Rudolf Abel (right)
On May 1, 1960, an unidentified U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft appeared in soviet territory.
When the Soviet authorities discovered this, they immediately opened fire on the U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft, the plane was hit, and the pilot on it was also captured by the Soviet authorities. It turned out that the driver Bowles was sent by the United States to reconnoiter the Soviet Union.
Four days later, at a meeting between the leaders of the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain, and France, Khrushchev made the matter public. The next day the Soviet newspaper Rakyasha published the wreckage of the plane that had been shot down. This incident caused an uproar in American public opinion. Many Americans strongly demanded that the government immediately save Bowers.
It didn't take long for the Soviet Foreign Ministry to inform the U.S. government that it was okay to save Bowers, and that it would be necessary to exchange the Hero of the Soviet Union, Abel, who was now under U.S. control.
This request was very difficult for the US officials, but it was finally agreed. After several negotiations, the two countries finally decided to exchange hostages on February 10, 1962, on the Glinnick Bridge in Potsdam, on the border between East and West Germany.
What kind of character was it that was able to exchange bowers, a pilot who went to the Soviet Union for reconnaissance, and was claimed by the U.S. Federation to be worth much higher than Bowles? Even in the years that followed, after his mysterious experience was revealed, it was put on the screen countless times.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="9" > the life of a "thousand-faced man" is full of dangers</h1>
Rudolf Abel, formerly known as William Henry Hovich Fisher. Born in 1902, he is a native of the Caucasus region of Russia. His grandfather was a high-ranking official in the Tsarist government, while his father was a surgeon.
As a child he moved to Eastern Europe with his father and lived for a time in Germany and Poland. As a result, Abel speaks very pure German and Polish. And more than that, thanks to Abel's father's friendship with an American doctor, Abel was also fluent in English under the influence of this friend.
In addition to his amazing talent for language, Abel has a good talent for painting, music, photography, and literature.
At the age of 23, Abel returned to Moscow and became a teacher at a local secondary school, teaching English, German and Polish.
In 1925, Abel joined the Red Army as a messenger, responsible for radio relays. Until this moment, although Abel has shown great talent, his life has been plain.
He never expected that the rest of his life would be like wandering on a tightrope all the time, full of dangers, and he did not expect that he would be imprisoned in a foreign country.
In 1927, the Soviet State Political Protection Bureau, the predecessor of the KGB, found Abel and trained him specifically to become a professional spy. Since then, the name of William Henry Hovich Fisher has disappeared into the wind, and John Lieber has become his pseudonym.
After World War II, Abel traveled to Riga, the capital of the Republic of Lithuania, as a German auto mechanic. He joined a local German minority club.
It turned out that this club was a peripheral organization of the German army, and Abel used this club to conduct political censorship of every new German.
Here, Abel is a patriotic young man with extreme ideas and a passionate support for Germany. He soon became friends with an engineer named Henrich Schwarzkopf, whose uncle was a leader of the German army in Berlin.
In 1940, Abel moved to Germany with a group of Germans from Henrich at the behest of his superiors. He soon joined the German SS Reich Security Force through uncle Henrich's connections, serving as a driver for the Then German High Command's Spy Bureau.
Abel in the movie Bridge of Spies
It can be said that he is in the most dangerous place, and at any time he may be put in danger of his life due to insignificant mistakes.
As the german war intensified, Abel also followed the German army to the Soviet battlefield. At one point, his unit was besieging a Soviet army.
The Soviet army was outnumbered and suffered heavy casualties, but it still used all the remaining firepower, just to cover a heavy tank to break through the siege. Almost immediately, the Germans judged that there must be very important people or documents in the tanks.
The Germans immediately ordered their soldiers to intercept the tanks, but were repeatedly frustrated by the desperate Soviet artillery fire. Abel, on the other hand, watched the developments quietly from the sidelines. He suddenly noticed that the tank had been struggling, and almost immediately realized that the people in the tank should be more fierce.
It just so happens that the last German commandos have been defeated, and the new personnel have not yet been formed. Abel immediately requested to fight for his country, and his request was immediately granted.
