An Epic Escape Coded in Western Literature
How a KGB double agent hinted at his escape plan knowing his hint would be lost on the KGB agents who surveilled him.
Cold War Spy Games
It is not surprising that the game of spying accelerated during the Cold War years. MI6, KGB, and the CIA, at the time the world’s most effective and notorious intelligence agencies, were in a constant chess match.
Passing false information, trying to sow political favor in opposing countries, and rooting out double agents was all in a day's work for the intelligence community.
Meet Oleg Gordievsky
Agents lived false lives and at times on the razor’s edge between life and death. One such agent was Oleg Gordievsky. Gordievsky was a KGB colonel and highly-skilled intelligence officer for the Soviet Union. He soon found himself caught in the middle of this intense game.
For over a decade, Gordievsky acted as a double agent for Britain's MI6. His contributions to Britain were valuable. Even Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher knew of him. Though she did not know his true identity.
A Deadly Tip
Despite his best efforts to remain undetected by the KGB, Gordievsky would become compromised. It is believed the Soviet’s received a tip. A disgruntled agent within the CIA pointed the KGB to Gordievsky. The story itself is fascinating, and worth reading.
Gordievsky despised the Soviet system. As his hate grew, in parallel, his love for Western society grew. One of his favorite aspects of Western society was Western literature. In particular, he had a fondness for Shakespeare and for Somerset Maugham.
After spending months in Moscow under strong superstition and surveillance by the KGB, Gordievsky believed he would soon be dead. Having formulated an escape plan with MI6 years prior, he and his British handlers set to work. He needed out of Russia.
A Coded Farewell
As Gordievsky prepared his escape from Moscow, he decided to bid a fond friend farewell. Through his farewell, he also aimed to take a shot at the Soviet Union. He chose to do so with a nod to Western literature through Somerset Maugham.
Shortly before leaving he phoned up his friend, who also was an avid reader of Maugham. As they spoke on the phone, Gordievsky made reference to Maugham’s tale named Mr. Harrington’s Washing. To KGB eavesdroppers, this would likely mean nothing. To Gordievsky and his friend, it was a subtle hint.
A summary of the story is as follows: An American businessman befriends a British agent aboard a train in Russia in 1917. Russia in 1917 was on the edge of revolution. The British agent encourages the American to catch a train north to Finland. The American refuses as he is awaiting the return of his laundry from a hotel. Revolution erupts. The American is shot dead in the street and the British agent escapes by train through Finland.
A Successful Escape
On July 19, 1985, Gordievsky would slip his KGB tails and hop a train to Vyborg, a town near the Finnish border. There he would meet with British agents assigned to smuggle him across the border into Finland. From there he was carried to Norway and eventually the UK.
Oleg Gordievsky had all but tipped his hand at how we would escape the Soviet Union. The KGB heard the call Gordievsky placed to his friend where he referenced Maugham’s story. He knew that the reference to Western literature would be lost on his eavesdroppers. It was a clever way to bid farewell to his friend. And it was insulting way to turn a nose up to the KGB.
History for the Hurried:
May 5, 1893: The Wall Street Crash of 1893 began as stock prices fell dramatically. Six hundred banks would close, 15,000 businesses went bankrupt, and unemployment skyrocketed to 20 percent.
May 6, 1527: The Renaissance ended with the Sack of Rome by German troops as part of an ongoing conflict between the Hapsburg Empire and the French Monarchy.