SMERSH (James Bond)

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SMERSH (in capitalised letters) is a Soviet counterintelligence agency featured in Ian Fleming's early James Bond novels and films as agent 007's nemesis. СМЕРШ (SMERSH) is an acronym from two Russian words: "SMERt' SHpionam" (СМЕРть Шпионам, Směrt Špionam) meaning "Death to Spies". Though Fleming's version of SMERSH supposedly was modelled upon the real SMERSH organization, the novels portray SMERSH as a massive Soviet counterintelligence organisation which aims its operatives abroad in subversion of the West, with the additional goal of killing Western spies, particularly James Bond of SIS. SMERSH's headquarters are in Leningrad, Soviet Union.

Contents

[edit] Departmental overview

The novel Casino Royale breaks SMERSH down into five departments or отделы (оtdyels):

  • Department I: In charge of counterintelligence among Soviet organizations at home and abroad.
  • Department II: Operations, including executions.
  • Department III: Administration and finance.
  • Department IV: Investigations and legal work. Personnel.
  • Department V: Prosecutions — the section which passes final judgment on all victims.

[edit] History

[edit] Novels

Within the world of James Bond, SMERSH is a Soviet counterintelligence agency that is a recurring threat to him and the British Secret Service. SMERSH made its first and perhaps longest-lasting impact on Bond in Casino Royale when their agent sent to kill Le Chiffre carved the initial Russian letter for SMERSH into the back of Bond's left hand; despite skin grafts, a faint scar remains. Since then, Bond has sought revenge several times, beginning in the second novel, Live and Let Die, wherein Bond is almost uninterested in disrupting Mr. Big's financing of Soviet operations until learning that Big is a SMERSH agent. SMERSH retaliates in From Russia with Love, issuing a death warrant for immediate execution of James Bond ("To be killed with ignominy"). Not only is his assassination arranged, but SMERSH goes to great lengths to ensure his death will be scandalously embarrassing throughout the entire intelligence community. Later, Bond again squares off against SMERSH in Goldfinger after learning that Auric Goldfinger is the agency's treasurer.

After Goldfinger, SMERSH is mentioned only fleetingly, usually in reference to having been disbanded or made inoperant. In the continuation novels (and novelisations), however, SMERSH returns as an organisation essentially renamed and reorganised within Soviet intelligence. They are first mentioned again in The Spy Who Loved Me film novelisation, although replaced by KGB in the film. In John Gardner's series of Bond novels, SMERSH is renamed Department V (the letter) in Icebreaker. They return in a larger role in No Deals, Mr. Bond, renamed Department Eight, Directorate S, a KGB sub-section.

[edit] Films

In the film series, Bond's archenemy became SPECTRE, first appearing and explained in Fleming's novel Thunderball (1961). Film-wise, SPECTRE is first mentioned in the first film, Dr. No (1962), wherein the Doctor explains to Bond that it is the acronym for the Special Executive for Counterintelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion, the four great cornerstones of power. Film versions of novels where SMERSH appears substituted either SPECTRE or independent villains; done to avoid the connotation of fomenting hatred of the Soviets, and so contributing to unstable relations with the USSR.

Although twice referred to, SMERSH never appears in the official film series; first, in From Russia with Love (1963), Bond initially thinks he is fighting SMERSH, only to learn that the villains are from SPECTRE, including villainess Rosa Klebb, formerly of SMERSH, but instead a secret defector to SPECTRE. Tatiana Romanova, the Bond girl heroine, says she knows Klebb as SMERSH's head of operations, and obeys her orders, presuming them from SMERSH. Second, The Living Daylights (1987) features a faked SMERSH re-activation. Throughout, it is referred to with its less-known full name Smert' Shpionam, rather than the better-known acronym; General Pushkin, then head of KGB, says it has been inoperant since twenty years before.

SMERSH also is an element in the spoof Casino Royale (1967) that centres upon Le Chiffre's attempted recovery of SMERSH monies via baccarat at the Royale casino.

