Philby biography

The Soviet Union signed the Non-Aggression Treaty with Nazi Germany in 1939 in order to delay the eventual Nazi invasion and create additional time to prepare.

This heightened the risk for British people cooperating with Moscow, as they were now in the position of working for the ally of Britain’s enemy. The Reich’s attack on the Soviet Union and its impact on relations with Britain changed all that: the Cambridge group was now aiding an ally of London.

Although the actual degree of cooperation and support Moscow received from London was always in doubt, at least formally the SIS and the Soviet intelligence service shared the same goal — defeating Hitler.

It was during this period that Philby urged SIS leadership to assassinate the chief of the Abwehr, Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, during his visit to Spain.

Philby was intimatel