"Viktor Suvorov. Inside soviet military intelligence (англ) " - читать интересную книгу автора

you ever members of the communist party? Why did you leave it?' The fanatics
told exactly what had really happened but were damned out of their own
mouths. To burn one's party card is a cardinal sin - and the Central
Committee threw out their application. The Germans again declared a hunger
strike and demanded a meeting with Stalin in person. At this point the NKVD
offered its help to the Central Committee, but the GRU intervened, being in
no way desirous that its agents should fall into the hands of the NKVD. So
the ex-agents ended up in the GRU cellars.
In the meantime, the political situation had changed sharply. Hitler
had become Stalin's best friend and the communists likewise friends of the
fascists. There ensued an exchange of gifts - the most up-to-date German
military aeroplanes for Stalin (including the top secret ME109, JU87, JU88,
DO217, HElll and even the ME110) in exchange for the surrender of all German
communists who had taken political asylum in the Soviet Union. Hitler's
calculation was very simple. In the short time before war broke out, the
Russians would not be able to copy the planes, but he would have the heads
of his political opponents. It was a fruitful deal for Stalin too. He was
bored with the German communists and now he would be able to give them to
the Gestapo in exchange for the best German aeroplanes. In addition to the
ordinary members, there were members of the German Central Committee and the
Politburo, together with the editors of the communist newspaper. These were
not taken to Germany, but the Gestapo was told it could shoot them in situ,
in the Moscow area. However, as far as the former GRU agents were concerned,
the decision had been taken not to hand them over. They knew too much. The
German embassy in Moscow was informed that they had all died in Spain and
had never got as far as Moscow. The fascists did not object but suggested
they would present one more aircraft at the same price. Unfortunately, the
former agents, not knowing anything about the bargaining that was going on,
again declared a hunger strike, and this decided their fate. The Soviet side
now admitted to the fascists that they were in Moscow and proposed a
compromise. The fascists could shoot their victims in the Soviet Union
without talking to them. The execution took place among the huge coal
bunkers of the Kashierski Electric Power Station. Beforehand, the Gestapo
men had personally identified each of the people to be executed and
photographed them; then, under cover of protracted whistling of locomotives,
they shot them all. Afterwards, joint detachments of the GRU, the Central
Committee of the Soviet communist party and the Gestapo burnt the bodies in
the furnaces of the power station.
The Germans' mistake was threefold: they believed too quickly in the
promises of the GRU; they insisted too strongly on the GRU's fulfilling its
promises; and they forgot that if somebody puts a high enough price on the
head of an agent, however good he may be, the GRU will sell him without
hesitation.
x x x
In the meantime the Party, under the leadership of Stalin, arrived face
to face with the ultimate necessity of subjugating all layers of Soviet
society and utterly eradicating dissension. The decision was taken by the
Party to purge the whole country of potential dissidents. Today we have
irrefutable proof that the 'Great Terror' was carefully planned and
prepared. On the testimony of A. Avtorhanov the Central Committee of the