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Old 07-29-2003, 02:37 AM   #1
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Soviet State Security Organs

This series of posts provides the historical and organization information from my old NKVD/KGB website.

HISTORY OF THE K.G.B. & OTHER SOVIET STATE SECURITY ORGANS

CHEKA, GPU & OGPU

The first Soviet state security organization, the Vecheka, was created on 20 December 1917. The Vecheka (All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-revolution and Sabotage) is more commonly known as the Cheka.

With the end of the civil war and the resulting period of stabilization, the Cheka was transformed, on 8 February 1922, into the GPU (State Political Directorate) which was subordinated to the NKVD (People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs). The NKVD had been formed in early 1918 and controlled the militia (police), criminal investigation departments, fire brigades, internal troops, and prison guards.

With the formation of the USSR in 1923 the GPU became the OGPU (Unified State Poltical Directorate) and was upgraded to an independent directorate of the Soviet Council of People's Commissars (i.e. it was removed from NKVD control).

NKVD

In 1934 the OGPU was transformed into the GUGB (Chief Directorate of State Security) which was subordinated into the new All-Union NKVD. This marked the beginning of Soviet state security’’s most powerful and autocratic period. All key aspects of internal and state security were now subordinated into one body under one leader –– at first G.G. Yagoda, then, from 27 September 1936, N.I. Yezhov, and finally, from 25 November 1938 Lavrentii Beria.

In 1934 the NKVD was organized as follows:
- GUGB (Chief Directorate of State Security)
- GUPVO (Chief Directorate of Frontier Guards and Interior Troops)
- GULAG (Chief Directorate of Camps)
- GUM (Chief Directorate of the Militia)
- other units responsible for Fire Fighting, Local Anti-Aircraft Defence, Highway Construction, Archives, etc.

On 2 February 1939 the GUPVO was divided into 6 Chief Directorates:
-GUPV (Chief Directorate of Frontier Guards)
-GUKV (Chief Directorate of Convoy Troops)
-GUVOVPGO (Chief Directorate of Troops for Guarding Industry and State Facilities)
-GUZhV (Chief Directorate of NKVD Railroad Troops)
-GUInzhV (Chief Directorate of NKVD Engineer Troops)
-GUIntV (Chief Directorate of the NKVD Intendants Service)

In September 1939 NKVD OSNAZ (Special Forces) Battalions subordinate to the GUPV (Frontier Guards) moved into the newly occupied territores of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Bessarabia along with Red Army units and Comminust Party officials. OSNAZ Battalions carried out functions like the Cheka’’s ChON and OSNAZ units had during the Civil War –– carrying out NKVD directives to ensure the smooth transition to Soviet power. Orders which led to widesweeping purges, arrests, imprisonment and execution.

In 1940 NKVD forces killed thousands of Polish officers in three prison camps: Kozelsk (226th Minsk NKVD Convoy Regiment), Starobelsk (228th Kharkov NKVD Convoy Regiment) and Ostashkovsk (236th Moscow NKVD Convoy Regiment).
At the beginning of the war Independent NKVD Line Divisions, complete with artillery and armour, were formed in the new GUOV (Chief Directorate of Operational Forces).

In June 1941 47 ground and 6 naval Frontier Guards Regiments and 11 other NKVD combat Regiments contained approximately 100,000 men. These were formed into 15 divisions. Destroyer (Istribitelyniy) Battalions were formed in Soviet towns and cities to perform rear area security and hunt down enemy agents and parachutists. The infamous Blocking Detachements (Zagraditelniy Otryady) were formed, primarily from GUPV (Frontier Guards) Special Forces Battalions.

Many NKVD units were cited for distinction during the war including:
- Defensive battles in Belorussia, Latvia and Estonia: 42nd, 132nd and 155th Independent Convoy Battalions.
- Defence of Riga and Tallin: 22nd NKVD Rifle Division and 3rd NKVD Railroad Division.
- Defence of Kiev: 5th, 10th and 13th NKVD Rifle Divisions.
- Defence of Odessa: 249th Convoy Regiment.
- Defence of the Western Ukraine: 21st NKVD Cavalry Regiment.
- Defence of Rostov: 230th Convoy Regiment.
- Defence of Leningrad: 1st, 20th, 21st and 22nd NKVD Rifle Divisions.
- Defence of Moscow: 34th, 70th, 111th, 115th, 156th, 160th and 207th NKVD Rifle Regiments.
- Battle for Stalingrad: 10th NKVD Division.
- The 70th Army, formed in December 1941 entirely of NKVD

Frontier Guards and Interior Troops, fought at Kursk and Berlin.
In 1943 there were 1210 NKVD garrisons in liberated areas of the USSR: 74 regimental, 346 battalion and 790 company garrisons.

