Melita Norwood was the most important soviet spy installed in Britain. For more than 30 years she spied on British intelligence for the Soviet Union. Norwood was also the longest-running KGB spy in British history, working from 1937 to 1972.
In 1999, when her identity as a spy was revealed, she was 87 years old, so the British called her "grandmother spy". There were calls to be charged with "treason", but the British government finally decided not to prosecute her and let her live in peace in her old age. Norlwood died on 2 June 2005 in his apartment on the southern outskirts of London at the age of 93.
Melita Norwood was born on 25 March 1912 in Pocksdalen, England, the son of Alexander Zirnis, a prominent Socialist in La Travey, who was forced to emigrate to England. He was actively engaged in leftist activities, translating the works of Lenin and Trotsky into English and founding newspapers of a socialist nature. Father's progressive ideas deeply influenced Norwood.
In the 1930s, the socialist trend in Britain became increasingly powerful, and many young people had a good feeling for the Soviet Union, believing that the Soviet political system was the ideal model for the future society. Norwood joined the British Communist Party in his youth. Soon she married Hillary, a mathematics teacher who was also a member of the British Communist Party, and took up the position of assistant to the president of the British Society for Nonferrous Metals Research. At that time, the Nonferrous Metals Research Society was responsible for part of the research work on the British atomic bomb program, and the Soviet intelligence services certainly did not spare this "big fish".
Although Norwood's position is not high, she has access to many top-secret intelligence, and she copies or photographs all the documents she handles and submits them to her superiors. Between 1937 and 1940, Norwood provided a large amount of important scientific and technological intelligence to Soviet intelligence personnel.
It turned out that because the Soviets used spies from various countries to steal a lot of information about the nuclear program, it greatly promoted the development process of Soviet nuclear weapons. Some of this intelligence came from the United States and partly from Britain.
The British began a nuclear weapons program code-named "Tube Alloy" in 1940, and From 1945 Nolwood began providing materials to Soviet intelligence. She forwarded the remake of the file photo to the KGB's contacts in London. For security reasons, Norwood did not meet much with Soviet agents each year, but the information she provided was of great value. Because of this, the Soviet Union successfully tested the first atomic bomb in 1949, while the British only conducted the first atomic bomb test in 1952, three years later than the Soviet Union.
For decades, Norwood had been secretly doing his intelligence work, while developing several new spies for Soviet intelligence who could provide military and technical intelligence. Her cooperation with Soviet intelligence continued until 1972.
In 1979, Norwood and her husband, Hilary, came to the Soviet Union as tourists. In recognition of Norwood's great contribution to the Soviet Union, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR awarded her the "Order of the Red Banner of Battle" and the KGB gave her a lifelong pension.
After the end of World War II, because Norwood never hid her partisan beliefs, the British counter-espionage department had become suspicious of her.
Exposing Norwood's identity as a spy was Soviet defector Vasily Mitrohin. Mitroshin worked in the ARCHIVES SECTION OF THE KGB's First General Directorate of Foreign Intelligence. In 1972, when the KGB was moving to a new building on the outskirts of Moscow, Mitrohin took advantage of the opportunity to select what he considered the most valuable archival material, secretly transcribe and copy it, and hide it in a villa on the outskirts.
From 1972 to 1984, Mitrohin transcribed and reproduced secret documents including KGB operations abroad, the names of officers, spies and intelligence providers involved, and situation analysis reports sent back by spies from countries around the world. The archives are thousands of pages long and span the 1930s to the 1980s. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Mitrohim was dissatisfied with his retirement, so he had the idea of selling his files for his own benefit.
In 1992, Mitrohin traveled to Riga, latvia, with some of his archival materials. He first came to the U.S. Embassy, but ate behind closed doors. U.S. embassy staff believed that this might have been a smoke bomb fired by the KGB or a fake file forged by Mitrohin to leave the Soviet Union as soon as possible.
In order to achieve this goal, Mitrohin went to the British Embassy again, and the British agent talked to him many times, realized the importance of his files, and quickly reported to London. After London confirmed the situation, he completed all the documents for Mitrohin's family, bought the house, and paid him a high allowance.
On 7 September 1992, Mitrohin came to London with the help of British agents with his wife. At the time, the shrewd Mitrohin carried only a small portion of archival material, most of which was hidden in his villa on the outskirts of Moscow. So London sent agent Richard Tomlinson to Moscow as a diplomat, took the file from Mitrohin's villa, and transported it back to London. Tomlinson later became famous for publishing a list of 100 British intelligence officers online and a series of MI5 assassination plans.
By carefully studying the archival material provided by Mitrohin, British intelligence agencies determined that the spy code-named "Hola" was Norwood. In 1999, the nearly 1,000-page Mitrovhin Archives: The KGB in Europe and the West was published, causing a sensation in Britain. In the book, a large number of KGB secret agents were exposed, including 87-year-old Norwood, who was known as a "grandmother spy."
After Norwood's identity was revealed, a large number of reporters flocked to him, but Norwood seemed very calm. In an interview with the BBC, Norwood did not deny having worked with the KGB for nearly 40 years. "Since I've done something, I should admit that I'm not doing it for money," she said. I hope that by providing materials, I will help the Soviet Union to become a country that can compete with Britain, the United States and Germany. A reporter asked her if she regretted what she had done, and she replied simply, "Never."
Norwood still lives in the cottage he bought 50 years ago with a loan from her husband, Hilary. The husband and wife have been together for 50 years, and although the husband objected to her espionage after learning of her espionage, he did not stop her, and he respected his wife's beliefs and choices.
This affection made Norwood unforgettable for life. She hid her identity from her only daughter, Anne, and didn't know it until the publication of the book Mitrohin Archives kgb in Europe and the West.
In late 1999, the British Judiciary announced that norld, 87, was exempt from prosecution.
Norwood is just an ordinary woman, and her experience proves that the truly valuable spy is not like James Bond, code-named "007", who wears a tuxedo, has a charismatic charm, can drive all means of transportation, and breaks into the Dragon Pond Tiger's Den, the most valuable spy is like Norwood, the appearance is not outstanding, they are smart, safe, but the role can not be underestimated. (Responsible editor of this journal, Liu.)