Introducing the Soviet SMERSH

The Soviet SMERSH was the organization within the Soviet Union responsible for military counterintelligence. Their main objective was to prevent foreign spies from infiltrating the Red Army, although their role also included hunting anti-Soviet elements within the Red Army. As such, their motto was 'Death to Spies'. This responsibility was originally handled by the NKVD, but in April of 1943 the NKVD was reorganized and SMERSH was spun off into an independent organization. They existed as such until May 1946. Some of the duties of SMERSH resemble those of the NKVD, when it comes to clearing the liberated territories from collaborators and Nazi sympathizers and evaluating the loyalty of Soviet Partisans and Soviet Army men who had fallen behind enemy lines. They were also responsible for helping to coordinate the activities of partisans behind enemy lines. To fulfill its mission, SMERSH created a large network of spies and informants, up to 3.5 million by some estimates, many of them within the Red Army. SMERSH also turned many German agents and used them to feed misinformation into German operations. Perhaps the best way to think about SMERSH in contrast to the NKVD is that they were much more focused on foreign spies and the Red Army, whereas the NKVD was policing all of Soviet society, and was also operating the Gulags and POW camps. By all accounts, SMERSH was just as ruthless and quite effective. In terms of toy soldiers, this is another one of those topics that had not been covered until recently, when Hanomak released a set on this subject. Let's take a look.

Hanomak Soviet SMERSH - Liquidation Set

Another niche topic SMERSH was the military intelligence unit of the Soviet Army. In this set they are supposed to be hunting German sympathizers in liberated territories. Given that the three sympathizers are shown in more active fighting poses, I think it would have made sense to have the SMERSH guys display a little more intensity. The officer firing two pistols is OK, but the other two seem too relaxed. I am actually planning to fold the three civilian figures into my unit of partisans, and maybe use the SMERSH guys to enhance the ranks of my Soviet Infantry. I would not have enough of them to create a meaningful unit of SMERSH men. The three civilians are much more interesting. These guys may actually be former Soviet soldiers who aligned themselves with the Germans (notice the uniform under the coat, or the padded jacket and hat, and the German sub machine gun), or they could also be  Germans who ended up behind enemy lines (notice the boots and the field cap). All nicely detailed and sculpted. And nothing to glue with this set.

Click here to take a look at a post about the NKVD

Click here to take a look at WWII Toy Soldiers by Country

Click here to take a look at WWII Vehicles by Country

Click here to check out more Soviet Troops

Click here to see the Soviet Infantry in action.