Who was Richard Sorge? The great scout Sorge

The Second World War is the most terrible in the history of mankind. As you know, it was impossible to win it with the help of tanks alone: smartness, resourcefulness and a huge amount of effort were required. In this regard, each country trains and prepares scouts. The Soviet Union brought up one of the best scouts of the century. They were Richard Sorge. He was truly a great man and a scout. Richard worked in Japan under cover of about 7 years, and this could not be done to anyone else. It's not easy to work as a scout in Japan, because the authorities are extremely careful to ensure that there is no leakage of information. However, during this time, no one has ever been able to understand who Richard Sorge was.

Childhood and family scout

Due to the circumstances in 1944, Richard Sorge managed to declassify the special services of Japan. At that time, even the authorities of the country expressed a secret respect for him because for many years they could not find out who Richard Sorge was.

The scout's biography begins October 4, 1898 in the Baku province of the Russian Empire (now Baku-Azerbaijan). Richard's father was German Gustav Wilhelm, and the mother was a Russian woman Kobeleva Nina Stepanovna. The family of the scout was large, but nothing is known about the sisters and brothers. Richard's grandfather was the leader of the First International and the secretary of Karl Marx himself. When Richard was 10 years old, his family moved to live in Germany.

The first battles, injuries and acquaintance with Karl Marx

An interesting fact is that during his stay in Germany, Richard voluntarily joined the ranks of the German army during the First World War. The first battles he spent in the artillery troops. After some time (in 1915) was wounded in the next battle near Iprom. Richard was sent to the hospital, where he passed the exams and received another rank - corporal. After these events, Sorge was sent to another front - to the east, to Galicia. There the scout participated in battles against the Russian army. Later, he was badly wounded by fragments from an artillery shell and lay for several days on the ground. After he was taken to the hospital, the scout suffered a serious operation, as a result of which one leg became shorter than the other. Because of this, Richard was commissioned on disability.

In the intervals between heavy fighting Richard Sorge got acquainted with the works of Karl Marx. It was then that he became an ardent Communist. Thanks to active party activities in 1924, Zorge moved to the USSR, where he received Soviet citizenship. As a result of unknown events, Richard was recruited by the Soviet intelligence services. Richard Sorge - a scout of the highest level, and this was understood by many of his colleagues. Thanks to the profession of a journalist and a German name, he could practically work in many countries of the world.

Alias and first arrest of Zorge

And yet, who was Richard Sorge in the countries he worked for?

Most often he worked under the code alias of Ramsay and was called a journalist or a scientist. This gave him the right to ask questions that ordinary people could not even say aloud. The first thing Sorge was sent to England to meet with the head of the secret intelligence service MI6. Her boss had to inform Sorge of the secret data, about which nothing is known to this day. However, the meeting between Richard and an officer of the British Intelligence Service did not take place. Sorge was arrested by the police. Fortunately, even then his connections and he himself were not declassified.

Intelligence Directorate of the Red Army

In 1929, Zorge was transferred to the Intelligence Directorate of the Red Army. In the same year he received an important special mission. After Richard was sent to China, to the city of Shanghai, where his task was to create an operational intelligence group and search for reliable informants about the plans of the country. In Shanghai, he was able to establish friendly relations with a journalist and part-time spy - Agnes Smedley. Also, Sorge met with the born communist Khotumi Ozaki. Later these people became the most important and main informants of the Soviet Union.

Scouting to Japan

Later, Zorge well put himself in the circles of the Nazis. Because of this, the Soviet command took a difficult decision - to send Richard to Japan. The task was complicated by the fact that none of the agents were able to gain a foothold and work well there. Many still do not know who Richard Sorge was in Japan. However, official sources assure that the scout there came as a journalist of one authoritative German publication. For this, before the trip, Sorge needed to visit the US. For a short period of time, he received good recommendations from the Japanese Embassy in America. Apparently, thanks to this, his career has developed well in Japan itself.

There, Sorge was able to find an assistant to the German ambassador, Jugen Otto, who at that time was a general.

Indifference of the Soviet Government to the fate of the scout

However, Zorge was shamelessly thrown by the Soviet government in Japan to the mercy of fate. The USSR had a suspicion that the information Sorge is untrue and now it works against them. All Zorge's letters with a request to return to the Union were ignored by the General Staff. At that time, they were not interested in who Richard Sorge was - an ordinary rank-and-file soldier or a high-class spy. He was simply abandoned.

October 18, 1941 Richard Sorge was declassified and arrested by the Japanese police. For three years he was under investigation. In 1944, the scout was shot along with his agents.

So, many years later, not one journalist and scientist asks himself who Richard Sorge was. The answer to this question can only be given by those who knew his life and work well.