Richard Sorge, the Soviet spy of World War Two era, is often referred to by the media as the "Master Spy." That title is somewhat misleading, I believe it is a misnomer to call someone a "Master Spy" when they got caught spying! After all, if he was such a "master" at his trade, he wouldn't have gotten caught! The media has a way of glorifying, blowing things up out of proportion. However, considering the information that he was able to acquire (although it was never used by Stalin!), he was one of the most successful Soviet spies of that era.....until he was caught.
Sorge was born of a German father and a Russian mother and grew up in Baku, in the Baltic region that was heavily populated with Germans. He served in the German army during World War One, was wounded and received an Iron Cross. He studied at the university where he began to develop leftist leanings, received a Ph.D. in Economics, and married his leftist professor's daughter. He travelled to the Soviet Union and became a true communist, joining the Communist Party. He divorced his German wife and married a Russian woman, and lived and worked there for several years. It was then that he was recruited by COMINTERN (Communist International, an intelligence organization) and began working for OGPU. He divorced his Russian wife and returned to Germany, with orders to infiltrate the new German Nazi Party. This he did without much problems and joined the Nazi Party, becoming a bona fide card carrying Nazi.
It is amazing that he was able to join the Nazis, despite his openly known communist affiliations! I guess the Nazis did not have much of a vetting system! He went to work as a journalist, reporting on economic conditions around the world, and was posted to Shanghai at first, but ultimately to Tokyo. There, he was ordered by the newly created GRU of which he was a member, to ingratiate himself with the German Embassy and organize a spy network, to gather intelligence on Germany as well as Japan. He joined forces with a well established Japanese journalist, Hotsumi Ozaki, who was a member of the Japanese Communist Party, and Hanako Ishii. His spy ring also included Max Clausen (a Soviet Red Army Offier) and his wife Anna, Branko Vokelic, a French journalist, and Miyagi Yotoku, another Japanese journalist. Sorge operated in Tokyo from 1933 until 1942 when he was arrested. He was well known in the international community in Tokyo, well liked by the German Embassy and had access to just about everything as a personal friend of the German Ambassador and the Military Attache. Hotsumi Ozaki, on the other hand, was a close personal friend of Fuminaro Konoe, the Japanese Prime Minister at the time and had access to all sorts of sensitive information.
Sorge managed to get information about Hitler's plan to attack Russia. He had gotten detailed information about the "Operation Barbarossa" from his Military Attache friend at the embassy. But Stalin scoffed at the idea of a German attack. He made a remark something to the effect that Sorge must be drinking and hanging around brothels too much! Stalin refused to believe that Germany would attack, after all, they had just signed a non-aggression pact! Of course he was wrong! In late 1941, Sorge reported to Moscow that Japan was planning an attack on Pearl Harbor. He gave the exact date as well as the method of attack. This information he got from Ozaki, and corroborated by the German Military Attache. However, once again Stalin refused to believe the information and simply waved it off, never passing it on to his allies! But some of Stalin's General's didn't take the information so lightly and managed to secretly move several army divisions from Siberia to Moscow area, providing much needed reinforcements and thereby saving Moscow! They felt that if Japan was going to attack America, then it could not afford to engage Russia at the same time, so the troops could be moved where they were desperately needed. They at least, remembered that Sorge had accurately reported Germany's attack on Russia! Later Stalin was accused of purposely withholding the intelligence on Pearl Harbor because he wanted to draw America into the war. But that was not the case at all. It was simply that Stalin, who like Hitler, thought he knew everything better than anyone else, didn't believe in Sorge's information!
The information about "Operation Barbarossa" and Pearl Harbor attack were possibly two of the most important pieces of intelligence that any spy during World War Two was able to acquire. Yet, it was ignored by Stalin! Sorge was not a shrinking violet, he lived a rather lavish and active life, drinking heavily and womanizing. He married his Japanese agent Hanako Ishii, but also managed to carry on an affair with Anna Clausen, Max Clausen's wife. In October of 1941, two months before Pearl Harbor, Sorge was arrested by Kempeitai, the Japanese Secret Police. Hanako Ishii was spared the death sentence, in fact, served only a few years of prison time. It was determined that she really played a minor role and was not privy to much of the information and activity. Sorge and Ozaki were executed, hanged in 1944, just before the war ended.
For 20 years the Soviet Union refused to admit that Richard Sorge was their spy, no doubt because there was still some information that he had passed on that was being used. However, in 1964 Sorge was awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union medal (equivalent to our Medal of Honor) and his widow Hanako Ishii received his retirement benefits as well as his retroactive pay, going back some 25 years! Sorge held the rank of a Colonel in the GRU, so the amount was substantial and Hanako lived out the rest of her life a wealthy woman.
There were several movies (German, Japanese, and cooperative Japanese-French-German) made and several book written about Richard Sorge. There was even a Japanese Manga! In every movie or book he was described as a "Master Spy." I rather think it was the inept German counterintelligence that should be given credit for his longevity as a spy. At least the Japanese were able to capture him before he did any more damage!
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