ABSTRACT
Close to the end of 1940, the head of the Soviet chief intelligence directorate (GRU) General Golikov summoned his deputies and issued two orders that were puzzling at first glance. First, the analytics department of the military intelligence was charged with a task of compiling weekly data on the situation in the European sheep industry, including amounts of mutton sold by the producers and the volatility of prices. The second order required Soviet undercover operatives to collect oily rags discarded by the German troops after cleaning their weapons, especially in the Eastern part of Europe. Both of these orders were immediately implemented by the GRU, an organization so secretive that the mere existence of it was not acknowledged by the Soviet government until 1991.
