In the history of world intelligence, few can compare in the degree of damage done to the enemy with a human legend, like the Hero of the Soviet Union, intelligence agent Nikolai Kuznetsov. His biography without any embellishment is a ready-made script for a spy picture, next to which Bondiana looks faded and primitive. However, after the hero’s death, a lot of books and articles appeared, in which author’s speculations and their personal and not always objective outlook on who Nikolai Kuznetsov (scout) was presented were presented as reliable information.
Biography: childhood
The future genius of Soviet intelligence , which the Germans themselves mistook for a true Aryan from a good family, was born in 1911 in the village of Zyryanka, which today is located in the Talitsky urban district of the Sverdlovsk region. His parents were simple peasants who, in addition to Nikanor (the name of Nikolai Kuznetsov given to him at birth), had 5 more children.
The boy was very lucky with a German teacher who taught at a local seven-year school. In addition, he was naturally gifted with extraordinary linguistic abilities. By happy coincidence, his former teacher of the Austro-Hungarian army was his labor teacher, who, after being captured during the First World War, settled in the Urals. It was he who introduced Kolya to German profanity, which later came in very handy for him to create a reliable image of a real Volksdeutsche.
Youth
In 1926, Kuznetsov Nikolai Ivanovich (scout) entered the Tyumen Agricultural College at the agronomic department. In his first year, he was admitted to the Komsomol and proved to be a hardworking and diligent student. However, the young man had to leave school and return to his native village, because after the death of his father he was forced to take over the care of the family.
Despite all the everyday difficulties, a year later Nikolai transferred to the Talitsky Forestry College, where, in parallel with other subjects, he began intensively independently studying the German language, including its dialects, as well as the then fashionable Esperanto.
Start of work
The gifted young man was not able to get a diploma, since in 1929, on charges of “White Guard-kulak origin,” he was expelled from the technical school and the Komsomol. Nikolai Kuznetsov (future scout) went to Kudymkar and began to work as an assistant taxiator for arranging local forests. For good work, he was reinstated in the Komsomol and in the technical school, but was not allowed to defend his diploma by issuing a document stating that he had attended all the courses.
During the period of labor, Kuznetsov discovered that many of his colleagues were busy with postscripts, and reported this to the police. A court was held that sentenced the robbers to several years in prison. Kuznetsov himself was again expelled from the Komsomol and convicted. As a result, he was forced to carry out correctional labor for 1 year with a deduction of 15% of his salary.
Then Kuznetsov worked for a while at Mnogopromsoyuz as secretary of the bureau of prices and conjunctourist, as well as in the Red Hammer artel. There he mastered the Komi-Permyak language well.
Cooperation with OGPU
During the period of work in Kudymkar, Nikolai Kuznetsov, like other employees, began to attract local peasants to organize collectivization. Field trips often ended in skirmishes. The knowledge of the indigenous language and the courage shown by Kuznetsov in suppressing the resistance of the kulaks who did not want to give the fruits of their labor to the state attracted the attention of OGPU employees. Over time, they began to use it during actions to eliminate gangster groups operating in local forests. It is known that in the OGPU he was assigned the operational pseudonyms “Scientist” and “Kulik”.
In parallel with the events described, the personal life of the young man has changed. In particular, he met Elena Chugaeva, who worked as a nurse in a district hospital, and soon they officially got married. The couple’s joint life did not last long. However, when Kuznetsov left Kudymkar, he did not file for a divorce.
Life in Sverdlovsk
In 1932, Nikolai Kuznetsov (he was not yet a scout) decided to get a higher education diploma. He went to Sverdlovsk, where his family already lived, and passed the entrance exams at the local Industrial Institute. Most likely, he was already recruited by the NKVD. At least, it is known for certain that since May 1935 Kuznetsov got a job at Uralmashzavod as a storemaster of a design bureau under the pseudonym Kolonist, and he was entrusted with the operational development of foreign specialists.
Arrest
In February 1936, Kuznetsov was fired from the factory as truant, and after some time was arrested. Since he was a specialist in the field of logging, he was sent to the Komi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, where he was under the apparatus of the People's Commissar of the NKVD of the Republic M.N. Zhuravlev. He praised the young man’s abilities and recommended the counterintelligence colleagues from the capital to take Kuznetsov to the central apparatus of the People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs as a particularly gifted agent with excellent knowledge of a foreign language.
