Directorate of Special Departments within NKVD USSR

In the beginning of newly created VCheka the responsibility for civilian and military counterintelligence felt on Counterintelligenc Bureau or KRB. Created on January 12, 1918, responsible for combating internal and external espionage activity in military and civilian (political) field.
From May 1918, KRB was changed and acted as a Department for Fighting with espionage in the framework of the Counter-Revolution and Sabotage Division within VCheka, under the leadership of Yakov Blumkin. The department existed only until July 6, then the fight against espionage was taken over by the newly formed Military Sub-Branch, headed by Janushevski. On December 19 1918 it was reformed again. By combining Military Sub-branch with the 1st Department (responsible for military counterintelligence) of Registration Directorate or Riegistrupr (RU) by the Field Staff Revolutionary War Council (RWSR) and renamed the "Military Division".

Another and final name change came days later when VCheka Military Division was renamed VCheka Special Department or (OO), with the responsibilities typical to military and civilian secret police. At the beginning Special Department was also responsible for:

1. fight against counter-revolution and sabotage in Red Army ranks
2. protecting newly created state borders
3. .counterintelligence and counter espionage duties in military and civilian institutions important to economy and military industry
4. Surveillance of senior commanders,
5. running foreign and domestic human intelligence network's, mainly in areas occupied by White Army and Entente intervention forces.
   

In charge of VCheka and it's successors (GPU NKVD RSFSR/OGPU CNK) special department were very high ranking and future and existing bosses of V. Lenins and J. Stalin's secret police.
People like old Bolshevik's Mikhail Sergeevich Kedrov and Felix Dzerzhinsky at the time VCheka chairman and also from March 30 1919 chead of NKVD RSFSR.Vyacheslav Menzhinsky, future OGPU chairman, Yakov Agranov then chief of Special Department 16th Section later first chead of GUGB NKVD USSR, and 1st deputy to NKVD chead Genrikh Yagoda. In charge of OO 14 Section, was Solomon Mogilevsky who later became head of Foreign Department

The centralization of all Soviet counterintelligence organs under one name and one command can be attributed to couple things. One of the most important was that after the 22 June 1941 German invasion of the USSR and the huge losses inflicted on the Red Army by the German Armed Forces local and front Military counterintelligence Navy, Army branches lost control over their own armed forces.

Tragic situation on the Eastern Front which included the lost of the city of Smolensk and 300.000 Red Army soldiers taken as POWs, and the more important the lost of the city of Kiev, witch opened up the main road to Moscow and later Operation Typhoon. Soviet leadership (specialty Joseph Stalin) convince to stop the retreating Red Army at any cost. This job was left to secret service bosses NKVD chief Lavrenty Beria and NKGB People's Commissar for state security Vsevolod Merkulov.

The decision to create one Military counterintelligence organ subordinate to one command was made on July 17 1941 by Chairman of the State Defense Committee Iosif Stalin, with the decree number GKO-187/ss.[7]
The organization structure for Directorate of Special Departments within NKVD was approved by the People's Commissariat on August 15 1941, and declared by NKVD USSR order number №001305, between September 12/16 1941.
Victor Abakumov as head of UOO NKVD USSR had powerful position, not only he was in charge of whole Military counterintelligence apparatus (except Navy branch with was headed by A.Petrov as 3rd NKVMF [Navy] Directorate. Absorbed to UOO in January 1941) but also he was deputy Commissar of Internal Affairs for Military counterintelligence. Having that position he was officially subordinate to NKVD USSR head Lavrentiy Beria, but on a daily bases he was called to Stalin office to answer direct questions about cases, or especially when was nothing new since Stalin like to call NKGB head Merkulov or the rest of Berias deputys.

His first deputy and deputies, some of the deputies were also in charge of department's and responsible for coordinating proforments on central level as in field.

• chief  – (3rd rank) commissar of state security Viktor Abakumov
  • first deputy (3rd rank) Commissar of state security  – Solomon Milshtein 7/19/1941-9/24/1942
  • Afanasiy Klykov – major of state security 7/17/1941-8/22/1941
  • Fyodor Tutushkin  – division commissar (from 9/10/1941 – senior major of state security – 8/22/1941-6/30/1942
  • Nikolai Osetrov – 8/22/1941- 4/29/1943
  • Lavrentiy Tsanava – 10/21/1941-4/19/1943, (3rd rank) Commissar of state security.
  • Abakumov helper colonel Ivan Moskalenko 8/1941–4/1943

• Secretariat headed by Yakov Broverman
• Operational Section headed by A Miusov
• 1st Department: responsible for counter-espionage and other security measures in Red Army General Staff, headed by (at the time) state security major  – Ivan Moskalenko
• 2nd Department – responsible for Air Force headed by (at the time) brigade commissar Aleksandr Avsyevich
• 3rd Department (responsible for armored forces, artillery, chemical and railway troops) headed by (at the time) state security captain Vlacheslav Rogov
• 4th Department – running agent networks, and conducting operational work in the main branches of the troops headed by brigade commissar: Gregory Bolotin
• 5th Department – CI protection of Red Army rear, headed by Konstanty Prohorenko.
• 6th Department  – NKVD troops headed by Iosif Lokish
• 7th department – searches, registration of operational informants and agents. Counterintelligence work within newly mobilized units headed by state security major Aleksandr Solovyev
• 8th Department  – (ciphers) headed by M. Sharikov
• Investigation Unit  – at the time State Security Kapitan Boris Pavlovsky

Immediately after the German attack of June 22 1941 a martial law was declared in USSR. Military tribunals were charged with hearing not only cases of servicemen, if they involved threats to the defense of the Soviet Union or state security. But the USSR penal code allowed the OO's officers to prosecute civilian Cases under the criminal code paragraph 58-9 (diversions). In couple cases it tok very little to be changed and shoot. In this case factory worker was arrested by OO Officer that was responsible for protection of military factory for dropping ranch by accident what made small fire, man was arrested and charged for diversion (sabotage) and shoot, while his wife was sentenced 15 years in Gulag, soviet hard labor camp's.

Cases were prosecuted within 24 hours after the person was charged. Initially, tribunals were obligated to get Moscow approval for every death sentence. On July 27, 1941, this requirement was abolished. By September 1941, commander's and political commissars of division were also given the right to confer the death sentence. Executions were carried out immediately.
When Stalin signed order #270, he also signed other orders in purpose to give more power to political commissars and OO officers in field from corps and down the and going down through military lather. He also required all level commander's to report names of all serviceman taken as POW's and the familys.
Political