Stalin's Spy: Richard Sorge and the Tokyo Espionage Ring [Hardcover]

Robert Whymant (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1998

Richard Sorge was one of the most successful international spies of modern times. Born to a Russian mother and German father, he ran a highly sophisticated espionage ring under the noses of Japan's infamous secret police. He penetrated the German embassy in Tokyo as a trusted Nazi journalist and rapidly established himself as a confidant of the ambassador, privy to highly secret information of a military and political nature relayed from Berlin. From 1933 until he was finally caught late in 1941, Sorge transmitted a steady stream of priceless information to Red Army intelligence (GRU). His group of dedicated men and women not only kept Stalin informed about German and Japanese intentions, but also exerted considerable influence on decisions made by both governments.

In one of several intelligence coups, Sorge told Stalin of the planned German invasion of the Soviet Union--intelligence that the Soviet leader disbelieved and disregarded. Later in the same year he reported, via the network's clandestine transmitter, that the Japanese had decided against attacking Siberia. Sorge's prediction that Japan had opted for war with America and Britain, rather than with the Soviet Union, enabled Stalin to concentrate on saving Moscow from the German advance--and thus contributed significantly to the defeat of Nazism. Ultimately abandoned to his fate by Stalin, Sorge became the first European to be sentenced to death by a Japanese court. After a prolonged ordeal, he was executed in Sugamo prison in 1944.

Using hitherto unpublished Russian papers, as well as the testimony of Japanese and German contemporaries, Robert Whymant brings to life one of the great spy dramas of this century. More compelling than any spy fiction, Whymant's book is the fullest account to date of Sorge's extraordinary life, and reveals the extent to which a series of passionate sexual liaisons, along with his mesmerizing hold over people, played a central part in Sorge's career as a spy.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Dr. Richard Sorge, writes British journalist Robert Whymant, deserves to be considered "one of the most successful spies in modern history." The grand-nephew of a close comrade of Karl Marx, Sorge became an active member of the German Communist Party after being wounded in World War I. Having moved to Moscow, he then worked in the Soviet intelligence service, returning to Germany in the early 1930s. Securing work as a journalist after passing himself off as a supporter of the Nazi regime, Sorge traveled to China and then to Japan, where he became a confidant of German and Japanese businessmen and diplomats. The information he gathered from these contacts he sent on to Moscow. He eventually recruited a small circle of Japanese and European associates, and his spy ring operated successfully under the noses of the redoubtable Japanese secret service. Despite the reliability of his reports, Whymant notes, Sorge's intelligence was often dismissed--as when he warned that the Germans were planning to invade the Soviet Union. When the Germans did indeed invade, however, his stock rose, even if Stalin doubted Sorge's assurances that the Japanese would not join their German allies in attacking eastern Russia. The Japanese finally arrested Sorge in 1941, and three years later he was hanged for espionage, along with most of his confederates. Whymant's gripping account makes a powerful case for their being regarded as heroes in the antifascist cause. --Gregory McNamee

From Library Journal

Richard Sorge, the quintessential Soviet master espionage agent, assembled a spy ring in Japan from 1933 to 1941. The Tokyo Espionage Ring had access to the highest levels of the German and Japanese governments and was able to transmit invaluable information about Axis military and diplomatic initiatives around the world, especially those perceived as having an impact on the Soviet Union. Sorge's brilliant information-gathering expertise was not always appreciated by his Moscow handlers, including Stalin himself. Whymant captures Sorge's human side: his weaknesses for women and alcohol and his pervasive loneliness. Sorge's stubborn hope that Moscow would intervene to save him from execution by the Japanese because of his loyalty to the Soviet cause is both poignant and pathetic, given the Soviet policy of refusing to acknowledge its spy networks. This may be compared with Gordon W. Prange's Target Tokyo: The Story of the Sorge Spy Ring (LJ 9/1/84), which has a more authoritative historian's style, albeit a lively one. Recommended for academic and larger public libraries.?Stephen W. Green, Auraria Lib., Denver
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr (October 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312193394
• ISBN-13: 978-0312193393
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,056,805 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The story of a remarkable spy, July 24, 2000

By 

Karun Mukherji (Calicut,, India) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Stalin's Spy: Richard Sorge and the Tokyo Espionage Ring (Hardcover)

Richard Sorge,the man who changed the course of history,my favourite spy.

Born in 1896 at Baku ,Azerbaijan, to a German father and a Russian mother.Sorge grew up as a loyal citizen of imperial Germany and upon the outbreak of First World War enrolled in Kaiser's army.It was while recuperating from a battle wound that he came under communist influence.Soon after Germany's surrender he joined communist party and later went on to become a comintern agent.

Impressed by his activities Sorge was recruited into the GRU by Jan Karlovich Berzin founder and its head.After completing his posting in Shanghai, China, Sorge was assigned to Tokyo. Things were hotting up for the Russians .After the Mukden incident in September 1931,the Japanese army invaded Manchuria and the buffer zone which shielded Soviet Far East ceased to exist.Now Kwantung Army stood at its very door step.

In Germany Hitler had come to power.Germany and Japan were trying to forge closer ties which could lead to an encircling alliance. Hence Sorge was told to penetrate the German Embassy by his Soviet masters. For this purpose he started perfecting a journalistic cover .Took up the job of Tokyo correspondent of German paper Frankfurter Zeitung and also got a accredition to the German Embassy in Tokyo. Then reinforced his bonafides by taking Nazi party membership.

