Spetsyalnye MEtody Razoblacheniya SHpyonov(Russ. Главное управление контрразведки) (Russian for Special Methods of Spy Detection), better known as SMERSH (Russ. Смерш), is a Soviet counterintelligence agency featured in Ian Fleming's early James Bond novels, introduced in the first novel Casion Royale. Many of the villains from the novels were affiliated with the organization, including Le Chiffre, Mr. Big, and Auric Goldfinger. Starting with the novel Thunderball, after Fleming predicted that the Cold War might end in two years time and decided that a more politically neutral villain was necessary, SMERSH was replaced by the terrorist organisation SPECTRE as 007's main nemesis.
In the film From Russia with Love, Bond is led to believe he is being targeted by SMERSH, but in reality the agency's leader, Rosa Klebb, is a member of SPECTRE who answers directly to Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
Trivia
- Fleming based SMERSH off of a real life Soviet Agency of the same name.
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