The British spies known as the Cambridge Five or the Cambridge Group (after several others were recruited) became the linch pin to perhaps the greatest success for the Soviet Espionage effort. Indeed this produced the greatest intelligence coup in the 20th century, the theft of the atomic secrets from the United States.
In their book, The Crown Jewels1, Nigel West and Oleg Tsarev using the Soviet Archives following the collapse of the Soviet Union, confirm much of the story already known by U.S. and British Intelligence about the affair, and add in connections from the Cambridge Five that made it all possible.
Leonid Kavasnikov, a chemist in the Soviet security services, noting work in the Soviet Union that showed the spontaneous disintegration of U-235 and realizing the enormous potential of this discovery, began a concerted effort to first discern other research in this area around the world, and then to make sure any progress in the research would reach the Soviet teams so engaged.
In 1941, VADIUM, the London rezident, who unknown to Kavasnikov at that time was controlling the Cambridge Group reported that a British cabinet sub-committee, the Uranium Committee had reported that is was possible to build an uranium bomb in a matter of months. The material also showed that the U.S. was already embarked in that effort and the British should also start their own program.
The next set of information was delivered to the residenturas by KAREL (John Cairncross), and disclosed the necessity for building an Uranium gas diffusion plant. But the leaders of the NKVD (KGB) were not convinced yet and did not support Soviet research. In February of 1942 a German scientist was captured in Poland, carrying a notebook with nearly incomprehensible mathmatics. It soon became clear that the Germans, too, were working on an Uranium bomb. This finally got interest from the Soviets and when U.S. physics literature suddenly, in May of 1942, became devoid of any mention of the work, it was clear that the U.S. program had gone classified, increasing the possibilities the research was leading to production of a weapon.
Utilizing the already existing Cambridge network, the Soviets established a special group (XY) in New York to penetrate the American group working on what we know today as the Manhattan Project. Heading up the New York team was non other than Leonid Kavasnikov. The material was eventually transmitted to a team in the NKVD center to a group specializing in its analysis. This activity became known by the code name ENORMOZ.
Things began hopping when a communist sympathizer, code named K, turned over a detailed report on atomic research by the British and the United States. This British scientist was an incredible find, also going as far as to invade the safe of a colleague to get information. He was soon joined by MOOR; who passed on information about the seperation of U-235 and U.S. and British efforts to find more deposits; and KELLY who also had excellent access to atomic bomb developments. With earlier penetration of the Canadia work, the Soviets now had pipelines into all but direct contact with the American group. When, in 1945, the final contacts in the XY group proved their worth, the Soviets received information on the construction details from the U.S., and the materials required from the British.
In November of 1945, STANLEY (Kim Philby) passed on information that a new division in intelligence was being formed to target the Soviet Union's atomic research, allowing the Soviets to buttress up their security on their own research work.
The new London rezident, Konstantin Kukin, spotted Klaus Fuchs an illegal refugee from the German Communist Party. Fuchs was contacted and subsequently run by Harry Gold, an XY agent. Only then did it become clear that the mysterious K was Klaus Fuchs. Through Fuchs, Gold was able to report that the first test of the bomb was to be in July.
But the British also had done good work, recruiting CUBBY a GRU code clerk (Igor Gouzenko who defected in November of 1945) who blew the whistle on Cambridge educated physicist Allan Nunn May. The American FBI also was busy taking the confession of Amercian Elizabeth Bently in August of 1945. These worrisome events caused the NKVD to temporarily cease operations while STANLEY (Kim Philby) passed on progress of the investigations. The atomic teams were "put on ice" essentialy freezing the operations until evenutally STANLEY's information showed that there was no danger.
In September of 1947, Aleksandr Feklisov became the new London rezident. In the meantime Fuchs has tried several alternate channels to re-establish contact, and in the end, this break from operational tradecraft was his end. Eventually Feklisov met with Fuchs and re-established Fuchs operational capacity. Fuchs passed on that the test reactor at Harwell was creating 150 watts and that an 150 kilowatt industrial reactor was being built at Windscale which would become operational in 1950, with its output being used to create the first atomic bomb. Fuchs also disclosed that the U.S. was also in production of a hydrogen weapon at Chicago University and identified Enrico Fermi and Geoffrey Taylor as the thereoticians on the project AND that their work was essentially done. Fuchs also revealed that the Canadians had produced about a kilo of plutonium and the Americans 16-18 killos a year, with a total of about 36 kilos of U-235. The bombs used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki had exhausted all their stock previously. Fuchs also added that the Americans were aiming at some 50 bombs per year production level, but had slowed due to mechanical and technical problems in production, leaving the U.S. with only 125 weapons.
In October of 1948, Fuchs reported that a German scientist had been reported, by the British to be working in Suukhumi on the Black Sea. He reported the British were working to build their stockpile of weapons to 200 units by 1957. In February 1949, Fuchs reported that a Soviet Scientists (according to British intelligence) was going to be providing (or had provided) technical data on the Soviet program.
