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

were given very low priority. This of course brought the forces very near to
complete defeat. If the army intelligence service is separated from the army
staff, then the brain becomes nothing more than the brain of a blind and
deaf man. Even if the blind man receives essential information from one
source or another, his reaction will still be slow and his movements
imprecise. The leader of the Red Army, Trotsky, placed an ultimatum before
Lenin: either give me an independent military intelligence service or let
Dzerzhinsky lead the Army with his Tchekists.
Lenin knew what the Tcheka was capable of but he also knew that its
capabilities were extremely one-sided. He therefore ordered Dzerzhinsky not
to interfere in matters of military intelligence. In spite of this, the
Tcheka's attempts to swallow up military intelligence went on, and these
efforts still continue on a reduced scale up to the present day.
Towards the end of 1918 the organisation of military intelligence from
regimental staff level up to the level of front staff had been virtually
completed. There remained only one staff which as deprived of its own
intelligence service of the Republic, the staff of the Red Army (at that
time called the Field Staff, later the General Staff). For this reason the
general staff remained blind and deaf, obtaining information indispensable
to its work at secondor third-hand. In addition to this, the absence of a
superior intelligence organ meant a complete lack of co-ordination of the
front intelligence services. Military intelligence had acquired a pyramid
structure, but the top of the pyramid was missing. The Chief of the Army and
in charge of all military production, Leon Trotsky several times approached
Lenin with the demand that he should create such a superior military
intelligence organ. Understanding the necessity for the creation of such an
organ, but realising that this would inevitably mean a strengthening of the
position of Trotsky, Lenin prevaricated and repeatedly refused Trotsky's
suggestion. At the beginning of autumn, the position of the communists
worsened sharply. Production, fuel and political crises became more acute.
Armed uprisings were taking place against the communists. There was an
attempt on the life of Lenin himself. In order to save the regime the
communists decided on a desperate measure. In each town and village they
would take hostages and, in the case of the slightest manifestation of
discontent among the inhabitants, these hostages would be shot. The Soviet
state was saved, by mass executions. Then another problem arose. The Tcheka,
released from its restraints and drunk with blood, got out of control. In
Tver and Torzhok the Tchekists, together with the hostages, destroyed
communist leaders who displeased them. One threat to the stability of the
state had been replaced by another, far worse. Lenin, not yet completely
recovered, immediately resumed day-to-day leadership. Without restricting
the terror, he took a number of steps to control it. The most important of
his decisions were, firstly, to give to the People's Commissariats (i.e. the
ministries), the provincial and town committees the right to take part in
court cases against arrested communists. A communist would be declared not
guilty if two members of the Party Committee testified in his favour.
Secondly, Lenin directed his attention to the annulment of the Tcheka's
monopoly of secret activity. He finally accepted Trotsky's proposal and on
21 October 1918 signed a decree, creating a superior organ of Soviet
military intelligence which was to be called the Registrational Directorate