The Spying Game

The Cold War was the battleground for thousands of spies and spotters. Even the Allied Military Missions in Germany doubled as covert observers in the spying game. Whether military observers, spies or traitors - they all acted as suppliers of intelligence for their masters in Washington or Moscow. Yet, did the spying game really contribute to keep the Cold War cold in the end?

During the Cold War, tensions between East and West mount alarmingly. Consequently, western intelligence services shift their focus on East Germany as the Warsaw Pact's major deployment zone. Nowhere else did western services get as close to Soviet military equipment.

At the end of the 80s, the Soviet army is being universally modernized, observed closely by western military intelligence in East Germany. Weapons-scouts in the field are constantly on duty, for instance in the autumn of 1983, as NATO is practicing new procedures of nuclear release. Moscow is concerned the exercise could be the beginning of a nuclear first strike.