THE NKGB

On 3 February 1941, Decree 149 of the CPSU Politburo removed the GUGB from the NKVD and elevated to equal People’’s Commissariat status creating the NKGB. The NKGB was led by V.N. Merkulov, Beria’’s former deputy, who remained a loyal lackey. The new NKGB was responsible for 1) external espionage, 2) counter-espionage throughout the USSR, 3) operations to find and liquidate anti-Soviet parties and counter-revolutionary formations in the USSR and 4) guarding the leaders of the party and state. The NKGB organization was created at all levels (All-Union down to Oblast, Krai and Raion).

The NKGB was divided into:
- UR (Directorate of Intelligence)
- UK (Directorate of Counter-Intelligence)
- USP (Secret-Political Directorate)
- UKMK (Directorate of the Kommendant of the Moscow Kremlin)

External espionage was carried out by the central NKGB and by the NKGB Directorates of Khabarovsk Krai, Arkhangelsk, Brest, Leningrad, Lvov and Chita.

The NKGB’’s independence was short lived. In late June 1941, after the German invasion, the NKGB was resubordinated into the NKVD as the GUGB to ensure closer control of the nation’’s security apparatus during this chaotic time.

In April 1943, after the military situation had changed in favour of the USSR, the GUGB was again removed from the NKVD and became the NKGB. This time the change lasted until the birth of the MGB in 1946.

On 8 February 1941, the Special Sections of the NKVD (responsible for counter-intelligence in the military) were given to the Army and Navy (NKO and NKVMF) where they became the infamous SMERSH (from Smert' Shpionam or "Death to Spies"). This represented a major policy change since military counter-intelligence had been controlled by the Special Sections (OOs) of the Cheka, and its successors, since 16 July 1918. The timing of this decision, March 1943, implies that it was done to reward the military for its achievements at Stalingrad.

On ““liberated”” territory the NKVD and NKGB carried out mass arrest and deportations, at times sending entire populations (650,000+ Crimean Tatars, Chechens, Ingush, and others) to Central Asia, rooted out and liquidated anti-Soviet organizations and sought out enemy agents and collaborators. These operations involved an estimated 19,000 NKVD, NKGB and SMERSH workers and 100,000 NKVD troops, all working on internal deportations during wartime!!

MGB, MVD & KGB

In March 1946 the Soviet government was restructured and all People's Commissariats (NK) were redesignated Ministries (M). Thus the NKVD became the MVD and the NKGB became the MGB. Merkulov was replaced as head of the new MGB by V.S. Abakumov, S.N. Kruglov replaced Beria as head of the MVD, and Beria became a full member of the Soviet Politburo and a deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers exercising full control over the MVD and MGB. At this time SMERSH was disbanded in the Soviet military and the OOs were reformed in the MGB.

On 6 March 1953, the day after Stalin died, Beria succeeded in uniting the MVD and MGB into one body, the MVD. On 13 March 1954, after Beria's fall, " secret trial", and execution, the monster unified MVD was again split up. The reformed MVD retained its traditional policing and internal security functions while the new KGB took on the state security functions of the MGB. The KGB was subordinated to the USSR Council of Ministers, the Soviet Cabinet. The final change to the Soviet KGB occured on 5 July 1978 when the KGB was upgraded to the "KGB of the USSR". The KGB was now in the inner circle of the Council of Ministers with the KGB Chairman guaranteed a seat on the council.

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Old 07-29-2003, 02:38 AM   #2
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BORDER GUARDS

Soviet border guards were not initially part of this same state security family. Formed on 28 May 1918 as the Chief Directorate for Border Protection (GUOG) of the People's Commissariat of Finance (NKF) they were later transfered to the People's Commissariat of Trade and Industry and then the People's Commissariat of Foreign Trade. Throughout this time the border guards were operationaly subordinate to the Red Army. Finally, in 1920 the GUOG was placed under Cheka control. The border guards were inherited by the GPU, and later, OGPU.

Between 1926 and 1934 the border guards were cobined with other special troops of the OGPU into one troops directorate. With the merger of the OGPU into the NKVD in July 1934 border guards and internal troops were united in the Chief Directorate of Border and Internal Troops (GUPVO). Border guards remained in the NKVD, and later MVD, until around 1950 when they were likely transfered to the MGB along with internal troops and even the militia. They were incorporated into the MVD during Beria's MVD-MGB merger of March 1953 and remained in the MVD after the creation of the KGB. The border guards were not placed under KGB control until March 1957.

During the Great Patriotic War NKVD border and internal troops were formed into 15 division and acted as a reserve for the Red Army, although for the most part these units remained under NKVD control. NKVD units fought in most major battles of the war as well as fulfilling rear area security functions and the rear blocking detachments. (The activities of these detachments is often exagerated and records show that they were used for a wide variety of rear-area task and were rarely involved in actions against Red Army troops.) Over 110,000 NKVD soldiers fought in the war. NKVD troops played an important role in setting up the state security services of the newly "liberated" (occupied) East European nations.

