The Soviet
Union was a secretive state convinced that the capitalist world was plotting to
invade and destroy it. In order to avert such a development the Soviet
government financed and organized the creation of spy networks throughout
Europe. These penetrated military, economic, political and diplomatic circles.
Many of the agents were devoted communists who thought they were working for
the creation of a better world.
Germany was a
major target of the Soviet spies, especially after power was seized by the
NSDAP party. The Red Orchestra was the name given by German intelligence to the
Soviet spy networks operating in Europe during WWII. These networks had been
set up in the 1920’s and had managed to infiltrate government departments and
business circles of every country in Europe. Through
their spying activity they kept Moscow informed of important events in Europe.
Their means of communication was the radio and
it was this means that led to their downfall. The German Radio Defence agency
(Funkabwehr) was able to locate one of the sites used for radio transmissions
in 1941 and by apprehending the cipher clerks and their cipher material they were
able to read this traffic. By decoding
messages they uncovered the names of many Rote Kapelle members and of course
these were arrested, interrogated and more people were incriminated. By late 1942
the main networks in Western Europe were destroyed.
However after exposing and dismantling these
networks the Germans took measures to continue their transmissions to Moscow,
so that they could pass false information to the Soviets and also receive
information on new spies sent to the West.
The unit tasked with dismantling the Rote
Kapelle networks and handling the radio deception (funkspiel) was the Sonderkommando
Rote Kapelle, headed in 1943-44 by Heinz Pannwitz.
Operations Eiffel and Mars
In the period 1943-44 the Sonderkommando Rote Kapelle/ Sonderkommando
Pannwitz was based in Paris and handled the radio-games between captured Soviet
agents and Moscow. The Germans had managed to capture the leaders
of the organization Leopold Trepper (Grand Chef)
and Anatoly Gurevich (Petit Chef).
After a short period
in captivity Trepper managed to escape but Gurevich was used by the Germans to report
disinformation to Moscow and convince them that their spy networks were
operating normally.
Radio
messages were sent from Paris (operation
Eiffel) and from Marseille (operation
Mars).
The radio network of the French communist
party
Another success of the Sonderkommando Rote Kapelle concerned the undercover
radio network of the French communist party. According to a recently
declassified CIA report, written by Pannwitz, the French CP had prepared a
network of undercover radio stations, ready to be used when the party leadership
ordered it.
These stations had
been located by the Germans and they were eliminated thus preventing direct
communications with Moscow. However Pannwitz knew that eventually the
communists would replace these stations with new ones and risk exposing his
operations in France. In order to preempt such a move the Sonderkommando
established a new French CP radio network that was in reality under its
complete control.
Using the cover of
the Rote Kapelle, the resistance leader Paul Victor Legendre was persuaded to
set up this radio network. The Germans managed to build up this organization
and inserted their own men as radio operators. By operating
this network they got a large number of daily espionage reports and were able
to keep track of the resistance and stop acts of sabotage.
According to
Pannwitz an added benefit of running this network was that during the Normandy
campaign some of the radio stations continued to transmit information, this
time on the strength and operations of the Allied forces.
The
operations of the network concluded in the summer of 1944 when the Germans had
to evacuate Paris. Till that time however the German intelligence agencies got
information of great value through the French CP radio network.
