SHAFQAT HANIF KIYANIBSIT(IB)Reg No. 15-ARID-1266

PIR MEHR ALI SHAH ARID AGRICULTURE UNIVERSITY, RAWALPINDI

TOP TEN MOST FAMOUS SPIES OF THE WORLD

Who is Spy?

A person employed by a Government or other organization to secretly obtain information on an enemy or

competitor.

1. Sidney Reilly Sidney Reilly, born in Russia in 1873. His original name was Sigmund Georgievich Rosenblum Nicknamed the “Ace of Spies”.  Reilly was a womanizer (some also dubbed him as the “Gentleman Spy”) and

lived an extravagant lifestyle. He is attributed with some of the most daring undertakings. Most famous his involvement in the plot to assassinate the Soviet leader

Lenin.  The plot had failed but Reilly spectacularly escaped. In 1925, he went back to Russia to help overthrow the Soviet regime but this

time, he went out of luck. He was captured by the Soviets and executed in the same year.

2. Krystyna Skarbek

She was born 1 May 1908 at Warsaw in Poland. Also known as (Christine Granville). In 1940, she went to Hungary as a British agent but she also skied

into Poland several times to help Polish resistance fighters escape

the country. In 1941, Skarbek was arrested by the Gestapo but was soon released. She bit her tongue in order to for it to bleed and coughed hard by which she managed to

convince the Germans that she was suffering from tuberculosis. Skarbek also undertook several daring intelligence missions in France.  later decorated for her services by both France and Britain. She died after being stabbed by a rejected admirer in 15 June 1952.

3. George Blake George Behar was born in11 November 1922 Rotterdam,

Netherlands. George Blake began his spying career during World War II. In 1950, he was sent to Seoul as a British agent but was soon

captured by North Korean troops and held captive for three years. In the meantime, he became a communist and switched sides. Following his release in 1953, Blake returned to Britain as a hero

but also as a double agent. He gave details of over 40 MI6 agents to the Soviets which virtually destroyed the MI6

network in Eastern Europe. In 1961, Blake’s espionage activities were exposed and he was sentenced to 42 years in

prison.

Five years later, however, he escaped and fled to Moscow where he lives ever since. In 2007, he was honored with the Order of Friendship by Vladimir Putin.

4. Dušan Popov Dušan Popov was born in Serbia. He was double agent who worked for the MI6 during

World War II. His life was very similar to that of James Bond

and according to many. But besides for his playboy lifestyle and daring missions. Popov is also famous for warning the FBI about the Japanese attack on Peal Harbor

as early as in August 1941. However, his warning wasn’t forwarded because Edgar Hoover who was at the time

the FBI Director didn’t trust him. Popov died in his home in France , August 10, 1981, at the age of 68.

5. Henri Dericourt He was born in  September 2, 1909, in France. The French pilot Henri Dericourt is suspected to

have been a World War II double agent. In 1942, he fled from occupied France to Britain and

joined the Special Operations Executive (SOE). Which sent him back to France to arrange secret aircraft landings and transportation of

the SOE agents. He was arrested in 1946 but was acquitted two years later. He was killed in a plane crash in Laos in 1962. But according to some, he might have faked his death to start a new life under a new

name as his body was never found.

6. Odette Hallowes

She was born in April 28, 1912 in France. Odette Hallowes became an SOE agent by

an accident. In 1942, she sent a postcard offering her help in war

efforts to the wrong government office. She was called in by the Special Forces of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY) and

trained as an SOE agent.  In the same year, she was sent to Nazi-occupied France to work with the French. Soon,

however, Hallowes and her supervisor Peter Churchill were captured by the Germans. Peter is the nephew of the British Prime Minister and she his wife. Hallowes who is the only woman to be awarded with the George Cross while alive died

in 1995, aged 82.

7. Richard Sorge He was born in October 4, 1895 in Germany. Richard Sorge was a Soviet spy who is considered

as one of the greatest intelligence agents of all time. While recovering from an injury sustained in the

Western Front during World War I, he became a passionate communist. In the 1920s, he went to the Soviet Union and soon began working as an intelligence

agent.  Before and during World War II, he was working in Japan and provided the Soviets with

important information about the intentions of both Japan and Nazi Germany. From Sorge, the Soviets learned that Japan wasn’t planning to attack Russia but they also

learned that Hitler does.

Sorge even informed them about the date of the planned

German attack. In 1941, he was exposed by the Japanese and arrested. In 1964, Sorge was posthumously awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union distinction, the highest

honorary title in the Soviet Union.

8. Virginia Hall She was born in April 6, 1906, Baltimore,

Maryland, United States. Virginia Hall was an American spy who was allegedly

dubbed as “the most dangerous of all Allied spies” by

the Germans. At the outbreak of World War II, she found herself in Paris. After France’s surrender, she fled to Britain and became an

SOE (special operations executive) agent. Shortly thereafter, she was sent back to France to help organize the resistance. In 1942, however, Hall was forced to flee to Spain. Two years later, she joined the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and went back to

France to help coordinate Allied parachute landings and train French resistance fighters.

After the end of the war, Hall joined the CIA and worked as an intelligence agent until 1966 when she retired.

She died in July 8, 1982, Rockville, Maryland, United States.

9. Mata Hari

She was born in August 7, 1876, Leeuwarden, Netherlands. Mata Hari was a stage name of Margaretha Geertruida

“Margreet” Zelle MacLeod. A Dutch exotic dancer and courtesan who was working as

a German spy during World War I. At least that’s what the French thought. In 1917, she was arrested, found guilty of espionage and executed by firing squad in

Paris, aged 41. her espionage activities and their extent remain a matter of debate because the evidence

used against her was circumstantial and obscure. According to many historians, Mata Hari was probably a double agent.

10. Noor Inayat Khan She was born in January 2, 1914, Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is also known as princess spy. Noor inayat khan was a British secret agent of SOC. Her father Indian and mother American. She was a direct descendant of Tipu Sultan. She lives in france but escaped to England after the fall

of France and in November 1940 she joined the WAAF (Women's Auxiliary Air Force). In late 1942, she was recruited to join SOE as a radio operator. In June 1943 she was flown to France to become the radio operator for the 'Prosper' resistance

network in Paris, with the codename 'Madeleine'. In October, Khan was betrayed by a Frenchwoman and arrested by the Gestapo. She had unwisely kept copies of all her secret signals and the Germans were able to use her radio

to trick London into sending new agents.

Khan escaped from prison but was recaptured a few hours later. In November 1943, she was sent to Pforzheim prison in Germany where she was

kept in chains and in solitary confinement. Despite repeated torture, she refused to reveal any information. In September 1944, Khan and three other female SOE agents were transferred to

Dachau concentration camp where on 13 September they were shot. For her courage, Noor Khan was posthumously awarded the George Cross in

1949.