The Hitlerite secret police - the Gestapo - were looking for this man in vain until the final defeat of the Nazi Reich. In Austria and Germany, he was known by the name of Alexander Erdberg, but in fact his name was Alexander Korotkov. His whole life and all his thoughts were devoted to serving the Motherland. He belonged to those few Soviet foreign intelligence officers who went through all the stages of their service career and became one of its leaders.
TENNISIST-ELECTROMECHANIC
Alexander Mikhailovich was born on November 22, 1909 in Moscow. Shortly before the birth of Sasha, his mother, Anna Pavlovna, separated from her husband and left him for Moscow from Kulja, where her husband at that time worked at the Russian-Asian Bank. Alexander never saw his father, with whom, after the divorce, his mother broke all ties.
Despite financial difficulties, Alexander managed to get a secondary education. He was interested in electrical engineering and dreamed of entering the physics department of Moscow State University. However, the need forced the young man, immediately after graduating from high school in 1927, to start helping his mother. Alexander got a job as an apprentice electrician. At the same time, he was actively involved in sports in the Moscow society "Dynamo", taking a great interest in football and tennis.
Having become a very decent tennis player, the young worker from time to time played the role of a sparring partner for fairly well-known security officers on the famous Dynamo courts on Petrovka. It was here, on the courts, in the fall of 1928, that the assistant to the deputy chairman of the OGPU, Veniamin Gerson, approached Alexander and offered him a place as an electromechanical for elevators in the economic department of the Lubyanka. So Korotkov began to service the elevators of the main building of the Soviet state security organs.
A year later, the KGB leadership drew attention to the smart and competent guy: he was hired as a clerk in the most prestigious department of the OGPU - Foreign (as Soviet foreign intelligence was called at that time), and already in 1930 he was appointed assistant to the operational representative of the INO. It should be noted that Alexander enjoyed serious respect among the Chekist youth: he was several times elected a member of the bureau, and then the secretary of the Komsomol organization of the department.
For a couple of years of work at INO, Korotkov has completely mastered his official duties. His abilities, education, conscientious attitude to work were liked by the management of the department, which decided to use Alexander for illegal work abroad.
THE FIRST STEPS
The famous SEON - the Special Purpose School - did not exist at that time for training foreign intelligence officers. Employees for sending abroad were trained on an individual basis, without interrupting their main work.
The main thing, of course, was the study of foreign languages - German and French. Classes were conducted for several hours in a row at the end of the working day, as well as on weekends and holidays.
German Korotkov was taught by a former Hamburg dockworker, a participant in the 1923 uprising, a communist political émigré who worked in the Comintern. He talked about the traditions and customs of the Germans, the norms of behavior on the street and in public places. He even considered it necessary to initiate Alexander into all the subtleties of the so-called profanity.
The French teacher was just as adept. He introduced a novelty into the learning process - gramophone records with recordings of popular Parisian singers and chansonniers.
Then there were special disciplines: classes on identifying outdoor surveillance and avoiding it, driving a car.
Upon completion of training, Alexander Korotkov was assigned to illegal intelligence and was sent on his first foreign business trip. In 1933, the young scout went to Paris.
Alexander's path to the French capital lay through Austria. In Vienna, he changed his Soviet passport to an Austrian, issued in the name of the Slovak Rayonetsky, and used his stay in the Austrian capital for an in-depth study of the German language. In the future, he never mastered the classical German pronunciation and all his life spoke German as a root crown.
Three months later, the "Slovak Rayonetsky" arrived in Paris and entered the local radio engineering institute. In the French capital, Korotkov worked under the leadership of NKVD resident Alexander Orlov, an ace of Soviet intelligence, a professional of the highest class. He entrusted Korotkov with the development of one of the young employees of the famous 2nd Bureau of the French General Staff (military intelligence and counterintelligence), and involved him in other important operations.
From Paris, Korotkov, on the instructions of the Center, went on important missions to Switzerland and Nazi Germany, where he worked with two valuable sources of Soviet foreign intelligence. However, soon there was a failure in the illegal residency of the NKVD in France: the French counterintelligence service became interested in the contacts of the young foreigner in "circles close to the General Staff." In 1935, Alexander was forced to return to Moscow.
Korotkov's stay in his homeland turned out to be short-lived, and already in 1936 he was sent to work on the line of scientific and technical intelligence in the illegal residency of the NKVD in the Third Reich. Here, together with other scouts, he is actively engaged in obtaining samples of Wehrmacht weapons. This activity was highly appreciated in Moscow.
In December 1937, a new order was received from the Center. Korotkov returns to work illegally in France to carry out a number of specific intelligence missions.
