Garbo, the Catalan spy who tricked Hitler and saved D-Day

One of the key moments of World War II, the Normandy landings, took place 72 years ago today; and today is also a day to remember and vindicate the figure of Joan Pujol Garcia, the most fabulous double agent of the World War II. Pujol, whom MI5 named as "Garbo" and the Abwehr as "Arabel" built a ghost network of twenty-seven subagents that never existed but which managed to intoxicate the German intelligence services.

Operation Overlord began the morning of June 6, 1944 —the D-day—. The allied armies under the command of the five-star general Dwight David Eisenhower invaded Normandy coast with the largest fleet ever assembled in military history. The landing was the prelude to the night attack of the 101st and 82nd Airborne American divisions, who took their aircraft on different positions of the Normandy coast. It was 0:15 pm on day 6. A few hours later, about 6:30 am, the first units began to land on the beach in Normandy, divided into five sectors, with codenamed Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword.

The key element of the operation was to make the German General Staff believe that the main landing place would be the Pale of Calais, 150 km to the north of Normandy. A task executed by double agents working for the allied army, including Garbo. At four in the morning of June 6th, and with Eisenhower’s go-ahead, Garbo informed the German landing in Normandy. This was calculated as the Germans received the information, but when it was too late, when the invasion was already underway. Garbo also transmitted that, according to three agents of its network —agents that obviously didn’t exist—, possibly the Normandy landings was only a distraction, and that the main invasion would take place in Calais, with 75 divisions and 19 brigades positioned in southern England. At this point, the British had thoroughly prepared a veritable atrezzo army made from plastic, rubber and cardboard to make this information seem credible.

Despite the deception, the experienced Panzer divisions, the fortified defensive positions and artillery batteries imposing the "Atlantic Wall" caused lots of devastation in expeditionary troops, especially in Omaha. But the German commandment had its eyes on Calais and several armoured and infantry divisions were moved up there to support the main hypothetical landing. This was crucial to release pressure and allow the allies to consolidate the invasion of the French west coast, with subsequent landing of new troops. Five weeks after D-Day, Caen was already under Anglo-American control. The liberation of France, along with the major Soviet offensive in the east meant the seeds of defeat for the Third Reich.

After the war, Garbo went to South America, where he lived for 40 years in the absolute anonymity. In the 80s was located by an English journalist expert in espionage and travelled to Europe, where he told his story and was received by veterans of MI5. Joan Pujol Garcia died in Venezuela in 1989.

To imagine the lives that would have been lost without his deception enters the field of history-fiction, but there is no doubt whatever that had a decisive role, and like many other people in World War II, he became history with some discretion. That he is the only person who has been decorated by both sides in the same war (Order of the British Empire and the Iron Cross of the Third Reich), reveals the uniqueness of our character and makes imperative our tribute and remembrance.


Manel
Tortosa, Catalonia. June 6th, 2016