END OF THE KGB

The KGB's doom was sealed by the active participation of its chief, Colonel General Vladimir Kryuchkov, in the August 1991 coup attempt. Not only was Kryuchkov a key coup participant, some would say the coup's leader, he also attempted to use many of the KGB's resources to aid the coup attempt. For example, Mikhail Gorbachev's Crimean dacha was surrounded by ground and naval forces of the KGB Border Guards Chief Directorate. Kryuchkov's was arrested after the conclusion of the coup attempt. MVD Lieutenant General Vadim Bakatin was appointed Chairman of the USSR KGB on 23 August 1991 with full powers to dismantle it. Finally, on 6 November 1991, 44 days shy of its 74th birthday, the KGB officially ceased to exist. (The KGB traced its origin to the birth of the Cheka on 20 December 1917 and celebrated its birthday on that date despite the creation of the KGB proper on 13 March 1954.)

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Old 07-29-2003, 02:41 AM   #3
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ORGANIZATION OF THE K.G.B.

(All material copyright Shawn Caza, 1/98. All rights reserved.)

WHAT WAS THE K.G.B. ?

The KGB was the Soviet Government's Committee of State Security (Komitet Gosudarstvennoi Bezopasnosti). (A committee was a Soviet government department smaller than a ministry.)

The KGB was a Union-Republic Committee which officially reported to the USSR Council of Ministers (the Soviet Cabinet). As with all Union-Republic Committees and Ministries, there was an All-Union or USSR KGB and 14 Republican KGBs. Interestingly, the Russian Soviet Republic (RSFSR) did not have its own Republican level KGB until one was set up by RSFSR President Yeltsin on May 6, 1991. The Russian KGB remained a hollow entity, though it briefly inherited control of all KGB functions on Russian territory in late 1991.

Soviet provinces (oblasts and krais) had KGB administrations (upravlenie) while cities, counties (raions) and autonomous districts (okrugs) had KGB departments (otdely) or sections (otdelenie). These sub-Republic KGB organizations reported to the respective Republican KGB except in the case of the RSFSR where they reported directly to the USSR KGB.

The relationship between the Republican KGBs and the USSR KGB was more complex and was known as dual authority. Republic KGBs reported both to their Republic government and to the USSR KGB; actual control was exerted from the top level of the USSR KGB. All personnel matters, including promotion and staffing, were controlled by the centre and personnel often switched back and forth between the USSR KGB and one or more Republic KGBs throughout their career.

STRUCTURE OF THE K.G.B.

The KGB was a large and comprehensive organization performing a wide variety of duties that would fall under the jurisdiction of many different organizations in Western nations. Thus, if compared to American organizations, it performed all the functions of the CIA, NSA, and Secret Service and many of the functions of the FBI, Customs Service, Armed Forces counter- intelligence agencies, BATF, and DEA.

Administratively the KGB was divided into chief directorates (glavnie upravlenie), directorates (upravlenie) and technical departments (otdely) each responsible for certain functions.

The organization of the KGB in the mid- to late-1980's was as follows:

1st Chief Directorate (Foreign Directorate): was the most famous and was responsible for espionage. It was responsible for the collection of all non-military, and much military, foreign intelligence, foreign counterintelligence, recruitment of foreigners, foreign propaganda and disinformation, support for international terrorism, etc. This directorate only existed at the USSR KGB level. The 1st Chief Directorate controlled the Vympel (Pennant) KGB Spetsnaz unit.

2nd Chief Directorate (Counterintelligence): was responsible for domestic counterintelligence and internal security, including hunting for foreign spies and domestic traitors in the USSR. It was also responsible for countering organized crime and narcotics trafficking in liaison with the militia.

3rd Chief Directorate (Military Counterintelligence): was responsible for ensuring the security and loyalty of personnel in the armed forces (including military intelligence [the GRU] and spetsnaz), the MVD troops and the militia, and even among the KGB's own Border and Guard troops. It was also responsible for security of all Soviet ships and aircraft abroad and the physical security of nuclear warheads. Their units in the armed forces were known as the OO (osobye otdely or special sections).

4th Directorate (Transportation): was responsible for all state security matters concerning transportation. They supervised the railways, air transportation, and river and sea ports and lines. (Not for providing transportation to the other branches of the KGB as was previosuly reported here!). It is a direct descendant of the NKVD Railways Administration. Though little is known of it, it continued to exist until 1991.

5th Chief Directorate (Ideological): was responsible for monitoring and repressing all real, or imagined, dissidents in the USSR including activists involved in political, religious, environmental, human rights, and other causes. In the late 1980's this directorate was supposedly dismantled but was actually only retitled the Directorate to Defend the Constitution. It was later named Directorate Z.

6th Directorate (Economic Security): was responsible for guarding against "speculation" (illegal trading), illicit financial transactions, and theft from state enterprises. It was also responsible for securing the nation's financial and economic information from foreign spies.

