The Most Important Spy of WWII
No spy had a greater impact on WWII than Juan Pujol Garcia (1912 – 1988). An eccentric Spaniard, Juan Pujol hoaxed the Germans with fictional espionage out of a sheer desire for adventure and excitement. That hoax grew into the greatest double cross operation of the conflict, and played a significant role in the Allied victory on D-Day and in the subsequent Normandy Campaign. Pujol Garcia hated fascists, so when WWII began, he decided to help the Allies “for the good of humanity”. However, when he offered his services to British intelligence, he was rejected. Undeterred, he posed as a Nazi sympathizing Spanish government official, and offered his services to Germany’s military intelligence service, the Abwehr.
The Nazis accepted, and ordered him to Britain, where he was to recruit a spy network. Pujol Garcia had neither the means nor the desire to do any such thing. So he simply faked it. Rather than go to Britain as instructed by the Abwehr, he went to Lisbon. From there, he simply fabricated reports about Britain. He used information gathered from public sources, embellished and seasoned with his own active imagination. He then sent it to his German handlers as if he was writing from Britain. The Germans, whose entire spy network in Britain had been arrested in the war’s opening days, were desperate for information. So they eagerly swallowed Pujol Garcia’s fake reports, and begged for more.
