Sasha Filippov - Espionage Activities

Espionage Activities

When the initial Wehrmacht assault on Stalingrad resulted in battalions of the German 6th Army quickly overrunning suburbs of the city, many Russian families were caught unaware and found themselves unable to flee in time. One such family was the Filippovs.

While his family stayed indoors, Filippov went out and began talking with the German soldiers, such as Major Erwin König a German sniper who was hunting a Russian sniper, the famous Vassili Zaitsev. He found out where the headquarters for the German staff was and proceeded to offer his services as a cobbler to the officers of the invading forces. He was informed that his services would be useful and soon he was a regular sight behind the German lines, repairing and polishing shoes and boots for the officers and soldiers. Unbeknownst to the Germans, however, he had also gone to Red Army headquarters to offer his services as a spy.

Working under the conspiratorial name of 'schoolboy', Filippov would remove documents from the desks of German officers, report German conversations and enemy troop movements, and describe what German military activity he could see to Russian officers, all while mending footwear for the German Army. From this information, more precise attacks could be made on troop concentrations and the Wehrmacht headquarters located in the Dar Gora area was even shelled one night by Russian artillery, thanks to Filippov providing the exact firing coordinates.

Filippov's parents never knew the details of his work as a double agent at the time. They knew only that their son was working for the Red Army in some fashion, though not exactly how.