[edit] Appearances

Novels
Films

[edit] SMERSH Agents

Notable villains in the Bond novels who were SMERSH agents include:

  • Le Chiffre: Le Chiffre is the villain in Casino Royale. He is paymaster of the "Syndicat des Ouvriers d'Alsace", a SMERSH-controlled trade union.
  • "Adolph Gettler": A SMERSH agent who shadowed Bond and Vesper while they are on French holiday in Casino Royale. He was identifiable by his eyepatch,screwed in like a monocle. His real name is unknown, but he posed as a Swiss wristwatch salesman named Adolph Gettler.
  • Mr. Big: Mr. Big is the villain in the novel Live and Let Die. He is head of the "Black Widow Voodoo Cult", and, according to M, is one of the most powerful living criminals in the world.
  • Auric Goldfinger: The villain in Goldfinger. He is SMERSH's treasurer, yet also a jeweller, metallurgist, and smuggler. In the film, though an international Communist, he has no apparent SMERSH affiliation.
  • Colonel Rosa Klebb: Head of Otdyel II, the SMERSH torture and death department in the novel From Russia with Love. She hires Corporal Tatiana Romanova as lure for James Bond in Istanbul, where he would be killed and disgraced before the intelligence community. Ultimately, she fails and René Mathis captures her. In the film, Klebb (Lotte Lenya), defected from SMERSH to SPECTRE. She is shot in the back by Romanova, who is in love with Bond.
  • Donovan "Red" Grant: In the novel, he is Chief executioner of SMERSH; originally a British soldier during World War II, he defected to the USSR. In the film From Russia with Love, working under Rosa Klebb makes him a SPECTRE agent.
  • Colonel-General Grubozaboyshikov: He was selected head of SMERSH after Lavrenty Beria's death, in the From Russia with Love novel. He is one of many SMERSH personnel conspiring to kill and disgrace James Bond.
  • Colonel Tov Kronsteen: He is planning department head for SMERSH in the From Russia with Love novel; (his name, Tov, is Jewish). He was a Chess expert and the champion of Moscow for two years running. During the championship game for his third year, SMERSH summoned him to plan Bond's killing and discrediting. In the film, Kronsteen (Vladek Sheybal), works for SPECTRE, and is tasked with planning Bond's killing and disgrace for killing Dr. Julius No. Ultimately, he fails and is murdered at Ernst Stavro Blofeld's behest.
  • Colonel Niktin: Heads the Soviet Secret Service (MGB, KGB post-1953) in From Russia with Love. Later in the James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me film novelisation he is promoted to Colonel-General and is head of SMERSH; he is not in the film, and is replaced by General Gogol who is head of KGB.
  • Lieutenant-General Slavin: Slavin was the head of the intelligence department for the General Staff of the Army (GRU). He was one of many SMERSH personnel who conspired to kill and disgrace James Bond.
  • Lieutenant-General Vozdvishensky: Is head of RUMID, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs intelligence department. He is one of many SMERSH personnel who conspire against James Bond.
  • Sergei Borzov: Sergei was a member of Otdyel II, the operations and executions branch of SMERSH in the film novelisation of The Spy Who Loved Me, but was never mentioned as a member in the actual film. Borzov was the romantic love interest of agent XXX before being killed by James Bond in the opening teaser.
  • Kolya Mosolov: Mosolov is a KGB agent who is a member of the Icebreaker team in the novel Icebreaker. He is discovered to have planned the entire Icebreaker team in coordination with von Glöda. The two have a deal in which Mosolov would betray his country and sell arms to von Glöda in exchange for the capture of secret agent 007. Mosolov being not only an agent of the KGB, but also an agent working within "Department V" (formerly SMERSH). Mosolov believes that von Glöda will not succeed and is merely going along with the deal for the time being in order to capture Bond for the Soviets.
  • General Konstantin Nikolaevich Chernov: Codenamed "Blackfriar", Chernov (also known as Koyla Chernov) is the Chief Investigating Officer of Department Eight, Directorate S (formerly SMERSH). He appears in John Gardner's No Deals, Mr. Bond as the villain who is systematically targeting former members of a secret operation in East Germany.

[edit] Spoof

A joking reference to SMERSH also appears in the spoof film, Casino Royale in which anyone who uttered the name was quieted by someone else saying "SHHHHHHHH!" thereby making the acronym sound like "SMERSHHHHHHHHH..."

[edit] See also

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