GUKR SMERSH directed the work of the field directorates assigned to the fronts, which hereinafter will be referred to as UKRs SMERSH to distinguish them from the GUKR SMERSH in Moscow. Whenever both organizations are meant, they will be referred to simply as SMERSH. On the whole, fifteen UKRs were established at the fronts in April 1943 (Table 16-1). All heads of front UKRs remained at their posts until the end of the war or until the front was disbanded.
In the GUKR, thirteen assistants to Abakumov with their staffs were responsible for the UKRs:
| Name29 | Front Responsibility | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| A. A. Avseevich | Northwestern | Apr 29, 1943–Jul 9, 1943 |
| G. S. Bolotin-Balyasnyi | Volkhov/3rd Belorussian | Apr 29, 1943–May 22, 1946 |
| I. P. Konovalov | Southern/4th Ukrainian | Apr 29, 1943–May 27, 1946 |
| S. F. Kozhevnikov | Leningrad | Apr 29, 1943–Jun 4, 1946 |
| N. G. Kravchenko | Bryansk/2nd Baltic | May 26, 1943–Jul 1944 |
| A. P. Misyurev | Kalinin/1st Baltic | Apr 29, 1943–May 27, 1946 |
| F. G. Petrov | Southwestern/3rd Ukrainian | May 26, 1943–Dec 28, 1943 |
| K. L. Prokhorenko | Voronezh/1st Ukrainian | Apr 29, 1943–Oct 4, 1944 |
| V. P. Rogov | Western/3rd Belorussian | Apr 29, 1943–May 27, 1946 |
| N. A. Rozanov | Northwestern/2nd Belorussian | Oct 10, 1943–May 4, 1946 |
| I. T. Rusak | Karelian | Apr 29, 1943–May 27, 1946 |
| V. T. Shirmanov | Central/1st Belorussian | May 26, 1943–Mar 23, 1944 |
| P. P. Timofeev | Steppe/2nd Ukrainian | Sep 23, 1943-May 22, 1946 |
They were not only in constant contact with the front UKR staffs, but also personally visited the front UKRs, bringing orders and instructions from the GUKR. Another assistant, Major General Ivan Moskalenko, was responsible for general matters and personnel. One of the assistants, Vyacheslav Rogov, became very close to Abakumov, and after the war Abakumov appointed him head of the 4th MGB Directorate (specializing in searching for suspects).
Colonel Ivan Chernov, former head of a section in the UOO, was appointed head of the GUKR SMERSH Secretariat, while Yakov Broverman, former head of the UOO Secretariat, became Chernov’s deputy.
GUKR in Moscow consisted of eleven operational and three nonoperational departments (Figure 16-2), a total of 646 men (for comparison, in 1942 the UOO staff in Moscow consisted of 225 men). Not all departments corresponded to their UOO predecessors. With the new focus on the Germans and other foreign enemies, two departments, the 3rd and 4th, were transferred from the NKVD/NKGB. The 3rd Department was in charge of capturing German spies in the rear and organizing ‘radio games’ with their help, and the 4th Department was in charge of counterintelligence measures behind the front line. Five of the departments, the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 6th, were involved directly in investigation.
The UKR SMERSH of a front directed the subordinated SMERSH departments (OKRs) within the armies and units. Three SMERSH officers were attached to each rifle regiment, while the OKR at the division level consisted of 21 men, including a head, his deputy, a ciphering officer, investigators, a commandant, and a platoon of guards.30 The OKR of each army included 57 men, while the size of a front UKR depended on how many armies the front was comprised of. If the front consisted of five armies, its UKR included 130 officers; if there were fewer armies, the UKR had 112 officers.31 The UKRs of military districts, of which the Moscow Military District was the biggest, consisted of 102–193 officers. For operational work, such as guarding prisoners, the Red Army provided SMERSH with field formations made up of regular servicemen. SMERSH front directorates were provided with a battalion, SMERSH army departments, a company, and SMERSH departments at the regiment, division, or brigade level, a platoon.
The positions and responsibilities of the personnel and departments in the UKR SMERSH and OKR SMERSH were very similar. Here is the typical structure of a UKR SMERSH:
| Position/Unit | Duties |
|---|---|
| Head | Commanding |
| Secretariat | Secretarial work |
| Personnel Department | In charge of the cadres |
| 1st Department | Overseeing the staff of the headquarters |
| 2nd Department | Counterintelligence in the rear, catching German agents, interrogation of German POWs, vetting Soviet POWs |
| 3rd Department | Guidance of subordinated units and combating enemy agents, anti-Soviet elements, traitors to the motherland, military criminals |
| 4th Department | Investigation |
| Komendatura | Guarding prisoners; executions |
| Records Section | Making and keeping records |