Juan Pujol García
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Juan Pujol García (; 14 February 1912 – 10 October 1988), also known as Joan Pujol i García (), was a Spanish spy who acted as a
double agent In the field of counterintelligence, a double agent is an employee of a secret intelligence service for one country, whose primary purpose is to spy on a target organization of another country, but who is now spying on their own country's organi ...
loyal to Great Britain against
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, when he relocated to Britain to carry out fictitious spying activities for the Germans. He was given the codename Garbo by the British; their German counterparts codenamed him Alaric and referred to his non-existent spy network as "Arabal". After developing a loathing of political extremism of all sorts during the
Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...
, Pujol decided to become a spy for Britain as a way to do something "for the good of humanity." Pujol and his wife Seaman (2004). p. 56 "Pujol's wife called upon the US Embassy without informing her husband" contacted the British Embassy in Madrid which rejected his offer. Undeterred, he created a false identity as a fanatically pro-Nazi Spanish government official and successfully became a German agent. He was instructed to travel to Britain and recruit additional agents; instead he moved to
Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...
and created bogus reports about Britain from a variety of public sources including a tourist guide to Britain, train timetables, cinema newsreels, and magazine advertisements. Seaman (2004). p. 56 "This imaginary espionage material he constructed with the aid of the following reference documents..." Although the information would not have withstood close examination, Pujol soon established himself as a trustworthy agent. He began inventing fictitious sub-agents who could be blamed for false information and mistakes. The Allies finally accepted Pujol when the Germans expended considerable resources attempting to hunt down a fictitious convoy. Following interviews by Desmond Bristow of Section V MI6 Iberian Section, Pujol was taken on. The family were moved to Britain and Pujol was given the code name "Garbo". Pujol and his handler
Tomás Harris Tomás "Tommy" Joseph Harris (10 April 1908 – 27 January 1964) was a British art dealer and artist, who also served as an MI5 intelligence officer during World War II. As a Spanish-speaker, he worked with Juan Pujol García, a very im ...
spent the rest of the war expanding the fictitious network, communicating to the German handlers at first by letters and later by radio. Eventually the Germans were funding a network of 27 agents, all fictitious. Pujol had a key role in the success of
Operation Fortitude Operation Fortitude was a military deception operation by the Allied nations as part of Operation Bodyguard, an overall deception strategy during the buildup to the 1944 Normandy landings. Fortitude was divided into two subplans, North and So ...
, the deception operation intended to mislead the Germans about the timing, location, and scale of the
invasion of Normandy Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful liberation of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 ( D-Day) with the ...
in 1944. The false information Pujol supplied helped persuade the Germans that the main attack would be in the , so that they kept large forces there before and even after the invasion. Pujol had the distinction of receiving military decorations from both sides of the warbeing awarded the
Iron Cross The Iron Cross (, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, the German Empire (1871–1918), and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). The design, a black cross pattée with a white or silver outline, was derived from the in ...
and becoming a
Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
.


Early life

Pujol was born in
Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
to Joan Pujol, a Catalan who owned a cotton factory, and Mercedes García Guijarro, from the
Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...
n town of Motril in the
Province of Granada Granada is a province of southern Spain, in the eastern part of the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is bordered by the provinces of Albacete, Murcia, Almería, Jaén, Córdoba, Málaga, and the Mediterranean Sea (along the Costa Tropi ...
. Pujol (1985). p. 10 The third of four children, Pujol was sent at age seven to the Valldemia boarding school Pujol (1985). pp. 12–16 run by the
Marist Brothers The Marist Brothers of the Schools, commonly known as simply the Marist Brothers, is an international community of Catholic Church, Catholic religious institute of Religious brother, brothers. In 1817, Marcellin Champagnat, a Marist priest from Fr ...
in
Mataró Mataró () is the capital and largest town of the Maresme county in Catalonia, Spain. It is located on the Costa del Maresme, Maresme coast, to the south of Costa Brava, between Cabrera de Mar and Sant Andreu de Llavaneres, north-east of Barcel ...
, from Barcelona; he remained there for the next four years. The students were only allowed out of the school on Sundays if they had a visitor, so his father made the trip every week. His mother came from a strict Roman Catholic family and took Communion every day, Pujol (1985). p. 10 "Her parents were strict Catholics who received Holy Communion every day". but his father was much more secular and had liberal political beliefs. Seaman (2004)
p. 42
At age thirteen, he was transferred to a school in Barcelona run by his father's card-playing friend Monsignor Josep, where he remained for three years. Pujol (1985). p. 17 After an argument with a teacher, he decided that he no longer wished to remain at the school, and became an apprentice at a hardware store. Pujol engaged in a variety of occupations prior to and after the
Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...
, such as studying animal husbandry at the Royal Poultry School in Arenys de Mar and managing various businesses, including a cinema. Seaman (2004)
p. 30
Seaman (2004)
p. 8
His father died a few months after the Second Republic's establishment in 1931, while Pujol was completing his education as a poultry farmer. Pujol (1985), p. 18 Pujol's father left his family well-provided for, until his father's factory was taken over by the workers in the early stages of the Spanish Civil War.


