7. D-Day Succeeded Because the Nazis Trusted a Pathological Fabulist
One of the Second World War’s best-known and most decisive events was the successful Allied D-Day amphibious landings in Normandy on June 6th, 1944. Less known is that much of the operation’s success was owed to an eccentric Spaniard who, out of a simple desire for excitement and adventure, hoaxed the Nazis with fake spying. The hoax grew until it became the centerpiece of the war’s greatest deception operation, and ensured Allied victory on D-Day and in the subsequent Normandy Campaign.
Juan Pujol Garcia (1912 – 1988) hated fascists with a passion, so when WWII began, he decided to help the Allies “for the good of humanity”. He offered his services to British intelligence, but they turned him down. Juan Pujol wanted in on the adventure of war, however, and was determined to get in on the action. So he pretended to be a Nazi-sympathizing Spanish official and offered his services to the Germans. They accepted, and ordered him to Britain, with instructions to recruit a spy network.