7th Directorate (Surveillance): was a pool of "watchers" who were used by many other directorates (mostly the 2nd and 5th) to conduct physical surveillance. The 7th Directorate controlled Spestgruppa "A", the famour Alfa Group anti-terrorist team.

8th Chief Directorate (Communication): was a massive organization taking up 1/4 of the KGB's budget. It was responsible for intercepting and analyzing foreign radio signals and telecommunications, designing codes and safeguards to secure Soviet communications, and running the special "V-Ch" high frequency telephone system used by the upper echelons of the Party and government and the KGB itself. Some of these responsibilities may be divided among a 16th Directorate (communications security, which would then leave the 8th to handle interception and code breaking) and an unnumbered Communications Troops Directorate with approximately 16,000 troops.

9th Directorate (Guards): was responsible for guarding the top Party and government leadership of the USSR and its Republics. It consisted of uniformed security guards at Lenin's Tomb, the Kremlin, and other key posts (for more on the KGB's Special Kremlin Regiment and Lenin's Tomb see Don Creamer's article "Post Number 1" in Border Post volume 1, number 2, summer 1997). There were also uniformed and plain clothes personnel who performed close protection duties (bodyguards) for key leaders in the USSR and during trips abroad. It was also responsible for security at events attended by key leaders such as military parades.

10th Directorate (Archives): was responsible for maintaining the KGB's archives and performing some analysis and research.

12th Directorate (Electronic Surveillance): was responsible for electronic eavesdropping (bugging) and telephone wire taps in the USSR and for developing all such devices.

15th Directorate (Bunkers): was responsible for providing security at government installations and administering Soviet underground command and nuclear weapons storage bunkers. It worked closely with the 9th (Guards) Directorate.

16th Directorate (Communications Security): See the 8th Chief Directorate above.

There were also several unnumbered directorates.

Information Analysis Directorate: was responsible for providing key analysis on domestic security and the international situation to the KGB leadership.

Communications Troops Directorate: see the 8th Chief Directorate above.

Border Guards Chief Directorate: was responsible for ensuring the security of the USSR's land, sea, and air borders. It contained over 240,000 troops, including a small air arm (70 fixed-wing aircraft and over 200 helicopters) and a fair sized fresh- and salt-water naval component.

The border guard chief directorate was divided into 8 or 9 Border Districts:
- Northwest
- Baltic
- Western
- Transcaucasus
- Central Asian
- Transbaikal (may have been abolished in the 1970's)
- Eastern
- Far East
- Pacific

Border Districts are usually headed by a Major-General or Lieutenant-General. Border Districts are sub-divided into Detchments (otriady), Commands (komendatury), and Outposts (zastavy).

It is important to note that the KGB Border Guards did not include the Soviet customs service (the GTK, Glavnoe Tamozhennoe Kommission or "State Custom's Commission") which has always been a seperate organization charged with monitoring the import and export of goods and the application of duties and tarrifs. The GTK was part of the Ministry of Foreign Trade (MVT), until 18 July 1986 when it became a seperate Commission within the Soviet Council of Ministers.

Estimates of the total size of the KGB vary. Official figures given in 1990-1991 were around 500,000. This does not include the 240,000 Border Guard personnel. Totals for all branches were thus approximately 3/4 of a million regular paid employees. Estimates for uniformed KGB personnel vary from 15,000 to 40,000 with the lower figure likely representing only the 9th (Guards) Directorate and the later including uniformed personnel of the 15th (Bunker) and 8th (Communication) Directorates.

In addition, during the late 1980's several military units from the Ministry of Defence and the MVD were temporarily placed under the direct control of the KGB (in most cases the Border Guard Chief Directorate). These included the 103rd Airborne Division at Vitebsk, the 117th Narosomensk Motor Rifle Regiment, and units from Pskov, Ryazan, and Tula totalling at least 20,000 troops. However, these troops did not wear KGB uniforms. (Though there are reports that some began to use green shoulder boards and green collar tabs with airborne devices on airborne uniforms before the end of the USSR.)

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Old 07-29-2003, 02:51 AM   #4
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K.G.B. SYMBOLOGY

(Copyright: Shawn M. Caza, January 1998)

There was a well established culture of state security in the Soviet Union which included important symbolical aspects. Several key concepts and symbols permeated this culture, and Soviet society in general, and became icons of the KGB in the same manner that the hammer & sickle became symbols of the Soviet Union. By identifying and being aware of these symbols collectors can better understand and identify KGB related items.

The Cheka

The first important concept is the Cheka. The Cheka, the first Soviet secret police, was formed on 20 December 1917 and lasted until 1922. Members of the Cheka, called chekists, were loyal Bolsheviks who defended the revolution from all manner of internal and external threats. While the new Workers' & Peasants' Red Army defended the state from invaders and the Workers' & Peasants' Militia handled basic law and order the Cheka, and the chekists, were the real guarantees of Soviet power. They were the elite; above the militia, army, state and party, above all but the party leadership itself.

