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Agent Garbo: The Brilliant, Eccentric Secret Agent Who Tricked Hitler and Saved D-Day
Were the D-Day landings saved from failure because of a lone secret agent?
"Agent Garbo" tells the astonishing story of a self-made secret agent who matched wits with the best minds of the Third Reich -- and won. Juan Pujol was a nobody, a Barcelona poultry farmer determined to oppose the Nazis. Using only his gift for daring falsehoods, Pujol became Germany's most valued agent -- or double it took four tries before the British believed he was really on the Allies' side.
In the guise of Garbo, Pujol turned in a masterpiece of deception worthy of his big-screen namesake. He created an imaginary million-man army, invented armadas out of thin air, and brought a vast network of fictional subagents whirring to life. His unwitting German handlers believed every word, and banked on Garbo's lies as their only source of espionage within Great Britain.
For his greatest performance, Pujol had to convince the German High Command that the D-Day invasion of Normandy was a feint and the real attack was aimed at Calais. The Nazis bought it, turning the tide of battle at the crucial moment.
Based on years of archival research and interviews with Pujol's family, "Agent Garbo" is a true-life thriller set in the shadow world of espionage and deception.
"Agent Garbo" tells the astonishing story of a self-made secret agent who matched wits with the best minds of the Third Reich -- and won. Juan Pujol was a nobody, a Barcelona poultry farmer determined to oppose the Nazis. Using only his gift for daring falsehoods, Pujol became Germany's most valued agent -- or double it took four tries before the British believed he was really on the Allies' side.
In the guise of Garbo, Pujol turned in a masterpiece of deception worthy of his big-screen namesake. He created an imaginary million-man army, invented armadas out of thin air, and brought a vast network of fictional subagents whirring to life. His unwitting German handlers believed every word, and banked on Garbo's lies as their only source of espionage within Great Britain.
For his greatest performance, Pujol had to convince the German High Command that the D-Day invasion of Normandy was a feint and the real attack was aimed at Calais. The Nazis bought it, turning the tide of battle at the crucial moment.
Based on years of archival research and interviews with Pujol's family, "Agent Garbo" is a true-life thriller set in the shadow world of espionage and deception.
331 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2012
291 people are currently reading
3152 people want to read
About the author
Stephan Talty
35 books293 followersStephan Talty is the New York Times bestselling author of six acclaimed books of narrative nonfiction, as well as the Abbie Kearney crime novels. Originally from Buffalo, he now lives outside New York City.
Talty began as a widely-published journalist who has contributed to the New York Times Magazine, GQ, Men’s Journal, Time Out New York, Details, and many other publications. He is the author of the forthcoming thriller Hangman (the sequel to Black Irish), as well as Agent Garbo: The Brilliant, Eccentric Double Agent who Tricked Hitler and Saved D-Day (2012) and Empire of Blue Water: Captain Morgan's Great Pirate Army, the Epic Battle for the Americas, and the Catastrophe that Ended the Outlaws Bloody Reign (2008).
His short e-book, The Secret Agent: In Search of America's Greatest World War II Spy was the best-selling Amazon Single of 2013.
Talty began as a widely-published journalist who has contributed to the New York Times Magazine, GQ, Men’s Journal, Time Out New York, Details, and many other publications. He is the author of the forthcoming thriller Hangman (the sequel to Black Irish), as well as Agent Garbo: The Brilliant, Eccentric Double Agent who Tricked Hitler and Saved D-Day (2012) and Empire of Blue Water: Captain Morgan's Great Pirate Army, the Epic Battle for the Americas, and the Catastrophe that Ended the Outlaws Bloody Reign (2008).
His short e-book, The Secret Agent: In Search of America's Greatest World War II Spy was the best-selling Amazon Single of 2013.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 190 reviews
September 6, 2012
I'd started to hear about the enormous fictional army that fooled the Nazis back when I was a child, but I feel like a lot more detail has become public knowledge in recent years. While I doubt any single book could encompass the sudden professionalization of the Great Game, this one does a very thorough, and fascinating, job portraying a single, key agent.
Juan Pujol, who would later be codenamed "Garbo", was a complete loser, a dreamer who failed at nearly everything he touched. Until he decided to make it his life's mission to stop the Nazis. Without any backup of any kind, he walked into the German intelligence offices, spouting fabulous nonsense, and slowly hoodwinked them into believing that he was a major source. It took a surprisingly long time for the British to realize that he was feeding the Nazis misinformation and that he actively wanted to be a double agent for them, but once they did, his story really takes off.
A host of dazzling personalities waltzes through Pujol's career, from Kim Philby to agents like Tricycle and Brutus to Hitler's own spymaster. And the capers they pull off are so audacious that they would look ridiculous in fiction. Pujol finally even has to con his own wife in the name of the cause. And it all leads up to one major test--disguising one of the largest invading armies the world has ever seen.