In the midst of gunfire, in the battlefield full of wreckage, Abel marched calmly, and with a single oversight, he could have eaten Soviet bullets and died in this strange land, unable to be buried under his real name.
Abel crawled on the ground, tumbling into bunkers, and cleverly taking advantage of the dead spots of Soviet army shooting to approach the tanks. When he got into the tank, he found that the people inside were indeed dead. And the tank did have a highly classified document.
He immediately made a decision, burned the documents, and quickly jumped out and blew up the tank. Angry Soviet troops immediately poured artillery fire on him, and Abel was shot on the spot and lost consciousness.
This was Abel's closest moment to death, but not the only one.
When he woke up, he found himself in a hospital, and when he learned that the German military was impressed by his heroic actions, they awarded him an "Iron Cross" and promoted him to intelligence officer.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="32" > two hostile countries and award him the highest reward</h1>
In the autumn of 1943, Vas Schulenburg, director of the German Overseas Intelligence Service, asked for an assistant to assist him in his work. The clever, alert, heroic Abel was quickly chosen.
Schulenburg was also impressed with him, and even gave him the most advanced special pass, unimpeded access to any classified place. Abel used the power and trust of the Germans to steal important secrets.
In the summer of 1944, the Germans were in a weak position on the battlefield and suffered successive defeats. The German Army Chief of Staff, General Klebers, and the German Intelligence Department developed a plan called the Whirlwind.
They were ready to launch spies lurking in the Soviet Union, carrying out sabotage activities in the rear of the Soviet army, creating chaos and delaying the counter-offensive of the Soviet army.
At this time, Abel was sent to work in the Special Operations Department of the German Army. One day, he was suddenly ordered by his superiors to pick up a Wehrmacht captain named Schwarzburg.
They were attacked by airstrikes on their way to their headquarters, and Schwarzburg and two of his accompanying soldiers were killed by shrapnel. The surviving Abel looked through the classified documents carried by Schwarzburg and found the specific plan of Operation Whirlwind.
Abel, who had returned to the War Department, faced with his superiors for consultation, said only that when he arrived, he had been attacked by air raids and did not see Schwarzburg. The War Department immediately sent men to look around, and in a restaurant in Berlin, the captain of "Schwarzburg" was finally found.
It turned out that after seeing the German plan, Abel immediately came up with a bold idea. Schwarzburg came from afar, but no one here knew him, so it was entirely possible to forge a Schwazburg, accept the mission, and go to the Soviet Union to sabotage the "whirlwind" plan.
Abel immediately finds his assistant Michelle and asks him to secretly impersonate the dead Schwarzburg.
However, it was not until "Schwarzburg" boarded the plane bound for the Soviet Union that Abel learned that The German Lieutenant Krieger, who had received him in the Soviet Union, knew Schwarzburg.
That means that the plan is most likely to be exposed right away, and perhaps the next moment will receive news of Michelle's death.
Sure enough, Kriegel found out that it was a stranger who was coming, and he was about to draw his gun and shoot it. At this critical juncture, Michel calmly and calmly uttered the joint code and cleverly explained that because the Germans suspected that the group lurking in the Soviet Union had been captured by the Soviet military, they let him impersonate him.
If the recipient treats him as Schwarzburg, it proves that the plan of action has been exposed.
Although Michelle survived a moment of danger, it did not mean that she was safe. Kriegel immediately sent a telegram to headquarters requesting confirmation of the plan, and it didn't take long for him to receive command from headquarters asking him to hand over command to the new commander.
It turned out that Abel had anticipated the most dangerous situation, and had been standing in front of the transmitter in Berlin since the departure of the plane.
After the telegram, Abel breathed a sigh of relief, proving that Michelle had dealt with the greatest difficulties, and that everything else had to be done by him.
He took the slightly altered telegram, obscured the name, and left only the kriger inquiry whether to submit the command, and then handed it over to the head of the department, Colonel Maltze.
Colonel Maltze was puzzled by this inexplicable telegram. Abel, on the other hand, explained that before leaving, he heard Captain Schwarzburg say that he and Lieutenant Kriegel were at odds, perhaps because of this friction. That is why Colonel Maltze did not hesitate to ask for a reply to the telegram sending the transfer of command.
