TWIN CITIES: KAPUSTIN YAR AND WOOMERA PLUS BONUS VIDEO: FINAL RENDEZVOUS

 

1947

The KGB in Australia at the time were busy recruiting spies and funneling their information back to the Motherland and Kasputin Yar.

Two Locations, one on either side of the ideological divide between East and West. On the left the site of KAPUSTIN YAR in Astrakhan Oblast (Soviet Union) and WOOMERA on the right, South Australia.

Kapustin Yar was situated around 18 hours by train and vehicle North East of Odessa. Odessa was the research and development centre with a major university focused on engineering and rocketry situated there. Odessa was also a development site for chemical weapons between 1946 and 1948

Woomera in South Australia had a similar profile in many ways. It, too, was situated some distance from Adelaide, just under 500 klms and  5.5 hour road trip today but in 1947, that would be more like 8 hours. The development work for the range took place in Salisbury just North of Adelaide at the Weapons Research Establishment with much technical work being done by Adelaide University.

According to records, both sites were decided upon in 1946 with works commencement on both in 1947. The Russians ran their first rocket engine test in December 1947 or thereabouts. Woomera was declared a Prohibited Zone in 1947, small rockets were tested there in 1947 with their first real launch in December 1949 according to some records.

As a matter of interest, the Russians test-fired 11 A4 rockets (that's captured German V2 rockets) at Kapustin Yar over a period of 12 months or more. 7 were fired successfully.

Both ranges were the only rocket test sites in each country at that time.

The KGB in Australia at the time were busy recruiting spies and funneling their information back to the Motherland and the scientists and technicians of Kasputin Yar.

THE INTELLIGENCE BACKDROP

As you might expect, the opposing sites were of great interest to both Soviets and the British and both sides would no doubt have had assets and resources applied to the task of gathering information of value and ensuring that it made its way to either Odessa or Adelaide.

We seem to have more information on just how the Soviets set up their intelligence networks in Australia at the time than we have on British/Australian methods for agents based in Astrakhan Blast.

SOVIET INTELLIGENCE ORGANISATIONAL DIAGRAM

The above describes at a high level, the communications network. This diagram would be massaged to better meet the needs of specific operations. For example, if a skilled assassin were to be brought in he would slot in next to the executive agent, he may act as the executive agent and carry out the task or he may be there in a training role.

In Australia, the head of the operation was Nosov. In ASIO records we see that Nosov had 4 agents working in South Australia in 1947/48. Two of these men were said to be Soviet agents, they would in all probability be 'illegals', they did not have any direct ties to the Soviet Embassy and would have used false names and forged papers. The other two agents were said to be Australian born but Russian by descent. Two agents were tasked with gathering intelligence on the Woomera range and the other two on the Weapons Research establishment works and people.

It would seem to be logical that the two 'illegals' would have been tasked with monitoring the works at Woomera range whilst the two Australian born agents would be engaged at Salisbury in intelligence gathering and recruiting.

11th November 1948 
Barrier Miner

The Woomera agents are a different proposition, unlike the Australian born agents, these men would not have the accents and perhaps conversational skills of the Salisbury team. I do not think they would have hidden themselves in the bush to observe the workings, far more likely that they were employed on the site. Followers of this blog may recall the newspaper article dated 11th November 1948 announcing the fact that 75 Balts were headed for Woomera:

Going back to the Organisational diagram. Given the nature of the setup, my thoughts are that the two X two men teams reported back to one local agent. In tradecraft terms, that agent would be a 'cut-out', the Resident or Group Leader. Meaning that the 'cut out' would in turn report to the next man in the chain, the Controller.

It is quite a challenge to put names in place, the two Australian born people would likely have been local and we know that there were not that many Russian families in Australia at the time. We also 

FEODOR NOSOV

know that there were a handful of Russian internees at Loveday. One name we have is Sergei Vlasov, Australian born Russian and associated with Feodor Nosov, KGB head in Australia.

When it gets to the two 'illegals' that is entirely a different matter and whilst we may find them by searching through the ASIO files it will be a matter of luck to a great extent to find them.

We do, however, have one name as a starter, which is the name of a 'specialist' Soviet agent who ostensibly was to attend the Lapston Conference commencing on December 1st 1948.

VITALY PAVLOV

The Vitaly Pavlov on this photograph had quite a track record as a Soviet spy. From being found hidden in a cupboard in 1945 at the Ottawa, Canada home of the Soviet cipher clerk and defector Igor Gouzenko, to a rapid rise through the ranks of the Soviet Intelligence services, Vitaly is not a man to be taken lightly. He was an operative, a 'legal' resident in Canada to use the correct term. A member of the NKGB, he acted under the cover of being a Soviet Consular official. Interestingly, that was much like our friend Pavel Fedosimov. In fact if my memory serves me correctly, Pavel and Vitaly may have both been in Ottawa at around the same time in 1946, note for file, must remember to check that out. It was in 1946 that Viraly was declared 'persona non grata' by Canada and was soon on his way back to the mother country.

On 1947, Vitaly transferred to the then newly organised 'Directorate of illegal operations'. It was in that role that he was instrumental in setting up the illegal operations for a number of Soviet spies including William Fischer who became 'Rudolph Abel', a renowned Soviet Spy. The Fischer operation kicked off with his successful insertion into Canada in October 1948. Why is this relevant? Because it shows the Russian technique of creating false identities and setting up spy networks and infrastructures to support them and of course the direct involvement of our man Vitaly Pavlov. 

Let's be certain on this, we do not know whether the Pavlov at Lapstone was Vitaly Pavlov, but as a matter of interest, he arrived in Lapstone on 30th November and departed on 1st December which overlapped with the arrival of one Feodor Nosov, the head of the Sydney Office of the KGB at that time. Perhaps there was time for a quick operational review? I wouldn't have thought it was the done thing to have two high-end assets together in the same location for more than just a brief encounter, it might attract too much interest. We do not know for certain when he arrived in Australia.

Where does the attendee Pavlov fit into the scheme of things? Was he the 'specialised' agent needed to train field operatives in assassination techniques? Really not sure at the moment, early days. And of course, we must first clarify whether this is the right Vitaly. Time to dig deeper into the ASIO and MI5 files to see just what we can find. Will update this down the track as we bring a few more loose ends together.

This still leaves us without a name or location of the 'Group Leader', the man on the ground who gathered the intelligence from the field agents and communicated it to the man at the top, Feodor Nosov' head of the KGB station in Australia in 1948. There would be little doubt that he would be based in South Australia, but where?

FINAL RENDEZVOUS BONUS SCENE

The Petrov Defection