Robert Asprey "The Panther's Feast."
Traces the life and the career of Colonel Alfred Redl, Deputy Chief of Intelligence in the Austro-Hungarian army, explains how he was blackmailed into spying for Russia, and describes the events leading to his suicide.
He was one of the leading figures of pre-World War I espionage; his term in office was marked by radical innovations and the use of advanced technology to ensnare foreign spies.
Due to the innovations he introduced, Redl's successor, Major Maximilian Ronge, ultimately learned in 1913 that Redl himself was also a highly paid spy, working for the intelligence service of the Imperial Russian Army. Upon being exposed as a Russian spy, Redl committed suicide.
Redl was confronted in his apartment by a party of military officers. In the course of a brief interrogation he admitted selling military intelligence to a foreign power. Field Marshal Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf, the army's Chief of Staff, ordered that Redl was to be left alone with a loaded revolver. Redl shot himself in the early morning of 25 May 1913
Carroll & Graf Pub. First Edition.
Paperback. 1986
New book. Very minor shelf wear.