Spanish Civil War

In 1931, Pujol did his six months of compulsory military service in a cavalry unit, the 7th Regiment of Light Artillery. He knew he was unsuited for a military career, hating horse-riding and claiming to lack the "essential qualities of loyalty, generosity, and honor." Pujol (1985). p. 19 Pujol was managing a poultry farm north of Barcelona in 1936 when the
Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...
began. His sister Elena's fiancé was taken by Republican forces. Later, she and his mother were arrested and charged with being
counter-revolutionaries A counter-revolutionary or an anti-revolutionary is anyone who opposes or resists a revolution, particularly one who acts after a revolution has occurred, in order to try to overturn it or reverse its course, in full or in part. The adjective "c ...
. A relative in a trade union was able to rescue them from captivity. Pujol (1985), p. 24 He was called up for military service on the Republican side (in opposition to
Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (born Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and dictator who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces i ...
's Nationalists), but opposed the Republican government due to their treatment of his family. He hid at his girlfriend's home until he was captured in a police raid and imprisoned for a week before being freed via the Traditionalist resistance group ''Socorro Blanco''. They hid him until they could produce fake identity papers that showed him to be too old for military service. Pujol (1985). p. 25 "Meanwhile my girlfriend got in touch with one of the units of Socorro Blanco, a secret organization which endeavored to assist those who are being persecuted for idealistic or religious reasons. One of their girl helpers posed as a revolutionary and arranged for me to be let out of prison at dead of night. Free, I join the ever-growing number of those leading a clandestine existence. I went into hiding again." He started managing a poultry farm that had been requisitioned by the local Republican government, but it was not economically viable. The experience with rule by committee intensified his antipathy towards communism. Pujol (1985). p. 29 "I was not prepared to keep being told off while they did nothing to put the business on a sounder economic footing." He re-joined the Republican military using his false papers with the intention to desert as soon as possible, volunteering to lay telegraph cables near the front line. He managed to desert to the Nationalist side during the
Battle of the Ebro The Battle of the Ebro (, ) was the longest and largest battle of the Spanish Civil War and the greatest, in terms of manpower, logistics and material ever fought on Spanish soil. It took place between July and November 1938, with fighting mainly ...
in September 1938. Seaman (2004)
p. 9
. "He was a reluctant participant in the Spanish Civil War, being persecuted by the Republicans in his native Catalonia and feeling little sympathy with the Fascist ideology of the Nationalists."
However, he was equally ill-treated by the Nationalist side, disliking their fascist influences and being struck and imprisoned by his colonel upon Pujol's expressing sympathy with the monarchy. Seaman (2004)
p. 43
His experience with both sides left him with a deep loathing of both fascism and Communism, and by extension Nazi Germany and the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
. He was proud that he had managed to serve both sides without firing a single bullet for either. After his discharge from the Nationalist army, he met Araceli González in
Burgos Burgos () is a city in Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populous municipality of the province of Burgos. Burgos is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence of th ...
and married her in
Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
; they had one child, Joan Fernando. Pujol (1985). p
p. 93