Such a result will naturally only lead to the failure of the "whirlwind plan". Subsequently, the German army also lost confidence and did not practice it again.
Later, Abel stole the contents of Hilem's representative and the secret agent of the American spy leader Dulles in Switzerland, so the Soviet Union secretly awarded him the title of "Hero of the Soviet Union" and promoted him to the rank of colonel.
At the same time, Germany also awarded him the "Iron Cross" medal for his "outstanding performance".
How comical it is that two rival countries confer the highest reward on the same person, and at the same time something that has almost never happened.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="55" > painter who traveled to the United States, had no political heart, but was secretly a spy</h1>
In Germany, Abel is always thinking of his homeland, not to mention his family. After the surrender of the German army, he could hardly suppress his desire to return home, but at this moment, he received orders from his superiors to go to the United States and serve as the head of the American intelligence station.
In 1946, Abel incarnated as an American named André Cayotis, acting in Canada as a painter and photographer. Two years later, he entered the United States.
He first settled down at a cheap hostel near Broadway in New York, and soon became an actor at the Broadway and Brooklyn juggling circuits with his extraordinary musical and dance talents.
In 1952, Abel quit his hostel room and told his friends that he didn't want to sell art all the time to make a lot of money, and wanted to try art photography.
This time, Abel, alias Emile Godfus, moved to 252 Falton Street. The place is across the road from the U.S. Department of Justice building. Staying here, as long as you wear binoculars, Abel can clearly see the people coming in and out.
Sometimes Abel would leave for months, explicitly saying that he was going to collect artistic inspiration, and secretly visiting soviet intelligence stations in the United States.
For nine years in the United States, Abel has been a gracious and easy-going person admired by friends. He has a unique temperament, his paintings are also at the level of professional painters, and he is indifferent to politics on weekdays.
He once said to a friend, "Leave politics to the politicians." "If it weren't for the final exposure, no one could have imagined that he would actually be a spy."
In the United States, Abel, who has a good life, has never forgotten his identity, and even constantly warns himself not to indulge in pleasure, shaking his will. But even so, a generation of spy kings Abel, eventually because of an alcoholic, exposed his identity and fell into prison.
In 1953, a newspaper boy handed a suspicious coin of his own to the police station. It turned out that when he tossed a coin on the road, he accidentally fell to the ground and found that the coin cracked in the middle.
Later, the coin went to the FBI headquarters, and the microfilm found by the police department to identify the coin was also sent. But because the microfilm was full of codes, the headquarters could only find out that these were typed by a Soviet-made Cyrillic typewriter.
The matter has also become an open case. It wasn't until Abel surfaced and was arrested that there was an answer.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="68" > drunkard's greed for wealth and wealth, which has surfaced a generation of spy kings</h1>
On April 26, 1957, at the U.S. Embassy in Paris, France, a five-man of five stature told the embassy's security officer that his name was Renault Hehhanan, a KGB spy stationed in the United States, demanding political asylum.
Naturally, U.S. officials refused to believe it and rejected Haikhanan's application for political asylum. Haehran shouted anxiously: "I am indeed a KGB spy." We also have a guy in New York, he's dressed as a painter, he's a big guy! ”
These caught the attention of U.S. officials, who secretly sent Haihanan to the United States for investigation by the FBI for safety reasons. The FBI first sent Haihanan to a quarantine station for a psychiatrist to identify. The identification results showed that Haihanan was an alcoholic with suicidal tendencies.
In anger, the FBI was about to throw Hahaihanan out of the door, and Hachanan pulled out a hollow nickel coin and took out the microfilm inside. At this point, everyone was shocked.
Some people thought of a coin from a few years ago, and also immediately found it from the archives and asked Haihanan to translate it. Unexpectedly, this coin had been Haihanan's first mission to the United States, but he had never received it. Unexpectedly, many years later, he would actually receive this task in the US FBI.
Haikhanan was originally in 1954, and the Soviet Union sent an assistant to help Abel deal with his daily work.
