Soviet counterintelligence organisation active from 1943 to 1946; the name is an abbreviation of the slogan “Death to spies”.
Description based on the International Spy Museum glossary, which also notes that the organisation appears in the James Bond novels.1
The name is an abbreviation of the Russian “Smert shpionam”. The CIA glossary defines counterintelligence as information gathered and activities conducted to protect against foreign intelligence services. SMERSH belongs to the line of Soviet services that the International Spy Museum traces from the Cheka (1917) to the KGB.1,2
By comparison: according to its own history, Britain’s MI5 in the same period took control of 120 German agents and used them for deception in the Double-Cross System.3
Sources
- International Spy Museum (Washington, DC), Language of Espionage (glossary)
- CIA, Spy Speak Glossary
- MI5 (Security Service), MI5 in World War II
Checked: 4 November 2026