Who was the Soviet Union’s most successful spy master?

Spying, or covert frontline personnel, is an ancient profession. There will be many active spies in any country or era. In war years, spies are of even greater significance to both sides of the war. They are like eyes placed in the enemy camp and can even influence the situation of the war.

Hidden Front

During World War II, a large number of famous spies emerged. Due to the special nature of espionage work, some of them remained unknown until their death, while Some are famous in history and leave behind many legendary stories.

Rudolf Abel was the most legendary Soviet spy master in the 20th century. He was known as the "King of Spies" of the KGB and was known as the "Man with a Thousand Faces." He had been lurking in Germany and the United States for decades. He was famous for continuously delivering a large amount of top-secret intelligence to the Soviet Union.

Rudolf Abel

Abel was born in Benville, Newcastle, England in 1903. His parents fled to Britain during the Tsarist Russia. Soviet Russia was founded in 1917. Abel returned to Moscow with his family in 1921. In 1925, Abel joined the Soviet Red Army and trained and served in the Soviet Radio Battalion. Because Abel was born and raised in the UK and is originally from Soviet Russia, and his father is a German-Russian, he is proficient in 6 languages ??including Russian, English, German, and Polish, and all have authentic accents without an accent.

Not only has language talent, Abel has made achievements in photography, painting, music, science, and culture. What is the best thing for a person who is proficient in 6 languages ??commonly used in Europe, knows radio, is versatile, and is worthy of war? Of course, he is the perfect spy. In 1927, Abel was selected by the Soviet State Political Security Service, the predecessor of the KGB, and sent to the United Kingdom, Norway, France, etc. to perform intelligence missions. He received intelligence training and officially became a professional spy of the "KGB".

Soviet KGB badge

At the end of 1939, after the German army invaded Poland, the Soviet Union decided to send spies into the Nazis. Abel was selected and entered Latvia disguised as a German expatriate, officially starting his career. The path of a legendary spy on the European battlefield. When Abel first arrived in Germany, he was just an ordinary person with almost no connections. In less than four years, he entered the core position of the Nazi intelligence department.

The Nazis had two well-known intelligence agencies, one was the German SS and the other was the state secret police (the Gestapo). Abel was deeply trusted by both organizations with his ability, and he also made full use of it. The conflict between the German SS and the Gestapo led to the two parties playing tricks on each other and providing the Soviet Union with a large amount of the most secret Nazi information.

Gestapo leader Himmler (middle)

While Abel was lurking in Germany, he had two of the most legendary spy experiences. The first was to help the Soviet Union wipe out all the German troops who were wreaking havoc in its territory, and the second was to provide the Soviet Union with a list of more than 1,000 spies planted by the Nazis in various countries.

In the summer of 1944, German Army Chief of Staff Krebs worked with the Nazi intelligence agency to formulate the "Tornado" plan, which attempted to secretly transport a German army deep into the rear of the Soviet Union and destroy the Soviet railways. and important transportation facilities. The first strike location was chosen in the Carpathian Mountains of the Soviet Union, and was carried out by a 30-man elite force led by Captain Schwarzburg of the German Army.

After Abel mastered the information, he notified the Soviet Union of the plan and made careful arrangements to disguise his spy subordinates as Captain Schwarzburg, airdrop to the Soviet Union, and join the 30-man German army. Then they brought all the people into the Soviet ambush circle and captured them all, which bankrupted Germany's sabotage plan in the rear of the Soviet Union.

German Soldiers in World War II

Abel’s second most famous action took place on the eve of the Nazis’ defeat. At that time, Nazi Germany had an ambitious plan to select more than 1,000 Nazi spies and have them undergo plastic surgery to look like prisoners held in concentration camps. They would then kill these prisoners and finally release the pretended Nazi spies to make them look like prisoners. The new identity is lurking in various European countries, waiting for opportunities to cause destruction.

This information was learned by Abel, and the information of more than 1,000 people, as well as their photos after plastic surgery, were all taken with micro cameras and sent back to the Soviet Union through secret channels. After the defeat of Nazi Germany, these lurking Most of the spies were captured.

After the victory of World War II in 1945, Abel was able to return to the Soviet Union. However, because he was the most successful spy in the Soviet Union at that time, Abel received a new order in 1946 to lurk in the United States. However, Abel's identity was eventually revealed over a 5-cent coin.

Rudolf Abel

One night in the summer of 1953, 13-year-old paperboy James Boza was delivering newspapers door-to-door in Brooklyn. He received many 5-cent bills. coin. On the way home, James accidentally slipped a coin in his hand. He chased after him and stepped on the coin with his foot. Unexpectedly, the coin was cracked by the step.

This five-cent coin was obviously fake. It was glued shut like a small box, and a small roll of microfilm fell out of it. This was the method used by Soviet spies to deliver information. Some careless Soviet spy in Brooklyn mixed up the coins and gave them to James by mistake. James' sister's boyfriend happened to be a police officer and immediately gave the film to the FBI. Although the film was not deciphered, it was certain that there was a spy hidden in Brooklyn. The agents began a secret investigation, but progress was slow.

The image of Abel in the movie

Four years later, in 1957, the FBI arrested several Soviet spies. One of them could not withstand coercion and inducement and confessed to the Soviet Union in the United States. The spy chief is a man named Mark, and Mark is Abel. Although the person's exact address and real name are unknown, Mark lives in Brooklyn. The FBI then thought about the five-cent coin incident four years ago, and the two things coincided. It turned out that there was a big fish hidden in Brooklyn.

Soon, FBI agents began to re-conduct the search, narrowing the scope little by little, and finally focused on the painter Emil Goldfuss, who was Abel. Abel also learned in advance that a Soviet spy had been arrested, and worried that his identity would be exposed, he changed places in advance, but was eventually captured by U.S. agents.

Abel was arrested and tried

Before his arrest, Abel had destroyed some top-secret intelligence and code books, but he was still sentenced to 30 years. Since Abel was known as the "King of Spies" of the Soviet Union and mastered a large number of core secrets of the Soviet Union, the Soviet Union had been trying every means to rescue Abel. Abel always believed that the Soviet Union would save him in prison. The opportunity finally came four years later.

In 1960, an American reconnaissance aircraft was shot down while secretly spying on the Soviet Union. Pilot Bowers survived and was captured. So the Soviet Union negotiated with the United States with Bowles, and finally the two sides reached an agreement to exchange the spy Abel and the captive Bowles. In 1962, at the border of East and West Germany, the United States and the Soviet Union exchanged hostages at the same time, and Abel returned to the Soviet Union.

Abel returned to the Soviet Union

Abel returned to the Soviet Union and became a national hero. After coming to the forefront from the hidden front, Abel taught all his lifelong knowledge of intelligence to the younger generation. Abel died in Moscow in 1971 at the age of 68.