Soldiers, Spies, and the Rat Line: America'S Undeclared War Against the Soviets - Hardcover

Milano, James V.; Brogan, Patrick

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1574880500 ISBN 13: 9781574880502

Publisher: Brassey's Inc, 1995

Synopsis

After Germany’s surrender in World War II, Jim Milano, a young U.S. army intelligence officer, led a small, independent group of soldiers charged with carrying out some of the first intelligence efforts of the postwar era. Inventing the techniques of Cold War espionage for themselves and improvising unorthodox methods, the major and his creative cohorts confounded Soviet forces and created escape routes for defectors. In the pages of Milano’s fascinating memoir you'll find the shadowy world populated by spies, prostitutes, refugees, scoundrels, and heroes comes alive.

About this title

Synopsis

The Cold War began in Central Europe within weeks of the surrender of Germany. It had no name, it was not declared, but the soldiers on the front line recognized it. This is the story of the American soldiers who witnessed the beginning of the conflict that dominated world politics for the next 45 years, and did their best to fight it. Jim Milano was chief of intelligence operations for the US forces in Austria from May 1945 until 1950. He led this small group of young Army intelligence officers - the first troops - on a new, clandestine front line. Inventing the techniques of Cold War espionage for themselves, using methods that Milano admits were questionable, he and his men spied on the Soviet forces and arranged for defectors from the East to escape down a "rat line" to South America. This was the same network that later, after Milano and his colleagues had left, was used to smuggle out Nazi war criminals such as Klaus Barbie. This book is an exploration of a unique time in history, and an account of the adventures of young men charged with carrying out the first US espionage efforts of the postwar era.

From the Back Cover

After Germany's surrender in World War II, Jim Milano, a young U.S. Army intelligence officer, led a small, independent group of soldiers charged with carrying out some of the first intelligence efforts of the postwar era. Inventing the techniques of Cold War espionage for themselves, improvising unorthodox methods that Milano now admits were questionable, the major and his creative cohorts spied on and confounded the Soviet occupation forces in Austria, and arranged for defectors from the East to escape along a "rat line" to South America. After Milano's tour of duty ended, his brilliant underground network was used - as he later learned to his horror - to help Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie escape punishment. Soldiers, Spies, and the Rat Line recounts the exciting, frequently rowdy adventures of young men in the dangerous late-1940s Austria of Graham Greene's The Third Man. It is an exciting and amusing true story of America's first troops on a new, clandestine, front line.

Edition details

• Publisher: Brassey's Inc
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1574880500
• ISBN 13: 9781574880502
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256