Despite going through many name and organizational changes the Soviet state security apparatus continued to bear the mantle and the responsibilities of the Cheka and remained the final and true defender of the Bolshevik revolution and the Soviet State. The employees of state security continued to be known, amongst themselves and the general population, as chekists right through the KGB epoch and into the post-Soviet era. The term has always had good and honourable connotations amongst the employees themselves.

December 20th, the anniversary of the founding of the Cheka, was (and is) celebrated as state security day, not March 13th, the true anniversary of the formation of the KGB. In fact, the anniversaries of the KGB were calculated from 20 December 1917. Thus, the KGB's 50th anniversary was on 20 December 1967 despite the fact that the KGB itself was only a little over 13 years old!

Felix Dzerzhinskiy

Feliks Edmundovitch Dzerzhinskiy ("Iron Feliks") was born to a family of minor Polish nobility in Russian occupied Polish territory on 11 September 1877. He was the leader of the Cheka from its formation in 1917 until his death in July, 1926. However, for all intensive purposes Dzerzhinskiy was immortal. He became a saint-like martyr with all the trappings, Soviet-style. His image, in the form of pictures, paintings, busts and statues, was ubiquitous in KGB buildings and publications. The square in front of KGB headquarters in Moscow was renamed Dzerzhinskiy square and a larger-than-life statue of Dzerzhinskiy dominated the centre of the traffic circle.

However, it is important to note that the image and legend of Dzerzhinskiy's was not limited to the KGB but also received wide coverage throughout the USSR. There were Dzerzhinskiy streets, squares, parks, and schools in every major Soviet city. There were in fact six Soviet towns and cities named Dzerzhinskiy or Dzerzhinsk. Bronze, aluminum, white metal, iron, and plaster busts and statues of Dzerzhinskiy were readily available to Soviet citizens and are highly desirable for collectors of KGB items - but are not KGB issue items! There are even Polish and Soviet Dzerzhinskiy postage stamps.

It is important to note that items bearing Dzerzhinskiy's likeness or name are not necessarily KGB related. There are, for example, 5 military schools bearing Dzerzhinskiy's name, 4 of which are unrelated to the KGB. These include the:
-F.E. Dzerzhinskiy Military Artillery Academy, located at 9/5 Kitayskiy Proyezed, Moscow,
-Tambov Higher Military Aviation Engineering School named for F.E. Dzerzhinskiy (Tambovskoye VVAU),
-Leningrad Higher Naval Engineering School named for F.E. Dzerzhinskiy (VVMIU),
-Saratov Higher Military Command School of the MVD named for F.E. Dzerzhinskiy (SVVKU-MVD).
There is also the Alma-Ata Higher Border Guard Command School named for F.E. Dzerzhinskiy (VPVKU) though it is not known whether it issues its own graduation badges or not.

There is also of course the F.E. Dzerzhinskiy Higher chool of the KGB, the so-called "KGB Academy".

The same holds true for other Dzerzhinskiy items. There are several Soviet and East German banners bearing Dzerzhinskiy's face. Thus far, all of these banners have been for youth associations or civilian organizations unrelated to the KGB.

Sword & Shield

Perhaps the best known symbol associated with the KGB is the sword and shield (called shchit i mech, shield and sword, in Russian). This symbol represents the two basic functions of the KGB, which acted as the sword and shield of the Soviet Union. The shield represents the KGB's defence of the revolution, and the nation, from internal and external threats. The sword represents the KGB's offensive striking power; the power to seek out and destroy threats at home and abroad. Taken together these two images conjure up the picture of a bizarre medieval knight, defender of a communist kingdom.

The sword and shield symbol was standardized in its basic form in 1957 with the introduction of the "Distinguished Employee of State Security" award. The symbol has been used on badges and documents since. In its standardized form the shield is like a normal medieval knight's shield (heater shield) except that there are semi-circular pieces missing from the top two corners. The shield thus has five sides. There is a rim around the shield's edge with several rivets usually visible. The centre of the shield contains a horizontal stripe pattern. There is an unsheathed sword lying, point down, over the shield. The point of the sword usually extends a little bit below the shield and the sword handle (hilt) extends above the shield. There is often a five sided star, with hammer and sickle on it, over the mid-portion of the sword blade. There is also often a ribbon lying horizontally across the lower portion of the sword blade and extending part-way up the both sides of the shield rim.

The sword and shield appeared in its very first form in 1922 with the introduction of the "5th Anniversary of the Cheka-GPU" badge. However, unlike the later KGB shield the first shield was oval in shape. The sword lay point-down on top of the shield. This form was retained on NKVD badges through till 1946 and on MVD and MOOP badges till 1966 or later. The shield used by the KGB, the knight's shield with indented corners, was actually used as early as 1920 for Soviet militia hat and I.D. badges though it was not combined with a sword until the KGB era. Very occasionally two swords were used in state security symbology, as in the 1933 badge of the OGPU Central Transportation Commission which used two swords forming a "V" image without any shield.