The history is riveting and appears to be thoroughly researched. While there is no grand master thesis to be discovered, this book does an excellent job of revealing an undertold story that more than deserves to be told.
Juan Pujol, who would later be codenamed "Garbo", was a complete loser, a dreamer who failed at nearly everything he touched. Until he decided to make it his life's mission to stop the Nazis. Without any backup of any kind, he walked into the German intelligence offices, spouting fabulous nonsense, and slowly hoodwinked them into believing that he was a major source. It took a surprisingly long time for the British to realize that he was feeding the Nazis misinformation and that he actively wanted to be a double agent for them, but once they did, his story really takes off.
A host of dazzling personalities waltzes through Pujol's career, from Kim Philby to agents like Tricycle and Brutus to Hitler's own spymaster. And the capers they pull off are so audacious that they would look ridiculous in fiction. Pujol finally even has to con his own wife in the name of the cause. And it all leads up to one major test--disguising one of the largest invading armies the world has ever seen.
The history is riveting and appears to be thoroughly researched. While there is no grand master thesis to be discovered, this book does an excellent job of revealing an undertold story that more than deserves to be told.
June 5, 2019
Talty's book about Garbro - in reality a Spanish man, Juan Pujol Garica who sided with the UK during the Second World War - is a good biography about a mystery man. Talty presents him warts and all. Considering how in some biographies about famous men, the wives are depicted either as knowing and forgiving suffering saints, or totally at fault, Talty is understanding to Garica's first wife Araceli, in particular when detailing the family's experiences in London.
March 3, 2025
I agree with the other reviews noting the book’s simplicity, but I didn’t find it off-putting. Rather than serving as a comprehensive WWII chronicle, the book focuses more on Pujol’s life, which feels like an intentional choice. It’s a quick and engaging read that history lovers will appreciate.
February 20, 2019
Intriguing even though populistic and simplistic.
January 22, 2016
It is rather strange to be reading this book in Russia. We in the west have grown up on heroic tales of World War II derring-do (of which this book is one), but here in Russia they have a different view of how the war was won. For them, the hard slog of repelling the Germans at Stalingrad was the decisive moment, not D-Day. It was in Russia that Hitler suffered his first defeat.
27 million of their countrymen died in World War II, and (from what we’ve been told) Russians feel that western historians such as Antony Beevor tend to focus on poor German strategy and the bitter Russian winter as the causes of Hitler’s defeat, without acknowledging the incredible courage of Russian soldiers and civilians in the battle to force the German retreat from the USSR.
I didn’t finish reading Beevor’s Stalingrad before we left home, so I don’t know if this impression is a fair one, or not. I’m merely reporting what we’ve seen and heard here. However from what I read of it, I think that Beevor does acknowledge that Stalingrad was won at least in part through sheer determination, fighting street-by-street with very limited resources while besieged on all sides. It may be a matter of degree. But Vasily Grossman’s account of this heroic battle in Life and Fate depicts the human face of it in a way that no non-fiction history could ever hope to do. That was what brought me nearly to tears when we visited the War Memorial at St Petersburg.
The St Petersburg Memorial is on the outskirts of the city (then called Leningrad) and it shows just how close the Nazis came. Here as at Stalingrad they encircled the city and they besieged it for 900 days. No food or supplied could get in by land or sea, and the Nazis had control of the skies so there could be no food drops either. Hitler’s expressed intention was (contrary to his view of protecting Paris) that he wanted to obliterate the city, and the bombardment was intense. (You can see photos of how they trashed Pushkin, a satellite town southwest of St Petersburg when you visit Catherine’s Palace. You can also see the memorial to the Jews who were despatched to their deaths from there). Throughout our tour our guide told us incredible stories about how, as the Germans advanced, the golden turrets of the St Petersburg cathedrals were camouflaged to conceal where the centre of the city was, and how the treasures of the museums were spirited away to safety in eastern Russia or stashed in cellars and basements. But the statuary here shows the impact on ordinary civilians, how many of them died of starvation once the siege began and there was no way in or out of the city. The sheer scale of casualties impacts still on every St Petersburg family.
Stephan Talty’s book, Agent Garbo: The Brilliant, Eccentric Double Agent Who Tricked Hitler and Saved D-Day, however, is about a different kind of war altogether, the world of spies and secret intelligence services. And it is a most amazing story.
To read the rest of my review please visit http://anzlitlovers.com/2012/09/02/ag...
27 million of their countrymen died in World War II, and (from what we’ve been told) Russians feel that western historians such as Antony Beevor tend to focus on poor German strategy and the bitter Russian winter as the causes of Hitler’s defeat, without acknowledging the incredible courage of Russian soldiers and civilians in the battle to force the German retreat from the USSR.