World War II


Independent spying

In 1940, during the early stages of World War II, Pujol decided that he must make a contribution "for the good of humanity" by helping Britain, which was at the time Germany's only adversary. Starting in January 1941, he approached the British Embassy in Madrid three different times, including through his wife (though Pujol edited her participation out of his memoirs), but they showed no interest in employing him as a spy. Therefore, he resolved to establish himself as a German agent before approaching the British again to offer his services as a double-agent. Pujol created an identity as a fanatically pro-Nazi Spanish government official who could travel to London on official business; he also obtained a fake Spanish
diplomatic passport A passport is an official travel document issued by a government that certifies a person's Identity (social science), identity and nationality for international travel. A passport allows its bearer to enter and temporarily reside in a foreign ...
by fooling a printer into thinking Pujol worked for the Spanish embassy in Lisbon. Seaman (2004). p
p. 46
He contacted Friedrich Knappe-Ratey, an agent in Madrid, codenamed "Frederico". The accepted Pujol and gave him a crash course in espionage (including secret writing), a bottle of
invisible ink Invisible ink, also known as security ink or sympathetic ink, is a substance used for writing, which is invisible either on application or soon thereafter, and can later be made visible by some means, such as heat or ultraviolet light. Invisibl ...
, a codebook, and £600 for expenses. His instructions were to move to Britain and recruit a network of British agents. He moved instead to Lisbon; using a tourist's guide to Britain, reference books and magazines from the Lisbon Public Library, and newsreel reports he saw in cinemas, he created seemingly credible reports that appeared to come from London. During his time in Portugal, he stayed in
Estoril Estoril () is a town in the civil parish of Cascais e Estoril of the Portuguese Municipality of Cascais, on the Portuguese Riviera. It is a popular tourist destination, with hotels, beaches, and the Casino Estoril. It has been home to numero ...
, at the Hotel Palácio. He claimed to be travelling around Britain and submitted his travel expenses based on fares listed in a British railway guide. Pujol's unfamiliarity with the non-decimal system of currency used in Britain at the time was a slight difficulty. At this time Great Britain's unit of currency, the
pound sterling Sterling (symbol: £; currency code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound is the main unit of sterling, and the word '' pound'' is also used to refer to the British currency general ...
, was subdivided into 20 shillings, each having twelve pence. Pujol was unable to total his expenses in this complex system, so simply itemised them, and said that he would send the total later. Seaman (2004)
p. 59
.
During this time he created an extensive network of fictitious sub-agents living in different parts of Britain. Because he had never actually visited the UK, he made several mistakes, such as claiming that his alleged contact in
Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...
"would do anything for a litre of wine", unaware of Scottish drinking habits or that the UK did not use the metric system. His reports were intercepted by the British Ultra communications interceptions programme, and seemed so credible that the British counter-intelligence service
MI5 MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), officially the Security Service, is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Gov ...
launched a full-scale spy hunt. In February 1942, either he or his wife (accounts differ) approached the United States after it had entered the war, contacting U.S. Navy Lieutenant Patrick Demorest in the naval attache's office in Lisbon, who recognised Pujol's potential. Demorest contacted his British counterparts.


