The Red Orchestra Hardback - 1996

As early as the summer of 1941, German counter-intelligence agencies were aware of a GRU network operating inside Germany itself and the countries it had occupied. Only after a two-year hunt did a combination of detective work, lucky breaks, interrogation and betrayal bring about the elimination of this spy group. By then its work had helped in the defeat of German forces on the Eastern Front, and had accelerated the demise of the Third Reich. This network, Die Rote Kapell- The Red Orchestra - had conducted a sweet tune of intrigue and covert intelligence to end a march of tyranny. From the dark back-streets of European cities, even within Germany and Berlin itself, this diverse band of multi-nationals waged their own hidden war on Nazi Germany. Though aware of the clandestine messages exchanged between the Orchestra "players" and their controllers, the Abwehr and Gestapo officers charged with tracking down the agents seemed helpless to stop the activity, until the damage was done. This new study of this famous spy network destroys many of the myths perpetuated by earlier accounts and gives a new perspective to this important aspect of military intelligence in World War II. It is also the first account to give equal weight to all three apparats - the Grand Chef's Western circuit in France, Belgium and Holland; the Berlin network and Die Rote Drei in Switzerland. Students of covert action and military historians working on the 1939-45 conflict will find this is a well-researched, fully sourced examination, and the reader of adventure non-fiction will be absorbed by the detailed accounts of this real-life spy story. Fifty years on, The Red Orchestra remains one of the most importantaspects of intelligence work in wartime.