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Let’s go back in time to WWII and after. There was a group of English spies for Russia known as the Cambridge 4. If that isn’t a household word, perhaps you\u00a0 older guys will remember names like\u00a0 Donald MacLean and Guy Burgess –\u00a0 still nothing?\u00a0 Howzabout Kim Philby – he fled England to a hero’s welcome in Russia after the first two defected. Back in the ’60ss, this was a HUGE intelligence black eye for the Brits.\u00a0 Good families, good schools (Cambridge, right?) and should have been above suspicion.<\/p>\n
The group were recruited by the NKVD during their education at the University of Cambridge in the 1930s, but the exact timing is debated.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Eventually two more names were added, Anthony Blount who was outed in 1979 a few years before he passed in ’83, and John Cairncross, whose identity was withheld until 1990.<\/p>\n
A Fellow of Trinity College, Blunt was several years older than Burgess, Maclean and Philby; he acted as a talent-spotter and recruiter.<\/p>\n
The five were convinced that the Marxism\u2013Leninism of Soviet communism was the best available political system and the best defence against fascism. All pursued successful careers in branches of the British government. They passed large amounts of intelligence to the Soviets, so much that the KGB became suspicious that at least some of it was false.Wiki<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Helluva note when agents are so effective their own bosses are suspicious, isn’t it? Says something about ‘loose lips’ and why the US became reluctant to share many things across the pond. The Brits had leaks, and we knew it.<\/p>\n
Turns out Blount wasn’t just a talent scout – he had a bit of a side hustle, too, one which his Soviet bosses would no doubt have frowned upon.<\/p>\n
The former Army intelligence officer, who was a distant relative of the late Queen, was often regarded as one of the least treacherous of the Cambridge spies, whose activities were largely confined to the war years when Moscow was one of the Allies.<\/p>\n
However, a new book claims to have unearthed evidence suggesting Blunt may have also been responsible for leaking vital intelligence to the Nazis, warning Hitler of secret plans to drop 40,000 Allied troops into the Netherlands to secure bridges over the Rhine.<\/p>\n
Known as Operation Market Garden, the airborne invasion took place on September 17 1944 and was intended to clear the path to Berlin and hasten the end of the war.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
We took over 17,000 casualties from 40,000 men dropped, one of the bloodiest noses taken by the Allies.<\/p>\n
Robert Verkaik, the author of his new book The Traitor of Arnhem, describes how Berlin was aware of the plans, thanks to a Dutch double agent called Christiaan Lindemans, who had the codename, King Kong.<\/p>\n
However, he claims the Nazis also had a second source of information about Operation Market, which came from another spy with the codename, Josephine.<\/p>\n
As well as halting the Allied advance and prolonging the war, the failure of the plan also meant Stalin\u2019s troops were first to reach Berlin, redrawing the map of post-war Europe and paving the way for the Iron Curtain.<\/p>\n
In 1944, Blunt had a pivotal role at the heart of British military intelligence and would have intimate knowledge of the plans for the airborne drop.<\/p>\n
Just a year earlier, he had been tasked with tracking down Josephine, meaning he was effectively hunting himself, argues Verkaik.<\/p>\n
After spending several years studying the archives, the author is now convinced Blunt and the mysterious Josephine are the same person, insisting he had \u201cthe means, the motive and the opportunity\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said, while he does not have a \u201csmoking gun\u201d linking Blunt directly, he argues, \u201che was the only person who could fit the profile of who Josephine had to be.\u201d\u00a0 The Telegraph<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
One would think the NKVD would have frowned on him passing info the the Germans – however, they could possibly have run him as a double to gain long term advantage over the Allies post-war. Like the best spies, Blount was more of a background figure – or possibly one of the most influential agents of the last 80 years. Interesting… makes you wonder about some of the American college Hamas recruits now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"