Work with MI5

The British had become aware that someone had been misinforming the Germans, and realised the value of this after the wasted resources attempting to hunt down a non-existent convoy reported to them by Pujol. He was moved to Britain on 24 April 1942 and given the code name "Bovril", after the drink concentrate. However, after he passed the security check conducted by
MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...
Officer Desmond Bristow, Bristow suggested that he be accompanied by MI5 officer
Tomás Harris Tomás "Tommy" Joseph Harris (10 April 1908 – 27 January 1964) was a British art dealer and artist, who also served as an MI5 intelligence officer during World War II. As a Spanish-speaker, he worked with Juan Pujol García, a very im ...
(a fluent Spanish speaker) to brief Pujol on how he and Harris should work together. Pujol's wife and child were later moved to Britain. Pujol operated as a
double agent In the field of counterintelligence, a double agent is an employee of a secret intelligence service for one country, whose primary purpose is to spy on a target organization of another country, but who is now spying on their own country's organi ...
under the XX Committee's aegis. Cyril Mills was initially Pujol's case officer, but he spoke no Spanish and quickly dropped out of the picture. Mills suggested that Pujol's code name should be changed as befitted "the best actor in the world", and Pujol became "Garbo", after
Greta Garbo Greta Garbo (born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson; 18 September 1905 – 15 April 1990) was a Swedish-American actress and a premier star during Hollywood's Silent film, silent and early Classical Hollywood cinema, golden eras. Regarded as one of the g ...
. Holt (2010)
p. 210
"Mills was initially BOVRIL's case officer; but he spoke no Spanish and quickly dropped out of the picture. His main contribution was to suggest, after the truly extraordinary dimensions of Pujol's imagination and accomplishments had become apparent, that his code name should be changed as befitted 'the best actor in the world'; and BOVRIL became GARBO."
Mills passed his case over to the Spanish-speaking officer Harris. Together, Harris and Pujol wrote 315 letters, averaging 2,000 words, addressed to a post-office box in Lisbon supplied by the Germans. His fictitious spy network was so efficient and verbose that his German handlers were overwhelmed and made no further attempts to recruit any additional spies in the UK, according to the ''Official History of British Intelligence in World War II''. The information supplied to German intelligence was a mixture of complete fiction, genuine information of little military value, and valuable military intelligence artificially delayed. In November 1942, just before the
Operation Torch Operation Torch (8–16 November 1942) was an Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of securing victory in North Africa whil ...
landings in
North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...
, Garbo's agent on the
River Clyde The River Clyde (, ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde, in the west of Scotland. It is the eighth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the second longest in Scotland after the River Tay. It runs through the city of Glasgow. Th ...
reported that a convoy of troopships and warships had left port, painted in Mediterranean camouflage. While the letter was sent by airmail and postmarked before the landings, it was deliberately delayed by British Intelligence in order to arrive too late to be useful. Pujol received a reply stating "we are sorry they arrived too late but your last reports were magnificent." Pujol had been supposedly communicating with the Germans via a courier, a Royal Dutch Airlines (KLM) pilot willing to carry messages to and from Lisbon for cash. This meant that message deliveries were limited to the KLM flight schedule. In 1943, responding to German requests for speedier communication, Pujol and Harris created a fictitious radio operator. From August 1943 radio became the preferred method of communication. Holt (2010)
p. 213
On occasion, he had to invent reasons why his agents had failed to report easily available information that the Germans would eventually know about. For example, he reported that his (fabricated) Liverpool agent had fallen ill just before a major fleet movement from that port, and so was unable to report the event. Seaman (2004)
p. 96
To support this story, the agent eventually "died" and an
obituary An obituary (wikt:obit#Etymology 2, obit for short) is an Article (publishing), article about a recently death, deceased person. Newspapers often publish obituaries as Article (publishing), news articles. Although obituaries tend to focus on p ...
was placed in the local newspaper as further evidence to convince the Germans. Seaman (2004)
p. 106
The Germans were also persuaded to pay a pension to the agent's "widow". Seaman (2004)
p. 126
For radio communication, "Alaric" needed the strongest hand encryption the Germans had. The Germans provided Garbo with this system, which was in turn supplied to the codebreakers at
Bletchley Park Bletchley Park is an English country house and Bletchley Park estate, estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes (Buckinghamshire), that became the principal centre of Allies of World War II, Allied World War II cryptography, code-breaking during the S ...
. Garbo's encrypted messages were to be received in Madrid, manually decrypted, and re-encrypted with an
Enigma machine The Enigma machine is a cipher device developed and used in the early- to mid-20th century to protect commercial, diplomatic, and military communication. It was employed extensively by Nazi Germany during World War II, in all branches of the W ...
for retransmission to Berlin. Having both the
original text Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts (mss) or of printed books. Such texts may range i ...
and the Enigma-encoded intercept of it, the codebreakers had the best possible source material for a
chosen-plaintext attack A chosen-plaintext attack (CPA) is an attack model for cryptanalysis which presumes that the attacker can obtain the ciphertexts for arbitrary plaintexts.Ross Anderson, ''Security Engineering: A Guide to Building Dependable Distributed Systems'' ...
on the Germans' Enigma key. Seaman (2004). "The first code which Garbo was given by the Germans for his wireless communications turned out to be the identical code which was currently in use in the German circuits."


