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History Daily

The Execution of Soviet Spy Richard Sorge

History Daily

Airship | Noiser | Wondery

History

4.42.1K Ratings

🗓️ 7 November 2024

⏱️ 22 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

November 7, 1944. A spy who predicted the Nazi invasion of the USSR and Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor is executed.


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Transcript

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0:00.0

There are more ways than ever to listen to History Daily ad-free.

0:04.1

Listen with Wondry Plus in the Wondry app.

0:06.0

As a member of NoisorPlus at noisor.com or in Apple Podcasts,

0:10.6

or you can get all of History Daily plus other fantastic history podcasts at IntoHistory.com.

0:20.4

Thank you. It's April 1917, near the Russian city of Minsk.

0:30.5

Twenty-year-old German corporal Ricard Zorgha huddles in a trench as Russian artillery fire shakes the earth around him.

0:38.3

Gripping a pencil tightly in his hands, he presses his back against the wall of the trench

0:43.3

and tries to focus his attention on the letter he's writing to his family back home.

0:47.3

It's two and a half years since the outbreak of World War I.

0:51.3

When fighting began, Ricard volunteered for the German army almost immediately.

0:56.7

He saw action on the Western Front before being transferred to the east.

1:00.9

And right now, Ricard's battalion is part of a vast offensive against the Russians

1:05.0

who are putting up fierce resistance to the German advance.

1:09.1

Ricard looks up from his letter as the telltale sound of a falling shell

1:12.9

whistles through the sky above. He has just enough time to throw his arms in front of his face.

1:20.3

The blast blows Ricard out of the trench. His mud and soil rained down on him. He tries to lift his head and instantly wishes he hadn't.

1:29.4

Pain floods through his body.

1:31.3

His uniform is ripped to shreds and his legs are covered in blood.

1:35.3

Ricard's vision begins to blur, and the last thing he sees before he blacks out is a stretcher-bearer, rushing to his aid.

1:45.1

Ricard's Sorga will lose three fingers in this explosion,

1:48.8

and the shrapnel damage to his legs will leave him with a permanent limp.

1:52.6

But his wounds will change his life in more ways than one.

...

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