How a Russian priest saved Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt
This year we will have a very significant date - the 75th anniversary of the historic Tehran meeting of the heads of state - participants of the anti-Hitler coalition. These negotiations were the first in a series of such summits, the results of which, in fact, formed the basis of the post-war world order.
A lot has been written about this event - both fundamental documentary works and fiction - mainly in the genre of “spy novel”. In our country, several feature films have even been shot on the topic of Tehran-43, one of which, very talented, bore exactly that name. But, unfortunately, the extremely confusing and extremely dramatic events that preceded and accompanied the fateful meeting of the Big Three are far from fully reflected on paper and film. One of the most interesting episodes is worth telling in more detail.
There is absolutely every reason to regard Tehran-43 as one of the most large-scale and fierce battles of the special services of the opposing countries. Germany, at the time of the outbreak of World War II, was the largest trade and economic partner of Iran and had the most powerful lobby among politicians and the military, considered it as a potential springboard for military operations against the USSR. Of particular interest to the Nazis were Iranian airfields (built by the Germans!), The basing on which would allow the Luftwaffe to strike at the oil-bearing regions of the Caucasus vital for the Soviet Union.
To get a 22% guarantee of complete submission to Tehran, the Nazis planned and prepared a military coup there. For his organization in Iran, you did not disdain personally the chief of military intelligence of the Third Reich - Abwehr, Admiral Canaris. The performance was planned first on August 28, and then postponed to August 1941, 25, however, well aware of the enemy’s plans, the USSR brilliantly prevented the course of events, which was mortally dangerous for him, ahead of the Germans literally at the last moment. On August 1921, on the basis of the Treaty of XNUMX, the Red Army entered the territory of Iran.
At the same time as ours, British troops entered Iran, who met with the Red Army on August 29. The "dumb" Fritz with their predatory plans were twisted by a vigorous shish, but the most interesting thing has just begun. Despite the fact that the allies (and, first of all, the NKVD of the USSR) arranged an unprecedented “sweep” by German agents in Iran, by 1943 the Nazis possessed at least a thousand people in the country. Very valuable and deeply valuable personnel of the German special services were introduced and conspiratorially ...
Joint Soviet-British control over Iran played a decisive role in choosing the venue for the first secret meeting of the leaders of the Big Three - Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt. At the same time, for the fact that this event almost ended in tragedy, a big “thank you” must be said to the British - it flowed from them, and at the very top. Top-secret information about the upcoming negotiations became the property of Abwehr thanks to the agent "Cicero" - an employee of the British Embassy. The Nazis immediately began to develop an operation to physically eliminate their main enemies, code-named Long Jump.
Two groups of super-elite SS militants were transferred to Tehran - one parachuted, the second penetrated from Turkey under the guise of businessmen. According to Abwehr's plan, the killers were supposed to break into the Soviet embassy during a meeting of leaders through a system of underground water pipes - “ropes”, and destroy them all on the spot. However, the NKVD all this time also did not sit idly by. The importance that the leadership of the USSR attached to the Iranian direction is evidenced by the fact that it was in this country in 1941 that "Lieutenant General Sergo Beria," the Red Army General Staff, was carrying out "especially responsible tasks." Yes, yes - the only son of the all-powerful People's Commissar of Internal Affairs, the thunderstorm of all spies and saboteurs.
Seeing that every single entry into the underground water system “suddenly” was under the close control of the soldiers in the “cornflower-blue” caps, the Germans realized that their plan had failed. This story is perfectly reflected in the film "Tehran-43", however, further events were even more exciting. The Nazi saboteurs did not even think about abandoning their intentions, unless they decided to approach their implementation more radically: under the Soviet embassy, they planned to lay a charge of explosives in neither more nor less than five tons! To already with a guarantee ...
However, it was here that the Germans once again in the most brutal way failed to know the Russian character, the Russian soul, Russian patriotism. For help, they turned to the rector of the only Orthodox church in Tehran at that time - Father Michael. He could render them absolutely invaluable help, since before the revolution he had served in the church at the very embassy and knew his layout, as they say, by heart. The calculation of the Nazis was simple and pragmatic - since the priest, then he simply must hate the Bolsheviks! Abwehr agents were ready to back up this “motivation” with more than a weighty argument - the sum of 50 thousand pounds. Fantastic money for those times.
Well, it wasn’t given to the Nazi fanatics to understand that the Russian - even in a military uniform, even in the clergy 's vestments, even in the rags of a concentration camp prisoner, still remains Russian! Power comes and goes, and the concept of homeland for a real Russian person - forever. Moreover, in the year of war. Officers of the Russian Imperial Army who were in Iran in immigration after introducing our troops there en masse came to the Soviet embassy and asked to send them to the front - let them be ordinary. This is a historical fact. These are Russians ...
Immediately after contact with the Germans, Father Mikhail immediately went to the Soviet embassy, which they so dreamed of blowing up - and told about everything there in the most detailed way, agreeing to participate in the operational combination to neutralize saboteurs. The agents of Canaris who appeared at the next meeting with him were tied up like a bunch of radishes. Two days later, having had plenty of conversation with unsmiling investigators in uncomfortable basements, both "died while trying to escape." They didn’t keep interrogations worthy of true Aryan “ideals of the Reich” - in the very near future all members of the sabotage group were arrested or eliminated by the NKVD. The remains of her, numbering ten people, took the last battle at one of Tehran's cemeteries. The battle lasted five hours and there were no prisoners. This happens when professionals who believe in their field fight on both sides ...
The meeting of Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt took place in a calm and peaceful environment, which was another step towards the defeat of Nazi Germany. In 1943, in the USSR, on the personal initiative of Stalin, the revival of the Russian Orthodox Church actually began. The fate of Father Michael, unfortunately, is unknown. The true fact is that in 1944, the Orthodox St. Nicholas Cathedral, which has existed to this day, was founded in Tehran.