Operation Fortitude

In January 1944, the Germans told Pujol that they believed a large-scale invasion in Europe was imminent and asked to be kept informed. This invasion was
Operation Overlord Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allies of World War II, Allied operation that launched the successful liberation of German-occupied Western Front (World War II), Western Europe during World War II. The ope ...
, and Pujol played a leading role in
Operation Fortitude Operation Fortitude was a military deception operation by the Allied nations as part of Operation Bodyguard, an overall deception strategy during the buildup to the 1944 Normandy landings. Fortitude was divided into two subplans, North and So ...
, the deception campaign to conceal Overlord. He sent over 500 radio messages between January 1944 and
D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...
, at times more than twenty messages per day. Seaman (2004). p. 342 "...which at times amounted to more than twenty messages per day..." During planning for the Normandy beach invasion, the Allies decided that it was vitally important that the German leaders be misled into believing that the landing would happen at the
Strait of Dover The Strait of Dover or Dover Strait, historically known as the Dover Narrows, is the strait at the narrowest part of the English Channel, marking the boundary between the Channel and the North Sea, and separating Great Britain from continental ...
. In order to maintain his credibility, it was decided that Garbo (or one of his agents) should forewarn the Germans of the timing and some details of the actual invasion of Normandy, although sending it too late for them to take effective action. Special arrangements were made with the German radio operators to be listening to Garbo through the night of 5/6 June 1944 using the story that a sub-agent was about to arrive with important information. However, when the call was made at 3 AM, no reply was received from the German operators until 8 AM. This enabled Garbo to add more, genuine but now out-of-date, operational details to the message when finally received, and thus increase his standing with the Germans. Garbo told his German contacts that he was disgusted that his first message was missed, saying, "I cannot accept excuses or negligence. Were it not for my ideals I would abandon the work." On 9 Junethree days after D-dayGarbo sent a message to German intelligence that was passed to
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
and the (OKW; German High Command). Garbo said that he had conferred with his top agents and developed an
order of battle Order of battle of an armed force participating in a military operation or campaign shows the hierarchical organization, command structure, strength, disposition of personnel, and equipment of units and formations of the armed force. Various abbr ...
showing 75 divisions in Britain; in reality, there were only about 50. Part of the "Fortitude" plan was to convince the Germans that a fictitious formation First U.S. Army Group, comprising 11 divisions (150,000 men), commanded by General George Pattonwas stationed in southeast Britain. The deception was supported by fake planes, inflatable tanks, and vans travelling about the area transmitting bogus radio chatter. Garbo's message pointed out that units from this formation had not participated in the invasion, and therefore the first landing should be considered a diversion. A German message to Madrid sent two days later said "all reports received in the last week from Arabel py network codenameundertaking have been confirmed without exception and are to be described as especially valuable." A post-war examination of German records found that, during Operation Fortitude, no fewer than sixty-two of Pujol's reports were included in OKW intelligence summaries. Pujol (1985). p
196
"The post-war analysis demonstrated that, during the FORTITUDE campaign period, no less than sixty-two of his messages were quoted in the German high command's intelligence summaries."
OKW accepted Garbo's reports so completely that they kept two armoured divisions and 19 infantry divisions in the Pas de Calais waiting for a second invasion through July and August 1944. The German Commander-in-Chief in the west, Field Marshal
Gerd von Rundstedt Karl Rudolf Gerd von Rundstedt (12 December 1875 – 24 February 1953) was a German ''Generalfeldmarschall'' (Field Marshal) in the ''German Army (1935–1945), Heer'' (Army) of Nazi Germany and OB West, ''Oberbefehlshaber West'' (Commande ...
, refused to allow General
Erwin Rommel Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel (; 15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944), popularly known as The Desert Fox (, ), was a German '' Generalfeldmarschall'' (field marshal) during World War II. He served in the ''Wehrmacht'' (armed forces) of ...
to move these divisions to Normandy. There were more German troops in the Pas de Calais region two months after the Normandy invasion than there had been on D-Day. Pujol (1985). p. 197 "Indeed, there were more German forces in that region at the end of June than there had been on D-Day." In late June, Garbo was instructed by the Germans to report on the falling of
V-1 flying bomb The V-1 flying bomb ( "Vengeance Weapon 1") was an early cruise missile. Its official Reich Aviation Ministry () name was Fieseler Fi 103 and its suggestive name was (hellhound). It was also known to the Allies as the buzz bomb or doodlebug a ...
s. Finding no way of giving false information without arousing suspicion, and being unwilling to give correct information, Harris arranged for Garbo to be "arrested." Seaman (2004)
p. 75p. 259
Seaman (2004)
p. 159
He returned to duty a few days later, now having a "need" to avoid London and forwarded an "official" letter of apology from the Home Secretary for his unlawful detention. Seaman (2004)
p. 397
The Germans paid Pujol US$340,000 over the course of the war to support his network of agents. Seaman (2004)
p. 40


