The Spanish Spy Who Fooled Hitler on D-Day

You have all probably heard about D-Day before: the day when the Allies opened a second front with the landings in Normandy. It would later be referred to as the beginning of the end of the war. But what you probably don’t know is that Operation Overlord was a success thanks, in part, to a Spanish double agent who managed to trick Hitler. You may be asking yourself how that is even possible. Well, let me tell you how.

Joan Pujol García was born in Barcelona in 1912, meaning that he was only a young man when the Spanish Civil War erupted in 1936. And it is in that horrific period of Spanish history that we find the roots of his actions. Why? Because, during that time, he developed a hatred of totalitarianism and, consequently, a desire to fight against it.

That is exactly why, when WWII began in 1939, just a few months after the Spanish Civil War had ended, Joan got in touch with the British Embassy. He offered his services, hoping to spy on the Germans for the Allies, but the British rejected his proposition. However, that was not the end of this story.

Far from giving up, Joan decided to infiltrate the enemy. And that is how he ended up becoming a spy for the German side. He moved to London, supposedly infiltrating the Allies and starting an intricate web of spies he recruited for the Germans. Or at least, that is what he made the Germans believe.

In reality, he had moved to Lisbon. From there, he crafted a fake web of spies who were supposedly spying for the Germans back in London: 27 people, each with their own motives and backgrounds. But they all had something in common: they were not real people. They were fictional characters, created as a trap for the Germans to believe that they had successfully infiltrated the enemy’s intelligence network.

Once he was done “recruiting” spies, he went on to write the fake reports of all 27 spies himself and sent them to the Germans, who started calling their trustworthy spy Joan by the codename Arabel.

Finally, in 1942, Joan was recruited by the British, becoming the only voluntary double agent of the British intelligence services during WWII (excluding those German spies discovered by Britain and forced to become double agents). Joan was known in the British services by the codename Garbo.

From Barcelona to the Heart of the German Intelligence Network

But why was his service so important? Well, the Germans believed that his work as a spy was so good and frequent that they stopped recruiting spies in England, placing all their trust in him. And that would ultimately prove to be their downfall when, in January 1944, the Allies started planning to open a second front in Western Europe.

This would be known as Operation Fortitude. The goal of this operation was to make the Germans believe that the landing in Normandy planned for that same year would actually take place in Calais.

On June 6, 1944, Joan sent false information to the Germans confirming the supposed landings in Calais. And it is that precious information that wholeheartedly earned him Hitler’s trust, in fact, even making him one of Hitler’s most trusted spies.

Three days before the landings, when fighting was about to begin in Normandy, Hitler ordered the 15th Army to remain in the Calais area rather than immediately reinforcing Normandy. Why? Because his most trustworthy spy, Arabel, had convinced him that Normandy was just an Allied distraction and that their true attack would take place in Calais.

So, Joan Pujol García had a huge impact on the liberation of France and, overall, the end of the war. He was actually the only man decorated by both sides of the conflict, having earned the Iron Cross, one of Germany’s highest distinctions, while also being appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire.

What did he do after the war ended? Well, Joan decided to, with the help of the British, fake his death and secretly move to Venezuela, where he lived for the rest of his life.

So now, when you watch a movie, read a book, or learn in class about the D-Day landings in Normandy, remember how, thanks to one man and his fake reports, one of the greatest deceptions of World War II helped shape the course of history.

The Lie That Helped Change the Course of the War

Author: Belén de Pablo
Editor & Publisher: Lucía Lobato

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