I didn’t finish reading Beevor’s Stalingrad before we left home, so I don’t know if this impression is a fair one, or not. I’m merely reporting what we’ve seen and heard here. However from what I read of it, I think that Beevor does acknowledge that Stalingrad was won at least in part through sheer determination, fighting street-by-street with very limited resources while besieged on all sides. It may be a matter of degree. But Vasily Grossman’s account of this heroic battle in Life and Fate depicts the human face of it in a way that no non-fiction history could ever hope to do. That was what brought me nearly to tears when we visited the War Memorial at St Petersburg.
The St Petersburg Memorial is on the outskirts of the city (then called Leningrad) and it shows just how close the Nazis came. Here as at Stalingrad they encircled the city and they besieged it for 900 days. No food or supplied could get in by land or sea, and the Nazis had control of the skies so there could be no food drops either. Hitler’s expressed intention was (contrary to his view of protecting Paris) that he wanted to obliterate the city, and the bombardment was intense. (You can see photos of how they trashed Pushkin, a satellite town southwest of St Petersburg when you visit Catherine’s Palace. You can also see the memorial to the Jews who were despatched to their deaths from there). Throughout our tour our guide told us incredible stories about how, as the Germans advanced, the golden turrets of the St Petersburg cathedrals were camouflaged to conceal where the centre of the city was, and how the treasures of the museums were spirited away to safety in eastern Russia or stashed in cellars and basements. But the statuary here shows the impact on ordinary civilians, how many of them died of starvation once the siege began and there was no way in or out of the city. The sheer scale of casualties impacts still on every St Petersburg family.
Stephan Talty’s book, Agent Garbo: The Brilliant, Eccentric Double Agent Who Tricked Hitler and Saved D-Day, however, is about a different kind of war altogether, the world of spies and secret intelligence services. And it is a most amazing story.
To read the rest of my review please visit http://anzlitlovers.com/2012/09/02/ag...
September 9, 2012
Like reading wet cardboard The focus on the "brilliant" double agent seems misplaced. The real work was done by the British intelligence service. They appear to have taken a man's persona and then sequestered him away while they created and maintained a fictitious spy network in England. While true that their feints bought some precious time to shore up the D-Day invasion, Pujol's contribution appears negligible. A man who cut off all contact with his children, allowed his estranged wife to be told he was dead, and them married a sixteen year old for his second wife? To name only three fabulous events. I am giving up on these pseudo historical books. They are a pretense to scholarship with footnotes, bibliographies, indexes. But that doesn't make the research valid or strictly accurate. I feel like a story line was imagined and then told with no facts getting in the way. Shame on the WSJ for recommending this book.
Reads like a turgid overblown bosom heaver. It was better than the book Agent Zig Zag. But not by much. What I really want to read is a careful analysis, if true as portrayed in these books, of why and how the nazis were such fools.
Reads like a turgid overblown bosom heaver. It was better than the book Agent Zig Zag. But not by much. What I really want to read is a careful analysis, if true as portrayed in these books, of why and how the nazis were such fools.
September 26, 2014
This was one of the most fascinating reads about World War II I've gotten my hands on in some time.
In a recent issue of Mental Floss, it gave the basic details of the spymaster named Garbo who effectively paved the way for the D-Day invasion to have some success by successfully diverting Axis/Nazi resources to a fake invasion location. His act involved a significant number of false resources and leads along the way and is credited to some degree for helping win the war. A truly eccentric character, the story is almost unbelievable on a whole, but here it is.
The book does suffer somewhat from a fairly disjointed narrative, and my natural skeptical instincts kicked in more often than not, but, on a whole, it's a fun read at the very least with a lot of interesting details about espionage in the era that I wasn't aware of. Definitely recommended for a lighter look.
In a recent issue of Mental Floss, it gave the basic details of the spymaster named Garbo who effectively paved the way for the D-Day invasion to have some success by successfully diverting Axis/Nazi resources to a fake invasion location. His act involved a significant number of false resources and leads along the way and is credited to some degree for helping win the war. A truly eccentric character, the story is almost unbelievable on a whole, but here it is.
The book does suffer somewhat from a fairly disjointed narrative, and my natural skeptical instincts kicked in more often than not, but, on a whole, it's a fun read at the very least with a lot of interesting details about espionage in the era that I wasn't aware of. Definitely recommended for a lighter look.
October 1, 2024
Agent Garbo's story is made all the more incredible because it actually happened. Much of what he did sounded like something out of a spy movie, and it was sometimes hard to recall that these were actual people, whose decisions were the difference between life and death for so many soldiers. The book itself was clearly written and well organized and told Garbo's story in an engaging way, with enough information to be helpful without overloading the reader with every single detail. Such an exciting part of WWII, and such an interesting character!