The beginning of work in the NKVD
Despite the not-so-crystal clear biography, Nikolai Kuznetsov (he will become a scout later) in the state security organs received the status of a highly classified special agent, and he was issued a Soviet-style passport.
Since 1938, he began a new life under the name of the German Rudolf Wilhelmovich Schmidt, who was ordered to infiltrate the diplomatic environment of the capital. To this end, Kuznetsov began to actively get acquainted with foreigners, attended social events, went out to lovers and friends of employees of foreign embassies, helped them conclude transactions for the purchase of antiques and other valuable goods.
Intelligence Prep
On July 5, 1941, an organization of sabotage work was created in the rear of the German army - a special group under the NKVD of the USSR In January 1942, it was transformed into the fourth directorate of the People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs, and the Soviet intelligence officer Nikolai Kuznetsov became a member.
A legend was invented, according to which he was the Luftwaffe lieutenant Paul Wilhelm Siebert. Later it was decided to "transfer" him to the infantry. In the winter of 1942, “Siebert” was assigned to a camp for German prisoners of war, where he got accustomed to a new role and got acquainted with the orders, life and customs of the German army. Then he received the name Petrov and was trained in skydiving. After successfully passing all the tests, it was determined what Nikolai Kuznetsov would do in the future.
The scout was sent to the area of ​​the occupied city of Rivne, in the special unit "Winners".
Behind Enemy Lines
Since mid-autumn of 1942, Kuznetsov, under the name of Paul Siebert and with the documents of the secret police officer, conducted intelligence work and constantly talked with representatives of the German command, special services, and officials of the occupation authorities. He transferred all the collected data to the partisan detachment.
In February 1943, Nikolai Kuznetsov, together with the partisans, ambushed and captured the courier of the Reich Commissariat of Ukraine, Major Gahan, who had a secret card indicating the location of Hitler's secret bunker, built in the vicinity of Vinnitsa. After the scout carried out several more successful sabotage actions, however, his main goal was the physical destruction of Erich Koch, who held the post of Reich Commissioner of Ukraine.
Soon Kuznetsov was promoted to lieutenant, which increased his chances of success. First, he planned two attempts to assassinate the Reich commissioner: in April during a military parade on the occasion of Adolf Hitler's birthday and in the summer of that year at a personal reception on the subject of his possible marriage with a Volksdeutsche girl. Both of them failed because Koch was absent from the parade, and in the second case there were too many guards in the room.
The attempt to assassinate Alfred Rosenberg, the Reich Minister for Occupied Territories on June 5, 1943, was also unsuccessful.
A few months later, with the active participation of Kuznetsov, several assassinations were organized against Paul Dargel, who served as Deputy E. Koch and the chief of management of his administration. The first ended with the destruction of the deputy Reichskommissar of Ukraine for Finance Hans Gel, as well as his secretary Winter. As for the second, Dargel was seriously injured and lost both legs, after which he was taken to Berlin.
In November 1943, Kuznetsov successfully carried out an operation to capture and destroy the commander of punitive battalions Max Ilgen.
The last successful large-scale action of a scout was the abduction of the head of the legal department of the Ukrainian Reich Commissariat, OberfĂĽhrer SA A. Funk. Super valuable information was received from him about the preparation of an attempt on the leaders of the USSR, the USA and Great Britain, which the German special services were going to carry out during the Tehran conference.
In early 1944, Kuznetsov and his group acted on the territory of the Lviv District and eliminated several important officials.
Death
Kuznetsov Nikolai Ivanovich is a scout, all the circumstances of whose death have not yet been disclosed. It is known for certain that in the spring of 1944, German patrols in Western Ukraine already had orientations with its description. Upon learning of this, Kuznetsov decided to go beyond the front line.
Not far from the battle zone in the village of Boratin, Kuznetsov’s group came across a detachment of UPA fighters. Bandera recognized the scouts, although they were in German uniform and decided to take them alive. The scout Nikolai Kuznetsov (see photo in the review) refused to give up and was killed. There is also a version that he blew himself up with a grenade.
After death
On November 5, 1944, N.I. Kuznetsov was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union for his courage and exceptional courage. His grave remained unknown for a long time. It was discovered in 1959 in the tract Kutyki. The remains of the hero of the reburial in Lviv, on the Hill of Glory.
Now you know the biography of intelligence agent Nikolai Kuznetsov, who heroically died in the struggle for the liberation of Ukraine from the Nazi invaders.