The Identity of the Spy Who Uncovered Hitler’s Plot to Invade the Soviet Union

Born in 1895, Richard Sorge had a Russian mother and a German father. Although he joined the army and worked for the German government, Richard was actually a spy for the Soviet Union. He sent accurate intelligence about Germany’s impending attack on the Soviet Union.

A famous spy during World War II was Richard Sorge. He made great contributions to Soviet intelligence during the war with Nazi Germany.

Spy Richard was born in 1895 in southern Russia. He had mixed blood with a Russian mother and a German engineer father. A few years later, Richard’s family moved to Germany. Growing up in a middle-upper class family, he enlisted in the German army in 1914.

During a mission, Richard was seriously injured and limped. During his treatment, he was exposed to radical ideas. A few years later, he devoted himself to studying economics and political science, especially Marxism.

By 1919, Richard had earned a doctorate and joined the German Communist Party. A handsome and charming man, he had gradually turned to the left. This got him into trouble with the German police. So, in 1924, he went to the Soviet Union and joined the Communist International. His job was to liaise with foreign communist parties.

In 1929, Richard became an officer of the Soviet military intelligence (abbreviated as GRU). In early 1931-1932, Moscow officials were concerned that Japan might attack the Soviet Far East.

Therefore, the spy Richard was sent to Japan through Germany under the guise of a journalist. An editor accepted Richard’s articles and gave him a letter of introduction to Colonel Eugen Ott, the new German military attaché in Tokyo. The Soviet spy arrived in Tokyo in September 1933 and began his work gathering intelligence.

To learn more about the Nazis, Richard joined the Nazi Party. This brought him into contact with many important figures in Japan and Germany. Among them, he gathered intelligence at the German Embassy, ​​which was frequented by diplomats such as the German Ambassador to Japan, Herbert von Dirksen.

One of the most important pieces of intelligence that Richard collected was the news that Nazi Germany would attack the Soviet Union in 1941. In a telegram sent to GRU headquarters on June 1, 1941, it was written: “The German-Soviet war is expected to begin around June 15 – this is based on information that Lieutenant Colonel Scholl brought from Berlin to Ambassador Ott”.

However, Richard’s superiors in Moscow commented on the telegram: “Doubtful. List this telegram as a provocative telegram”.

They could not have imagined that the intelligence Richard sent back was completely accurate. Because on June 22, 1941, the Nazi army under Hitler’s command suddenly launched an invasion of the Soviet Union.