The last meeting with Fuchs was in1949 and the rezident Feklisov accepted a package of documents and setup the next meeting for May. Fuchs didn't show, but this had become common place as the agent was known to be extremely careful as well as in a program under strict surveillance.
Meanwhile, the U.S. FBI was hot on the trail of Harry Gold, and there appeared a chance that Fuchs would be identified by Gold if he were captured. While it is not clear if Gold provided information or not, in February of 1950, just two days before Gold's next meeting, London papers reported Fuchs' arrest by Special Branch.
As it turns out, the Canadian Counterintelligence group found Fuchs name in a diary discovered during the Nunn May case, and the Gestapo archives which had his confession he was a member of the German Communist Party. This material and a Fuchs interview, led to his eventual confession he was a Soviet spy and divulged the name of several contacts including Hanna Klopstock one of the go betweens used during the period he was out of contact. STANLEY and HICKS also reported that the use of a one time pad twice by a Soviet agent had allowed U.S. and British code breakers to partially decode a message that implicated Fuchs as well. Fuchs was convicted and sentenced to 14 years, and given 7 years off for good behavior. Some years later, in June of 1959, Fuchs flew to Berlin and entered East Germany, eventually becoming the Deputy Director of the Institute of Nuclear Research and then the Head of the Central Committee's Science Department. Several positions followed and he retired in Dresden in 1979 and died in 1988.
Harry Gold was arrested in May of 1950. Fuchs was convinced it
was Gold who had put the intelligence services on to him. When Burgess
and Philby separately reported cypher work that might have contributed,
the Soviets began a program to break into the British and American ciphers
and their counter programs.
| Agent Code Name | Organization/Contribution | ||
| 1940 to 1951 | |||
| SONCHEN (Kim Philby) aka STANLEY | British SIS officer, one of the notorious Cambridge spies recruited while attending college using the ideaology card. | ||
| WEISE (Donald McLean) aka STUART | British Foreign Office officer, one of the notorious Cambridge spies recruited while attending college using the ideaology card. Defected to the Soviet Union in the summer of 1951 | ||
| TONY (Anthony Blunt) aka FRED aka JOHNSON aka YAN | One of the notorious Cambridge spies recruited while attending college using the ideaology card. Obstensibly the chief "talent spotter" and recruiter. A homosexual and a writer who had written about marxism favorably, he was refused entry into intelligence operations, presumably by MI5's vetting process. However, he somehow finesed a General Martin in several interviews and eventually allowed to finish the British School for spies at Manley and wound up in MI5. | ||
| MADCHEN (Guy Burgess) aka HICKS aka PAUL | British MI5 officer, one of the notorious Cambridge spies recruited while attending college using the ideaology card. Defected to Soviet Union in May of 1951 | ||
| MOLIERE (John Cairncross) aka LISZT aka KAREL | British MI5 officer, one of the notorious Cambridge spies recruited while attending college using the ideaology card by MAYOR Became the personal secretary to Financial Secretary to the treasury then Secretary to Minister without portfolio, Lord Hankey, who headed the activities of the Commitee for Internal Defense. | ||
| NIGEL (Michael Straight) | One of the notorious Cambridge spies contacted while attending college using the ideaology card. Recruited by Blunt and Burgess, eventually went to work in the U.S. State Department | ||
| RALPH (Leo Long) | One of the notorious Cambridge spies, contact made while attending college using the ideaology card. Recruited by Blunt. Worked in British Intelligence and later the Intelligence Division of the Control Commision for Germany | ||
| VADIUM (Anatoly Gorsky) aka KAP | Took over as rezident in the London rezidentura, and took over running the Cambridge spy network when STEPHEN could no longer enter the U.K. | ||
| EDITH (Edith Tudor Hart) | Communications go between for the Cambridge spy ring in 1940 when the Soviet purges caused a temporary removal of the rezidenturas. Also thought to have recurited Philby, Mclean and Blunt and Burgess. | ||
| ROSS (Nicholai Korovin) aka Nicholai Rodin | Filled in on occasion to work the Cambridge spies and during a period where the Cambridge group was under scrutiny by the Soviets, verified their tradecraft and loyalty to the Soviet cause | ||
| ENORMOZ | Codename for the Moscow Centre group entrusted to coordinate, compile and analyze incoming atomic data from Canadian, U.S. and British controllers. | ||
| XY | New York sub-rezidentura gathering first info on the Manhattan project then later funneled info from the bomb teams (fission and fusion weapons) | ||
| K (Klaus Fuchs) | Mysterious communist sympathizer, a walk-in during the early 1940s, who volunteered info on the British atomic secrets, due to ideaology, later found to be important scientist in both British and U.S. programs. | ||
| MOOR | Unidentified scientist who provided secrets on U-235 separation processes in the early 1940s | ||
| KELLY | Unidentified scientist who provided information on developments and progress of both British and U.S. atomic programs in the early 1940s | ||
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