frontline combat on both the eastern and western fronts. In July 1917,
a fierce engagement in Flanders led to his capture by the British. Al-
though ill-informed about Germany’s political situation upon return-
ing to Königsberg in late 1919—and taking no part in the November
Revolution—Illner soon joined most of his family in the new Kom-
munistische Partei Deutschlands (KPD). Despite his rapid rise in the
local woodworkers’ union, his greater desire was to put his military
skills to use on behalf of the party. First in the Königsberg area and
then in the Ruhr, Illner showed such ability in organizing the trans-
port of weapons that in October 1923 the KPD ordered him to termi-
nate his vocational and union responsibilities and become a member
of the military-political apparatus.
Assigned to Berlin the following year, he worked for the GRU
(Soviet military intelligence) disguised as an employee of the Soviet
Trade Commission. But the stabilization of the Weimar Republic
soon brought an end to armed revolutionary activity, and Illner was
among those selected for further training in Moscow. Since a warrant
for his arrest had been issued, he chose the name Richard Stahlmann
to mask his identity before leaving Berlin. After becoming a citizen
of the USSR and a member of the Soviet Communist Party, he stud-
ied at the GRU’s newly established school for undercover agents,
completing the course in April 1925.
Sent to China in 1927, Stahlmann was to assist the communist Chi-
nese forces with their planned insurrection in Canton and attempt to
persuade Kuomintang soldiers to defect. In the debacle that resulted,
he escaped and returned to Moscow, bringing with him members of
the Chinese delegation (including Chou En-lai) to the Comintern’s
sixth World Congress. In June 1928, Stahlmann was designated a
member of the Comintern’s Military Conspiracy Commission, which
attempted to plant communist cells in the standing armed forces of
West European countries. His missions achieved only limited results.
In Czechoslovakia, he had to flee after an initial success, while Great
Britain never opened its doors to him. After six months in Alsace-
Lorraine, a border incident forced his return to Moscow in the sum-
mer of 1931.
Wanted by police throughout Europe, he enrolled in the training
course at the International Lenin School, where he came into contact
with Wilhelm Zaisser and Erich Mielke, both later heads of the
STAHLMANN, RICHARD • 435