Thread by @DavidZabinsky

To the Nazis, he was known as "Alaric".

To the British, he was known as "Garbo".

But his real name? Juan Pujol García.

And during World War II, Pujol served as perhaps the best double agent the world has EVER seen.

A thread on “the spy who saved D-Day”:

Juan Pujol García was born in Barcelona in 1912 to a family of cotton factory owners.

He took on odd jobs growing up, such as managing a hardware store, a cinema, and a poultry farm.

But it was when the Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936 that Pujol began his military career.

A pacifist at heart, Pujol himself said he lacked the "essential qualities of loyalty, generosity, and honor" that would be required to fight on the front lines.

So instead of infantry, Pujol volunteered to lay telegraph cables for the anti-Franco Republicans in 1938.

Later that year, Pujol deserted the Republicans for the pro-Franco Nationalists, only to be disenchanted by their facist beliefs.

When the Spanish Civil War ended in 1939, Pujol had served both sides of the war...without ever firing a bullet for either.

By 1940, as Nazi Germany invaded more and more of Western Europe, Pujol felt he had to do something "for the good of humanity".

But as Britain amped up war efforts, Pujol felt his strengths would be amplified not as a weapon-wielding soldier, but instead...

As a spy.

By 1941, Pujol had approached the British Embassy in Madrid on three separate occasions in hopes of being employed as a spy for Britain, but he was turned away each time.

Frustrated and dejected, Pujol imagined there had to be a way to get Britain’s attention.

And there was.

Pujol contacted a Madrid-based Nazi intelligence officer named ​​Friedrich Knappe-Rater.

Using the fake Spanish diplomatic passport seen here, Pujol depicted himself as a pro-Nazi Spanish government official en route to London.

Knappe-Ratey?

He bought every bit of it.

Pujol was given a crash course in espionage, a bottle of invisible ink, a codebook, £600 for expenses, and just like that, he was (supposedly) off to London to recruit a group of British agents for the Nazi cause.

But Pujol didn’t head north.

Instead he went west:

To Lisbon.

With the British still unresponsive, Pujol went rogue.

From Portugal, under the Nazi alias “Alaric”, he sent seemingly credible reports to Germany as if he was sending them from London, using magazines and the famous tourist book the "Blue Guide to England" as his compasses.

The plan?

To send as much false information to the Nazis as possible, in hopes that it would be distracting enough to change the course of the war.

Pujol stayed in Portugal’s famous Hotel Palácio, seen here.

To trick the Nazis into thinking he was actually traveling around Britain building a network of other agents, he sent in travel expense forms which he calculated based on the fees he obtained from a railway guide.

The only issue?

Pujol’s train expense reports, as seen here, were really confusing.

Back then, the pound was divided into 240 pence, so amounts less than £1 were expressed in schillings (s) and pence (d).

Pujol had no clue how to total these sums, so he asked for USD instead.

Another near-mishap happened when Pujol wrote that his supposed recruit in Glasgow “would do anything for a litre of wine”.

The problem?

Well first, it was incredibly rare then for Scottish men to drink wine.

Second?

Scots measure their drinks in pints, not litres.

Despite these hiccups, it seemed Pujol had the Germans' trust, although without any formal support from the British, there was only so much Pujol could do to meaningfully sabotage the Nazis' efforts as a lone wolf.

Until, of course, 1942.

By 1942 when the US entered the war, Pujol contacted US Navy Lieutenant Patrick Demorest.

Demorest referred Pujol to the British, who couldn’t believe how well Pujol gained the Nazis' trust from Portugal.

Finally, two years later, it was clear:

Pujol had Britain’s attention.

Halfway through 1942, Pujol was relocated from Lisbon to London, and just like that, Pujol was given a new name, this time as a British MI5 agent:

Agent Garbo.

His alias was named after famous actress Greta Garbo, given how damn good of a spy and actor Pujol had proven to be.

Agent Garbo was paired with another Spanish-speaking MI5 officer named Tomás Harris, seen here.

Together, they wrote an astounding 315 letters to Nazi Germany.

Their correspondences were SO compelling that the Nazis wouldn't recruit another UK spy for the rest of the war.

From 1942-1944, Pujol and Harris sent information to the Germans that was either a) completely made up, b) sincere information with no value, or c) information that would be tremendously valuable had it not been deliberately delayed.

One such example was with Operation Torch:

Just before the Allies invaded Africa in Operation Torch, Pujol postmarked a letter to Germany to warn them of the Allies' plans, but he only sent the letter AFTER the attack.

The Nazis wrote back:

"We are sorry they arrived too late but your last reports were magnificent.”

But why were Pujol's reports arriving so late, the Nazis wondered?

Pujol always had an excuse ready.

My favorite?

Pujol pointed to one time when his (non-existent) Liverpool agent had fallen so sick that he was unable to report a major fleet movement from north England.

To support the story, Pujol even placed a fake obituary of the “agent” in the local newspaper, claiming he had fallen so ill that he died.

The best part?

In the report, Pujol persuaded the Germans to even pay a pension for the agent’s widow!

But perhaps Pujol’s most notable spywork came ahead of the Normandy Invasion, otherwise known as D-Day.

The plan?

Pujol would report back that the Allies’ plan to storm Normandy in France was actually a decoy...and that the REAL attack was to come at Pas de Calais, seen here.

With the German High Command focusing on Pas de Calais instead of Normandy, they were underprepared for the Allied invasion, ultimately leading to the Germans' defeat and the liberation of Northern France and eventually Western Europe.

But even AFTER D-Day, Pujol had the Germans convinced that the main attack at Pas de Calais was still forthcoming.

For TWO MONTHS, the Germans kept more troops in Pas de Calais than they had in Normandy on D-Day, leading to the misallocation of Nazi soldiers and resources.

One WWII historian said of Pujol’s brilliant espionage work that his “intervention in the Normandy battle really might have tipped the balance."

In true irony, the Nazis AWARDED Pujol for his (BS) advice on Normandy and Calais.

On July 29, 1944, he was given the Iron Cross by the Führer himself for his "extraordinary services" to Germany.

Pujol’s reply?

“Humble thanks” for an honor for which he was truly…

“Unworthy.”

When it was all said and done, the Germans had paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to Pujol and his 27 agents for the expenses they incurred as "Nazi spies".

The craziest part?

NOT A SINGLE ONE of Pujol’s 27 so-called agents was real.

Below, Pujol’s “network”:

Fewer than four months after receiving the Iron Cross, Pujol received the honor of a lifetime:

An MBE from King George VI.

His claim to fame?

Perhaps being the ONLY person ever to receive decorations from both sides during WWII.

Not bad for a first-time spy, huh?

Learn something new today?

Follow @DavidZabinsky for more interesting stories like this one.

If you were impressed by Pujol fabricating 27 different "agents", then you may be impressed by the guy who fabricated so many reviews for his "restaurant" that it became the #1 restaurant in London... without👏ever👏even👏existing.

Story:

Sources:

agentgarbo.com

amazon.com/GARBO-Saved-D-…

historynet.com/double-agents-…

mi5.gov.uk/agent-garbo

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