![]() ![]() They were addressed to a post-box address in Lisbon given him by the Germans.īetween them Pujol and Harris wrote 315 such letters averaging 2,000 words each. Contact with Madrid was maintained through ostensibly innocent hand-written letters that concealed secret writing. The fictional agents included such characters as a Venezuelan in Glasgow, an indiscreet US army sergeant and a Welsh nationalist leading a group of Fascists called the "Brothers of the Aryan World Order" in Swansea. ![]() #Deception in espionage definition fullThe Official History of British Intelligence in World War II describes what followed as "one of those rare partnerships between two exceptionally gifted men whose inventive genius inspired and complemented each other".īy 1944 Pujol and Harris, working together, had invented no fewer than 27 sub-agents, each with full life stories. Here, his case was given to a Spanish-speaking officer, Tomás (Tommy) Harris. His management was taken over by the Security Service. The "rare partnership" of GARBO and Harrisīy April 1942 Pujol had at last made contact with MI6 and was brought to London. Fortunately it appears that the Germans were equally unaware of Glaswegian drinking habits. One of the best known was his remark to his German controller that on a visit to Glasgow he had found men who "would do anything for a litre of wine". Unsurprisingly, considering that he had never visited the UK, he made some factual mistakes. Armed with a copy of the Blue Guide to England, reference books (including one on the Royal Navy) and a few magazines he had found in his local library, he concocted impressive-looking reports written in such a way that they appeared to have been sent from London. Instead of travelling to England as arranged, Pujol actually moved to Lisbon - still trying to make contact with the British - and began work creating a network of wholly imaginary sub-agents. Once established on British soil his instructions were to build up a network of agents that would be capable of providing the Germans with the intelligence that they wanted. He was given a crash course in espionage, including secret writing. After some initial hesitation they accepted him. In contrast, Pujol had no difficulty making contact with German Intelligence in Madrid, offering them the story that he was a Spanish government official of fanatical pro-Nazi persuasions travelling to London on official business and wanting to do his Fascist duty there. Fortunately he was not deterred, deciding instead to take matters into his own hands by getting himself recruited by the Germans and offering to spy for them in England. In 1941 Pujol tried to make contact with the British authorities in Madrid and Lisbon on three occasions. This was to prove more difficult than he could have imagined. He decided contact the British authorities and offer to spy against Germany. How he did this was dictated by his admiration for Britain, then standing alone in the face of the Axis. The onset of war in 1939 convinced him that he should make a contribution, as he put it, "to the good of humanity". ![]() He emerged from that experience with a dislike for totalitarianism in general and a particular loathing for Nazism. He reluctantly fought in the Spanish Civil War, managing to do so on both sides and - so he claimed - without actually firing a single bullet for either side. GARBO - whose real name was Juan Pujol - was born in Barcelona in 1912 to a family of moderate means and liberal political beliefs. Tomas Harris, GARBO's MI5 case officer, 1946 Still less were they to discover that the network which they instructed him to build up in the UK was to be composed of 27 characters who were nothing more than a figment of the imagination." "In 1941 when the Germans were all-powerful in Spain, the British Embassy in Madrid was being stoned, France had collapsed and the German invasion was imminent, little were the Germans to know that the small meek young Spaniard who then approached them volunteering to go to London to engage in espionage on their behalf would turn out to be a British agent. (The Service does not reveal the names of its agents unless the agents themselves have publicised their connection with us, as GARBO did in 1985 in publishing his own autobiography - "Operation GARBO" - under his own name). This page relates the remarkable story of GARBO and how he deceived the German High Command. The Security Service made a significant contribution to the success of D-Day through its double agent Juan Pujol, codenamed GARBO, who has been described as the greatest double agent of the Second World War. The Normandy Landings of 6 June 1944 marked the beginning of the liberation of occupied Western Europe. ![]()
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