The collection contains documents of Soviet military intelligence from January 1939 to June 1941, many of which are published for the first time. The published materials provide a fairly complete picture of the activities of the Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Red Army during this period. They show the role of military intelligence in informing the Soviet leadership regarding the aggressive plans of Nazi Germany and its allies and provide an opportunity to more fully understand the complex events and problems of that time, in particular, why the tragic events of the initial period of the Great Patriotic War became possible.