Alfred Tilton or Alfred Matisovich Tyltyn (, ; 4 March 1897 – 11 February 1942) was the head of

Soviet Military Intelligence Main Intelligence Directorate ( rus, Главное разведывательное управление, Glavnoye razvedyvatel'noye upravleniye, ˈglavnəjə rɐzˈvʲɛdɨvətʲɪlʲnəjə ʊprɐˈvlʲenʲɪjə), abbreviated GRU ( rus, ГР ...

(GRU) in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

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

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

Nicholas Dozenberg to work for the GRU late in 1927.

Early life

Alfred Tilton was born on 4 March 1897, in

Mežotne parish Mežotne () is a village in the Mežotne Parish of Bauska Municipality in the Semigallia region of Latvia, 10 km west of Bauska and 40 km south of the capital of Latvia, Riga. It is located on the left bank of the Lielupe river near ...

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

, then part of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. 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 training in 1917. Tilton joined the

Russian Communist Party Communist Party of Russia might refer to: * Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, founded in 1898 – the forerunner of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) * Communist Party of the Soviet Union, formally established in 1912 and known origina ...

in 1918 and was a Brigade Commander in the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

during the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

. 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 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 war for a ...

, eventually gaining his repatriation to

Soviet Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

in a February 1921 prisoner exchange. Upon his return, Tilton was enrolled in the

Military Academy of the Red Army The M. V. Frunze Military Academy (), or in full the Military Order of Lenin and the October Revolution, Red Banner, Order of Suvorov Academy in the name of M. V. Frunze (), was a military academy of the Soviet and later the Russian Armed Forces ...

, 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 List of intelligence gathering disciplines, approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist Commanding officer, commanders in decision making pr ...

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

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

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 lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

during 1926 and 1927 before being transferred to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, where he became the GRU's ''rezident.'' While in New York, Tilton and his wife, Maria, made use of a cover story that they were Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Paquett, from

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

.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 The Workers Party of America (WPA) was the name of the legal party organization used by the Communist Party USA from December 1921 until the middle of 1929. Background As a legal political party, the Workers Party accepted affiliation from inde ...

functionary Nicholas Dozenberg, 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 ...

of the 5th Detached Mechanized Brigade in the town of Borisov. From June 1936 to November 1937, Tilton served in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

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 (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the assassination of Sergei Kirov by Leonid Nikolaev ...

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

Secret Police image:Putin-Stasi-Ausweis.png, 300px, Vladimir Putin's secret police identity card, issued by the East German Stasi while he was working as a Soviet KGB liaison officer from 1985 to 1989. Both organizations used similar forms of repression. Secre ...

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

Gulag The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...

, 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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

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 the Premier of the Soviet Union, Chai ...

government on 26 March 1957.

Awards

Tilton was recipient of the

Order of the Red Banner The Order of the Red Banner () was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. It was the highest award of S ...

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

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (, ) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet ...

in 1936.