Operation "Berezino", or how the NKVD of the USSR received help from the Germans until May 1945

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

During World War II, the intelligence agencies of both opposing sides used radio communications to misinform the enemy. The radio game made it possible to achieve important intelligence or counterintelligence goals. In 1944, Soviet intelligence carried out one of these operations called "Berezino".

How did the idea to carry out the Berezino operation come about and what was its main essence?

In June 1944, during the Bagration offensive operation, the plan of which was developed by Rokossovsky, the troops of the three Soviet fronts confidently marched towards Minsk. The Germans began to retreat to the Berezino River, trying to escape from the emerging "cauldron". But the only bridge over the river remained under the control of the Germans. Over the fleeing Wehrmacht soldiers "hung" Soviet aviation. Under the powerful onslaught of Soviet troops, German divisions and corps disintegrated, losing control. Scattered units tried to get through to "theirs". Hitler, well aware of this state of affairs, announced that he would in every possible way support the brave men fighting for Greater Germany behind enemy lines.

The German army was demoralized, and fewer and fewer people remained in the Hitlerite "elite" who believed in the victory of the Third Reich. Helping the units that escaped from the encirclement was a serious propaganda move for Hitler, and in practical terms, it became possible to organize intelligence and sabotage activities behind enemy lines. Moscow decided to use the current situation for their own purposes - to create a legend about the existence of a large German group hiding in the Belarusian forests, which retained its combat capability and needed food, medicine, communications, weapons and ammunition.

The development of the operation under the code name "Berezino" and its implementation were entrusted to the head of the 4th department of the NKVD Pavel Sudoplatov. The purpose of the operation is to lure out and destroy the saboteurs, force the enemy to spend material resources to support a non-existent group at a time when the actively retreating Hitlerite army needed them more and more; the apotheosis of the operation was the "exit" of the grouping to the location of Hitler's units and the breakthrough of the front. Operation Berezino was a continuation of another counterintelligence radio game. In June 1941, through the efforts of the NKVD, with the help of agents, an anti-Bolshevik pro-German organization "Prestol" was created, whose members and leader (a convinced monarchist, poet of the Silver Age Boris Sadovsky) lived on the territory of the former Novodevichy Convent. This organization became a kind of beacon for German agents and saboteurs. And when the double agent Alexander Demyanov ("Heine" - "Max") was introduced into it, the opportunity also opened up for misinformation of the enemy's intelligence.

A nobleman by birth, a radio engineer by education, by the nature of his work he was close to creative cinematographic circles, often visited the hippodrome, attended premieres in cinema and theater. In 1942 he ran across the front line to the Germans. Due to a mistake by Soviet military intelligence, Demyanov almost died - as it turned out, he was walking through a minefield. But this fact gave more credibility to what was happening. Confirmation came from the German intelligence center that the man had been recruited by the Abwehr. Agent "Max" subsequently was in good standing with the Germans - his information was always confirmed by facts, in the Abwehr they did not even suspect that a large number of NKVD officers worked for his successful image, for whom he was an agent of "Heine".

How did the Russians manage to convince the Abwehr about the "existence" of a part of the Wehrmacht in the rear of the Red Army and what was the real composition of the "Sherkhon army"

The implementation of all activities carried out within the framework of the operation was entrusted to the deputy of Sudoplatov N. Eitingon. He used the former camp of Soviet partisans, located near the town of Berezino, to deploy the legendary grouping. In the POW camps, a German officer, Lieutenant Colonel of the Wehrmacht Sherhorn, who was suitable for the role of unit commander, was selected and recruited. He was not so well known, and his name was not heard by the military elite, but he had an impeccable military reputation.

The group, in addition to disguised soldiers and officers of the Red Army, included 16 employees of the NKVD and a number of ethnic Germans - anti-fascists. The Wehrmacht learned about the existence of a large German unit that had allegedly escaped from the encirclement from their "reliable" agent "Max". After checking the information, the Hitlerite command decides to support the Sherhorn unit and asks Demyanov to get in touch with this group.

How vigilant Soviet citizens nearly killed Operation Berezino?

The life of a German detachment in the wilderness was so convincingly played out that not only German intelligence from the air, but also vigilant Soviet citizens believed in the existence of this unit. The head of the Belarusian department of the NKVD was informed that a large number of German soldiers were hiding in the forest. He, in turn, reported this to the center.

Moscow replied that a special operation was being carried out, the details of which were not disclosed. Eitingon was ordered to increase the security on the outskirts of the camp.

How did Otto Skorzeny's The Magic Shooter miss?

The German command commissioned Otto Skorzeny, an experienced scout of the Abwehr, Hitler's favorite (it was he who organized the release of the Italian dictator Mussolini from prison), to carry out measures to save the Sherhorn formation. Operation "Magic Shooter" was carefully thought out and planned by him, but he did not even suspect that he would act according to the script written by the NKVD officers. All agents sent to check the reliability of information about the Sherhorn group were intercepted and recruited by Soviet intelligence.

The German command, having made sure of the existence of the unit, began to actively help it - four transport aircraft carried out regular delivery of goods. The Abwehr received messages from Sherhorn about sabotage and clashes allegedly carried out by his part, which were skillfully staged by the participants in the operation. Their efforts were highly appreciated by the command of the Wehrmacht - in one of the containers in the next consignment of goods, award sheets and military awards were found.

How the operation "Berezino" ended

This continued until May 1945, when the German leadership last time turned to the "heroes" with the words of regret that they could no longer help them - the army was defeated. During the operation "Berezino", which lasted eight months, the Nazis sent the Chekists a huge amount of ammunition, warm uniforms, medicines and food that they themselves needed at the front, and Soviet intelligence officers neutralized several sabotage detachments and regularly supplied the Abwehr with false information.

Otto Skorzeny, in his post-war memoirs, wrote about how he successfully helped the heroes - the "entourage", he never found out the truth - at that time the information about the operation had not yet been declassified.

A year earlier, another an important operation is the lifting of the blockade from Leningrad.