Years of Careful Deceptions Built Up to This One Moment
British intelligence wanted to cement Juan Pujol Garcia’s credibility with the Abwehr. So they had him send a message that alerted the Germans to the invasion a few hours before it began. It was a carefully calculated risk. Pujol Garcia’s handlers figured that by the time the alert worked its way from German intelligence to commanders in the field, the invasion would have already taken place. Thus the message would have done the Germans no actual good on the ground, but it would still enhance Pujol Garcia’s reputation with his German handlers. They then went in for the kill. Building upon the years of trust, Pujol Garcia told the Abwehr that the Normandy landings were diversions.
The real blow, Pujol Garcia informed the Germans, would fall upon the Pas de Calais a few weeks later. The Spaniard’s carefully crafted lies were coupled with other Allied deception measures. Key among them was a fictional First US Army Group. Commanded by General George S. Patton, it was supposedly massed across the English Channel opposite the Pas de Calais. The deceptions worked. The Germans were convinced throughout the crucial weeks of June, 1944, to keep powerful formations in the Pas de Calais, rather than rush them to Normandy to help destroy the vulnerable Allied beachhead.