I just have to add that personally my favorite thing this guy did was to drive two elderly Spanish spinister princesses and a duke over the border to get whiskey for them so that they would give him a passport XD
I just have to add that personally my favorite thing this guy did was to drive two elderly Spanish spinister princesses and a duke over the border to get whiskey for them so that they would give him a passport XD
May 8, 2013
Juan Pujol was indeed a hero of World War II. Using his intelligence, and vast imagination...Pujol (as Agent Garbo) managed to fool Nazi Germany with false information, and elaborate fabrication for years...culminating in the ultimate deception by tricking the Germans into thinking that the D-Day invasion at Normandy was only a feint, with the real attack being staged further north. This one clever act saved thousands of lives, and turned the course of the war. However, Pujol, though a hero...isn't a particularly compelling character, and Stephen Talty's "Agent Garbo: The Brilliant, Eccentric Secret Agent Who Tricked Hitler and Saved D-Day" isn't a particularly compelling book.
Unlike, say, Ben Macintyre's page-turner "Agent Zig-Zag," which told the fascinating story of a criminal named Eddie Chapman who became an unconventional war hero though his work as a British double-agent..."Agent Garbo is a essentially a story of a spy who did all of his work sitting at a desk. His work was very important, mind you...yet that doesn't mean that it makes a good story...at least not in the way Stephan Talty tells it. I found myself intrigued on some pages, and bored on others. Garbo was not a field agent...so the majority of the book deals with how Garbo/Pujol's deceitful messages affected the actions of the German high command...and the progress of the war. Too many times, I felt the book lost track of Pujol/Garbo's story...and instead focused on the events surrounding World War II.
Who knows? Perhaps there IS a great story to tell about Juan Pujol...he deserves a great story. Yet Stephan Talty's "Agent Garbo" book is not it.
Unlike, say, Ben Macintyre's page-turner "Agent Zig-Zag," which told the fascinating story of a criminal named Eddie Chapman who became an unconventional war hero though his work as a British double-agent..."Agent Garbo is a essentially a story of a spy who did all of his work sitting at a desk. His work was very important, mind you...yet that doesn't mean that it makes a good story...at least not in the way Stephan Talty tells it. I found myself intrigued on some pages, and bored on others. Garbo was not a field agent...so the majority of the book deals with how Garbo/Pujol's deceitful messages affected the actions of the German high command...and the progress of the war. Too many times, I felt the book lost track of Pujol/Garbo's story...and instead focused on the events surrounding World War II.
Who knows? Perhaps there IS a great story to tell about Juan Pujol...he deserves a great story. Yet Stephan Talty's "Agent Garbo" book is not it.
March 7, 2025
This is the kind of book that surprises you: nonfiction, historical but eminently readable and like a book mystery, it draws you into the tale of young Spanish man who decides to become a spy for Hitler and due to his cunning and intelligence, is able to trick Adolph Hitler and the German army about the site of Allied landing on D-Day.
The title caught me before I started reading and because of Greta Garbo, I was thinking that I would be reading about a female spy. So first off is my surprise at the gender of the person I was going to read about. And then to read about this young man — Juan Pujol Garcia — who couldn't seem to settle and succeed at business, even deserting in the Spanish army when he developed a hatred of both the communists and fascists during the Spanish civil war .
But Garcia wanted to do something that would make his family proud of him, so miraculously, he started with only his imagination and intelligence, and recreated himself into a "spy." He first offered himself to the Germans then struggled to get the British to take him seriously. But at a certain point, the German spy who was supposedly sharing believable secrets with the Axis came to the attention of the British and they knew they had to not only find him but use him.
And what a successful relationship it was! How our lives may have been changed if he and those other men and women working with him and for the same purpose hadn't succeeded.
This is a very interesting book to read and I enjoyed it immensely. And what timing to read this as we come up to June 6, the 75th-anniversary of the landing on Normandy
The title caught me before I started reading and because of Greta Garbo, I was thinking that I would be reading about a female spy. So first off is my surprise at the gender of the person I was going to read about. And then to read about this young man — Juan Pujol Garcia — who couldn't seem to settle and succeed at business, even deserting in the Spanish army when he developed a hatred of both the communists and fascists during the Spanish civil war .
But Garcia wanted to do something that would make his family proud of him, so miraculously, he started with only his imagination and intelligence, and recreated himself into a "spy." He first offered himself to the Germans then struggled to get the British to take him seriously. But at a certain point, the German spy who was supposedly sharing believable secrets with the Axis came to the attention of the British and they knew they had to not only find him but use him.
And what a successful relationship it was! How our lives may have been changed if he and those other men and women working with him and for the same purpose hadn't succeeded.
This is a very interesting book to read and I enjoyed it immensely. And what timing to read this as we come up to June 6, the 75th-anniversary of the landing on Normandy
September 4, 2012
Fascinating story about someone I never heard of before now. Garbo! Agent Garbo was a double-agent during WWII working in England for the British while sending false or almost false intelligence to the German spy agencies. He was a Spaniard from Madrid with almost no education and no training in the ways of being a spy, but using his imagination and inherent talents, he became the most famous spy of WWII and possibly of all time. His crowning glory was in being able to convince Hitler that the landing at Normandy (D-Day) was not the main invasion and that he should hold his tanks and troops elsewhere. Even after the landing had taken place, Hitler was so convinced that there would be a bigger invasion at Calais that he held his tanks and troops back for another two months. Agent Garbo was the only person in WWII who was awarded the Iron Cross by Germany as well as the OBE (Order of the British Empire).