After the Anschluss of Austria and the Munich Agreement of England, France, Italy and Germany, which actually gave Czechoslovakia to be torn apart by the Nazi empire in the fall of 1938, the imminence of a large-scale war was increasingly felt in Europe. But where will Hitler send German troops: west or east? Is it possible to conclude another agreement between Berlin, London and Paris on an anti-Soviet basis? What are the further plans of the Western states regarding the USSR? Moscow was waiting for an answer to these questions. The station of Soviet intelligence in France is faced with the difficult task of revealing the true intentions of the ruling circles of the West, including French and German, in relation to our country.
In Paris, Korotkov worked until the end of 1938. For the successful completion of the tasks of the Center, he is promoted and awarded the Order of the Red Banner.
"NEW YEAR'S GIFT"
Upon his return to Moscow, the scout was in for an unpleasant surprise. On January 1, 1939, Lavrenty Beria, who recently headed the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs, invited foreign intelligence officers to a meeting. Instead of New Year's greetings, the People's Commissar actually accused all the intelligence officers who returned from behind the cordon of betrayal, of being agents of foreign special services. In particular, referring to Alexander Korotkov, Beria said:
- You are recruited by the Gestapo and therefore quit the organs.
Korotkov turned pale and began to ardently prove that no one could recruit him and that he, as a patriot of the Motherland, was ready to give his life for her. However, this did not make an impression on Lavrenty Pavlovich …
… Now it is difficult to say what caused such an attitude of Beria to Korotkov. Perhaps a negative role was played by the fact that he was hired to work in the state security bodies on the recommendation of Benjamin Gerson, the former personal secretary of Heinrich Yagoda, one of the predecessors of the current People's Commissar of Internal Affairs. Both Gerson and Yagoda were declared enemies of the people and shot.
It is also possible that another reason for the dismissal of the intelligence officer could be his work on his first business trip in Paris under the leadership of NKVD resident Alexander Orlov, who then headed the NKVD agent network in republican Spain. Faced with the threat of execution, he refused to return to Moscow, fled, and at the end of 1937 moved to the United States. Apparently, only the high state award received by Korotkov saved him from repression.
However, Korotkov did not speculate about the reasons for his dismissal and took a step unprecedented at that time. Alexander writes a letter to Beria, in which he asks to reconsider the decision on his dismissal. In the message, he sets out in detail the operational cases in which he happened to participate, and emphasizes that he did not deserve mistrust. Korotkov says bluntly that he does not know of any wrongdoing that could be the reason for "taking away his honor to work in the authorities."
And the incredible happened. Beria summoned a scout for a conversation and signed an order for his reinstatement at work.
AND AGAIN ABROAD
The deputy chief of the 1st foreign intelligence department, Lieutenant of State Security Korotkov, is immediately sent on short-term business trips to Norway and Denmark. He receives the task to restore communication with a number of previously mothballed sources and successfully copes with it.
In July 1940, Korotkov went on a business trip to Germany for a period of one month. However, instead of a month, he spent six months in the German capital, and then was appointed deputy resident of the NKVD in Berlin, Amayak Kobulov, the brother of Deputy People's Commissar for State Security Bogdan Kobulov.
The scout re-established contact with two of the most valuable sources of residency - the officer of the Luftwaffe intelligence department "Sergeant Major" (Harro Schulze-Boysen) and the senior government adviser to the Reich Ministry of Economy "Corsican" (Arvid Harnack).
Korotkov was one of the first to understand the inevitability of war. Since Amayak Kobulov did not want to hear about the approaching danger, Korotkov in March 1941 sent a personal letter to Beria. Referring to the information of "Corsican" about the preparation of aggression against the USSR by the Germans in the spring of this year, Korotkov argued in detail his position, citing data on the military preparations of Germany. The scout asked the Center to double-check this information through other sources.
There was no reaction from Moscow. A month later, Korotkov initiated a letter from the Berlin residency to the Center with a proposal to immediately begin training reliable agents for independent communication with Moscow in case of war. With the consent of the Center, he handed over the radio equipment to a group of German agents led by "Corsican" and "Sergeant Major". They would later become known as the leaders of the extensive intelligence network "Red Capella".
On June 17, Moscow received a telegram drawn up by Korotkov on the basis of information received from "Sergeant Major" and "Corsican". In it, in particular, it was said: "All military preparations of Germany for the preparation of an armed attack against the USSR are completely completed and a strike can be expected at any time."
On the same day, the People's Commissar for State Security Vsevolod Merkulov and the head of foreign intelligence Pavel Fitin were received by Stalin, to whom they reported a special message from Berlin. Stalin ordered to carefully double-check all information coming from the German capital regarding a possible German attack on the USSR.
Three days before the start of the Great Patriotic War, an operative of the Berlin residency, Boris Zhuravlev, met with another valuable source - an employee of the Gestapo "Breitenbach" (Willie Lehmann). At the meeting, an agitated agent announced that the war would begin in three days. An urgent telegram was sent to Moscow, to which there was no response.
