Filip Kovacevic: Who Shot Lieutenant Podrezov?

“Remember that what you are told is really threefold: shaped by the teller, reshaped by the listener, concealed from both by the dead man of the tale.” --- Vladimir Nabokov

                                                  

It was mid-February 1945 in northwestern Lithuania. World War Two had entered its final phase. The Soviet Red Army was fighting the retreating German forces. The dense forest areas between the towns of Šiauliai and Telšiai were patrolled by the military units of the Second Baltic Front. The Front's headquarters of the Soviet military counterintelligence directorate known as the SMERSH (Russian acronym for “Death to Spies”) reported the capture of a group of suspected German spies.

One of the unnamed captives carried the identification documents of a Soviet infantry officer, Lieutenant Aleksey G. Podrezov.[1] Podrezov had been missing since November 1944. He had left his unit on a 10-day leave and never returned. What happened to him? The Soviet military prosecutors of the 3rd Air Army opened an investigation.

The basic biographical details on Podrezov were easily obtained. He was born in Ukraine, in the Dnipro (Dnepropetrovsk) region in 1919.[2]. He had general education (seven grades) and was recruited into the Red Army in 1939. In uniform from the first day of the war, Podrezov became a candidate for membership in the Komsomol in 1942. He then completed an officers’ course which led to his promotion to lieutenant in 1944. He seemed a promising young man rising up the ladder of Soviet military hierarchy in wartime conditions. 

Another document offered a more detailed account of the last year in Podrezov’s life.[3] On April 2, 1944, Podrezov reported for service in the 47th Infantry Division and was named the head of a mortar battalion in the Division's 148th Regiment on the same day. About three months later, on June 27, 1944, he was wounded in battle and then dispatched to a hospital in the rear for recovery and recuperation.[4] The wound must have been serious considering that Podrezov returned to his regiment only a couple months later. It seems that his troubles began after his return. Had his attitude toward the military service and the war in general undergone a dramatic change?

The first indication that something was amiss was the fact that he was not re-appointed to his previous position as the head of a mortar battalion. Instead, he was put in charge of the burial unit, a much lower and generally disliked post. Angered, or perhaps suffering from some kind of physical anguish, Podrezov apparently did not do a good job even at this lowly post and was relieved of command on October 10.[5]

Obviously wanting to get out of the unpleasant situation, Podrezov requested a 10-day leave from the regiment commander, Major Vasily Marushkov. He reportedly told Marushkov that he was going to visit his uncle who served as a colonel in the headquarters of the First Baltic Front. Marushkov approved the request but the documents certifying his decision appeared to have been lost or destroyed.  

Given that the identity of Podrezov’s uncle was never established, it is possible that he was invented by Podrezov as an excuse to leave his unit. Evidently, military investigators also had their suspicions and required Marushkov to report all he knew about Podrezov’s request. In order to assess potential favoritism or corruption, they also obtained Marushkov’s personal information.[6] Nothing improper was found.           

In his hand-written report, Marushkov stated that he reported Podrezov’s absence to his superiors at the end of November but was told that Podrezov had probably stayed with his uncle at the headquarters.[7] Nobody seemed overly concerned that Podrezov was missing. It is likely that they did not want him back anyway. But would they go so far as to plan, execute, and cover up his death? They had the know-how, they had the means, but did they really do it? 

The account of the last hours of Podrezov’s life was provided by a Lithuanian villager Simonas Skotis. According to Skotis, on January 28, 1945 (more than two months after leaving his unit), Podrezov appeared at his farm in the woods near the small village of Luoke (Lukniki) in the company of two “unidentified” individuals dressed as soldiers of the Red Army.[8] The three said they were members of the Luoke NKVD (state security) unit. While at Skotis’s house, they began to drink heavily and, according to Skotis, Podrezov used his gun to force a female inhabitant (referred to in the report as an “unidentified female citizen”) to drink with them. Skotis was silent as to whether this aggressive action led to any subsequent sexual violence. He only stated that after their bout of drinking was over, Podrezov and one of the soldiers left for another farm in search of a certain sergeant Shvetsov who supposedly lived there.

This was when things took a strange turn. According to Skotis, soon after Podrezov and the soldier left, the remaining soldier exited the house and began waiting for the two to come back in a sort of ambush. When he saw them returning, he fired on Podrezov, killing him at the spot. The soldiers then took Podrezov’s gun and field bag, ripped off his shoulder straps, and vanished. 

To what extent was Skotis’s testimony reliable? Major Levin, a Soviet military prosecutor reviewing the case, must have had his doubts, given that he expressed his surprise that no additional witnesses were interrogated.[9] Skotis could have easily been suspected to have been an accomplice to the murder of a Soviet officer. Yet, he was let go without any sanctions. It looked as if he had been protected by local authorities who first reported Podrezov’s death to the Soviets. He was likely an informer who was still needed for future covert work.

