Police officials in the fight against espionage: unread pages of the history of the First World War

Aim. Reconstruction of the counterintelligence history of the general police in the context of its fight against German and Austrian espionage in the front-line and rear cities of the Russian Empire during the First World War. Methodology. The focus of research interest was the documentary materials of the Omsk Historical Archive, the State Archive of the Russian Federation and the Russian Military Historical Archive. The documents of the last of them are unique and are of particular scientific interest, since they were collected “bit by bit” in the voluminous records management of wartime counterintelligence departments, and have not previously been published. Research tools are represented by such scientific methods as: descriptive, problem-chronological, analysis and synthesis of primary sources, historical reconstruction, logical. Results. The author reconstructed the little-known and little-episode history of the participation of the general police on the “invisible front” of the First World War. Most of its personnel were represented by those who selflessly fulfilled their professional and official duty, but there were unscrupulous officials, and sometimes even traitors. The emphasis was placed on the successful practice of cooperation between police and army counterintelligence units. The police solved diverse problems in the fight against espionage, including using the techniques of operational investigative activities. At the same time, it was concluded that counterintelligence (police) control was ineffective in identifying politically disloyal persons, and mainly those who did not have identity documents or had false documents in the city of Riga and on the island of Ezel as strategically important defense lines in Livonia and Estland. Research implications. This article lays the theoretical foundations for further fundamental research on the history of domestic internal affairs bodies and intelligence services during wars and armed conflicts with the participation of Russia.