It is important to note that the sword and shield image, even in the standardized form used by the KGB, was not restricted to the KGB. The most common user of the symbol, after the KGB, was the MVD (including its 1962 to 1968 incarnation as the MOOP). The sword and shield symbol, though with the sword under the shield was used for the 1975 "Militia Sleeve Patch", the 1985 "MVD Interior Troops Officer's Excellent Service Award Badge", and various MVD music and cultural award badges. The symbol, with the sword over the shield, has been used for the 1978 "MVD Interior Troops Guard Commander's I.D. Badge", and can be seen on the 1971 "MVD Interior Troops Excellent Service Badges for Enlisted Personnel" and on various republican MVD anniversary badges.

The symbol, with sword either over or under the shield, has been used for numerous militia or MVD Troops' school graduation badges, including those of the Tula Middle Militia School (TSSShM), the Officer's Higher Militia School (OVShM), and the MVD Military-Political School (VPU MVD SSSR).

MVD badges usually use the "gerb" over the sword and not the hammer & sickle inside a star, a design which was apparently reserved for the KGB. The only exception is the 1978 "MVD Interior Troops Guard Commander's I.D. Badge", cited above, which has a plain star instead of a "gerb".

Soviet civil prosecutors (the Prokuratura), and their military brethren (Military Tribunals), used a similar symbol consisting of two swords crossed, points down, like an "X" under a shield. This symbol has also been seen on some MVD badges such as the "Volgograd Middle Militia School Graduation Badge" (VSSShM).

Thus, it can not simply be assumed that any item bearing the sword and shield symbol is a KGB item. Further examination of the item, and especially any writing found on it, is necessary in order to make an accurate identification.

"Zastava" (Border Posts)

One of the most prevalent symbols of the KGB Border Guards directorate is the "zastava" or border post. This post, used to mark the borders of the USSR, is usually 2m and is square with a pyramidal top. They resemble an obelisk of ancient Egypt. The top half, of the entire post, is usually painted white and there are usually several red stripes around the middle. There is also a Soviet "gerb", or state seal, attached to the post. The existence of a zastava on a badge or publication can be considered a very good indication that the item in question is related to the KGB Border Guards. However, the item may not be an official KGB issue item but may be a civilian or veteran item.

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Old 07-29-2003, 02:52 AM   #5
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Colours

Several colours are associated with Soviet state security. These colours have been used primarily for uniform trim and represent the "branch of service colours" of various elements of state security.

Royal Blue

Royal blue, has been associated with Russian state security for over 175 years. Royal blue trim was used on the uniforms of the Third Section, the security service of Russian Tsar Nikolai I, when they were formed in 1826. It has remained in use until this day. The NKVD, which combined state security and internal affairs functions between 1934 and 1943, used royal blue after 1943 for uniform stripes and piping, collar tab background, and shoulder board stripes for all personnel except Border Guards. The NKVD in fact used royal blue for some M40 Generals' uniforms. While the NKVD peaked cap had a maroon band and piping it had a royal blue body. When the new state security organization, the MGB, was formed in 1946, they used royal blue exclusively for all uniform and hat trim. This continued after the formation of the KGB in 1954. Royal blue is often associated with non-uniform items belonging to state security such as pass or I.D. book covers and file folders.

Forest Green

Forest green has been associated with Russian border guards since the late Tsarist era as well. Green uniform stripes and piping, collar tab background colour, and shoulder board stripes have been used by Border Guards throughout the Soviet era. Border Guard's peaked caps had a green body with dark navy blue piping in the NKVD era and black band and red piping in the KGB era. Green is also used with non-uniform border guards items. The Naval Border Guards ensign is green and green is often seen on border guard badges.

Maroon

Maroon, or magenta, is the colour associated with Soviet internal affairs. It was also associated until the 1960's with Soviet rifle, or infantry, units. There is much confusion over this colour and KGB items. This stems from 1934 to 1943 period when state security functions and internal affairs functions were combined in one organization, the NKVD. Maroon was the traditional colour of the NKVD which had existed as an internal security and militia force since 1918.

During the 1934 to 1943 era maroon and dark blue, and maroon and green, were sometimes combined on NKVD uniforms. The best example of this is the maroon band and piping on the (non-border guard) NKVD peaked hat, though maroon piping also appeared on the shoulder boards on enlisted border guards, as piping on some border guard hats, and as the main body colour of pre-1943 NKVD collar tabs (the diamond shaped type).

