Spies Beneath Berlin

by David Stafford

Operation Stopwatch/Gold, said CIA chief Alan Dulles, was one of the most valuable and daring projects ever undertaken. In 1955 it ran a tunnel 800 metres under the Russian sector of Cold War Berlin, and for more than a year tuned into Red Army intelligence. This was an almost impossible trick: apart from the technical wizardry needed, any noise or vibration could have given the game away.

That the operation succeeded is even more surprising than it looks. Trust, even between allies, was dangerous. Despite the Burgess and Maclean affair, the Americans had decided that co-operation was safe once more, and Stopwatch/Gold was a joint CIA/MI6 project using British expertise from a prototype in Vienna. This was a mistake: there was another mole in the British secret services, and the KGB knew about the tunnel even before it was built.

This book tells the story. David Stafford draws on eyewitness interviews and the full range of sources. Ironically, it was the Russians who supplied the minutes of the meeting that OK'd the tunnel. They had been taken by George Blake (who was of course the mole).

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Espionage, War, Germany, German Literature

223 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

David Alexander Tetlow Stafford is projects director at Edinburgh University's Centre for the Study of the Two World Wars and Leverhulme Emeritus Professor in the University's School of History, Classics and Archaeology.
Stafford took his B.A. at Downing College, Cambridge in 1963. He then undertook postgraduate study at the University of London, taking an M.A. and finally his Ph.D. in history in 1968.

Beginning his career with government service, Stafford served in the British Diplomatic Service as a third secretary at the Foreign Office from 1967 to 1968, and then as second secretary in 1968. He then took up an appointment as research associate (1968–70) at the Centre of International Studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

He then became assistant professor of history (1970–76) at Canada's University of Victoria in British Columbia. He was promoted to associate professor of history (1976–82) and finally professor of history (1982–84). He then became director of studies (1985–86) and executive director (1986–92) at the Canadian Institute of International Affairs in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. From 1992 to 2000 Stafford became a visiting professor at Edinburgh University's Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, and then, from 2000, he became projects director at the Centre for the Study of the Two World Wars.

Stafford is particularly noted for his scholarly works concerning Winston Churchill and British intelligence, various aspects of the Second World War, and Twentieth Century intelligence and espionage with a focus on Britain. He now resides in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

He is a regular book reviewer, appearing in The Times (London), BBC History Magazine, The Spectator, The Times Literary Supplement, The New York Times, the Times Herald Tribune (Paris), and Saturday Night and the Globe and Mail (Toronto).

Reviews

[Michael Flanagan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a great look into the world of espionage during the peak of the Cold War. It introduces us to many of the main players as well as the politics of the day. This is all delivered by telling the story of a daring operation that is straight out of a screenplay. A joint initiative from the British and Americans dig a tunnel right up to where one day the Berlin wall will stand. From this tunnel they tap the phone lines and start recording all they hear. Then one day this tunnel is discovered by some “workers” looking for a leak. The KGB pounces on this opportunity and has a field day using it for anti-American propaganda.

I enjoyed the author's style and found this book a very easy and engaging read. It has all you expect from a novel about espionage from the double agents to the clandestine meetings. But this is not a novel it is a true story and that just added to my interest in this book. It has kindled the fire in me to learn more about the Cold War the quite battle of intel gathering.

[Pixie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a non-fictionalised account of a relatively unknown spying exploit carried out during the early 1950s. The author has researched the subject well & also acknowledges other previous accounts of the event. It makes for an interesting read if you want to know the behind-the-scenes details and know-how of the times in regards to this intelligence coup, how it was actually done and eventually uncovered, literally -- as it was a tunnel dug under the east-west border in Berlin when the city was partitioned post WW2, for tapping phonelines. He details some of the major players & issues within the intelligence community at the time and makes reference to some of the problems regarding multi-agency teamwork, as well as the known traitor factor element. It's a bit of a dry read, there are no illustrations, save for the front cover of the book which reveals all, but it does pay tribute to those who risked their lives & career-paths to achieve their goal, the success of which is still somewhat debated today by historians. I searched the Internet to get some visual imagery for the project which helped elucidate a few points. This is a slightly specialised topic but gives a good background of the time and ongoing espionage ethos.

