Great Spies of the 20th Century

205 Pages·2016·6.68 MB·English

by  Patrick Pesnot

Confidant of ‘Mr X’ and the host of Heroes to some, traitors to others, spies and
Rendez-vous avec X, PATRICK PESNOT intelligence officers continue to fascinate
is a journalist and novelist. His non-fiction and enthral us with their abilities to operate
titles include works on Islamic terrorism and secretly in the shadows. With these mini-
Russian spies. He is also the author of an M i n i - b i o g r a p h i e s o f 2 0 a g e n t s biographies of twenty agents of various
nationalities (including members of the
historical novel, The Regent.
DGSE, KGB, CIA, MI6 and Mossad),
Patrick Pesnot and ‘Mr X’ bring the
V a r i o u s s e c r e t s e r V i c e s c o V e r e d ,
reader as close as possible into the world
of espionage, though a panorama of
i n c l u d i n g M i 6 , c i a , K g b e t c .
intelligence history.
Among the best known of these agents,
the reader will find Aldrich Ames, an
b o t h w e l l - K n o w n a n d M o r e o b s c u r e s p i e s American accused of spying for the KGB;
Eli Cohen, the Israeli spy best known for his
o f t h e l a s t 1 0 0 y e a r s
espionage work in Syria and Klaus Fuchs,
the German-born British agent who helped
the USSR to manufacture its atomic bomb
in 1949.
u s e s t h e s e c r e t d o s s i e r s o f ‘ M r X ’
Jacket design: Jon Wilkinson
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GREAT
SPIES
20
of the th century
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GREAT
SPIES
20
of the th century
PATRICK PESNOT
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First published in Great Britain in 2016 by
PEN & SWORD MILITARY
an imprint of
Pen and Sword Books Ltd
47 Church Street
Barnsley
South Yorkshire S70 2AS
Copyright © Patrick Pesnot, 2016
ISBN 978 1 47386 219 7
The right of Patrick Pesnot to be identified as the author of this work has been
asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying,
recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission
from the Publisher in writing.
Printed and bound in England by
CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY
Pen & Sword Books Ltd incorporates the imprints of Pen & Sword Archaeology,
Atlas, Aviation, Battleground, Discovery, Family History, History, Maritime,
Military, Naval, Politics, Railways, Select, Social History, Transport, True Crime,
and Claymore Press, Frontline Books, Leo Cooper, Praetorian Press, Remember
When, Seaforth Publishing and Wharncliffe.
For a complete list of Pen and Sword titles please contact
Pen and Sword Books Limited
47 Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, S70 2AS, England
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.pen-and-sword.co.uk
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Contents
Content 5
Acknowledgements 7
Author’s note 9
Chapter 1: Blunt: the Gentleman Spy 11
Chapter 2: Alger Hiss: Nixon’s bête noire 19
Chapter 3: Boulanger: Stalin’s Villain 27
Chapter 4: The Red Fox 35
Chapter 5: Mroz: the death of a little captain 41
Chapter 6: A tunnel to Berlin 49
Chapter 7: Penkovsky: Luring Cuban Missiles 57
Chapter 8: Nasser’s Rockets 65
Chapter 9: Lotz: saved by a little piece of skin... 73
Chapter 10: The Spy Who Hid Behind Another 81
Chapter 11: Cohen: the Damascus Hanging 89
Chapter 12: Blackmailed by a false Resistor 97
Chapter 13: Frauenknecht: The Mirage thief 103
Chapter 14: Gabriele Gast: West Germany’s Juliet 111
Chapter 15: Pham Xuan Ân: America’s False Friend 119
Chapter 16: The Guillaume Affair: A Conspiracy against Brandt 127
Chapter 17: Espionage, Science and Conscience 141
Chapter 18: Pollard: the Spy amongst friends 147
Chapter 19: The Polyakov Mystery 155
Chapter 20: ‘Baba’s’ box 163
Chapter 21: Yurchenko: false defector and genuine spy 171
Chapter 22: Aldrich Ames: the spy who hunted spies 179
Chapter 23: Hanssen: the man who never laughed 189
(Endnotes) 197
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Acknowledgements
Thank you to Rébecca Denantes, Yannick Dehée, Jean-Pierre Guéno, Ilinca Negulesco,
Catherine Pesnot and Sabine Sportouch.
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Author’s note
Spies have one particularity: they only talk about themselves once their identity has been
revealed. This means that in the dark world of intelligence, there are no doubt many
spies out there who have not yet been caught. Whether they are sleeper agents or active
moles, they remain hidden away.
The spies who feature in this book, be they heroic or pitiful, patriots or traitors,
disinterested or greedy, have been in the media spotlight and have often paid for their
secretive work either with their lives, or years of imprisonment. Yet they have rarely
revealed their secrets. The object of this new book, based on the revelations of ‘Mr X’,
is to clarify this matter.
More broadly, this ‘bouquet’ of spies of all nationalities brings us closer to the reality
of contemporary espionage and the existence of these intelligence minions, who have
entrusted their fate to those cold monsters of the secret services of powerful nations.
Patrick Pesnot
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