Anyone who enjoys intrigue or history will certainly enjoy this well written book about someone you never heard of before.
Anyone who enjoys intrigue or history will certainly enjoy this well written book about someone you never heard of before.
May 26, 2019
A truly incredible story of a real life James Bond. Agent Garbo was a double agent working for the allies. His spy career started off pretty poorly, and he was nearly discovered. But he soon became one of the most influential men in the war, though few knew it. Embedded in Nazi Germany acting as an Axis spy, Garbo conjure up a whole network of fake spies throughout England, creating fake Allied armies while shrouding in secrecy the real ones. He had the Axis Powers so completely fooled that Hitler himself called Garbo one of the Third Reich’s most valuable assets.
Garbo’a final act in the war was keeping German forces in the dark regarding the Normandy invasion. It was his report, placed on the desk of the Fuhrer, that convinced Hitler that the invasion was a feint, and so kept back the German reinforcements that could have easily driven the Allied soldiers back across the Channel in a disastrous defeat. If not for Garbo, the outcome of the war may have been very different.
History buffs, get this book.
Garbo’a final act in the war was keeping German forces in the dark regarding the Normandy invasion. It was his report, placed on the desk of the Fuhrer, that convinced Hitler that the invasion was a feint, and so kept back the German reinforcements that could have easily driven the Allied soldiers back across the Channel in a disastrous defeat. If not for Garbo, the outcome of the war may have been very different.
History buffs, get this book.
Read
July 12, 2023World War history isn't usually my jam but there was a viral tumblr post about this dude and someone added a recommendation to it for this book and it was in at the library so I gave it a shot.
I am enjoying it.
It's more explanatory than set with scenes. The human element is definitely there, it isn't like it's dry, it just didn't have many moments that caught me emotionally.
It's more the kind of book to make you go, "hmmm, that's interesting" rather than "omg."
It is definitely interesting and includes lots of details and even though I know shit all about the history of either world war, I could follow it. The book assumes you wouldn't be reading this if you weren't into and already know the major points of the war like what happened at Dunkirk which is a fair assumption.
I am enjoying it.
It's more explanatory than set with scenes. The human element is definitely there, it isn't like it's dry, it just didn't have many moments that caught me emotionally.
It's more the kind of book to make you go, "hmmm, that's interesting" rather than "omg."
It is definitely interesting and includes lots of details and even though I know shit all about the history of either world war, I could follow it. The book assumes you wouldn't be reading this if you weren't into and already know the major points of the war like what happened at Dunkirk which is a fair assumption.
July 18, 2013
The start is quite intriguing, but when you get to the actuall deception and work in the war, there are too many prosey adjectives and fuzzy history. Granted I am pretty picky when it comes to history, and while I will say that this is written in a strong, popular, and readable style, the actual story that I wanted to hear gets quite thinned out by the other people in the war effort. The idea that "Garbo" tricked Hitler to save D-Day becomes harder to support as you see the large group of people who worked with him.
Still, a well-written, semi-sparsely researched, and entertaining read.
Still, a well-written, semi-sparsely researched, and entertaining read.
April 17, 2014
This was very interesting story of Juan Pujol, a Spanish double agent in WWII who helped deceive the Nazi's into thinking that the landing in Normandy was a feint and the real invasion was coming later, Germany fell for the deception and kept a large portion of the army in Calais, waiting for the invasion that never came.
This saved thousands of lives. Pujol was especially unusual because he decided on his own to become a spy for the Allies and had to first convince the Germans to hire him, then the English.
This saved thousands of lives. Pujol was especially unusual because he decided on his own to become a spy for the Allies and had to first convince the Germans to hire him, then the English.
September 13, 2016
This book took me a long time to get through. It is beyond my ken to grasp the methods and lengths the Allies went through to deceive the Nazis. Some of the things done and designed sounded impossible to pull off. Trying to keep straight the real and pretend agents and battles had my head swimming, and I would have to put the book down and pick up totally mindless books. Then back to "Garbo." Did it stop me? No. I was fascinated by all the deception, and wanted to find out more.
March 12, 2021
Fascinating story, love all the world war 2 spy stories that have come out!
A true story but definitely fictionalized!
A true story but definitely fictionalized!
August 20, 2021
I first heard about the legendary Agent Garbo when reading Ben McIntyre’s Operation Mincemeat a few years back; shortly thereafter, I found a copy of Stephan Talty’s Agent Garbo: The Brilliant, Eccentric Secret Agent Who Tricked Hitler and Saved D-Day in a secondhand bookshop and had to get it.
