The Berlin Tunnel was an Anglo-American eavesdropping operation mounted against Russian-controlled East Berlin in 1955–56. It was a technical and engineering triumph which yielded a vast hoard of intelligence and, crucially, guaranteed early warning of any surprise Russian attack (as was mooted by the Russian military). Yet it was betrayed to the Russians by the British spy George Blake before a single sod was dug. This well-researched and readable account tells both stories, showing how they fed into each other.
High-grade information on Russian military capabilities and intentions were scarce. One of few successful sources was an MI6 tunnel in Vienna, tapping into Russian underground communications cables. The MI6 head of station there, Peter Lunn, was then posted to Berlin, where he looked to repeat his Viennese success.
A combination of covert surveying and agents in the East German telecommunications network identified a favourable starting point in the US sector of West Berlin. It offered access to three major trunk cables carrying hundreds of Russian military circuits as well as the critical high-security Berlin-Moscow link. But the target cables were 1,500 feet away beneath East Berlin, tunnelling to which would be a much bigger operation than in Vienna. It could not be done without major US co-operation.
MI6 and the CIA collaborated. Within sight and sound of East German border guards the Americans dug and paid for the tunnel while the British dug and equipped the vertical shaft at the end and did the actual tapping. Three six-man crews of US army engineers excavated by hand about 11 feet a day, working eight-hour shifts. At the far end British army engineers dug to within 12 inches of the road surface in order to reach their two-inch target. They could hear people walking overhead.
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