Interestingly, in his account, Skotis mentioned that only Podrezov took an aggressive action against a woman in his house and said nothing about his two companions. Were they just passive observers, or was he trying to make Podrezov - who, being dead, could offer no rebuttal - look as bad as possible, almost deserving of his tragic fate? Perhaps Skotis was afraid that those two “soldiers” would come back and take their revenge on him if he revealed too much to the investigators.

But who were these “soldiers”? Their identity was never discovered. Major Levin closed the case without having the answer. He only recommended that those in Podrezov’s regiment who had failed to report his absence to the headquarters be reprimanded.[10] He did not say a word about continuing the search for the killers.

Were they really NKVD, or were they in fact Lithuanian anti-Soviet resistance fighters dressed up as NKVD to fool a Soviet deserter roaming the woods, who was as afraid of his own as of the enemy? Most likely, they were the resistance fighters. Still, after having reviewed the case, I can’t shake off the impression that Podrezov was an inconvenient witness to both sides.

     

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NOTES

^[1] “Спецсообщение начальнику Управления контрразведки ‘СМЕРШ’ 2-го Прибалтийского фронта [Special Report to the Head of the Directorate of Counterintelligence ‘SMERSH’ of the 2^nd Baltic Front,” February 21, 1945. Fond K-1, Op. 45, File 1832, p.109. Lietuvos TSR Valstybės Saugumo Komitetas [Lithuanian KGB] Selected Records, Hoover Institution. I gratefully acknowledge the Hoover Institution Library & Archives as an essential resource in the development of these materials. The views expressed in this publication are entirely my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the fellows, staff, or Board of Overseers of the Hoover Institution.

^[2] “Справка на б/служащего проходившего службу в 148 стрельковом полку лейтенента Подрезова Алексея Георгиевича [Information on the former service member serving in the 148^th Rifle Regiment Lieutenant Podrezov Aleksey Goergiyevich], February 17, 1945. Fond K-1, Op. 45, File 1832, p.119. Lietuvos TSR Valstybės Saugumo Komitetas [Lithuanian KGB] Selected Records, Hoover Institution. Another document stated that he was born in 1917. See “Справка [Information], February 17, 1945. Fond K-1, Op. 45, File 1832, p.118. Lietuvos TSR Valstybės Saugumo Komitetas [Lithuanian KGB] Selected Records, Hoover Institution.

^[3] “Справка [Information], February 16, 1945. Fond K-1, Op. 45, File 1832, p.117. Lietuvos TSR Valstybės Saugumo Komitetas [Lithuanian KGB] Selected Records, Hoover Institution.

^[4] “Справка на б/служащего проходившего службу в 148 стрельковом полку лейтенента Подрезова Алексея Георгиевича [Information on the former service member serving in the 148^th Rifle Regiment Lieutenant Podrezov Aleksey Goergiyevich], p.119.

^[5] “Спецсообщение начальнику Управления контрразведки ‘СМЕРШ’ 2-го Прибалтийского фронта [Special Report to the Head of the Directorate of Counterintelligence ‘SMERSH’ of the 2^nd Baltic Front,” p.109.

^[6] “Справка на начальника штаба 148 СП майора Маружкова Василия Михайловича [Information on the chief of the stuff of the 148^th Rifle Regiment Major Maryshkov Vasily Mikhailovich],” February 17, 1945. Fond K-1, Op. 45, File 1832, p.111. Lietuvos TSR Valstybės Saugumo Komitetas [Lithuanian KGB] Selected Records, Hoover Institution.   

[7] “Сообщение начальнику УК ‘СМЕРШ’ 47 СД [Report to the head of the Directorate of Counterintelligence ‘SMERSH’ of the 47^th Rifle Division],” February 17, 1945. Fond K-1, Op. 45, File 1832, pp.110, 110 reverse. Lietuvos TSR Valstybės Saugumo Komitetas [Lithuanian KGB] Selected Records, Hoover Institution. 

[8] “Спецсообщение начальнику Управления контрразведки ‘СМЕРШ’ 2-го Прибалтийского фронта [Special Report to the Head of the Directorate of Counterintelligence ‘SMERSH’ of the 2^nd Baltic Front,” p.109 reverse.

[9] “Военному прокурору 6-й гвардейской армии – гвардии подполковнику июстиции тов. Нельсону [To the Military Prosecutor of the 6^th Guard Army – Guard Lieutenant Colonel of Justice Comrade Nelson], undated. Fond K-1, Op. 45, File 1832, p. 121. Lietuvos TSR Valstybės Saugumo Komitetas [Lithuanian KGB] Selected Records, Hoover Institution.

[10] “Военному прокурору 6-й гвардейской армии – гвардии подполковнику июстиции тов. Нельсону [To the Military Prosecutor of the 6^th Guard Army – Guard Lieutenant Colonel of Justice Comrade Nelson], undated. Fond K-1, Op. 45, File 1832, p. 123. Lietuvos TSR Valstybės Saugumo Komitetas [Lithuanian KGB] Selected Records, Hoover Institution.