Reviews

During the period covered by this book, essentially 1948-1961, Berlin was the cockpit of Europe, if not the world. The two principal authors should know, they were there‘Murphy as Chief of CIA's Berlin Operations Base (BOB), and Lieutenant General Konpdrashev as KGB Chief of the German Section. Bailey, who collaborated on the translation and writing, was the former director of Radio Liberty. The authors concentrate on the era before the Berlin Wall distanced BOB from the East, an era of provocations and reprisals that could easily have triggered a worldwide conflagration. The confrontations of East and West at this time were ominous. A CIA report indicated "The Soviet Union intends... to make the Western position in West Berlin so tenuous that the West will see no alternative but to withdraw." At the time, the U.S. had only token military forces in the city, the under-strength 118th Infantry Regiment, some unarmed Signal Corps detachments and a few companies of MPs. But the U.S. held its own, largely through superior information. New and important access to recently declassified files along with the authors' own knowledge make this a crucial addition to filling an important gap in our understanding of the Cold War. The book is not only authoritative, it is also well written and possesses the qualities of a very engaging espionage novel‘plots, subplots and myriad, often dubious, characters. Appendices give more in-depth source material on double agents, the Berlin Tunnel, Soviet illegals like Yevgeny Runge, aka "Max," and more. Illustrations not seen by PW. (Sept.)