Editing Reinhard Heydrich (section)

===Red Army purges===
In 1936, Heydrich learned that a top-ranking Soviet officer was plotting to overthrow [[Joseph Stalin]]. Sensing an opportunity to strike a blow at both the Soviet Army and [[Admiral Canaris]] of Germany's [[Abwehr]], Heydrich decided that the Soviet officer should be "unmasked".{{sfn|Williams|2001|p=85}} He discussed the matter with Himmler and both in turn brought it to Hitler's attention. Hitler approved Heydrich's plan to act immediately. But the "information" Heydrich had received was actually misinformation planted by Stalin himself in an attempt to legitimise his planned purges of the [[Red Army]]'s high command. Stalin ordered one of his best [[NKVD]] agents, General [[Nikolai Skoblin]], to pass Heydrich false information suggesting that Marshal [[Mikhail Tukhachevsky]] and other Soviet generals were plotting against Stalin.{{sfn|Blandford|2001|p=112}}

Heydrich's SD forged documents and letters implicating Tukhachevsky and other Red Army commanders. The material was delivered to the NKVD.{{sfn|Williams|2001|p=85}} The [[Great Purge]] of the Red Army followed on Stalin's orders. While Heydrich believed they had deluded Stalin into executing or dismissing 35,000 of his officer corps, the importance of Heydrich's part is a matter of conjecture.{{sfn|Williams|2001|p=88}} Soviet military prosecutors did not use SD forged documents against the generals in their secret trial; they instead relied on false confessions extorted or beaten out of the defendants.{{sfn|Conquest|2008|pp=200–202}}