Biography

Richard Sorge (October 4, 1895 - November 7, 1944) was a German journalist and Soviet military intelligence officer, active before and during World War II, working undercover as a German journalist in both Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. His codename was "Ramsay". A number of famous personalities considered him one of the most accomplished spies. Sorge is most famous for his service in Japan in 1940 and 1941, when he provided information about Adolf Hitler's plan to attack the Soviet Union. In mid-September 1941, he informed the Soviets that Japan would not attack the Soviet Union in the near future. Various writers have speculated that this information allowed Stalin to transfer 18 divisions, 1,700 tanks, and over 1,500 aircraft from Siberia and the Far East to the Western Front against the western Axis Powers during the Battle for Moscow. However, Soviet code-breakers had broken the Japanese diplomatic codes, and Moscow already knew from signals intelligence that there would be no Japanese attack on the Soviet Union in 1941. A month later Sorge was arrested in Japan on the counts of espionage. He was tortured, forced to confess, tried, and hanged in November 1944. He was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union in 1964.