SMERSH (James Bond)
| Universe | James Bond series |
|---|---|
| Type | Intelligence agency |
| Founded | 1940 or earlier |
| Location |
Leningrad Moscow Numerous |
| Key people | General Grubozaboyschikov (leader) Rosa Klebb (Director of Operations) Donovan "Red" Grant (Chief Executioner) Mr. Big Auric Goldfinger |
| Purpose |
Counter-intelligence Political subversion of the West |
SMERSH is a fictional Soviet counterintelligence agency featured in Ian Fleming's early James Bond novels as agent 007's nemesis. SMERSH is the acronym of Spetsialnye MEtody Razoblacheniya SHpionov, meaning "Special Methods of Spy Detection", (in Russian Cyrillic СМЕРШ: Специальные Методы Разоблaчения Шпионов).
Fleming's version of SMERSH supposedly was modelled upon the real SMERSH organisation, which existed 1943-1946 (the real name is a portmanteau of two Russian words: "SMERt' SHpionam" [СМЕРть Шпионам, Směrť Špionam] meaning "Death to Spies"). However, the novels portray SMERSH as a massive Soviet counterintelligence organisation, much more resembling the real-life KGB, which aims its operatives abroad in subversion of the West, with the additional goal of killing Western spies, particularly James Bond of SIS. SMERSH's headquarters are variously stated to be in Leningrad or in Moscow, Soviet Union.
In the Bond film series, SMERSH is usually replaced with SPECTRE – a global terrorist organisation.
The novel Casino Royale breaks SMERSH down into five departments or отделы (оtdyels):
Within the world of James Bond, SMERSH is a Soviet counterintelligence agency that is a recurring threat to him and the British Secret Service. In Casino Royale, the first Bond novel, SMERSH is described as the most powerful and feared organisation in the Soviet Union, with its main headquarters in Leningrad. It was believed to be under the personal direction of Lavrentiy Beria and was tasked with "the elimination of all forms of treachery and back-sliding within the various branches of the Soviet Secret Service and Secret Police at home and abroad" (a mission vaguely similar to that of the real-life SMERSH). The organisation was suspected of having carried out Leon Trotsky's assassination in 1940. While it was hugely expanded during World War II to deal with treachery among Soviet forces, it was purged after the war and by the time of Casino Royale was believed "to consist of only a few hundred operatives of very high quality", only one of whom had ever been captured by British agents. By the time of From Russia, with Love, however, Fleming describes SMERSH as having 40,000 agents and being based in Moscow rather than in Leningrad.
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