19. The Cambridge 5’s spying led to the deaths of an untold number of people
In the late 1940s, following World War II, MI6 and the CIA undertook an operation to overthrow the newly formed communist government in Albania. Expatriates, trained by the Allied security services, infiltrated Albania in order to restore the realm of the former King Zog. Nearly all of the infiltrators were killed or captured by Albanian security forces. After interrogation, they were shot. Some were British agents, and some worked for the CIA. The Albanians had advanced knowledge of the operation, including infiltration points, the numbers of men involved, and other information which allowed them to defeat the effort. The operation continued until 1951 when it became clear that it had failed. Over 300 men were killed including civilians suspected of aiding in the operation, some after torture. It remained a highly classified secret until the 21st century.
Albanian security forces knew what to expect because Soviet intelligence provided the details of the operation. They had received the information from Kim Philby. Philby addressed the issue in his memoirs, during which he shrugged off the deaths of so many. “They knew the risks they were running. I was serving the interests of the Soviet Union and those interests required that these men were defeated. To the extent that I helped defeat them, even if it caused their deaths, I have no regrets.”, he wrote. Those infiltrators who survived the incursions long believed that a traitor had revealed their missions. They cited as evidence the Albanians were always waiting, whether they entered the country overland, or by boat under cover of darkness.