Spanish chicken farmer Juan Pujol Garcia tried to become a spy for the MI5, but they rejected him. He then applied to become a spy for the Nazi SS, who accepted him. The SS gave him the order to start a spy network in London, but instead he set up shop in Lisbon. There, he started feeding the Nazi commanders false intel.
Every once in a while, he would be confronted about bad intel, and would blame it on one of his fictional subordinates. The MI5 became aware of his existence and enrolled him into their ranks, and that’s when his tomfoolery started getting serious. He was given the nickname Garbo, in reference to “the best actor in the world”, Greta Garbo.
His most important work was on Operation Fortitude. He helped convince Nazi high command that the invasion of Normandy was a diversion – officers believed a larger army was due to land in Calais. For his ‘efforts’, he was awarded the Iron Cross, authorised by Hitler himself. He was also given an MBE medal by the British King, making him one of the few people who received medals from both sides. He later faked his death and fled to Venezuela after the war, where he then ran a bookshop.
Honestly the espionage, intelligence and special operations war during the Second World War will always be the most interesting to me. Sure the big battles and what not are cool to learn about but there was some proper wild things going on behind the scenes, sometimes in far flung places that a shot was never fired at during the conflict.
Infinite_Ad2789 on
If i am not wrong, this guy is spy/agent for German Reich in HOI4.
Negative_Courage_461 on
Otto Skorzeny famously also took two pills, albeit being one after the other.
Mysterious_Silver_27 on
WW2 German intelligence once again being absolutely clueless about everything. Sometimes I wonder how the hell they managed to fight for 5 years given how bad their foreign intelligence service performed.
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For those looking for context:
Spanish chicken farmer Juan Pujol Garcia tried to become a spy for the MI5, but they rejected him. He then applied to become a spy for the Nazi SS, who accepted him. The SS gave him the order to start a spy network in London, but instead he set up shop in Lisbon. There, he started feeding the Nazi commanders false intel.
Every once in a while, he would be confronted about bad intel, and would blame it on one of his fictional subordinates. The MI5 became aware of his existence and enrolled him into their ranks, and that’s when his tomfoolery started getting serious. He was given the nickname Garbo, in reference to “the best actor in the world”, Greta Garbo.
His most important work was on Operation Fortitude. He helped convince Nazi high command that the invasion of Normandy was a diversion – officers believed a larger army was due to land in Calais. For his ‘efforts’, he was awarded the Iron Cross, authorised by Hitler himself. He was also given an MBE medal by the British King, making him one of the few people who received medals from both sides. He later faked his death and fled to Venezuela after the war, where he then ran a bookshop.
https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-plaques/juan-pujol-garcia/
Ah, one of the best episodes of Citation Needed
Honestly the espionage, intelligence and special operations war during the Second World War will always be the most interesting to me. Sure the big battles and what not are cool to learn about but there was some proper wild things going on behind the scenes, sometimes in far flung places that a shot was never fired at during the conflict.
If i am not wrong, this guy is spy/agent for German Reich in HOI4.
Otto Skorzeny famously also took two pills, albeit being one after the other.
WW2 German intelligence once again being absolutely clueless about everything. Sometimes I wonder how the hell they managed to fight for 5 years given how bad their foreign intelligence service performed.