". And since 1951 he has been the Minister of State Security in Kazakhstan.

After Beria's arrest, Fitin's career collapsed. Considering that he was part of Beria's inner circle, although this was not the case, they also tried to present him as an "enemy of the people", but nothing came of it. Nevertheless, he was fired "for official inconsistency."

The grandson of Pavel Mikhailovich, Andrei Fitin, recalls: "".

At the end of 1971, Pavel Fitin died, and his name disappeared for several decades.

But gradually the name of Pavel Fitin returns from oblivion. A documentary was made about him, a book was written, and on October 10, 2017, a monument to the legendary Alex was solemnly opened in Moscow.