Perhaps because he was also a Soviet, carrying out espionage missions in the United States, or because Abel missed his hometown and wanted to return home as soon as possible, he had great enthusiasm for Haihanan, and had been trying to help Haihanan and wanted to cultivate him into a talent.
But Hachanan may not have been mentally firm, or he may have been captured by the extravagant life of the United States, he was always timid, and he was always drunk.
The first mission to Hakhanan did not even send the information to the designated location, which can be said to be a serious safety accident.
Later, Abel asked Haihanan to open a photo studio to hide his identity. However, I did not expect that Haihanan's photographic skills were extremely poor, and there would never be any customers who would want to come to the door.
There was no way, Abel had to personally help Haihanan rent a shop, and also took the photographic equipment, took Haihanan to his residence, and planned to teach him by hand.
In fact, according to the habits of spies, subordinate spies should never be allowed to know where their superiors are, which can only be said to be a major mistake.
Abel went to great lengths to teach Haihanan how to master the art of photography and has been busy for more than a month. Because he was approved to return to China to visit his relatives for half a year, he left with only a few words.
Unsupervised, Hahanan put Abel's words behind him, got drunk every day, and even got into a fight with his wife and was questioned by the police.
After returning to the United States, Abel found that Haehran not only did not open a photo studio as planned, but even got drunk every day. Disappointed, Abel reported the matter and demanded that Khahanan be sent back to the Soviet Union.
A few months later, Soviet officials agreed to Abel's decision. After hearing the news, Haihanan thought that he would definitely be punished, and at the same time, he was obsessed with the life of a drunken gold fan in the United States, and finally decided to surrender himself to the United States and betray Abel.
On June 21, 1957, the FBI stormed into Abel's inn and arrested him on the spot. When Abel faced this situation, the first thing he thought about was not his own safety, but his own secrets.
He first thought of the codebook, and after drawing the eyes of the crowd away, he secretly held it in his hand. He then asked to go to the toilet, and at the moment of pumping, threw the codebook into the toilet and let it be washed away. The move was not even detected by the agents who were watching him behind him.
Then he thought of copying a telegram yesterday and putting it under a cloud of white paper. His eyes touched his own undried paintings, and he was pretended to look sorry and said, "What is the use of keeping it?" ”
Between the words, he crumpled the white paper along with the painting, and the white paper was immediately stained with oil paint, which could no longer be recognized, and then he threw it in the trash.
Finally, he thought of a microfilm in the tie pin in front of his chest. After being escorted to the car, he pretended to play with his pin, was discovered by the agents and removed for observation, but found nothing.
Abel, on the other hand, quietly touched the needle when he took it, and the microfilm was indeed gone.
In the face of such a big fish, Americans naturally go all out. Psychologists and interrogation experts took turns exhorting Abel, but FBI people were often toyed with by him, either silently or sarcastically, apparently unable to do so easily.
It even made the experts angry and threatened to execute Abel. Abel, on the other hand, said frankly, "I am willing! ”
In the end, the United States decided to publicly try Abel. In this high-profile trial, Abel used his vast knowledge of U.S. law and his lawyers to attack loopholes in prosecutors' prosecution materials.
In the end, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison. At this moment, he is 55 years old.
And Abel's fearlessness and loyalty could not help but make the FBI director, Alan Dulles, sigh and say: "Why can't the United States cultivate such a master-level spy?" ”
Abel's heroic deeds have always been remembered by the Soviet Union. They also go to great lengths to rescue their heroes. By 1960, the captured Bowers had become a powerful bargaining chip.
The US official, on the one hand, considering the pressure of public opinion and wanting to know what happened to the U-2, on the other hand, felt hopeless because of Abel's unyielding attitude, and finally agreed to the hostage exchange request.
After returning to China, Abel won special treatment for his indomitable and fearless performance. Promoted to major general, he served as kgb's director and instructor, specializing in teaching outdecretarys the latent expertise of covert operations.
Abel died in Moscow in 1971, and the KGB built a statue of him. Later, some people made the movie "Bridge of Spies" based on this past.