In Tokyo Sorge befriended Col.Eugen Ott the German military attache who later became the ambassador and won his trust .Soon Ott started passing confidential information to his friend.After the outbreak of war in Europe in September 1939 Sorge worked in the Press section of the Embassy. GRU now had eyes in the Nazi citadel and access to information of crucial importance to Soviet strategic planning.Sorge's bonhomie with the German Embassy officials in Tokyo helped him to know Hitlers's biggest secret:Nazi Gernany was planning to invade Soviet Union.The information was first brought to his notice by Lt.Col. Erwin Scholl who succeded Ott to the post of Military Attache. This report was later confirmed by Ambassador Ott, Sorge promptly informed his Soviet masters.

But Stalin contemptously brushed aside this report and later paid a heavy price for doing so.Another important contact that Sorge cultivated in Japan was Ozaki Hotsumi with whom he became friendly at Shanghai . Hotsumi , a journalist working for Japanese daily Asahi ,had many contacts in Nipponese Government circles.With the help of this wily Japanese ,Sorge informed Moscow of how Germany and Japan were co-ordinating their policies . On 27 September 1940 Japan signed Tripartite Pact, joined Rome -Berlin Axis.The pact designed to ensure mutual security of Axis powers ;however,Germany had other designs.

Berlin wanted to harness Tokyo in its global strategy to contain her adversaries. Soviet Union had a cause for concern. On June 22 ,1941,Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa,the invasion of Soviet Union.Immediately the Nazi Foreign Minister Hans Joachim Ribbentrop started putting pressure on Tokyo. He wanted Japan to renounce its neutrality pact with Russsia and fall on her rear.

It was now that Sorge scored the biggest intelligence triumphs of his career. Sorge through his Japanese contact Hotsumi endeavoured to find out for his Soviet masters how Japan would react to this proposal.Tokyo procrastinated adopted a policy of cautious opportunism. Besides relations with Western powers deteriorated when US imposed an oil embargo on August 1 1941.Attempts to resolve the dispute through diplomatic means failed.Konoye Government resigned and war party under Hideki Tojo assumed power October 16,1941.This made war with US certain.

The Soviet Far East for a while would be safe from the depredations of Kwantung Army.By mid-October 1941,Sorge's radioman tapped out in Morse code to Moscow of these political developments which had a profound historical impact. Wehrmacht's armoured spearheads were now within the striking distance of Moscow as Stalin started denuding Far Eastern front. According to John Keegan in his "'Second World War" ,the force withdrawn amounted to 10 divisions ,1000 tanks and 1000 aircraft in October and November.The redeployed Siberian divisions managed to contain the German drive to take the Soviet Capital. Later Marshal Zhukov used them to launch a massive counter-offensive which evicted the German invaders from the approaches to Moscow.

Undoubtedly Sorge's information was instrumental in saving Soviet capital which otherwise would have been difficult to defend.This brings to my mind what Napoleon had said two centuries ago "one spy in the right place is worth 20,000 men in the field."Tokyo spy net work which worked flawlessly, impeccably was betrayed to Tokko (Japanese special Police) by Ito Ritsu, a communist turned police agent. Tokko apprehended few members of the spy network ,a trail which led to Ozaki and Sorge.After a trial which lasted for two years both died in the gallows of Sugamo prison on Nov.7,1944.

The author has written a spicy account of Sorge's life . Many pages of the book is filled with lurid details of this remarkable agent's private life which I found boring. In the foreward Mr Whymant says this is by no means a final book on Richard Sorge. I wonder what more details on him need to be unraveled.On the whole a well - written book,use of Japanese words has made the prose quite colourful..

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deep insights into a long forgotten soul!, May 28, 2000

By 

Charles R. Stewart III (Camp Casey, Korea) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Stalin's Spy: Richard Sorge and the Tokyo Espionage Ring (Hardcover)

Well written, hard to put the book down. Especially interesting for history buffs. Many lessons can be learned by the way that Dr. Sorge used his charm and personality to influence the German Diplomatic Corps. This book should be required reading for anyone in the intelligence community. Learn from the past...

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The definitive account of Sorge's network, March 21, 2005

By 

Dimitrios (Greece) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stalin's Spy: Richard Sorge and the Tokyo Espionage Ring (Hardcover)

This is a very interesting book for anyone who wants to discover the inner secrets of USSR's repulse of the German onslaught in 1941. Richard Sorge was a charismatic communist idealist who became a useful tool at the hands of GRU and set a highly efficient network of spies inside Japan from 1933 to 1941. Whymant proves that many things that are known about Sorge are pure myths (like that he was arrested in bed, while lying in the arms of a Japanese beauty) and constructs a wonderful story of the man and his era, jumping from the great strategic issues to the twists and oddities of that extremely dynamic and charming personality. I found extremeley sad the fact that Sorge was so afraid of returning to the USSR (where he was considered a drunkard, a womanizer and a trotskist) albeit he served her so well, and he felt so lonely that let himself to be trapped by the agents of the "Tokko" secret police. Also mysterious was his behavior after his arrest when he cooperated completely with his captors providing them with a wealth of information on GRU's actions in Japan. A highly recommende book for the fans of deadly spying games on a grand scale.