Synopses & Reviews
Part Blackhawk Down, part The Riddle of the Sands, former MI6 officer Harry Ferguson has written an extraordinarily gripping non-fiction thriller
Operation Kronstadt not only reveals the early days of intelligence services but also uncovers a truly dramatic story from the Russian Revolution involving a daring rescue attempt and a mission impossible against the best defended naval target in Russia. By May 1919, when the power struggle between former Tsarists and Bolsheviks hangs in the balance, the only British agent in Russia is trapped and in mortal danger. Mansfield Cumming (alias the first C) dreams up an audacious-probably suicidal-plan to rescue him, and a young naval officer is sent with a specially selected team into the jaws of the Soviet fleet. This is the remarkable true story of the spy Paul Dukes (the only MI6 officer to be knighted for work in the field) and Gus Agar, whose extraordinary escapade won him the Victoria Cross.
Review
A tale of adventure, honor, and raw courage quite as exciting as anything found in fiction.¦ ï
The Daily MailSynopsis
Paul Dukes?a 30-year-old concert pianist, master of disguise dubbed "The Man with a Hundred Faces," and the only English spy in Russia?was cut off in Petrograd after infiltrating the Bolshevik Government and stealing top-secret information. With the government in London desperately in need of the documents in Dukes' possession and the Bolshevik secret police closing in, a seemingly suicidal plan was hatched to rescue Dukes. 29-year-old naval lieutenant Gus Agar and his handpicked team of seven men boarded plywood boats - the fastest naval vessels in existence, most armed with only two machine guns and a single torpedo. They set out for the island fortress of Kronstadt, the most well-defended naval target in Russian, and into the jaws of the Soviet police. Written by a former MI6 officer in the tradition of Agent Zigzag, Operation Kronstadt is an extraordinarily gripping non- fiction thriller.
Synopsis
In May 1919, mere months after the guns of World War I had fallen silent, the Russian Revolution was roaring and the Bolsheviks' Red Army had begun to take the upper hand against the U.S. and British-backed White Army.