Soldiers, Spies, and the Rat Line: America's Undeclared War Against the Soviets

by James V. Milano, Patrick Brogan

After Germany’s surrender in World War II, Jim Milano, a young U.S. army intelligence officer, led a small, independent group of soldiers charged with carrying out some of the first intelligence efforts of the postwar era. Inventing the techniques of Cold War espionage for themselves and improvising unorthodox methods, the major and his creative cohorts confounded Soviet forces and created escape routes for defectors. In the pages of Milano’s fascinating memoir you'll find the shadowy world populated by spies, prostitutes, refugees, scoundrels, and heroes comes alive.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1995

Reviews

[lizzielee2003 · Rating 1 out of 5]

*required reading*

I usually steer away from giving my required reading star ratings, because I read and dissected them in a different way than someone who was reading for enjoyment would. That being said, Soldiers, Spies, and the Rat Line is a different story.

Soldiers, Spies, and the Rat Line follows James Milano as he leades a Rat Line operation, smuggling Soviet defectors to Latin America, during the Cold War. While promoting Milano's name on the cover and containing Milano's story, the book was written by Patrick Brogran and the narrative takes place in third person. While others have praised Brogran's writing style, I really do not understand why Brogan was chosen to write this book. Events are strewn around in random order with paranthesis telling you to refer to earlier or later chapters and Brogran reminds the reader who is speaking, on one occassion, by saying "[Milano again.]".

I went into this story expecting a full expose on the Rat Line and the workings behind the scenes by Milano. Instead, I recieved snippets of random events that occured during espionage missions during the Cold War. Stories that, seemed, to rarely mention Milano. "The Rat Line" also dissolved into stories exploring the sexual exploits of soldiers, including Milano and Brogran's derogatory explanations of women. As well as, Milano and his teams continual illegal actions.

I am not attempting to deny the importance of the information that was gathered during this operation. On the contrary, I believe that important and exciting work did occur during the Cold War era. This book sells that important work, and Milano's hand in it, short.