3. A Spanner Thrown Into the Works
Dusko Popov passed on to the Abwehr made-up details about FUSAG’s units, strength, and organization. His German handlers swallowed his misinformation hook, line, and sinker. Their faith in Popov’s information was reinforced when they eavesdropped on fake radio traffic between fictitious FUSAG formations. To further reinforce the deception, German reconnaissance planes were allowed to fly over and photograph concentrations of FUSAG tanks and transports that were actually inflatable dummies. A spanner was thrown in the works, however, when the Germans arrested Popov’s friend Johnny Jebsen, the Abwehr agent who had “recruited” him to spy for the Nazis.
Jebsen was kidnapped in Lisbon and smuggled back into Germany. There, he was tortured, then sent to a concentration camp where he disappeared and is presumed to have been killed near war’s end. Jebsen knew that his friend Popov was a double agent – indeed, Popov had turned him and made Jebsen a double agent for the British. The Germans did not know that, however, and had snatched Jebsen because they thought he was about to defect, not that he had already turned. They did not suspect Popov, and ironically, had arrested Jebsen because they feared that he would inform the British about the Serb, whom they viewed as one of their star spies.
