Konstantin Jeffremov

Konstantin Lukitsch Jeffremov (born 15 May 1910), also known as Konstantin Yeffremov, was a Soviet GRU military intelligence officer, known as a scout in Soviet intelligence parlance, with the rank of captain. He had been working for Soviet intelligence since 1936. He was the organizer of a Soviet espionage network in the Netherlands and the Low Countries In 1942 this led him taking over and running a number of networks in Belgium and the Netherlands that had been damaged in the months prior after several members were arrested by the Abwehr. These networks were later given the moniker the Red Orchestra ("Rote Kapelle") by the Abwehr. Jeffremov was arrested in July 1942 and agreed to work for the Abwehr in a Funkspiel operation after being tortured.

Jeffremov's ultimate fate is not known, but according to one source he escaped at the end of 1944 and eventually reached Moscow by way of Switzerland.

Life After completing seven years of schooling including attending the Labor Faculty in Tula, he attended the Moscow Chemical Technical College. In 1937, he finished the academy with the title of military technician with the rank of First lieutenant (Russian:Starshy leytenant) and started to work for the GRU, dealing primarily with military technical reconnaissance. Jeffremov, a relative newcomer to a professional career in espionage, had been subject to accelerated training.

Belgium In September, 1939 Jeffremov using the alias Eric Jernstroem, arrived in Brussels from Zürich via Budapest and Odessa, travelling as a Finnish student.

Jeffremov network Organisational diagram of the first Jeffremov Group With the outbreak of World War II, Jeffremov was retasked with organising variously disparate groups in the Low Countries, into an effective espionage network that could collect political, economic and military intelligence. Jeffremov immediately made contact with Johann Wenzel, a German communist and radio specialist based in the Netherlands, Wenzel had recruited the Communist Party member Anton Winterink at the beginning of 1939 and later, also recruited Dan Goulooze, the director of the Dutch Communist party. Both would become part of Jeffremov's network in Brussels. Winterink was trained as a radio operator by Wenzel. and Swiss Franz Schneider. The couple were Comintern agents who has been working for Soviet intelligence since late 1936. Prior to that, they had been running safe-houses for persecuted Comintern officials. Germaine Schneider was the most important of the two, working as a courier that involved extensive travel across Europe and was Henry Robinson's contact to Soviet agents in Great Britain. Jeffremov ran his espionage network independently of other Soviet networks in the Netherlands

Anatoly Gurevich network

In May 1942, during an arranged clandestine meeting, Jeffremov met with Leopold Trepper in the house of the Schneider's in Brussels. Trepper was the technical director of a Soviet Red Army Intelligence in western Europe and had been instructed by Soviet intelligence to employ Jeffremov as the new leader of the Belgian network, in the absence of Anatoly Gurevich who had run the network in Belgium from July 1940 to December 1941. It had been severely damaged, when several members of the group had been arrested by the Abwehr on the 12 December 1941. The people were arrested during a raid on a house on Rue des Atrébates, that was being used a transmitting safe-house. Gurevich himself had hid in the house of Nazarin Drailly, a member of the group, to evade the Abwehr, before leaving for Paris. Trepper gave Jeffremov 100,000 Belgian francs for daily expenses and made several recommendations on how the network should be run, which Jeffremov accepted. Probably the most important aspect of Jeffremov's work was the continued transmission of the intelligence provided by Harro Schulze-Boysen, that was couriered from Germany. According to Daniël Goulooze, Jeffremov was in communication with Soviet Intelligence via Wenzel since 1940 but on an infrequent basis. However, Germaine Schneider was considered a proficient courier. This was a fatal mistake, however, as on 30 June 1942, the Funkabwehr identified a house at 12 Rue de Namur, Brussels as the location of a radio transmitter and arrested Wenzel. Wenzel was subjected to enhanced interrogation and eventually confessed. He agreed to collaborate and exposed several members of the Belgian network.

Letters found on Wenzel implicated Germaine Schneider as his mistress. Schneider was arrested, but managed to convince the Gestapo that she was romantically evolved with Wenzel and knew nothing about his work. This convinced the Gestapo and she was released.

Schneider immediately went to meet Trepper in Paris to warn him. Trepper in turn warned Jeffremov and instructed him to create a new identity. who unknown to Jeffremov, was in close contact with an Chief Inspector of the Belgian State Police Charles Mathieu. Mathieu was a penetration agent, known in Germany as a V-Mann, short for Vertrauens-mann. (German:V-Mann, plural V-Leute). They were generally prisoners who agreed to work as undercover agents on pain of death, should they have refused. Mathieu reported the request to Abwehr officer Harry Piepe. Rajchmann informed Mathieu of Jeffremov's request for new identity papers and the time and the place of the meeting.

Arrest Jeffremov was arrested on 22 July 1942 in Brussels, while attempting to obtain the forged identity papers for himself In the Netherlands, he exposed Anton Winterink, who was arrested on 26 July 1942 by Abwehr officer, Piepe. Winterink was taken to Brussels, where he confessed after two weeks of enhanced interrogation. When Schneider was arrested, she managed to convince the Sonderkommando Rote Kapelle that she not involved in intelligence work and was released. When released, Schneider decided to contact Leopold Trepper, the technical director of a Soviet Red Army Intelligence in western Europe to inform him of the arrests. Trepper advised Schneider to sever all contact with Jeffremov and move to a hideout in Lyons.

Jeffremov (sources vary) also exposed Simexco to the Abwehr. Simexco was a cover company that was used by the Trepper network in Belgium to provide funding for operations and to disguise its activities. At the same time, Jeffremov exposed the name and the existence of the Trepper espionage network in France.

Funkspiel Eventually Jeffremov began to work for the Sonderkommando Rote Kapelle The operation did not achieve success due to the warning delivered by Germaine Schneider to Trepper.