Alexander Mikhailovich Korotkov
IN THE TIME OF MILITARY FEVER
Korotkov met the war in Berlin. Being exposed to serious danger, he managed to leave the Soviet embassy, blocked by the Gestapo, and twice - on June 22 and 24 - secretly meet with "Corsican" and "Sergeant Major", give them updated instructions on the use of radio ciphers, money for the anti-fascist struggle and make recommendations regarding deployment of active resistance to the Nazi regime.
Arriving in Moscow in July 1941 in transit through Bulgaria and Turkey with an echelon of Soviet diplomats and specialists from Germany, as well as Finland and other countries - satellites of the Third Reich, Korotkov was appointed head of the German foreign intelligence department, which was involved in conducting operations not only in the Nazi itself. empire, but also in the European countries occupied by it. With the direct participation of Korotkov, a special reconnaissance school was created to train and send illegal scouts into the deep rear of the enemy. Heading the department, he was at the same time one of the teachers of this school, teaching students intelligence skills. During the war, Korotkov repeatedly flew to the front. There, dressed in a German uniform, under the guise of a prisoner of war, he entered into conversations with the officers of the Wehrmacht captured by our troops. During these conversations, he often managed to obtain important information.
In November-December 1943, Colonel Korotkov, as part of the Soviet delegation, was in Tehran, where a meeting of the "Big Three" - the leaders of the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill took place. Since Soviet intelligence received reliable information about an attempt on the life of the meeting participants, which was being prepared by the German special services, confirmed by British intelligence, Korotkov, heading an operational group in the Iranian capital, was involved in ensuring the security of the leaders of the USSR, the United States and Great Britain.
In the same year, Korotkov twice visited Afghanistan, where Soviet and British intelligence eliminated Nazi agents who were preparing a pro-fascist coup and intending to drag the country into a war against the USSR. During the Great Patriotic War, Korotkov flew to Yugoslavia several times to convey messages from the Soviet leadership to Marshal Josip Broz Tito. He also had to repeatedly go to the front line or to the front line in order to sort out the difficult situation on the spot and provide practical assistance to reconnaissance groups abandoned behind enemy lines.
At the very end of the war, when the defeat of the Third Reich became obvious, Korotkov was summoned by the Deputy People's Commissar for State Security Ivan Serov and entrusted him with an important task. He told Alexander Mikhailovich:
“Go to Berlin, where you are to lead the group to ensure the security of the German delegation, which will arrive in Karlshorst to sign the act of unconditional surrender of Germany. If its head, Field Marshal Keitel, throws out any number or refuses to put his signature, you will answer with your head. During contacts with him, try to feel his moods and do not miss the important information that he might drop."
Korotkov successfully completed the task. In the famous photograph, which captures the moment the Nazi field marshal signed the Act of Germany's unconditional surrender, he stands behind Keitel. In his memoirs, written in Spandau prison awaiting the verdict of the Nuremberg Tribunal, Keitel noted: “A Russian officer was assigned to my escort; I was told that he is the Chief Quartermaster of Marshal Zhukov. He rode in the car with me, followed by the rest of the escort vehicles."
Let me remind you: since the time of Peter the Great, the Quartermaster General of the Russian army headed its intelligence service.
IN THE POST-WAR YEARS
Immediately after the war, Korotkov was appointed a resident of foreign intelligence throughout Germany, divided into four zones of occupation. In Karlshorst, where the station was located, he held the official position of deputy adviser to the Soviet military administration. The center tasked him with finding out the fate of the pre-war agents of Soviet intelligence, and with those who survived the war, resume work. The scouts, led by Korotkov, managed to find out the tragic fate of the "Sergeant Major", "Corsican", "Breitenbach" who died in the Gestapo dungeons, as well as meet with the German military attaché in Shanghai, "Friend," and many other former sources. Soviet intelligence also restored contact with an agent in the immediate circle of Field Marshal List, who had been awaiting contact with the NKVD courier throughout the war.
In 1946, Alexander Mikhailovich was recalled to the Center, where he became deputy chief of foreign intelligence and at the same time headed its illegal administration. He was directly related to the direction in the United States of the illegal resident "Mark" (William Fischer), known to the general public under the name of Rudolph Abel. Korotkov objected to the trip to the United States with him, the radio operator of the station, Karelian Reno Heikhanen, feeling distrust of him, but the leadership of foreign intelligence did not agree with his arguments. The operational instinct did not disappoint Alexander Mikhailovich: Heikhanen really turned out to be a traitor and gave the American counterintelligence "Mark" (in the early 1960s, Heikhanen died in the USA under the wheels of a car).