A lot has been written about this event - both fundamental documentary works and fiction - mainly in the genre of “spy novel”. In our country, several feature films have even been shot on the topic of Tehran-43, one of which, very talented, bore exactly that name. But, unfortunately, the extremely confusing and extremely dramatic events that preceded and accompanied the fateful meeting of the Big Three are far from fully reflected on paper and film. One of the most interesting episodes is worth telling in more detail.
There is absolutely every reason to regard Tehran-43 as one of the most large-scale and fierce battles of the special services of the opposing countries. Germany, at the time of the outbreak of World War II, was the largest trade and economic partner of Iran and had the most powerful lobby among politicians and the military, considered it as a potential springboard for military operations against the USSR. Of particular interest to the Nazis were Iranian airfields (built by the Germans!), The basing on which would allow the Luftwaffe to strike at the oil-bearing regions of the Caucasus vital for the Soviet Union.
To get a 22% guarantee of complete submission to Tehran, the Nazis planned and prepared a military coup there. For his organization in Iran, you did not disdain personally the chief of military intelligence of the Third Reich - Abwehr, Admiral Canaris. The performance was planned first on August 28, and then postponed to August 1941, 25, however, well aware of the enemy’s plans, the USSR brilliantly prevented the course of events, which was mortally dangerous for him, ahead of the Germans literally at the last moment. On August 1921, on the basis of the Treaty of XNUMX, the Red Army entered the territory of Iran.
At the same time as ours, British troops entered Iran, who met with the Red Army on August 29. The "dumb" Fritz with their predatory plans were twisted by a vigorous shish, but the most interesting thing has just begun. Despite the fact that the allies (and, first of all, the NKVD of the USSR) arranged an unprecedented “sweep” by German agents in Iran, by 1943 the Nazis possessed at least a thousand people in the country. Very valuable and deeply valuable personnel of the German special services were introduced and conspiratorially ...
Joint Soviet-British control over Iran played a decisive role in choosing the venue for the first secret meeting of the leaders of the Big Three - Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt. At the same time, for the fact that this event almost ended in tragedy, a big “thank you” must be said to the British - it flowed from them, and at the very top. Top-secret information about the upcoming negotiations became the property of Abwehr thanks to the agent "Cicero" - an employee of the British Embassy. The Nazis immediately began to develop an operation to physically eliminate their main enemies, code-named Long Jump.
Two groups of super-elite SS militants were transferred to Tehran - one parachuted, the second penetrated from Turkey under the guise of businessmen. According to Abwehr's plan, the killers were supposed to break into the Soviet embassy during a meeting of leaders through a system of underground water pipes - “ropes”, and destroy them all on the spot. However, the NKVD all this time also did not sit idly by. The importance that the leadership of the USSR attached to the Iranian direction is evidenced by the fact that it was in this country in 1941 that "Lieutenant General Sergo Beria," the Red Army General Staff, was carrying out "especially responsible tasks." Yes, yes - the only son of the all-powerful People's Commissar of Internal Affairs, the thunderstorm of all spies and saboteurs.
Seeing that every single entry into the underground water system “suddenly” was under the close control of the soldiers in the “cornflower-blue” caps, the Germans realized that their plan had failed. This story is perfectly reflected in the film "Tehran-43", however, further events were even more exciting. The Nazi saboteurs did not even think about abandoning their intentions, unless they decided to approach their implementation more radically: under the Soviet embassy, they planned to lay a charge of explosives in neither more nor less than five tons! To already with a guarantee ...
However, it was here that the Germans once again in the most brutal way failed to know the Russian character, the Russian soul, Russian patriotism. For help, they turned to the rector of the only Orthodox church in Tehran at that time - Father Michael. He could render them absolutely invaluable help, since before the revolution he had served in the church at the very embassy and knew his layout, as they say, by heart. The calculation of the Nazis was simple and pragmatic - since the priest, then he simply must hate the Bolsheviks! Abwehr agents were ready to back up this “motivation” with more than a weighty argument - the sum of 50 thousand pounds. Fantastic money for those times.
Well, it wasn’t given to the Nazi fanatics to understand that the Russian - even in a military uniform, even in the clergy 's vestments, even in the rags of a concentration camp prisoner, still remains Russian! Power comes and goes, and the concept of homeland for a real Russian person - forever. Moreover, in the year of war. Officers of the Russian Imperial Army who were in Iran in immigration after introducing our troops there en masse came to the Soviet embassy and asked to send them to the front - let them be ordinary. This is a historical fact. These are Russians ...
Immediately after contact with the Germans, Father Mikhail immediately went to the Soviet embassy, which they so dreamed of blowing up - and told about everything there in the most detailed way, agreeing to participate in the operational combination to neutralize saboteurs. The agents of Canaris who appeared at the next meeting with him were tied up like a bunch of radishes. Two days later, having had plenty of conversation with unsmiling investigators in uncomfortable basements, both "died while trying to escape." They didn’t keep interrogations worthy of true Aryan “ideals of the Reich” - in the very near future all members of the sabotage group were arrested or eliminated by the NKVD. The remains of her, numbering ten people, took the last battle at one of Tehran's cemeteries. The battle lasted five hours and there were no prisoners. This happens when professionals who believe in their field fight on both sides ...
The meeting of Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt took place in a calm and peaceful environment, which was another step towards the defeat of Nazi Germany. In 1943, in the USSR, on the personal initiative of Stalin, the revival of the Russian Orthodox Church actually began. The fate of Father Michael, unfortunately, is unknown. The true fact is that in 1944, the Orthodox St. Nicholas Cathedral, which has existed to this day, was founded in Tehran.
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