Summary of Steve Vogel's Betrayal in Berlin

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 Black Friday was the name given to the American loss of intelligence on the Soviet Union in 1948, when the Soviets began changing their cryptographic systems. It was the worst intelligence loss in American history.

#2 The CIA was still trying to figure out how to spy on the Soviet Union, as they had no agents inside the country. They began parachuting Russians who had fled the USSR back into the country, but almost all of them were arrested.

#3 The Berlin tunnel was born out of this fear. The CIA had been given the task of centralizing and coordinating American intelligence, but its true mission was to get early warning of a Soviet attack.

#4 Rowlett was one of the top codebreakers in American history, and he was extremely frustrated by the loss of Soviet radio traffic. He had played a key role in designing the cipher machine SIGABA, which had saved thousands of American lives during World War II by protecting military communications.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Jun 3, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822529335

IRB Media

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Insights on Steve Vogel's Betrayal in Berlin

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

Black Friday was the name given to the American loss of intelligence on the Soviet Union in 1948, when the Soviets began changing their cryptographic systems. It was the worst intelligence loss in American history.

#2

The CIA was still trying to figure out how to spy on the Soviet Union, as they had no agents inside the country. They began parachuting Russians who had fled the USSR back into the country, but almost all of them were arrested.

#3

The Berlin tunnel was born out of this fear. The CIA had been given the task of centralizing and coordinating American intelligence, but its true mission was to get early warning of a Soviet attack.

#4

Rowlett was one of the top codebreakers in American history, and he was extremely frustrated by the loss of Soviet radio traffic. He had played a key role in designing the cipher machine SIGABA, which had saved thousands of American lives during World War II by protecting military communications.

#5

In 1951, Rowlett and Harvey discussed the lost intelligence caused by the Soviets’ Black Friday shift to landlines. They thought that Vienna and Berlin might be good targets for an operation on a larger scale than Vienna.

#6

In 1951, the CIA began planning to tap the telephone cables between Moscow and its military headquarters in Germany, Austria, Poland, and Hungary. The proximity of the cables in Berlin suggested a long shot possibility of digging a tunnel.

#7

The team in Washington asked Gerald Fellon, a civil engineer in the CIA’s Office of Communications, to meet with them and discuss a mysterious new project. They wanted to build a tunnel in Berlin. Fellon knew more than anyone else at the agency, and he said it was possible.

#8

In the fall of 1951, three Russian visitors arrived in Manpo in a large black sedan. They spoke with one of the Western prisoners, George Blake, and asked him to sign a statement condemning the war. He refused. The next morning, Blake was brought to meet with the Russians. He offered his services to the Soviets.

#9

The Russians also met with the other Western civilians, and Blake would often disappear for what his fellow prisoners assumed were similar sessions with Blondie. Blake made a point of being more contemptuous than any of the captives.

#10

Blake’s father, Albert, had served in World War I with the British Army and was seriously wounded in France on the Western Front. He had been stationed with the army in Holland helping to repatriate POWs after the armistice was signed. His father’s health had not been good since the war, when he was exposed to mustard gas.

#11

George’s mother decided he should go to Egypt, and he left in September 1936. He spent time with his cousin Henri, who was a left-wing political activist, and his uncle Max, a playboy.

#12

In the spring of 1940, the Dutch city of Rotterdam was attacked by German bombers, and the country surrendered the next day. The Dutch relatives thought it best that George, now sixteen, stay in Holland and attend school there. But within two weeks, the village constable came to arrest him as a British citizen.

#13

In 1941, George joined the Dutch resistance, traveling around Holland by bicycle and train to deliver parcels, messages, and intelligence about the German military. It was a dangerous job, but his boyish looks helped him pass inspections.

#14

In the summer of 1942, George, after escaping from the Nazis, reached Paris. He was given the name of a Dominican monk in Paris who could help him further, and the next day he boarded a train headed to the French capital. He kept his British passport hidden in a loaf of bread and was told there would be no check crossing from Belgium into occupied France.

#15

George was eventually sent to the home of a Dominican monk, who in turn brought him to a couple who kept him for several weeks. The couple arranged for him to meet with a resistance leader known as the Belgian, who gave George a false French identity card and a house address in the village of Salies de Bearned, in southwestern France.

#16

Following instructions, George traveled to Lyon, where he was given a British travel document showing him to be sixteen years old. He applied for the Spanish visa, but was forced to flee France when German forces entered the country. He reached the Spanish border and was safe.

#17

After two months in Spanish captivity, Blake was released and