The intelligence veterans who personally knew Alexander Mikhailovich recall that he was characterized by non-standard operational thinking and a desire to avoid the usual cliches in his work. So, communicating on duty, mainly with the heads of departments and departments and their deputies, Korotkov at the same time continued to be friends with ordinary intelligence officers. Together with them, he went fishing, picking mushrooms, with his families went to the theater. Alexander Mikhailovich was always interested in the opinion of rank-and-file intelligence officers on management measures to improve its activities. Moreover, these were precisely friendly relations, devoid of servility and flattery. Korotkov did not boast of his general rank, he was simple and at the same time demanding in dealing with his subordinates.
Recalling her first meeting with Alexander Mikhailovich, the remarkable illegal scout Galina Fedorova wrote:
“With extraordinary excitement I entered the office of the head of the illegal intelligence. A tall, broad-shouldered middle-aged man energetically rose from a large table in the back of the office and walked towards me with a friendly smile. I noticed his courageous, strong-willed face, strong chin, wavy brown hair. He was dressed in a dark suit of impeccable cut. The piercing gaze of blue-gray eyes is fixed on me. He spoke in a low, pleasant voice, with benevolence and knowledge of the matter.
The conversation was thorough and very friendly. I was deeply impressed by his simplicity in communication, his manner of conducting a conversation, his humor to frankness. And, as it seemed to me, whenever he wanted to, he could win over any interlocutor."
In 1957, General Korotkov was appointed to the post of Commissioner of the KGB of the USSR under the Ministry of State Security of the GDR for coordination and communication. He was entrusted with the leadership of the largest KGB representative apparatus abroad. Alexander Mikhailovich managed to establish a trusting relationship with the leadership of the MGB of the GDR, including Erich Milke and Markus Wolf, whom he met during the war in Moscow. He contributed to the fact that the intelligence of the GDR became one of the most powerful in the world.
The office of the KGB representative office was traditionally located in Karlshorst. West German counterintelligence, taking advantage of the purchase of furniture for the mission, tried to introduce eavesdropping technology into Korotkov's office, camouflaging it in a chandelier. This attempt was stopped in time thanks to a high-ranking source of Soviet intelligence, Heinz Voelfe, who held one of the leading posts in West German counterintelligence itself. Later, this tab was used by the KGB office to misinform the enemy's special services.
General Korotkov met with Heinz Voelfe on several occasions and gave him briefings. Their first meeting took place in Austria in the summer of 1957 and took place in a country restaurant near Vienna on the territory reserved for picnic lovers. The scouts' conversation lasted almost all daylight hours. Korotkov asked the agent in detail about the internal political situation in West Germany, the balance of power within the government and political parties of the country, the influence of the Americans on political decision-making, and the remilitarization of the FRG. In his book "Memoirs of a Scout", published in 1985, Voelfe, recalling Alexander Mikhailovich, wrote:
“I remember General Korotkov well. During our meetings in Berlin or Vienna, we often had lengthy disputes with him about the internal political situation in the FRG. His excellent German, tinged with the Viennese dialect, his elegant appearance and manner immediately attracted my sympathy. He was well versed in various political currents in the Federal Republic. We argued with him more than once when he expressed his fears about the emergence and spread of right-wing radical groups in the FRG. Then I did not share his opinion. It is a pity that now I can no longer tell him how right he was."
In June 1961, two and a half months before the construction of the Berlin Wall, Korotkov was summoned to a meeting at the Central Committee of the CPSU in Moscow. On the eve of the meeting, he had a preliminary conversation with the then chairman of the KGB, Alexander Shelepin. The former Komsomol leader, in a conversation with the intelligence officer, did not agree with his assessment of the events taking place in Germany and threatened to fire him from intelligence after the end of the meeting at the Central Committee of the CPSU. Going the next day to Staraya Square, Korotkov told his wife that he might return home without shoulder straps or not come at all, since Shelepin is determined and does not tolerate objections.
Contrary to his expectations, the meeting agreed with the intelligence officer's assessment of the situation in Germany. Shelepin, seeing that Korotkov's position coincides with the opinion of the majority, refused to speak.
Wanting to relieve nervous stress, Korotkov walked along the streets of the city, and then went to the Dynamo stadium to play tennis. On the court, bending down for the ball, he felt a sharp pain in his heart and fell unconscious. The urgently called doctor stated death from heart rupture. The remarkable scout was then a little over 50 years old.
For his great services in ensuring state security, Major General Korotkov was awarded the Order of Lenin, six (!) Orders of the Red Banner, the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree, two Orders of the Red Star, many medals, as well as the badge "Honorary State Security Officer". His work was noted with high awards from a number of foreign countries.
An outstanding Soviet intelligence officer, the king of illegal immigrants in Moscow, was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery.
