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The Spying Game: Tales from the Cold War

  • 2019-2019
  • 1 season
  • Documentary, Action & Adventure

During the Cold War, the superpowers mobilized thousands of spies and spotters to lift the enemy's secrets. The three-part program The Spying Game takes a close look at this era of rising tensions between East and West. Part 1 examines Germany's role as battleground for countless spies - all acting as suppliers of intelligence for their masters in Washington or Moscow. In Part 2, the game of spies is in full swing. While western intelligence services shift their focus to East Germany as the Warsaw Pact's major deployment zone, the KGB and Soviet military intelligence send their spies to reconnoitre NATO forces in the West. Part 3 reconstructs the events of autumn 1983: the Cold War is heading towards a dangerous crisis as NATO practices new procedures of nuclear release. Moscow's secret services are on high alert.

Season 1 Episode Guide

3 Episodes 2019

Episode 1

Tales from the Cold War

Some just counted tanks, others stole blueprints for bombs. 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. Many of them risked their lives, and quite a few lost it. Yet, did the spying game really contribute to keep the Cold War cold in the end?

Episode 2

Mission behind the Iron Curtain

52 mins

During the Cold War, tensions between East and West mount alarmingly. In consequence, 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. Their prime targets are missiles, nuclear depots and airbases. At the same time, the KGB, as well as Soviet military intelligence, were sending their spies to reconnoitre NATO forces in the West. The game of spies was in full swing.

Episode 3

War in the Shadows

53 mins

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, as are agents in high command or in intelligence service stations, 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. It takes a double agent to clear up this dangerous misunderstanding.

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