While the framing (especially the outrageous subtitle) comes perilously close to endorsing the notion that D-Day was won due to one Great Man of History, the book overall does a pretty good job of illustrating Juan Pujol’s strengths and weaknesses, and all the moving parts that go into any kind of successful disinformation campaign. It becomes pretty clear that if the British hadn’t scooped up Pujol reasonably early and outfitted him with the support needed to keep such a big network of fake spies straight, it would only have been a matter of time before he fucked up something badly enough for the Germans to notice, even the not particularly clever ones in Madrid. But overall, these World War II spy stories are fun because they involve a lot of very colorful people just trying out a bunch of completely bananas stuff, and I don’t really care that much that each book tries to make it sound like the story it’s telling is the single most important one. (That said, there is a very good case that “tricking the Germans into defending Pas de Calais for days and days after the Normandy invasion via inventing a phantom army” was certainly a big one.) The book is also fairly sympathetic to Pujol’s first wife, Araceli, on the occasion when she rebelled against British intelligence and almost blew his cover (it’s clear to me that British intelligence was leaving money on the table by not hiring a damn babysitter for the kids and employing Araceli, too). The most interesting part to me was reading about the tricks Pujol used to keep both his main infiltration persona and his massive network of socks (they didn’t call them socks, as there was no internet upon which to have sockpuppet accounts in those days, but they were socks) in good with the Nazis even after several operations that should have burned them.
Overall a fun little read about some Good Old-Fashioned Nazi Fightin’.
Originally posted at Infiltration and disinformation.
While the framing (especially the outrageous subtitle) comes perilously close to endorsing the notion that D-Day was won due to one Great Man of History, the book overall does a pretty good job of illustrating Juan Pujol’s strengths and weaknesses, and all the moving parts that go into any kind of successful disinformation campaign. It becomes pretty clear that if the British hadn’t scooped up Pujol reasonably early and outfitted him with the support needed to keep such a big network of fake spies straight, it would only have been a matter of time before he fucked up something badly enough for the Germans to notice, even the not particularly clever ones in Madrid. But overall, these World War II spy stories are fun because they involve a lot of very colorful people just trying out a bunch of completely bananas stuff, and I don’t really care that much that each book tries to make it sound like the story it’s telling is the single most important one. (That said, there is a very good case that “tricking the Germans into defending Pas de Calais for days and days after the Normandy invasion via inventing a phantom army” was certainly a big one.) The book is also fairly sympathetic to Pujol’s first wife, Araceli, on the occasion when she rebelled against British intelligence and almost blew his cover (it’s clear to me that British intelligence was leaving money on the table by not hiring a damn babysitter for the kids and employing Araceli, too). The most interesting part to me was reading about the tricks Pujol used to keep both his main infiltration persona and his massive network of socks (they didn’t call them socks, as there was no internet upon which to have sockpuppet accounts in those days, but they were socks) in good with the Nazis even after several operations that should have burned them.
Overall a fun little read about some Good Old-Fashioned Nazi Fightin’.
Originally posted at Infiltration and disinformation.
August 2, 2012
Beyond Belief!
Juan Pujol, was born in 1912 in Barcelona, Spain. As a child, although small of stature, his mother considered him to be very wild, always injured because of his uncontrolled exuberance, incorrigible and no punishment seemed effective. He was not deliberately destructive, but his vivid, imagination caused him to become whoever he imagined, such as a knight, a desperado, or a cowboy like Tom Mix. Never malicious, however, he helped everyone. Although a mediocre student, he became fascinated with history and spoke five languages, Spanish, Catalan, French, English and Portuguese. His father despised war, bloody revolutions, unfair authority and advocated respecting the individuality of humans, their sorrows and sufferings.
Barcelona was a highly combustible, dangerous place with political coups, religious frictions, riots and murders. Although Pujol’s family were financially secure, Pujol left school to work at menial labor, the long hours wearing him down and he quit. Being all velocity and no direction propelled him into a series of mad love affairs. In 1933 he filled his compulsory six months military service. In 1934 his father died, which devastated him. From then on, everything he tried failed.
In 1936 the Spanish Civil War started and Pujol experienced the terribleness of war. During the war Hitler and the Nazis backed Franco, who became dictator of Spain and Spain harbored many Spanish Nazi sympathizers. Over the next few years Pujol hid several months to keep from being forced into the military, was captured, imprisoned, and then freed by a friend. The war had eaten up his youth and ideals; left him physically wasted; his fortune was gone and his country in ruins. Now instead of being a dreamer, his survivor’s wit was sharpened to a keen edge. It was as if his fantasies had been pruned so that he understood human nature under pressure. Pujol met and married a beautiful nurse, Araceli, who aided Pujol in helping the allies, she also being a dreamer.
In September 1939, WWII began when Germany invaded Poland. Pujol hated Hitler’s viciousness and considered him inhuman. Everything he believed in lay with the Allies. He determined that he would help them against Hitler. By 1940 Hitler seemed unstoppable and he desperately wanted to be part of the fight. The lure of espionage spoke to Pujol because it would allow his imagination to run riot and fulfill his father’s ideals. He needed a passport to get out of Spain, into Portugal and then to England.