Honours

As Alaric, he was awarded the
Iron Cross The Iron Cross (, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, the German Empire (1871–1918), and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). The design, a black cross pattée with a white or silver outline, was derived from the in ...
Second Class on 29 July 1944 for his services to the German war effort. The award was normally reserved for front-line fighting men and required Hitler's personal authorisation. Pujol (1985). p. 159 "With great happiness and satisfaction I am able to advise you today that the Fuhrer has conceded the Iron Cross to you for your extraordinary merits, a decoration which, without exception, is granted only to first-line combatants. For this reason we send you our most sincere and cordial congratulations." Seaman (2004). p. 75, 286. The Iron Cross was presented via radio. As Garbo, he received an MBE from King
George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until Death and state funeral of George VI, his death in 1952 ...
, on 25 November 1944. The Nazis never realised they had been fooled, and thus Pujol - along with Eddie Chapman, another double agent - earned the distinction of being one of the few to receive decorations from both sides during World War II.


After the war

After the Second World War, Pujol feared reprisals from surviving Nazis. With the help of MI5, Pujol travelled to
Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...
and faked his death from
malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...
in 1949. He then moved to Lagunillas,
Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...
, where he lived in relative anonymity running a bookstore and gift shop. Pujol divorced his first wife and married Carmen Cilia, with whom he had two sons, Carlos Miguel and Joan Carlos, and a daughter who died in 1975 at the age of 20. By 1984, Pujol had moved to his son Carlos Miguel's house in La Trinidad,
Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...
. In 1971, the British politician Rupert Allason, writing under the pen name ''Nigel West'', became interested in Garbo. For several years, he interviewed various former intelligence officers, but none knew Garbo's real name. Eventually, Tomás Harris' friend
Anthony Blunt Anthony Frederick Blunt (26 September 1907 – 26 March 1983), (formerly styled Sir Anthony Blunt from 1956 until November 1979), was a leading British art historian and a Soviet spy. Blunt was a professor of art history at the University ...
, the Soviet spy who had penetrated MI5, said that he had met Garbo, and knew him as "either Juan or José García". Allason's investigation was stalled from that point until March 1984, when a former MI5 officer who had served in Spain supplied Pujol's full name. Allason hired a research assistant to call every J. Garcíaan extremely common name in Spainin the Barcelona phone book, eventually contacting Pujol's nephew. Pujol and Allason finally met in
New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
on 20 May 1984. Pujol (1985). p. 7 "Our rendezvous was to be in New Orleans. There on Sunday, 20 May 1984, I first met my quarry." They collaborated on his autobiography ''Operation Garbo'', published in 1985. At Allason's urging, Pujol travelled to London and was received by
Prince Philip Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 19219 April 2021), was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he was the consort of the British monarch from h ...
at
Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a royal official residence, residence in London, and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and r ...
, in an unusually long audience. After that he visited the Special Forces Club and was reunited with a group of his former colleagues, including T. A. Robertson, Roger Fleetwood Hesketh, Cyril Mills and Desmond Bristow. Pujol (1985). p. 2 "Late in May 1984 a group of retired intelligence officers gathered in the drawing room of the Special Forces Club to be reunited with a spy reported dead in 1959." On the 40th anniversary of D-Day, 6 June 1984, Pujol travelled to Normandy to tour the beaches and pay his respects to the dead. Pujol died in
Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...
in 1988. He is buried in Choroní, edition of Catalan book (see
Further reading Further or furthur, alternatively farther, may refer to: * ''Furthur'' (bus), the Merry Pranksters' psychedelic bus *Further (band), a 1990s American indie rock band *Furthur (band) Furthur was an American rock band founded in 2009 by former G ...
).
a town inside
Henri Pittier National Park Henri Pittier National Park is the oldest national park in Venezuela, originally created in 1937 under the name of ''Rancho Grande'' by decree of President Eleazar López Contreras. In 1953 the park was renamed in honor of Henri Pittier, a distin ...
by the
Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere, located south of the Gulf of Mexico and southwest of the Sargasso Sea. It is bounded by the Greater Antilles to the north from Cuba ...
.


