Erna Frida Eifler (born 31 August 1908, Berlin - died 8 April or 7 June 1944, Ravensbrück concentration camp) was a German steno typist secretary[1] who became a communist, resistance fighter, Soviet GRU agent (known as a Scout in Soviet parlance) and courier.
[2] In 1942, Eifler, along with GRU agent (and husband) Wilhelm Fellendorf, was trained by Soviet intelligence in sabotage, wireless telegraphy and parachuting.
[3][2] In May 1942, they were both parachuted into East Prussia by a Russian bomber,[4] with separate missions to contact members of a Berlin-based resistance organisation that was later known as the Red Orchestra ("Rote Kapelle") and conduct spying operations.
[7] During this period, she also worked as a stenographer in Wilhelm Bahnick's group in the BB apparatus (Betriebs-Beobachtung, operational observation department) of the KPD, while using the name "Gerda Sommer".
[6] On the night of 16–17 May 1942, Eifler parachuted into a location close to the city of Allenstein in East Prussia[7] with her husband, Wilhelm Fellendorf, and two other agents, Erwin Panndorf and Willi Börner, in a veritable suicide mission.
[12] Each group arrived with identity documents, food stamps, money and a wireless telegraphy radio set.
[6] However, Eifler found Stöbe was working in Dresden at the time and was unable to make contact with either Hübner or Wesolek.
[18][19] While there, Eifler and Fellendorf prepared a 5-page report titled: "General Staff of the Red Army, Dept.
They asked several questions in the report, which could only have been caused by betrayal from the "Moscow headquarters", namely, how did the Gestapo gain knowledge of their landing site, the real names of the parachutists and the incorrect information on the group that Eifler was supposed to contact and the non-functioning contact points in Berlin that Eifler was supposed to use.
It was undertaken for a number of reasons that included poisoning the source by conveying deceptive material, discovering important intelligence and identifying networks.