Behind the Enemy Lines Agent Baikal 60 Fulfilled His Mission!

By Galina Savchenko

The Soviet secret agent behind German lines during World War II – Akexander Ivanovich Kozlov (from the Soviet counter intelligence agency "Smersh") was written about by many authors after Soviet leader Andropov proposed that this Soviet Hero should be written about and known by the Soviet people, especially the young generation. Only after stories were written in 1965, the life of A. Kozlov turned around, with many books, interviews, medals, honors, movie films – he became an "Honoured Citizen of Borisov" and a museum opened there about his unbelievable exploits." There was erected a bronze bust of Kozlov. But all of these books, films, stories and honors that were bestowed on this hero do not do justice to the life of this Soviet hero and patriot and his love of the Soviet Union.

On February 23, 2004 I came to the city of Goryachi Kluch, Krasnodar region, in order to meet this hero and greet him on the Day of Soviet Army and Navy, and to bow in gratitude before this man, who was and will always be an unforgettable Soviet Secret Agent.

We talked with Alexander Ivanovich in his modest home, where you can sense everything is in order, as in the army. I looked at him, at his every move, listened to every word and looked through documentary slides of his exploits and I wondered how is it that he did not waver from his Sovietism and his love for the Soviet Motherland and also – after living through many wrongs and hardships in his life, plus – being in many concentration camps and in jail after 1953.

My generation was brought up on books and films about these Soviet heroes and intelligence agents and we hated with a vengeance those other agents that sold out their Motherland, while serving in the secret intelligence service. But we praised to high heavens the agents like Nikolai Kuznetsov, Rikhard Zorge, Rudolf Abelia and others, trying emulate their work in the defense of the USSR, trying to live two lives in one, our personal one and the other devoted to the Motherland... these were talented and brave people.

"Intelligence – is very hard and extremely dangerous work; it requires constant improvisation of the mind, this is your constant nerves on edge, which you have to get used to... to be as natural as your breathing. The most dangerous weapon is your mind. First of all your own brain, but you have to know the brain functions of your comrades and of your enemies" – these words were spoken by another intelligence agent, Rudolf Azbel, who all through the war was in the German Abwehr intelligence apparatus.

This is how our legendary intelligence agent A.E. Kozlov worked. He was lucky, he fulfilled the task set by the Motherland and he also managed to survive.

On July 26, 2004 Alexander Kozlov will be 84 years old. But talking about events close to 65 years ago seems to him as if it were just yesterday.

Kozlov was 22 years old when he started the death struggle against German fascism. In 1941, Kozlov, in his Partisan Brigade – which was called "Dedushka" – at the beginning of action was its commander. In June of 1942, during heavy fighting against the Germans, Kozlov, together with his wife Galina Ivanova Vilkov, also an intelligence agent, fell into the hands of German fascists.

Finding himself in a concentration camp, and planning to help the Motherland, he agreed to help the Germans and start working for the German "Abvhergroup-108" under a pseudonym "Menshikov". Learning the ropes for ten months, Kozlov planned to get in touch with the Soviet command or the NKVD at the earliest moment. This happened in June of 1943 when the Germans sent Kozlov behind the Red Army lines into the territory of the USSR in order to get in contact with other German agents operating behind the lines.

Soon his name was known to Stalin and in the headquarters of Soviet counter-intelligence "Smersh," Kozlov was accepted as an agent who "fulfilled the German assigned intelligence task" and then Kozlov was shipped back behind the line to Germany and his code name was "Baikal-60".

Working diligently in the German Abwehr, Kozlov was made a Captain of the RIA and was awarded 5 medals by Germany. During his time in the Abwehr he gathered information on 27 Soviet officials who cooperated with Germany and exposed 57 German intelligence agents. During his work, he also managed to convert 7 German agents to serve the Soviet Union. His task was to eliminate the most successful German agents and send them across the Red Army lines.

After the end of World War II, Alexander Kozlov was instrumental in exposing the hidden agents in the USSR who went underground.

After 60 years Kozlov told me about the last period of his life after the end of the war and after Stalin died. I could not hold back my tears after listening to his story.

Alexander Kozlov found himself without a job, forced to do any work he could find,' while trying to survive. His knowledge in intelligence work could have become useful during the Cold War years and the push by American Imperialism to dismember socialism.

A.I. Kozlov with his loving granddaughter Alloj. November 2003

After 20 years the Motherland admitted its horrible mistake and on the 20th Anniversary of Victory over Fascism, the Soviet Union awarded Alexander Kozlov the highest Red Army medal.

He said that it was "normal for the Soviet intelligence agents to do their job as patriots of the Soviet Motherland. "

Alexander Ivanovich is dismayed and takes it extremely hard as to what transpired when the Soviet Union was dismembered and now in ruins, after millions of Soviet people fought and died for the Soviet Motherland.

It is also tragic that the heroes of that life and death struggle against fascism are slowly departing from us. All of his comrades in arms have now departed. The Honored Artist of USSR, Evgeny Matveev, with whom faith had bound Alexander Kozlov, who wanted to star in the film about Alexander Kozlov, always ended his many letters to Kozlov with these words: "Dear Alexander Ivanovich, live on for a long, long time! I am proud to have known you!"

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