Network of fictitious agents

Each of Pujol's fictitious agents was tasked with recruiting additional sub-agents.


Popular culture


Literature and music

* ''The Counterfeit Spy'' (1971), by the British journalist Sefton Delmer; Pujol's name was changed to "Jorge Antonio" in order to protect his surviving family. * '' The Eldorado Network'' (1979), by the British novelist Derek Robinson, published six years before Nigel West's non-fiction account. * ''Overlord, Underhand'' (2013), by the American author Robert P. Wells, a fictionalised retelling of the story of Juan Pujol (Agent Garbo), double agent with MI5, from the Spanish Civil War to 1944; * ''
Quicksand Quicksand (also known as sinking sand) is a colloid consisting of fine granular material (such as sand, silt or clay) and water. It forms in saturated loose sand when the sand is suddenly agitated. When water in the sand cannot escape, it crea ...
'' (1971), a song by
David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...
on the '' Hunky Dory'' album, makes reference to him ("I'm the twisted name on Garbo's eyes").


Film and television

* '' Garbo: The Spy'' (). Documentary film, directed by Edmon Roch. Production: Ikiru Films, Colose Producciones, Centuria Films, Spain 2009. * ''The Man Who Fooled the Nazis''. 90-minute Spanish documentary retitled and narrated in English, shown as part of the '' Storyville'' series, first shown on BBC Four, 22 February 2011. * ''Secret D-Day''US television, 1998Garbo was portrayed by French actor
Sam Spiegel Samuel P. Spiegel (November 11, 1901December 31, 1985) was an American independent film producer. Financially responsible for some of the most critically acclaimed motion pictures of the 20th century, Spiegel produced films that won the Academy ...
. * ''Garbo - Master of Deception''. 1992
Columbia House Columbia House was an umbrella brand for Columbia Records' mail-order music clubs, the primary iteration of which was the Columbia Record Club, established in 1955. The Columbia House brand was introduced in the early 1970s by Columbia Records ...
and A&E 30-minute documentary. Feature films telling Garbo's story have been attempted on several occasions, but none have reached production to date.


See also

* Spain in World War II


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * *


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pujol García, Juan 1912 births 1988 deaths Double agents Double-Cross System Honorary members of the Order of the British Empire People from Barcelona People who faked their own death Recipients of the Iron Cross (1939), 2nd class Spanish emigrants to Venezuela Spanish spies World War II spies for Germany World War II spies for the United Kingdom Spanish soldiers Spanish people of World War II Spanish anti-fascists Spanish military personnel of the Spanish Civil War (Republican faction) Spanish anti-communists Spanish military personnel of the Spanish Civil War (National faction) Deserters