12. Fabricating a Spy Network
Instead of going to Britain as instructed by the Abwehr, Juan Pujol went to Lisbon. From there, he made up reports about Britain, using content culled from public sources, embellished and seasoned with his own active imagination, then sent them 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 starving for information. So they eagerly swallowed Pujol’s fabrications, and begged for more.
Pujol obliged by inventing a network of fictional sub-agents and used them as sources for additional fictional reports. Intercepting and decoding secret German messages, the British realized that somebody was hoaxing the Germans, and upon discovering it was Pujol acting on his own, they belatedly accepted his offer of services.
