ABSTRACT
On the night of September 5, 1949, in the dark of the moon an unmarked C-47 rose from the runway of an airfield in the American zone of Germany and headed east. It was piloted by two Czech airmen who had flown for the Royal Air Force during the Battle of Britain. Behind them two young Ukrainians crouched in the fuselage with heavily loaded parachute packs. Each had a small suitcase strapped to his waist. The Ukrainian drop was the first deep penetration of the Soviet Union in a CIA program designed to give the White House early warning of a Soviet military attack. There were, as always in times of intelligence famine, many volunteers to supply "reliable" information on Soviet military matters. Dozens of intelligence mills operated throughout Europe ready to sell their secondhand or fabricated hot items to anyone with a little money. It became a time-consuming task for the CIA to run down and expose these mills.
