Usborne True Stories of Spies by Paul & Fleming Dowswell

Author:Paul & Fleming Dowswell [Dowswell, Paul and Fleming]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Usborne Publishing Ltd
Published: 2022-09-05T00:00:00+00:00

In early October, Sorge sent a report to Moscow. Japan, he said, was definitely not going to attack the Soviet Union. This was the best news they had had since the German invasion began. Thousands of troops were rushed from Siberia to the west of the country to fight against the Germans. This decision almost certainly saved the Soviets from defeat.

But Sorge also told Moscow that Japan was planning an even more daring move. The Japanese were going to attack the United States navy base at Pearl Harbor. He even had a date, November 6, which turned out to be exactly a month too early.

It was the last signal Sorge ever sent. In the previous month, the Japanese secret police had arrested several Japanese communists, whom they suspected of plotting revolution against the government. One of their suspects blurted out Miyagi Yotoku’s name and he was rounded up a week or so later. It was a routine, almost leisurely operation, but it was to yield massive results. Miyagi was arrested and his apartment was searched.

Miyagi was not a robust man. He survived the first round of violent questioning without giving any secrets away, but decided he could take no more. The next day when police sat him down for another interrogation, he threw himself out of a window. Unfortunately for all of Sorge’s spy ring, his fall was broken by a tree, and he only broke a leg. The next day, in terrible pain before the beatings even started, he confessed to everything, naming Hotsumi, Klausen and Sorge as accomplices.

For the Japanese secret police, this was a delicate matter. Sorge, the Ambassador’s friend, was simply too important to be arrested. German-Japanese relations might be severely damaged, and this, after all, was a crucial time in Japanese history.

Sorge and Klausen were left alone, but Hotsumi was fair game. He was arrested and tortured. He too broke down, implicating Sorge, Klausen and the Yugoslavian, Vukelic.

Sorge was well aware something was going on. He had not been able to contact Miyagi or Hotsumi for several days, and feared the worst. He met Klausen and Vukelic to warn them, but they all decided to stay. Perhaps their previous successes had made them arrogant enough to think they would get away with it this time too, or perhaps they were just resigned to their fate?

Sorge went about his business as usual. He still met Ambassador Ott, he still worked on his newspaper articles, and he still went drinking at night in the bars of Tokyo. But the strain he was under was affecting his mental health, which was betrayed by the state of his house. It was so untidy it looked as if it had been robbed. Stale whisky, carelessly and regularly spilled over the floor, began to make the place smell like a seedy drinking den.

It was after one of Sorge’s nights on the town that they came for him. Arriving home in a German Embassy car around five in the morning, he was watched by a squad of Japanese secret policemen.

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