Claudius Alexandrovich Foss ( 1898 , Vilna - November 11, 1991 , Munich ) - a participant in the White movement in the south of Russia, captain of the Drozdovsky artillery division. The head of the office of the Russian All-Military Union (1924–1927), then the “ Internal Line ” of the EMRO (1927-1945). Assistant commandant of Nikolaev (1943-1944).
| Claudius Alexandrovich Foss | |||||||
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| Predecessor | position established | ||||||
| Successor | position abolished | ||||||
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| Predecessor | position established | ||||||
| Successor | position abolished | ||||||
| Birth | or Vilna , Russian Empire | ||||||
| Death | Munich , Germany | ||||||
| Education | |||||||
| Religion | Orthodoxy | ||||||
| Awards |
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| Military service | |||||||
| Years of service | 1918-1945 | ||||||
| Affiliation |  Russian empire Bulgaria Germany | ||||||
| Type of army | VSYUR Russian army Internal line EMRO  Bulgarian Armed Forces  Wehrmacht | ||||||
| Rank | Captain Major Zonderführer | ||||||
| Commanded | Internal line EMRO | ||||||
| Battles | Civil War : • Hike Iasi - Don World War II : • World War II | ||||||
Content
Biography
Early years
Born in 1898. Hereditary nobleman of the Kiev province [1] .
Educated in the Vilenskaya 2nd gymnasium , where one of his classmates was Boris Solonevich [2] .
Civil War
After the revolution, he served in the All-Soviet Union and the Russian Army Wrangel in the Drozdovskaya artillery brigade with the rank of captain. Participated in the campaign "Iasi-Don . " Evacuated from the Crimea to Gallipoli , then settled in Bulgaria . Since 1920 enters the EMRO and becomes the head of the office [3] .
Service in Bulgaria
From 1925 to 1941 he served in the Bulgarian War Ministry, was awarded several orders, was listed as a major reserve. He served as the clerk of the III Department of the EMRO , along with A. A. Brauner was the liaison officer of Colonel A. A. Zaytsov [4] . Being a deeply religious man, a monarchist, Foss hated the Bolsheviks and was a supporter of radical methods of anti-Soviet struggle. He organized the secret organization “Debt to the Motherland”, organized by analogy with the “ National Union of Terrorists ” Kutepov , and recruited white officers there. Then, on the initiative of General A.P. Kutepov, under the leadership of generals F. F. Abramov and P. N. Shatilova , Foss, together with staff captain N. D. Zakrzhevsky, based on his secret organization, created the Inner Line - ROVS counterintelligence . The organization began to work in 1927 [5] .
Internal EMR line
During the investigation into the abduction of the EMRO Chairman, Lieutenant General EK Miller , Claudius Foss was suspected of having links with Major General N. Skoblin , who turned out to be a Soviet agent. A special commission headed by General A. M. Dragomirov examined this case, General I. G. Erdeli visited Sofia, where he carefully studied Foss’s activities. As a result of the investigation, it turned out that Foss was innocent, but he was suspended from work in the intelligence department of the ROVS Section III [4] . The loudest of the cases in which Foss was involved was the exposure of the Soviet agent, Nikolai Abramov , son of F. F. Abramov [4] .
The accusation in the open letter to Stalin of the former plenipotentiary of the USSR in Bulgaria, Fyodor Raskolnikov [6], can be considered a kind of recognition of Foss’s merit in the fight against international communism. Raskolnikov, sentenced in absentia on June 17, 1939 by the USSR Supreme Court to execution, wrote in Paris on the pages of New Russia of October 1, 1939, addressing Joseph Stalin [6] :
| “Using the fact that you do not trust anyone, real agents of the Gestapo and Japanese intelligence successfully catch fish in muddy, agitated water, and throw up false documents in abundance that defame the very best, talented and honest people. In the rotten atmosphere you created, suspicion, mutual distrust, universal investigation and the omnipotence of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs, which you gave to the mercy of the Red Army and the whole country, any intercepted "document" is believed or pretended to be believed - as undeniable proof. Palming off false documents to Ezhov’s agents compromising the mission’s honest employees, the “Internal Line” of the ROVS in the person of Captain Voss succeeded in defeating our authorized representative office in Bulgaria from the driver M. I. Kazakov to the military attache of Colonel V. T. Sukhorukov ”Fedor Raskolnikov |
In addition, Foss was a resident of the German Kriegsorganizatsion Bulgaria , established in 1938 (the “Bureau of Dr. Delius”) [7] .
Participation in World War II
In 1941, a week after the start of the Great Patriotic War, Foss with a group of twenty people trained in military courses at Department III of the EMRO (for whom Foss provided financing) went to Romania . Soon, the Foss group, joined by S. S. Aksakov , left Bucharest , went to Russia, where the group’s tasks included the organization of the administration in the occupied territories [5] .
