SMERSH anniversary badge

[deValcourt]

This is actually a well-made, heavy 3-piece construction badge for the 60th anniversary of SMERSH ("1943-2003"). It could be for veterans, it could be for tourists, I don't really care because it looks cool to me. My former Russian fiance and I were on holiday in St. Petersburg and picked this up in a local market.

My question is one of historical accuracy rather than authenticity. I was always under the impression that "SMERSH" was the acrnymn applied the NKVD's rear guard who would shoot deserters and potential spies.

The NKVD part is the stickler for me since the inscription on the ribbon: Военная контрразведка СМЕРШ which literallt translates to "Military Counter-intelligence *SMERSH*"

The questions are simple: Was SMERSH an arm of the army or of the NKVD? Or, was it just sort of a soup of wartime intelligence working more or less togetherwith a single goal of eliminating spies and saboteurs?

I believe the members of SMERSH were recruited from various branchs of the military which would account for military status, but the way they allegedly operated was that of NKVD border guards.

Phillip