Operation Gold | The Cold War's Most Infamous Spy Tunnel

In 1954, Berlin was divided, having become the epicentre of the ideological battleground in the Cold War. The city was ruled more by spies and secrets than the tanks and troops lining its streets. Just a year earlier, in August 1953, the Soviets had detonated their first hydrogen bomb in their own rapidly advancing Atomic Project. The West was concerned about what else they might be planning and felt that they had to act before it was too late. But in order to act, they needed to know what was going on behind the Iron Curtain. It was within this tense atmosphere that the CIA and MI6 conceived a bold plan.# They would dig a tunnel from the American sector of Berlin, beneath the world’s most heavily guarded border, and tap into Soviet-East German communication lines on the other side. Codenamed Operation Gold, the Berlin Tunnel was to be the world’s longest and most high-tech spy tunnel. The operation was, however, doomed from the get-go, being compromised by a senior British MI6 officer who had turned traitor. |-----------------------------------------------------------------| 🎨 Thumbnail design by Roderick Brydon of KLR Custom Book Covers & Illustrations: https://www.klrcovers.com/ |-----------------------------------------------------------------| Ways to support my channel: Buy Me a Coffee: ☕ https://bmc.link/philipthompson Donate via PayPal: 💸 paypal.me/PhilipT284 #philipthompson #berlintunnel #talesofespionage