Chapter 319 The man who saved Moscow

"Because knowing the opponent's deployment is the key to winning a war, the use of intelligence personnel has become a common method in modern warfare." - Dwight David Eisenhower

If there were a list of spies who changed the destiny of the country, the course of the war, and even the direction of human history, then Richard Sorge, who was dubbed the "Red Spy King", would definitely be at the top of the list. The location is well deserved, bar none.

Sorge, who participated in World War I as a German soldier, fought on both the Eastern and Western fronts. Both France in the west and Russia in the east had battles with Sorge's troops.

Sorge, who fought bravely and was not afraid of strong enemies, was awarded the Iron Cross Second Class and was promoted to sergeant. However, he was wounded in a battle and was carried off the line of fire and sent to the University Hospital of Königsberg. The turning point in life thereafter.

The fighting was in full swing on the front line but the rear was full of singing and dancing. "The flowers in the backyard were still singing across the river", which made Sorge, who had always believed in the justice and loyalty oath in his heart, doubt his belief for the first time.

"Although we fought tooth and nail on the battlefield, none of my comrades and I understood the true purpose and intentions of the war, let alone the far-reaching significance of this war that was dubbed "justice."

During the long night of extreme confusion, Sorge accidentally came into contact with communism for the first time.

In that era of confusion and confusion shrouded by the collapse of faith shrouded in extreme darkness, Sorge happily believed that communism was a light that broke through the night and would guide him in the right direction for the future.

After the war, Sorge completed all relevant courses at the Department of Economics at the University of Berlin and his doctorate in national law and society at the University of Kiel and successfully graduated. Shortly thereafter, he joined the newly established German Communist Party.

In 1924, Sorge, who had strengthened his faith, took his wife to the red holy land of communism in his heart - Moscow, the capital of the Soviet Union, for the first time.

Sorge, who had completed all his espionage training in the Soviet Union, set off within a few years to carry out the next phase of his work in China, where communism had just emerged.

During the five years of working in China, Sorge traveled all over the country. Because of his German doctorate, he made extensive friends with celebrities from all walks of life and powerful warlords in China at that time. Even Chairman Chiang Kai-shek at the time was impressed by Sorge's elegant way of life. Deeply impressed by his approach, he invited Sorge to his private residence in the suburbs to talk freely about major events in the East and West and the international situation. Sorge, who was widely respected in the upper class society, became Chairman Chiang's "guest and close friend". .

In 1931, after systematically sorting out all the intelligence he had collected in recent years, Sorge came to a very critical and correct conclusion - "The next target of the Japanese army is still China, not the Soviet Union."

This piece of intelligence sent back to Moscow by Sorge played a very critical role in the subsequent strategic layout of the Soviet Union. It allowed the Soviet top brass who knew little about the high-level Japanese military strategy to systematically understand the future strategic direction and intentions of the Japanese military for the first time. In terms of military The strategic deployment and political and diplomatic response attitude will naturally be more comfortable.

While reporting detailed information on the Japanese army at all levels and in all aspects to Moscow, Sorge also informed our party, which was in trouble at that time, on the movements of the Kuomintang troops.

The Kuomintang intelligence it provided to our party was so detailed that it even included the latest purchased weapon models, arrival dates and equipment units. When the Kuomintang army equipped with new weapons purchased overseas had not yet completed training and formed effective combat effectiveness, the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army I have obtained all the detailed data and relevant intelligence on the weapons that I will face against my opponents in the future.

In the second half of 1932, Sorge was recalled to Moscow, ending his five-year trip to China ahead of schedule.

In his diary, Sorge, who was feeling all his experiences in China, once wrote such a passage.

"If it were not for the noble cause and belief, I would really like to stay in China forever. There is no doubt that I have fallen deeply in love with this country now."

After the "September 18th Incident", due to the need for strategic decision-making, Sorge, who was the most knowledgeable about Japan among the Soviet espionage personnel, was immediately ordered to be sent to Japan with the aim of collecting any Japanese strategic intentions towards the Soviet Union and China. and high-level decision-making, including the Emperor of Japan.

Relying on the cover of his status as a German doctor, Sorge, who has a good relationship with the German Ambassador to Japan Ott, can be said to have unhindered access to Japan's top management and come and go as he pleases. So much so that even senior Japanese people and celebrities in Tokyo had to queue up according to their schedules if they wanted to invite the elegant Sorge. Being able to invite Dr. Sorge from Germany to attend the banquet was a very honorable thing in Tokyo, Japan at that time.

In 1937, after learning that Japan had captured Nanjing, Sorge briefly returned to China and witnessed with his own eyes all the cruel atrocities committed by the Japanese army in Nanjing with extreme indignation.

Sorge, who worked part-time as a reporter for Germany's Frankfurter Zeitung, recorded all these scenes on his camera and sent them back to Germany and the Soviet Union as evidence, leaving a trail of evidence for later revelations of the Japanese army's inhumane and unconfessed atrocities. irrefutable evidence.

By 1938, Sorge, who was already at home in Japan's top leadership, obtained extremely important first-hand information before Japan's war preparations were completed, and then sent it back to Moscow.

Knowing that the Japanese Kwantung Army was actively preparing for a northward invasion, the Soviet Red Army greatly increased its alert and relied on Sorge's accurate intelligence to complete all combat preparations before the Japanese Kwantung Army.

In the last month before the Battle of Nomenhan broke out, Sorge, who was running around, had obtained all the key information about the Kwantung Army's troop deployment, weapons and equipment, war supplies and even the route the baggage transportation line would take, and promptly issued Back to Moscow.

Zhukov, the God of War of the Red Army, holding the intelligence provided by Sorge, beat up the Japanese Kwantung Army without any suspense, cured the Japanese's arrogance and dissatisfaction, and completely gave up the idea of ​​the Japanese army going north to cooperate with Germany in invading the Soviet Union.

When Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, was launched, Sorge's espionage career reached its most glorious peak in rewriting history.

The Tokyo Conference of the Japanese Supreme Command held on August 23, 1941, made a national policy-level decision that "it is not appropriate to declare war on the Soviet Union or launch any military operations this year", and it was personally approved by Emperor Hirohito.

Sorge, who successfully obtained this extremely important information, did not dare to neglect anything and used the telegraph machine of the German Embassy in Japan to send it back to Moscow overnight.

Stalin, who trusted Sorge's choice, finally made the decision to urgently transfer 11 elite divisions totaling 250,000 people originally deployed in Siberia to prevent the Japanese Kwantung Army from moving north to the Moscow front line using the railway transportation network to support the battle.

And in the end, with the addition of this fully-equipped force, the arrogant Marshal Bock and the German Army Group Center were successfully blocked under the city of Moscow. For the first time, the German army's previously undefeated blitzkrieg offensive was completely crushed. It is not an exaggeration to say that Sorge saved Moscow in the winter.