Adolf to Azov

In 1944-45 the Allies caught many POWs who were willing to surrender and work with the allies, for a better life. A secret mission was put together to explore what was driving all these foreigners to fight so hard inside Germany, and to also study how the Germans built up such a strong network of fighters, such as the Lithuanian Activist Front. The Americans organized and finalized an operation to collect them.

One of the men who was captured by them was a man by name of Youri Vinogradov. At the time of his capture Youri was only twenty-one years old but had an amazing background. While Youri Vinogradov had a family from Russia, who escaped to Germany when the Tsar was ousted by the Soviets. Later on in life he would go to school in France, but when war broke out, he made his way to Germany to work for the Nazis. As the war progressed through 1944 Vinogradov saw the writing on the wall, and felt his best move was to surrender to the allies. By the fall of 1944 Youri Vinogradov was giving the allies much needed intelligence, in order to gain trust. He was a reliable source and gave up information that led to the arrest of Gestapo agents working in Paris. He also explained how there was a French partisan movement that worked with the Germans.

This intrigued the Americans, and they wanted more information. Vinogradov was given a new case officer Lt. Albert E. Jolis, who wanted Vinogradov to return to Germany and work as a spy to uncover more about this network.

Knew about a Georgian partisan, named Michael Kedia, living behind enemy lines which he would use to contact the Germans, Kedia was president of the Georgian National Committee in Berlin and had many contacts in the partisan networks in the Turkish and Georgian population. Vinogradov thought Kedia would be in a similar situation as he was, in that Kedia would need help of escaping the Soviets after the Germans inevitable defeat. He also had family behind enemy lines, which would also aid him in his travels.

Vinogradov was given training on how to penetrate the Nazi SS using an Allied OSS network. The plan was for him to make up a story about being dissatisfied about life in Paris and join the Nazi movement as a retreating partisan fighter. Part of history was to tell the Germans that he fought in Paris as a partisan for the Nazis cause and is now retreating. From there they planned to have him work with the SS and their partisan network. He was also taught how to signal for allied aircraft bombing targets, as well as use coded messages on postcards and newspaper ads to communicate. This mission was too complex and too dangerous for the men to bring a radio on.

On November 3, 1944, Youri Vinogradov was sent back over enemy lines, to link up with his friend. He was arrested, and the Germans took his information. He mentions Kedia’s name and all the other partisan networks that he knew about. He explained to the Nazis how he and his fellow partisan, were staunched anti-communist. Since he was coming from Parris, he explained that even the allies, were anticommunist enough, and that why he was fleeing. He also explained how he had family in Germany wanted to visit his mother who fell ill and was dying. After the arrest, Vinogradov was sent to held in Nazi prison known as Standartenfuhrer Bickler in Baden. For three days, he underwent interrogation, and was finally released, with permission to travel back to Berlin, to visit his sick mother.

Thanks to allied bombing train travel was difficult, and Youri Vinogradov had to switch trains 14 times, thanks to allied bombing. He arrived in Berlin on November 7, 1944. Right away he contacted Kedia, which led to the Gestapo contacting him the next day. He was brought into the local SS office to meet with a head officer named Erich Georg-Karl Albin Hengelhaupt, who was in charge of dealing with eastern European émigrés. Hengelhaupt knew Kedia, as let Vinogradov negotiate himself into a position which would get him working for the SS and explore the system of partisans networks the Nazis were running.

Vinogradov was quick to seize the opportunities to work with the SS, knowing how much more important this information would be to the allies. During his time, Vinogradov fought many negative character allegations, that could have foiled his plan. This would require him to cut communications with the allies, until April of 1945.