In January 1941, he walked into the British embassy in Madrid and offered his services as a spy, although he knew nothing about espionage. Madrid was like an arm of Berlin, it was so filled with Nazi slogans, Nazi agents and pro-Nazis. He went to the British and offered his help and was turned down as a matter of political policy , not because of the merits of his offer. So Pujol decided the only way he could help the Allies was to become a double agent, starting with spying for the German spy service “Abwehr.” He thought that if he helped the British by being a spy for the Germans, then the British would accept him as their spy (a double agent).
The German embassy in Madrid was a hive of Nazi intelligence with over five hundred people operating out of its sections of espionage, counter-espionage and sabotage. Abwehr directed another fifteen hundred operators out in the field all over Spain. It had its own wireless station and a new radio tower. Pujol approached Abwehr and offered his services in espionage.
Fredrico met him as a German agent runner who recruited and trained spies. When Fredrico asked Pujol what he thought he could do for the Nazis, Pujol lit up, slid into the actor he was and loudly proclaimed his hatred of the Allies and his love for Hitler. Frederico asked him how he proposed to help them and Pujol pronounced loud and clear of all the ways he proposed to do this, which was the beginning of thousands of lies that Pujol told thereafter in his role. He simply became another person, the epitome of his fantasies, and as fast as he was asked how, why, when or where by the Nazis, he could answer so glibly that he convinced Fredrico. With little training, Pujol moved to Lisbon, sending to the Madrid Abwehr office messages as though he were actually in London. He read the British newspapers, listened to the radio, and used every means of little information he could glean to then turn it into what appeared to be vital information and send it to the Nazis Madrid office. During these years, he totally gained the confidence of that office and the Madrid office was sending his information on to Berlin and Hitler’s desk. There was so much authenticity in his reports, that he was believed.
During this time he also went four more times to the British embassy, offering his services and was turned down. Certainly they didn’t trust him. In 1941 the British had no espionage service. They didn’t even know where to start except for one man who had a little experience in it from WWI. They began to recruit authors of spy stories, actors, people from all walks of life, attempting to put together some type of spy rings. In October 1941, the British code breakers picked up a message out of the air directed to the Germans from a man named Arabel reporting an English convoy in a bay in northern Wales. When the British immediately checked it out, there was no such convoy and for the next few days they continued to pick up messages from Arabel where he was following the convoy down the channel and yet the British knew he was lying. Then they made an all out attempt to determine who this Arabel was. One day they received a message from their British embassy in Madrid advising them of a Spaniard who kept coming there offering his services as a spy.
The British sent a man to meet with Pujol and Pujol told him all about himself and how he was an active spy for the Abwehr, but his reports were all lies. He convinced the British and they flew him out of Portugal to England. In England he was paired with a man named Thomas Harris, who was an M15 agent and between Harris and Pujol they came up with the most fantastic ideas to lead the German military astray. They were so good that eventually even Hitler relied on Pujol’s reports. Like all spies, Pujol had to have a English cover name and he was named Garbo because he was as good an actor as she was an actress.
Hitler knew that the Allies would invade France but where? The Germans had already been defeated in north Africa and he needed to know where they would land. Calais was much near to England with good beaches, but Normandy also would be a good spot. There were many more divisions of German military in France than Eisenhower would have to begin the invasion and then hold the territory against the German Panzer division, which was in the area.
The balance of the book is committed to all of the actions, events, and scripts that Harris and Garbo dreamed up to fool Hitler, how often it had to be changed and the several times that military trials of those scripts failed. The fascinating story is extremely informative and educational especially for those who were aware of that invasion, never realizing that it probably would have failed if it had not been for the talents of one man, Juan Pujol.
It was a page turner for this reviewer. When I was not actually reading it, the events were still running through my mind because I was a teenager at the time of D-Day and I knew many of the returning veterans who participated in it. This is an experienced author who has written other such stories, and he makes the words come to life for the reader. I loved it.
Juan Pujol, was born in 1912 in Barcelona, Spain. As a child, although small of stature, his mother considered him to be very wild, always injured because of his uncontrolled exuberance, incorrigible and no punishment seemed effective. He was not deliberately destructive, but his vivid, imagination caused him to become whoever he imagined, such as a knight, a desperado, or a cowboy like Tom Mix. Never malicious, however, he helped everyone. Although a mediocre student, he became fascinated with history and spoke five languages, Spanish, Catalan, French, English and Portuguese. His father despised war, bloody revolutions, unfair authority and advocated respecting the individuality of humans, their sorrows and sufferings.
Barcelona was a highly combustible, dangerous place with political coups, religious frictions, riots and murders. Although Pujol’s family were financially secure, Pujol left school to work at menial labor, the long hours wearing him down and he quit. Being all velocity and no direction propelled him into a series of mad love affairs. In 1933 he filled his compulsory six months military service. In 1934 his father died, which devastated him. From then on, everything he tried failed.
