SMERSH (fictional)
SMERSH (in capitalised letters) was featured in Ian Fleming's early James Bond novels and films as 007's nemesis. SMERSH is a conjunction of two Russian words: "Smyert Shpionam", which means "Death to Spies". Though Fleming's SMERSH was supposed to be modelled on the real Smersh organisation, the novels had SMERSH as a massive Soviet counterintelligence operation aimed at sending operatives abroad to subvert the west with an additional goal of killing western spies, particularly Bond.
The novel, Casino Royale, breaks SMERSH down into five departments:
- Department I: In charge of counterintelligence among Soviet organizations at home and abroad.
- Department II: Operations, including executions.
- Department III: Administration and finance.
- Department IV: Investigations and legal work. Personnel.
- Department V: Prosecutions — the section which passes final judgment on all victims.
Villains in the Bond novels who were SMERSH agents include Le Chiffre in Casino Royale; Colonel General Grubozaboyschikov, Colonel Rosa Klebb and Donovan Grant in From Russia with Love, and Mr. Big in Live and Let Die.
In later books, as well as in the James Bond movies, Bond's archenemy became S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Film versions of books in which SMERSH was featured either substituted S.P.E.C.T.R.E or made the villains independent operatives though in From Russia with Love Bond initially thinks he is combatting SMERSH only to find that the film's villains are actually working for SPECTRE. For the film version of The Living Daylights, the expanded plot (an extension of the short story) was based around a faked re-activation of SMERSH, it having been defunct for twenty years prior to the film (as claimed by General Pushkin). A joking reference to SMERSH also appears in the spoof film, Casino Royale.
See Also