When the new MVD inherited all internal security function from the dissolved NKVD in 1946 they inherited the maroon colour. Maroon was not used on any soviet state security or border guard uniform after the creation of the MGB in 1946. Hence all post-1960's items with maroon trim are for the MVD. Maroon trimmed items from 1946 to the 1960's include MVD and army rifle's items.

Several socialist nations of Eastern Europe used these colours for similar purposes during the cold war era. East German, Polish, Czechoslovakian, Romanian, and Bulgarian border guards used the green branch of service colour. Many internal security troops, including Czechoslovakian and Romanian, used maroon.

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Old 07-29-2003, 02:56 AM   #6
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GLOSSARY & DEFINITIONS

(Copyright: Shawn M. Caza, June 1998)

Cheka: The "Vserossiiskaya Chrezvychainaya Komissiya po Borbe s Kontrrevolyutsiei i Sabotazhem" (All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combatting Counter-Revolution and Sabotage). The first Soviet state security agency the Cheka was formed on 20 December 1917. It was also known as the Vecheka. It was transformed into the GPU in February 1922. Soviet state security personnel were referred to as Chekists throughout the Soviet period and the term is still found in use in Russia today.

GPU: The "Gosudarstvennoi Politicheskoi Upravlenie" (State Political Directorate) was formed from the Cheka in 1922. Its name reflects the slight diminuition in the power and scope of the state security organs that occurred during period of New Economic Policy (N.E.P.). State control was loosened over many social and economic aspects of life. However, control remained as strong as ever over all political affairs. With the formation of the USSR in 1923 the GPU was transformed into the OGPU.

GRU: The "Glavnoye Razvedyvatel'noye Upravlenie" (Chief Intelligence Directorate) was the branch of the General Staff of the Soviet Armed Forces that was responsible for military intelligence. The Soviet word razvedyvatel'noye has a wider meaning than the english word intelligence and includes the active collection and analysis of information through all available sources. Reconnaissance is thus included in this definition. The GRU ran its own agent networks abroad and had officers in foreign embassies and missions. Soviet military Spetsnaz (special forces troops from spetsialnaya naznacheniya or special designation) were also part of the GRU. The GRU continues to exist, with little change, in the Russian General Staff.

GUGB: See the NKVD below.

KGB: The "Komitet Gosudarstvennoi Bezopasnosti" (Committee of State Security) was formed in March 1954 after the breakup of the "monster" MVD. It lasted until December 1991. See the KGB Organization & Symbols page for more details.

MGB: The "Ministerstvo Gosudarstvennoi Bezopasnosti" (Ministry of State Security) was formed from the NKGB in 1946. It lasted until Beria's creation of the "monster" MVD in March 1953. It, along with the NKGB, is perhaps the least known and understood of all Soviet state security organs.

MVD: The "Ministrestvo Vnutrennykh Del" (Ministry of Internal Affairs) was formed in 1946 when the NKVD was renamed. It controlled internal security functions such as policing, guarding state facilities, guarding prisons, fire fighting, etc. It did not control state security functions except for the brief period between March 1953 and March 1954 when Beria merged the MVD and MGB into a "monster" MVD. After the creation of the KGB the MVD reverted to controlling all non-state security internal affairs and existed throughout the Soviet era. Between 1960 and 1968 it was renamed the MOOP (Ministry for the Maintenance of Public Order).

NKGB: The "Narodnii Kommissariat Gosudarstvennoi Bezopasnosti" (People's Commissariat of State Security) existed for two brief periods 1941-1941 and 1943-1946. It was formed when the GUGB (of the NKVD) was spun off as a separate People's Commissariat. The NKGB was remerged into the NKVD (as the GUGB again) when the outbreak of the war demanded a tight centralization of security and internal affiars. The NKGB was reformed in early 1943 after the victory at Stalingrad made it clear that the USSR was out of immediate danger. In 1946 the NKGB was transformed into the MGB. It, along with the MGB, is perhaps the least known and understood of all Soviet state security organs.

NKVD: The "Narodnii Kommissariat Vnutrennykh Del" (People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs) was created in early 1918 to handle policing and internal affairs. However, it did not obtain state security functions until it took over the OGPU in July 1934. State security functions were then handled by the NKVD's GUGB ("Glavnoe Upravlenie Gosudarstvennoe Bezopasnosti" or Main Directorate of State Security). In 1946, when all Soviet People's Commisariats became Ministries, the NKVD was transformed into the MVD.

GPU: "Obed'enniy Gosudarstvennoi Politicheskii Upravlennie" (Combined State Political Directorate). The OGPU was formed from the GPU in 1923. With the creation of the USSR a unified organization was required to exercise control over state security throughout the new union. It was incorporated into the NKVD in July 1934.

SMERSH: From "Smert' Shpionam" or "Death to Spies". Military counter-intelligence service from 1943-1946. SMERSH was controlled by the People's Commissariat of Defence, the NKO and not by the NKVD or NKGB. However, most SMERSH personnel came from the 3rd Directorate of the NKVD GUGB from which SMERSH was created. Likewise, most SMERSH personnel transfered to the 3rd Directorate of the MGB when it was created from SMERSH in 1946

Vecheka: See Cheka above.

