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Philby went up to Trinity College, Cambridge in 1928 and in the next five years set the foundations for a lifetime of espionage and treachery. Philby and his friends were deeply committed to Communism, and Cambridge had Communists a plenty with Roy Pascal and Maurice Dobb to name but two. Others like John Cornford helped recruit Michael Straight, Donald Maclean, Guy Burgess, Philby and Peter J Astbury, who were all thought to be good candidates as NKVD moles. Philby went on to become a journalist employed by politically moderate publications, as a cover for his Communist beliefs. When the Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936, Philby became a correspondent for the 'London General Press' to cover the war. Philby was really being sent to Spain by the Soviets to spy on General Franco's fascist Falangists rebelling against the Republic. Philby credentials had been enhanced by openly supporting the right-wing Anglo-German Fellowship, attending formal dinners that raised funds for Nazi groups and where swastikas were prominently displayed on the long dinner tables
Philby was back in England by the outbreak of war between Britain and Germany in 1939 and was posted to the British Expeditionary Force in France as a seasoned war correspondent. When France fell in June 1940 Philby, despite his previous membership of the Anglo-German Fellowship, was on good terms with the Secret Intelligence Service. Philby, with the approval of his NKVD controller, had put SIS officers in touch with the Soviet network operated by Sandor Rado in Switzerland which resulted in the SIS receiving valuable information on the German military. This must be counted as one of Philbys major contributions to SIS and the British war effort. Philby would later join SOE (Special Operations Executive), the sabotage and subversion organization that had been formed in 1940 from a number of different para-military sections including Section D of SIS. At first, Philby and his Soviet controller thought this would be an excellent opportunity to obtain information on underground movements where future Soviet agents could be recruited. He was not to be sent into the field however, because he had already been identified by the Abwehr through his membership in the Anglo-German Fellowship. Philby transferred to SIS and soon established himself as one of the 'bright young men' working in the Iberian section of the counter-intelligence directorate. Eventually he would be offered the prized position of establishing a dedicated anti-Communist desk inside SIS which must have delighted his Soviet NKVD control, Anatoli Lebedev, the replacement for Boris Krotov, who had long directed Philby's activities.
Directorate Five of SIS had its offices at No.14 Ryder Street in west London, one floor below that of the OSS. Philby in his new position became a close colleague of both William J.Donovan and Allen Dulles. One of the detailed reports Philby provided for SIS was the complete background on a NKVD spy named Boris Krotov, who had operated in England for much of the 1930's. Thereby chronicling the espionage career of the very Soviet officer who had been the control for Philby, Burgess and Maclean, among many others. After the War, Philby, seen as SIS's foremost authority was selected to go to Turkey in February 1947 to report on possible Soviet intelligence activities that might one day threaten Britain's Middle East oil interests. Yuri Feoktislov, a Soviet intelligence officer who had operated for a quarter of a century in the region became Philby's local control.
Philby was soon faced with an immediate threat when Konstantin Volkov, the Russian consul-general in Turkey, contacted British intelligence officers, offering to defect with the names of Soviet agents in Istanbul. Philby quickly took over Volkov's case contacted his controller and then stalled the plan until SMERSH officers were able seize the would-be defector and rush him back to the Soviet Union where he was liquidated. Philby's double game accelerated in Istanbul. As part of his FO duties, he regularly met with nationalist leaders attempting to wrest back control of Albania from the Communists who had seized the country in 1945. Through these contacts, he was able to learn about the planned nationalist raids into Albania. He passed this information to Lebedev and when the nationalists crossed into Albania the Communist were waiting for them, killing or capturing scores of the rebels.
When the CIA and later planned a covert invasion of Albania, Philby obtained advanced information on this operation and passed it along to the Soviets who destroyed the Anglo-American mission. Philby, however continued to be considered one of the most effective officers in SIS and a potential future Chief. In 1949, he was sent to Washington as the first secretary to the British ambassador and the SIS liaison to the CIA. Guy Burgess arrived in Washington a year later and he worked closely with Philby, providing Top-level data on NATO and nuclear research to the Soviets. By 1951, however, Burgess began to go to pieces and was also by then an alcoholic, his drunken behaviour soon caused him to be recalled to London and posed the first embarrassing chink in Philbys armour.
Anthony Blunt was soon to inform Philby that MI5 was about to have Donald Maclean arrested. Philby quickly notified Burgess. Guy Burgess panicked and fled Britain with Maclean creating the first serious security doubts about his friend Philby. Burgess and Maclean, held a press conference in Moscow on February 12, 1956 in which they attacked Western democracies as corrupt and oppressive, the reasons they gave for their decision to defect. When public questions were asked about the role he may have played in the Burgess and Maclean affair, Philby chose to resign 'in disgust' at the accusations. However his many friends and colleagues within SIS refused to accept that he was anything other than a 'grossly wronged' and honourable member of the service. Philby in truth, merely took a 'holiday' and was re-employed by SIS in a lesser role. Finally damning evidence of Philbys guilt was presented to SIS and corroborated by both the CIA and the Soviet defector Golytsin. Philby was presented with the evidence by Nicholas Elliot, a friend from SIS who flew out to Beirut to confront him. On January 23rd 1963, having been given a few hours to 'consider his position', Philby boarded the Polish cargo ship DALMATOVA which promptly sailed from Beirut for the Russian Black Sea port of Odessa. The composure of Philby's response to the evidence and his well organized defection suggest a degree of warning, but no hard evidence is available as to its possible nature. Philby was comprehensively debriefed for many months in Kuybishev on the Volga, a thousand miles from his friends Burgess and Maclean and by the time he finally reached Moscow, Burgess had died of an alcohol induced heart attack at age fifty-two.
Philby would became a KGB Major General in Moscow, sleep with Macleans wife and generally lead a fairly dissolute life. He served his Soviet masters well, though he often felt that he wasn't really trusted or fully appreciated. "To betray you must first belong," he stated a few months before his death in May 1988. "I never belonged." Philby then added: "I want to be buried in the Soviet Union, in this country , which I have considered to be my own since the 1930's." His last wish was honoured to the full. |
