Alfred Tilton or Alfred Matisovich Tyltyn (russian: Альфред Матисович Тылтынь, lv, Alfrēds Tiltiņš; 4 March 1897 – 11 February 1942) was the head of

Soviet Military Intelligence The Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, rus, Гла́вное управле́ние Генера́льного шта́ба Вооружённых сил Росси́йской Федера́ци ...

(GRU) in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in the late 1920s. He is best remembered for having recruited Latvian-American

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

Nicholas Dozenberg Nicholas "Nick" Dozenberg ( lv, Nikolajs Dozenbergs; 15 November 1882 – 1954) was an American political functionary with the Communist Party USA in the 1920s. Late in 1927 Dozenberg was recruited into the underground GRU (Soviet Union), Soviet mil ...

to work for the GRU late in 1927.

Early life

Alfred Tilton was born on 4 March 1897, in Mežotne parish,

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

, then part of the

Russian empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

. Tilton was the son of peasants of ethnic Latvian descent."Al'fred Matisovich Tyltyn',"
Khronos website, Hrono.ru/ (In Russian). Retrieved 23 August 2010. A well-educated individual, Tilton eventually learned Russian, German, French, and English as well as his native Latvian.

Education

Tilton graduated from the Alexseev Military College in 1916.

Career

Tilton was a company commander in the Latvian 3rd Infantry Regiment, attaining the rank of Lieutenant. He also underwent

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) a ...

training in 1917. Tilton joined the Russian Communist Party in 1918 and was a Brigade Commander in the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

during the

Russian Civil War , date = October Revolution, 7 November 1917 – Yakut revolt, 16 June 1923{{Efn, The main phase ended on 25 October 1922. Revolt against the Bolsheviks continued Basmachi movement, in Central Asia and Tungus Republic, the Far East th ...

. Tilton was captured by the Poles during the 1920 invasion of Poland and held as a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...

, eventually gaining his repatriation to

Soviet Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

in a February 1921 prisoner exchange. Upon his return, Tilton was enrolled in the Military Academy of the Red Army, where he studied until 1922. Leaving the Military Academy in 1922, Tilton became an active participant in Soviet

military intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a ...

operations abroad. Tilton acted as the GRU's underground ''rezident'' (station head) in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

from 1922 to 1926. During this interval Tilton also took courses at the Polytechnic Institute of Air and Motors in Paris. Tilton worked for military intelligence in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

during 1926 and 1927 before being transferred to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, where he became the GRU's ''rezident.'' While in New York, Tilton and his wife, Maria, made use of a

cover story Cover story or Cover Story may refer to: * A magazine or newspaper article whose subject appears on that issue's front cover, and may be profiled in depth. * A fictitious explanation intended to hide one's real motive; see disinformation, cover-u ...

that they were Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Paquett, from

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

.Nicholas Dozenberg, Executive Session Testimony of 21 May 1940, in House Committee on Un-American Activities, ''Investigation of Un-American Propaganda Activities in the United States: Executive Hearings, Volume 2.'' Washington: US Government Printing Office, 1941; pg. 571. The pair also used the name Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Martin during this time. As part of his job in America, late in 1927 Tilton made the acquaintance of Workers (Communist) Party functionary

, convincing him to drop out from organized party activity and to go to work for the GRU. Tilton was recalled to the USSR in the summer of 1930. He served as the Assistant Commander of a mechanized brigade from July 1930 to March 1931 and was the head of Belorussian mechanized troops from March 1931 to March 1932. From March 1932 to June 1936, Tilton served as the Commander and

Commissar Commissar (or sometimes ''Kommissar'') is an English transliteration of the Russian (''komissar''), which means 'commissary'. In English, the transliteration ''commissar'' often refers specifically to the political commissars of Soviet and Eas ...

of the 5th Detached Mechanized Brigade in the town of

Borisov Borisov or Borisova may refer to: Places * Barysaw, or Borisov, Belarus ** Borisov Arena, a football stadium ** Battle of Borisov, 1812 * Borisov, Volgograd Oblast, Russia * Borišov, a mountain in Slovakia * Borisova, Perm Krai, Russia * Bor ...

. From June 1936 to November 1937, Tilton served in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

fighting in the defense of the Spanish Republic.

Arrest, death, and legacy

Tilton was arrested on 27 November 1937, during the height of the

Great Terror The Great Purge or the Great Terror (russian: Большой террор), also known as the Year of '37 (russian: 37-й год, translit=Tridtsat sedmoi god, label=none) and the Yezhovshchina ('period of Yezhov'), was Soviet General Secreta ...

. He did not immediately plead guilty to alleged crimes, however, only being sentenced on 15 December 1940, well after the fall of

Secret Police Secret police (or political police) are intelligence, security or police agencies that engage in covert operations against a government's political, religious, or social opponents and dissidents. Secret police organizations are characteristic of a ...

head Nikolai Ezhov. Tilton was sentenced to a term of 15 years imprisonment in a labor camp of the

Gulag The Gulag, an acronym for , , "chief administration of the camps". The original name given to the system of camps controlled by the GPU was the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps (, )., name=, group= was the government agency in ...

, a sentence which ultimately proved fatal due to the starvation-level of provisions allowed prisoners during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Personal life

Tilton died on 11 February 1942. Tilton was posthumously rehabilitated by the

Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and Premier of the Soviet Union, chairm ...

government on 26 March 1957.

Awards

Tilton was recipient of the

Order of the Red Banner The Order of the Red Banner (russian: Орден Красного Знамени, Orden Krasnogo Znameni) was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of th ...

on three separate occasions (1920, 1922, and 1928) and the

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (russian: Орден Ленина, Orden Lenina, ), named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was established by the Central Executive Committee on April 6, 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration b ...

in 1936.