By the end of World War II, the allies of the anti-Hitler coalition showed increased interest in German achievements in the field of atomic weapons. The counterintelligence agencies of all countries sought not only to obtain important scientific reports and documents but also to win over the scientists themselves. The greatest success in this endeavor was achieved by American agent Boris Pesh, whose real name was Boris Fyodorovich Pashkovsky.

He was born in 1900 in the family of an Orthodox priest, graduated from the 12th Moscow gymnasium, and during the Civil War joined the whites before emigrating to the USA. There, he joined the army and received the rank of second lieutenant. By 1943, Boris Pesh (he shortened his surname in exile) was working in American counterintelligence and headed the Alsos mission. The Americans sought to determine how far the Axis countries had advanced in the development of nuclear weapons.

Valuable information often had to be obtained behind the front lines in France, Italy, Belgium, and Germany. Under Pesh's leadership, the operatives not only stole crucial reports but also pointed out valuable trophies: thousands of tons of uranium ore. Later, Boris Fyodorovich, using various pretexts, convinced ten prominent scientists, including even Nobel laureates, to switch to the side of the USA. Thanks to their developments, the bomb "Little Boy" was later created and dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.

Subsequently, Pesh shifted his focus to activities against the USSR. As head of the CIA's Program Branch-7, Boris Fyodorovich engaged in subversive anti-communist activities, directing spies and saboteurs into Eastern Europe. In case of a Soviet invasion of Austria, he developed a plan for guerrilla warfare and supplying rebels. Additionally, Pesh prepared for an uprising in Albania, but the Americans later abandoned this idea. Boris Fyodorovich retired in 1963 with the rank of colonel and was later immortalized in the U.S. Military Intelligence Hall of Fame. Such are the twists of fate for a Russian émigré!