Foreign Armies East and German Military Intelligence in Russia 1941-45

Abstract

The intelligence war in Russia 1941-45 was waged on a scale unmatched in any other theatre of the second world war. Nevertheless, for various reasons, the conflict between the German and Soviet intelligence services has not received the attention that it deserves. In this paper, an effort is made to discuss certain facets of German intelligence operations on the Russian Front, specifically, the work of Fremde Heere Ost (FHO), 'Foreign Armies East', the department of the Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH) responsible for the evaluation of all military intelligence about the Soviet Union, including the analysis of Soviet intentions and strategy; and Amt Ausland/Abwehr, the military intelligence service under the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW), whose field headquarters in the East were responsible for clandestine collection, special operations, subversion, and counter-espionage and counter-intelligence. Abwehr operations against the Soviet Union did not fall within the strict scope of FHO activities. However, these operations are noted here, because Abwehr headquarters in Berlin furnished intelligence to FHO from the beginning, and the Abwehr field organization in the East responsible for espionage, sabotage, and counter-intelligence, Stab WALLI, was placed under the control of FHO in the spring of 1942 (departments I (espionage) and III (counter-intelligence) only). A forthcoming paper will examine Soviet intelligence operations on the Russian Front.2 For lack of space, there is no detailed treatment of the other German intelligence organizations that provided information to FHO, in particular, Fremde Luftwaffe Ost, German Air Force intelligence, and the Wehrmacht signals intelligence organization in Russia, Leitstelle fir Nachrichtenaufkldrung Ost. The operations of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA), including the sabotage and subversion organization in Russia,