Stills from Eagle Assault Corps
In the Second World War, the warring parties spared no effort to achieve the final victory of the war. While the frontal battlefield army is fighting, the ancient method of assassination has not been forgotten. The heads and generals of the two sides bore the brunt of the attack and became the primary target of assassination by the intelligence agencies of the other side. In this regard, the British film "Eagle Assault Corps" once gave a perfect explanation of this history. Of course, today I am not going to talk about the history of the Assassination of Churchill by the Germans, and the reason why "Eagle Assault Corps" is mentioned is only because it is somewhat similar to the plot that will be said below, and it is just a comparison here.
Photograph of Stalin himself
Today we are going to talk about another operation by the German intelligence apparatus during the Second World War. Unlike Eagle Assault, which is fictional, the operation actually happened, and if it weren't for a fortuitous incident that caused the whole operation to get off track. This elaborate preparation by the German intelligence services may have succeeded, thus enabling the smooth realization of the original idea of changing the unfavorable situation on the battlefield. This was the assassination of Stalin by German spies in the Soviet-German theater.
Soviet prisoners of war in a prisoner-of-war camp
The order for the assassination of Stalin by German intelligence agencies came directly from Hitler. In fact, this operation began long before the war, but because German spies had encountered many difficulties in infiltrating The Soviet Union, especially at the top, this plan has not progressed much. It was not until after the beginning of the war, with a large number of Soviet prisoners of war falling into German hands, that the recruitment of spies by German intelligence agencies began to officially operate. Batches of former Soviet prisoners of war were absorbed as German spies for various reasons. Some of them were tasked with assassinating Stalin.
Group photo of the Soviet troops
Among all the German spies, the first to successfully penetrate the soviet top brass was the former Soviet lieutenant Radimir Minishki, who, after defecting to the German intelligence agencies in a prisoner-of-war camp, used a false escape to successfully gain the trust of the Soviet army and entered the Soviet State Defense Council, thus being able to get close to Stalin. However, soon after, because Radimir Minishki provided confidential Soviet intelligence to the German intelligence agencies, which aroused the suspicion of the Soviet counter-espionage agencies, leading to The hasty escape of Rakimir Minishki and return to the German side, the hard work of the German intelligence agencies was in vain.
Soviet hoeing teams are checking their documents
But the German intelligence services were not discouraged, and they found a Soviet prisoner of war in Tafrin. However, with the rapid turn of the war, the German intelligence agencies were too late to arrange a proper identity and opportunity for Tafrin to return to the Soviet Army. Only spies lurking in the personnel department of the Soviet army could be used to venture for Tafrin, and his operator Silova fabricated the resume of the major and his wife of the Soviet army's general office of rape, and issued documents such as fake exchanges accordingly. According to the instructions of the German intelligence agencies, Tafrin and Silova would directly carry out the plan to assassinate Stalin, for which they also prepared bullets with poisonous warheads and anti-tank bazookas.
German bombers often made cameo appearances as transport aircraft
Unexpectedly, however, the German bombers transporting Tafrin and Silova were accidentally shot down by Soviet anti-aircraft artillery units as they flew over the front line, and the two German spies, although lucky to escape with their lives, were soon arrested and confessed. Based on their confessions, the Soviets quickly played a game of fishing. Batches of German supplies and spies fell into the trap of the Soviet counter-espionage apparatus. Until the occupation of Berlin in May 1945, the Germans were still waiting for the assassination to succeed. The most interesting thing is that the Fishing Operation of the Soviet Side lasted until 1952, but what they were fishing during this time, it is unknown?