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Smokescreens SLOVENIA See Yugoslavia SMERSH “Smert shpionam” (“death to spies”) Red Army counterintelligence Smersh was established in mid-April 1943, in preparation for retaking territory under German occupation and for the coming counterinvasion of central Europe and Germany that followed It was primarily concerned with rooting out and killing Hiwis, Osttruppen, collaborators —real and imagined—of all types, and nationalist or other anti-Soviet partisans Smersh set up field courts to sift through liberated populations, for whom guilt and collaboration were assumed until proved otherwise Thus began restoration of the old Stalinist terror even as the tide of Nazi terror receded from benighted lands where 130 million people were trapped between the two greatest tyrannies of modern times At the end of the war 1.8 million Soviet prisoners of war ended up in special Smersh detention camps, one of which was the former death camp at Sachsenhausen For years after the war it was used by Smersh as a detention center for Soviet prisoners who were suspect solely by virtue of their captivity by the Germans See also Brest-Litovsk; Russian Liberation Army (ROA); Vlasovites SMITH, HOLLAND (1882–1967) “Howlin’ Mad.” U.S general Smith was an irascible, angry, often drunk, but also inspiring leader of the U.S Marine Corps during World War II He was instrumental in the Corp’s development of amphibious warfare doctrine and capabilities On the other hand, he instigated a damaging controversy when he relived a U.S Army general in command of 27th Infantry Division on Saipan That caused bitter animosity between the Corps and the Army to the end of the war It was probably an avoidable decision Smith fought in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands campaign and at Iwo Jima SMITH, WALTER BEDELL (1895–1961) “Beetle.” American general A veteran of World War II, Smith served as a low-ranking officer on the planning staff in Washington as late as April 1941 As chief of staff to General Dwight Eisenhower, Bedell Smith was as rapidly promoted during the war as was his boss He was also nearly as involved in every key decision and operation carried out in North Africa, Sicily, and Northwestern Europe He was a tough and powerful aide to Eisenhower His service as chief of staff has generally been judged successful and important SMOKESCREENS Most ships, tanks, and artillery of the major combatants had some capacity to lay down smokescreens by firing smoke shells In the U.S Army smokescreens were produced in two other ways The Chemical Warfare Service (CWS) fielded smoke generator companies that used large M1 or small M2 smoke generators to produce a fog of condensed water and oil—not a smoke screen per se, but deployed as such This was first done during the TORCH landings in 995
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