"The Soviet-German War of 1941-1945 was the most extensive intelligence/counterintelligence war in modern history, involving the capture, torture, deportation, execution, and 'doubling' of tens of thousands of agents -- most of them Soviet citizens. While Russian armies fought furiously to defeat the Wehrmacht, Stalin's security services waged an equally ruthless secret war against Hitler's spies, as well as against the Soviet population. For the first time, Robert Stephan now combines declassified U.S. intelligence documents, captured German records, and Russian sources, including a top-secret Soviet history of its intelligence and security services, to reveal the magnitude and scope of the brutal but sophisticated Soviet counterintelligence war against Nazi Germany"--Jacket.

Includes maps of: Operation Barbarossa, 22 June 1941; Summer-Fall Campaign, June-December 1943.

1. "The world will holds its breath": Barbarossa, 22 June 1941 -- 2. The "invisible front" -- 3. "Death to spies": defensive counterintelligence operations -- Arrests of German agents -- The informant system -- Organization and size of the informant networks -- Rear area security -- Sealing the rear -- The war of documents -- Detecting suspicious persons -- The search for fascist agents -- Terror incorporated -- Defeat of the Abwehr -- 4. Soviet offensive counterintelligence operations -- Double-agent operations -- Radio games -- Recruiting intelligence officers -- Sabotage, kidnapping, and assassination -- 5. German intelligence and counterintelligence operations -- The Abwehr and the German intelligence problem in Russia -- The "Baun agency" (agent operations) -- "Set the east ablaze" (sabotage and sedition) -- Schmalschlaeger's spy catchers (counterintelligence) -- The "Gehlen" organization (Fremde Heere Ost) -- 6. Operation monastery and "Case Klatt" -- 7. Operations Berezino and Zeppelin -- 8. The sword and shield.