Pham Xuan An quickly photographed the document and sent a copy to his bosses. This allowed not only Giap and the North Vietnamese generals to launch their offensive, but also to drive a wedge in the mountainous area depicted by the South Vietnamese general. The big cities could then be taken and Saigon would fall in April 1975.
An's actions were considerable and it can be reasonably argued that the journalist probably shortened the war by allowing the communists to triumph faster. Without the information he provided, the southern army, which had more than a million men and the same number of armed militia, would have been able to resist for longer and more efficiently.
After the fall of Saigon, now known as Ho Chi Minh City, reunification took place. However, before the arrival of the communist soldiers in Saigon, Pham Xuan An was not out of danger. The journalist was only known to a handful of leaders in Hanoi. In Saigon, everyone he met and worked with considered him to be a friend of America and one of its South Vietnamese ‘puppets'. He was at risk of being denounced and arrested, or even shot, without further objection.
Without quite going into hiding himself, the journalist still took the precaution of sending his family to the United States. In the mean time, he would pull off two incredible gestures: first, at the risk of his own life, he rescued one of his American colleagues at Time by dragging him from the hands of a North Vietnamese soldier. His next move was even more spectacular. Although his star had faded, as head of South Vietnam's intelligence, the ‘Little Doctor' was still a natural target for the victors. Against all the odds, An did everything he could to organise his escape, managing to find him a place on board one of the last US helicopters to leave Saigon.
The strange thing is that Tuyen was technically an enemy to An, and if Hanoi had known of this rescue, the journalist could have paid dearly. Yet he took the risk, firstly because he was grateful for Tuyen's help after he returned from the USA. Even though An was a convinced and courageous patriot who rendered great service to his country, he had only ever been a lukewarm communist. He never approved of the Stalinist methods deployed in Vietnam after the war, such as the camps, the hasty liquidations and the removal of basic freedoms.
Nevertheless, it is true that he had been instrumental in the installation of this dictatorial regime, since his main aim had always been for his country to gain independence. He had never missed an opportunity to show his revolutionary feelings. In spite of his military decorations and even his rise within the military hierarchy, he was forced to live in a rehabilitation institute. The authorities believed that he had had too much contact with the capitalist world, and may even have been contaminated by it. Yet An's amateurishness and his incessant joking tried the patience of his instructors and after a few months, this independent spirit was sent home!
Colonel Bui Tin
84
He was a confidant of Tran Van Don, the South Vietnamese Defence Minister, and Tran Kim Tuyen, the intelligence chief, two men who worked hand in hand with the CIA. He was also a close friend of American, British, French and Japanese journalists based in Saigon.
He accompanied them on American helicopters and on his return, would tell all kinds of stories on Radio Catinat, which is to say all the bars and cafes on the main avenue in Saigon. At the same time, he submitted photographs and numerous documents to Cu Chi (his case officer), for him to send to Hanoi. This intelligence network only had two members: Pham Xuan An and a woman called Ba Chi (Sister No. 3)m who acted as his courier. It is incredible that they could carry out their mission for twenty years without being discovered! Both were honoured with the title of Hero of the People’s Army, in 1976.
Chapter 16
The Guillaume Affair: A Conspiracy against Brandt
It is a story that could have been dreamt up by John Le Carre. All the ingredients are there: the period of the Cold War; the setting of post-war Germany; even the characters who inspired the British author, such as ‘Karla', the Machiavellian head of Eastern Intelligence, who in reality was the infamous Markus Wolf.85 The man without a face, as he was known for a long time, and who after the reunification of Germany, sank quietly into the background before dying peacefully.
So what was the Guillaume Affair about? It was also known as the Brandt Affair, due to the fact that the main consequence of this amazing spy story was the resignation of Willy Brandt in May 1974. Was there a conspiracy? If so, who would have benefitted from Brandt's departure? A man who had won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1971 and a pioneer in creating good relations with the East? Could it be something in his past, even though he was one of the few people in his country to flee Germany in order to fight the Nazis? Or was it all part of a wider operation to infiltrate the main major establishments in West Germany?
There are so many questions that still remain unanswered, even though parts of the Stasi and KGB archives have been made available. It is a story whose roots can be found in the murky world of wartime espionage!
This is how the case was reported in the newspapers. In Spring 1974, an eastern spy was revealed to have been operating within Chancellor Willy Brandt's entourage. The man, Gunter Guillaume, was one of his advisors and also worked as his secretary. Claiming that