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Old 07-29-2003, 03:03 AM   #7
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For those who wish to read further on the NKVD, KGB and other organs.

BIBLIOGRAPHY & INFORMATION SOURCES

Borisov, VA, Nagrudnye Znaki Sovetskikh Vooruzhennykh Sil 1918-1991 (Badges of the Soviet Armed Forces), Farn, St.Petersburg, 1994. [Excellent, only good book on Soviet military badges, sadly no KGB though, great colour photos, lots of info in Russian.]

Canadian Army, Uniforms and Insignia of the Soviet Army and Para-Military Forces 1955, (Formerly Restricted). [Very good for late-40s and early 50s, hard to find. Interesting to compare to the now avalable official Soviet info in works like Kharitonov.]

Dziak, John J, Chekisty:A History of the KGB, Ivy, NY, 1988. [Good early history.]

Kalugin, Oleg, The First Directorate, St.Martins, NY, 1994. [Entertaining.]

Kharitonov, OV, Soviet Military Uniform & Insignia 1918-1958, Alga-Fund, St.Petersburg, 1993. [Excellent, colour plates from uniform regulations and many relation excerpts makes this the authority on period uniforms, English.]

Knight, Amy, The KGB, Unwin-Hyman,Boston, 1990. [Despite authors many errors on Russian politics in her more recent works, this is a good scholarly text on the 1980s KGB with some history, one of few books to cover internal stuff not just spy stories.]

Krivtsov, VD, Avers #2 (Soviet Badges & Jetons), Moscow, 1996. [Mostly B&W line drawings, no info, many errors.]

Kulikov, V, "GPU-OGPU 1922-1934", Zeughas article.

Kutsenko, AN & Rudichenko, AI, Znaki Otlichiya Pravookhranitelnykh Organov SSSR 1917-1918. (Badges of Law Enforcement Organs of the USSR), Donetsk, 1991. [B&W line drawings only, has many errors and even some fakes shown, but only book to cover many badges.]

McDaniel, Paul & Schmitt, Paul J, The Comprehensive Guide to Soviet Orders and Medals, Historical Research, Arlington VA, 1997. [THE authority on Soviet orders and medals, worth the $100-odd, excellent illustrations, covers KGB medals and detals which regular medas and order could be awarded to KGB personnel.]

Ministerstvo Oborony SSSR, Pravila Nosheniya Voennoi Formy Odezhdy (Regulations on Wearing Military Uniforms), Voenizdat, Moscow, 1989. [Good, hundreds of illustrations, army, air force and navy only, translation available from me!]

Rutkiewicz, Jan, "Les Uniformes du NKVD 1917-1945", Militaria Magazine (In French).

Sbornik Zakonodatelnykh Aktov o Gosudarstvennykh Nagradakh SSSR (Collection of Legal Acts on USSR State Awards), Izvestiya,Moscow, 1987. [THE law on all Soviet orders and medals, with poor quality B&W images, in Russian.]

Shalito, Anton, Ilya Shavchenko, & Andrew Mollo, Red Army Uniforms of World War II in Color Photographs, Europa Militaria #14. [Good work of modern photos of genuine uniforms being worn by collectors, some errors in descriptions though, a few NKVD.]

Stepanov, Aleksei, "Razvedchiki-Nablyudateli Konnity RKKA i Voisk NKVD 1936-1941" (Cavalry Reconnaissance Observers of the Red Army and NKVD Troops), Zeghaus #7.

Tokar, L, Soviet Police 1918-1991, Exclusive, St.Petersburg, 1995. [Great book on police uniforms, in English and Russian.]

UK War Office, Handbook of the Russian Army 1940, Imperial War Museum, London, 1998. [Excellent source for details of pre-1940 RKKA but expensive and hard to find.]

UK War Office, Soviet Army Uniforms 1961, (Formerly Restricted). [Good for 1950s-60s era, uses images from the M1958 Soviet Army uniform regulations.]

US Army, Handbook on the Soviet and Satellite Armies March 1953, (Formerly Restricted).

US DIA, Uniforms of the Armed Forces of Eastern European Countries, 1991. [Dated, uses illustrations from a early 1980s Soviet Army uniform regulations, image quality ok, but only really useful as a reference for other Warsaw Pact and East European militaries where info is scarcer.]

Voronov, Valentin, "GULAG NKVD SSSR 1936-1943", Zeghaus #7.

Voronov, Valentin, "Organy i Voiska NKVD SSSR 1934-1937" (Organs and Troops of the USSR NKVD), Zeghaus #6.

Waller, J Michael, Secret Empire: The KGB in Russia Today, Westview, Boulder CO, 1994. [Only good book to cover post-KGB, good early history too.]

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