[Roma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Certainly a good book in that it describes some of the aspects of the spying then disinformation used by the spy agencies during the early Cold War. A little hard to follow in places, much better to read in one go, otherwise you run the risk of getting confused. A who's who of those in the higher intelligence circles, if you recognise the names that is

[Jenifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Reads like a "whose-who" list of WWII CIA spies, IF you know who they are, which I don't. The entire "meat" of this story was told in 15 pages or less, while the rest was meaningless political positioning of CIA operatives. DULL to say the least.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title is a mite misleading. But the author early on explains his motivations: this is the entire history, all the parts, nothing spared. ‘Spies beneath a number of tunnels’. ‘Spy tunnels are everywhere’. I’ve read of the ‘Berlin Tunnel’ and the Vienna Tunnels’ previously and didn’t have a problem with this telling. Non-Fiction, historical, spy-stuff: right up my alley. James Bond, Jason Bourne, etc, etc: it’s comedy. Blather. Ian Fleming worked on the fringes of SIS activity in Europe and his take on spy portrayal has always baffled me.
Overall, this is good stuff. It wanders from here to there, picking up threads and hoping to tie together, but it is all very interesting. Proper spying.

[Kevin Reeder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating view of history

The Cold War encouraged both sides to take risks and the Berlin Tunnel is a great example of risk for expected gain. Disinformation and protection of assets guided both sides and this is an excellent chronicle of the process

[Daniel W Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written. This book provides interesting facts of an important but little known part of cold war history.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Smart spooks

I've always been fascinated by intelligence work. This book is a home run, all the more so because it contains a few book recommendations buried within.

[Doyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

A modern and more revealing version concerning the Berlin Tunnel a.k.a. Operation Gold (now PBJointly). More enlightening than Wilderness of Mirrors and thoroughly enjoyable read on the topic.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting. Written in an older style that was sometimes hard to follow. But a good account of a little known part of Cold War history.

[James Kemp · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very well put together story of the Berlin spy tunnel, and some of the context that lead up to it being dug. It looks at the contemporary views and also re-evaluates the impact of the tunnel and whether or not it could be considered a success.

The tale is an interesting one, because the existence of the tunnel was betrayed to the Soviets before it was even dug. Blake took the minutes of meeting that decided to build it, and told his Soviet handler about it. Despite this the KGB didn't share the information as they wanted to protect Blake as a source, so they couldn't stop the tunnel until there was a reasonable excuse from another source. For two years the British and Americans taped all the traffic on the cables they'd tapped (it was a joint operation, but the US took the entire blame when it was discovered because Kruschev was on a state visit to the UK at the time).

[Grave · Rating 2 out of 5]

The actual narrative of the book can be told in a fraction of the pages, although it is already relatively short (being on a very specific topic). This is an interesting history and the book provides some surprising moments of humor, but the amount of detail involved sometimes makes you wish the author would get to the point. This might be a little daunting for readers who are not very familiar with the soap opera cast of Cold War intelligence agencies. There are certainly better introductory books on the subject, but if you are at least somewhat familiar with the history of Cold War Berlin you could probably follow along with minor help from Wikipedia.

[Squeemu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well-written. I understand why this material isn't in the book, but I would have liked more info on what it would have been like to work in the tunnel or live in Berlin at this time as part of American intelligence/military.

[Wendy · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was not my favorite read...a lot of it was hard to follow. I was greatly disappointed.

[Elliot Richards · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall pretty good, though dry in quite a few places.

[Ray Melville · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting factual description of a period in the Cold War. Enjoyed it.

[Philip Mizener · Rating 3 out of 5]

A real-life eye-opener to the spy-vs-spy game played post-WWII. While an obviously necessary practice, I felt sad at the energy and resources we have needed to devote to these adventures.