Richard Zorger - The Merits and Tragedy of a Secret Agent

Author: Yang Guoguang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-06-01
Features: This book describes the achievements and tragedies of Richard Sorge as a famous Soviet secret intelligence officer during World War II. Based on newly declassified materials, it recreates a little-known piece of history. Sorge, a renowned Soviet intelligence operative during World War II, led an operation group codenamed "Ramza" in Tokyo. Using his public identity as a German journalist and his relationship with the German Ambassador to Japan, Otto, he gathered a significant amount of valuable intelligence. On November 18, 1940, he first sent an alert from Tokyo to Moscow: "Germany has begun preparations for war against the USSR." There were still seven months left before the war. The outbreak and progress of the- war fully confirmed Sorge's correctness. The strategic intelligence Sorge sent back on October 4, 1941, is considered a model in the history of world espionage: "After September 15, 1941, the Far East of the USSR can be considered safe, and the threat from Japan has been eliminated. Japan will not launch a war against the USSR but will instead declare war on the United States." This decision led Stalin to withdraw elite forces from the Eastern Front to reinforce the Moscow campaign, saving Moscow and the USSR. In this sense, Sorge turned the entire tide of the war and altered the course of World War II. This book, based on newly declassified materials, recreates this little-known piece of history.