Operation Testify

Operation Testify is a fictional espionage operation orchestrated by Control to catch a Soviet mole codenamed Gerald in English author John le Carré's book Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Throughout the book, Operation Testify plays a key part, as it's failure leads to the ousting of Control as spymaster of the Circus and his key supporters George Smiley, Connie Sachs, Gerald Westerby, and the demotion of Peter Guillam so that a new guard formed from Percy Alleline, Bill Haydon, Roy Bland, and Toby Esterhase can take control of the Circus in the impending public relations frenzy

Background

Not much is presented on the background to Operation Testify that goes any further than the days leading up to its execution. It is stated by Jim Prideaux, the operative who undertook the operation, that Control had come to establish that one of five men was a Soviet mole codenamed Gerald who was reporting to Moscow Centre and as a result, Karla. Control asked Jim Prideaux to undertake this operation as he believed he was the only one close enough to him he could trust, as he suspected that the mole was either Alleline, Haydon, Bland, Esterhase, or Smiley. Prideaux was ordered to meet with a potential defector within Czech intelligence to obtain the name of this mole and relay it to the Circus.

Despite being asked to keep the operation off the books, Prideaux, motivated by a sense of intense loyalty, informed Bill Haydon that he was going to Czechoslovakia to obtain the identity of the mole. Prideaux had started to suspect that Haydon could be a mole, but the two were close friends, and implicitly suggested to have been lovers. As a result of this forewarning, Haydon contacted the KGB to ensure that Prideaux wouldn't be killed

Operation

Prideaux travelled to Czechoslovakia under his alias, Mr.Ellis, a Czech national who was a foreign reporter. He returned to Czechoslovakia on this passport, and started out to meet a Czech legman known only as Max. A short way in, however, he started to notice suspicious behaviour by various people, and came to the conclusion he was being tailed. He missed the first rendezvous with Max, but made it to the second. En route to a car that would take him to the defector, Prideaux tells Max to be prepared to leave Czechoslovakia without him and quickly, before getting out of their vehicle and swapping into another.

Prideaux and the driver go to the rendezvous point, but is suspicious. He orders the driver to go inside first, whilst he waits in the car. Shortly after, he is ambushed and tries to drive away. In the confusion, stray bullets knock his wheels out and cause the car to flip, and a further two stray bullets lodge themselves in his shoulder. Profusely bleeding, he is taken to receive medical care, before being moved around facilities and interrogated at various times. Unbeknownst to Jim, Control is informed of the missions failure, and freezes up, forcing Gerald Westerby to call in whatever senior Circus staff are available. As a result, not only does Bill Haydon save the Circus but he also saves Prideaux from summary execution.

Interrogation

Following his capture, Prideaux is moved around various institutions, although he cannot say with certainty where. He states his belief he was transferred to the Soviet Union for interrogation, and was moved around various facilities, before being held in one where he concluded that he would likely either be killed or interrogated. As a result he built up a barrier of defences against the interrogation in order to allow for his Czech colleagues to escape, and to hide the true purpose of Testify. Unbeknownst to him, the Czech network has already been suppressed and his interrogators know the purpose of Testify. Both Karla and Polyakov, the cover name of Colonel Gregor Viktorov, interrogate him about how far along Control is in establishing the moles identity, before releasing him

Return to Britain and subsequent bearing on Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

When Prideaux is returned to Britain he is met by Esterhase, who hands him £1000 and tells him that he is considered dead, and as a result can no longer work at the circus. As a result, he leaves and uses his bi-linguism to teach French at a preparatory school. He hides a gun in a nearby Church, and makes friends with a student, Bill Roach, whom he enlists as a lookout for him. Roach is the one who spots Smiley when he comes to visit him and interrogate him about Testify. Prideaux entertains Smiley's company and tells him everything about the operation.

When Haydon is apprehended as the mole, Prideaux takes a sudden leave of absence from the school. Although it is never explicitly stated, the implication is that Prideaux uses this time to track down Haydon and execute him before the Circus can trade him to the Soviet Union for operatives held there. Haydon is found with a snapped neck, echoing the way that Prideaux euthanises an injured owl whilst teaching at the school. In the film, however, things differ. A montage at the end recounting the various characters see's Haydon and Prideaux meet gazes at a Christmas party, where Prideaux is inferred to be hoping to start a romantic component of their friendship again, and to hopefully escape what both men know will be certain death in Operation Testify. When Haydon turns around on his friend, Prideaux understands that both of those elements have been rejected, and he shoots Haydon with a suppressed rifle, at the prison facility where he is being held. Shortly before he fires, Haydon seemingly spots him, and the two maintain eye contact as Prideaux aims and fires, shedding a tear as a he brings the rifle down, expressing that ultimately although Prideaux considered him both a professional and personal traitor, the two men still had the bond that brought them together

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