In the future, Foss collaborated with the Abvernebesteltel "South of Ukraine" , the Marine Intelligence Command for the Black and Azov Seas, AO-3 and the Abverstellet "Crimea" [8] [9] . During the war, NTS members wrote a denunciation to the Gestapo on Foss, he was arrested when he was already in Russia, and taken to Berlin . From there, a request was sent to Colonel G. Kostov, the intelligence chief of the General Staff of Bulgaria. After the answer Kostova Foss was released. He was not only returned to his former service, but was also promoted [4] . From 1943 to 1944 Assistant Commandant of the city of Nikolaev [10] . After his release, Captain Foss once again came into the view of the Soviet counterintelligence. The directive of the NKVD of the USSR No. 136 on the intensification of agent-operational work to curb the subversive activities of the foreign anti-Soviet organization NTSNP of March 19, 1943 noted [11] :
| “The chief of intelligence of the Russian All-Military Union (ROVS), the former captain of the Drozdovsky regiment, Foss Claudius Alexandrovich was appointed by the Germans as assistant to the commandant of Nikolaev in Ukraine and was awarded the Iron Cross for special services to the occupants. With an appointment in Nikolaev Foss, the Germans pursue the goal of creating in the occupied territory of the Soviet Union a strong point for throwing their agents from among the white emigres to our rear and putting together various anti-Soviet formations. Foss has at his disposal considerable personnel, and also has numerous kinship ties on Soviet territory. Together with Foss, members of the ROVS Gromov, Stanchulov Leonid, Gavrilius Alexander Ivanovich and Zakrzhevsky arrived in Ukraine. Colonels Pavlov and Romanov were preparing to leave for the cities of Odessa and Nikolaev. We know about the practical activities of the Foss group in the occupied territory that during the defense period in Odessa, these persons recruited and transferred agents from among the prisoners of war in the city to carry out decomposition work and sabotage-terrorist acts. At the same time, Foss was interested in the mood of Soviet youth, the presence of anti-Soviet organizations and groups among them. ” Directive of the NKVD of the USSR No. 136 "On the activation of agent-operational work to curb the subversive activities of the foreign anti-Soviet organization NTSNP" dated March 19, 1943 |
He had the title of Sonderführer (K) [9] (corresponding to: Hauptmann, Rittmeister (OF2)). During the war, Captain Foss took part in the protection of Hitler’s stakes, and also, according to his subordinate on the “Internal Line” Butkov, took part in setting up Adolf Hitler’s security service in Vinnytsia, for which he was awarded the Iron Cross [3] [6 ] . He repeatedly met with the head of KONR, Andrei Vlasov [3] .
After the war
After the end of the war, he avoided issuing the USSR , moved to Kempten (American occupation zone) under the name of Aleksandrov. Later he moved to the city of Munich , where he opened the "Construction Office", which, according to Soviet intelligence, was a cover for the recruiting office for the CIA [3] [10] . In the Soviet Union , the KGB was searched for "anti-Soviet activities" [3] [10] .
Death
He died on November 11, 1991 in the village of Tutzing near Munich [10] .
Personal life
Foss knew Bulgarian, German, English, French, and spoke with representatives of foreign intelligence services without an interpreter. More than ten assassinations were carried out on him, and he was forced to move under the protection of two bodyguards [4] .
Awards
During the Second World War in 1943, Claudius Foss was awarded the Second Class Iron Cross "for special services to the Great German Reich" [10] [11] .
See also
- White emigration
- Internal line
- Russian Collaboration in World War II
Literature
- Vladimir Nikolaevich Butkov (1916-2000) // "Our News", No. 458/2759, March 2000.
- Goldin V.I. Soldiers in a foreign land. Russian All-Military Union, Russia and the Russian Diaspora in the XX — XXI centuries. Arkhangelsk: Solti, 2006. ISBN 5-7536-0165-0
- Ivanov I. B. Chairs and chiefs of the Russian All-Military Union // “Our News,” No. 450/2751, March 1998. "
- Butkov V.N. Historical notes and memoirs of a member of the Russian All-Military Union // “ROVS Bulletin”, No. 1-2, 2001.
- Butkov V.N. Historical notes and memoirs of a member of the Russian All-Military Union // Vestnik ROVS, No. 1-9, 2001-2004.
- Butkov V.N. The Day of Irreconcilability. // "Our News", No. 456-457, September-December 1999.
Links
Notes
- ↑ List of nobles of Kiev province. - K., 1906. - p. 285.
- ↑ Nikandrov. N. Ivan Solonevich: people's monarchist. 2007, M., "Algorithm".
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 Whom the SMERSH was looking for in 1943—1946.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 Butkov V. “The internal line” in Bulgaria. (chapter from “Historical notes and memoirs of a member of the Russian All-Military Union”)
- ↑ 1 2 Gasparyan A. Operation “Trust”. Soviet intelligence against Russian emigration. 1921-1937
- ↑ 1 2 3 Russian Liberation Movement: the EMRO internal line, Captain Foss
- Structure and activities of the German intelligence agencies during the Second World War.
- ↑ Chuev SG. The Secret Services of the Third Reich: Book 2
- ↑ 1 2 Makhno V.P. Reference book of military collaborationism of the Cossacks in the 2nd World War. Archived September 1, 2013.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 Foss Klavdiy Aleksandrovich DROZDOVTSY Neopr (Inaccessible link) . The date of circulation is July 4, 2015. Archived July 6, 2015.
- ↑ 1 2 Did the self-sacrificing White Guard counterintelligence KA Foss serve in the Gestapo or Abwehr?