2. A Double Agent’s Key Contribution to the Allies’ Success in Normandy
When British intelligence learned that Johnny Jebsen had been arrested by the Germans, they feared that he would reveal that Dusko Popov had actually worked for the Allies all along. They thought it was all over for their Agent Tricycle, and suspended his activities and those of his network. Despite torture, however, Jebsen did not let slip that Popov, Agent Ivan to the Germans, was a British spy. When British intelligence realized that the Abwehr still trusted Popov, they put him back to work to continue the deception. He and Operation Fortitude paid off for the Allies in a big way.
After D-Day, the Germans were convinced that the Normandy invasion was not the main event, but only the first in a series of landings. So instead of rushing all available reinforcements to contest the Allies in Normandy, they kept powerful formations in the Pas de Calais, to defend it from the “main invasion” by the fictitious FUSAG. Popov’s British handlers had hoped to convince the Germans to keep the Pas de Calais formations in place for two weeks after D-Day. Things worked out better than their wildest hopes: instead of two weeks, the Nazis kept their units there for seven weeks. By the time the Pas de Calais defenders were finally released, it was too late for the Germans.