In 1936 the Spanish Civil War started and Pujol experienced the terribleness of war. During the war Hitler and the Nazis backed Franco, who became dictator of Spain and Spain harbored many Spanish Nazi sympathizers. Over the next few years Pujol hid several months to keep from being forced into the military, was captured, imprisoned, and then freed by a friend. The war had eaten up his youth and ideals; left him physically wasted; his fortune was gone and his country in ruins. Now instead of being a dreamer, his survivor’s wit was sharpened to a keen edge. It was as if his fantasies had been pruned so that he understood human nature under pressure. Pujol met and married a beautiful nurse, Araceli, who aided Pujol in helping the allies, she also being a dreamer.
In September 1939, WWII began when Germany invaded Poland. Pujol hated Hitler’s viciousness and considered him inhuman. Everything he believed in lay with the Allies. He determined that he would help them against Hitler. By 1940 Hitler seemed unstoppable and he desperately wanted to be part of the fight. The lure of espionage spoke to Pujol because it would allow his imagination to run riot and fulfill his father’s ideals. He needed a passport to get out of Spain, into Portugal and then to England.
In January 1941, he walked into the British embassy in Madrid and offered his services as a spy, although he knew nothing about espionage. Madrid was like an arm of Berlin, it was so filled with Nazi slogans, Nazi agents and pro-Nazis. He went to the British and offered his help and was turned down as a matter of political policy , not because of the merits of his offer. So Pujol decided the only way he could help the Allies was to become a double agent, starting with spying for the German spy service “Abwehr.” He thought that if he helped the British by being a spy for the Germans, then the British would accept him as their spy (a double agent).
The German embassy in Madrid was a hive of Nazi intelligence with over five hundred people operating out of its sections of espionage, counter-espionage and sabotage. Abwehr directed another fifteen hundred operators out in the field all over Spain. It had its own wireless station and a new radio tower. Pujol approached Abwehr and offered his services in espionage.
Fredrico met him as a German agent runner who recruited and trained spies. When Fredrico asked Pujol what he thought he could do for the Nazis, Pujol lit up, slid into the actor he was and loudly proclaimed his hatred of the Allies and his love for Hitler. Frederico asked him how he proposed to help them and Pujol pronounced loud and clear of all the ways he proposed to do this, which was the beginning of thousands of lies that Pujol told thereafter in his role. He simply became another person, the epitome of his fantasies, and as fast as he was asked how, why, when or where by the Nazis, he could answer so glibly that he convinced Fredrico. With little training, Pujol moved to Lisbon, sending to the Madrid Abwehr office messages as though he were actually in London. He read the British newspapers, listened to the radio, and used every means of little information he could glean to then turn it into what appeared to be vital information and send it to the Nazis Madrid office. During these years, he totally gained the confidence of that office and the Madrid office was sending his information on to Berlin and Hitler’s desk. There was so much authenticity in his reports, that he was believed.
During this time he also went four more times to the British embassy, offering his services and was turned down. Certainly they didn’t trust him. In 1941 the British had no espionage service. They didn’t even know where to start except for one man who had a little experience in it from WWI. They began to recruit authors of spy stories, actors, people from all walks of life, attempting to put together some type of spy rings. In October 1941, the British code breakers picked up a message out of the air directed to the Germans from a man named Arabel reporting an English convoy in a bay in northern Wales. When the British immediately checked it out, there was no such convoy and for the next few days they continued to pick up messages from Arabel where he was following the convoy down the channel and yet the British knew he was lying. Then they made an all out attempt to determine who this Arabel was. One day they received a message from their British embassy in Madrid advising them of a Spaniard who kept coming there offering his services as a spy.
The British sent a man to meet with Pujol and Pujol told him all about himself and how he was an active spy for the Abwehr, but his reports were all lies. He convinced the British and they flew him out of Portugal to England. In England he was paired with a man named Thomas Harris, who was an M15 agent and between Harris and Pujol they came up with the most fantastic ideas to lead the German military astray. They were so good that eventually even Hitler relied on Pujol’s reports. Like all spies, Pujol had to have a English cover name and he was named Garbo because he was as good an actor as she was an actress.
Hitler knew that the Allies would invade France but where? The Germans had already been defeated in north Africa and he needed to know where they would land. Calais was much near to England with good beaches, but Normandy also would be a good spot. There were many more divisions of German military in France than Eisenhower would have to begin the invasion and then hold the territory against the German Panzer division, which was in the area.
The balance of the book is committed to all of the actions, events, and scripts that Harris and Garbo dreamed up to fool Hitler, how often it had to be changed and the several times that military trials of those scripts failed. The fascinating story is extremely informative and educational especially for those who were aware of that invasion, never realizing that it probably would have failed if it had not been for the talents of one man, Juan Pujol.
It was a page turner for this reviewer. When I was not actually reading it, the events were still running through my mind because I was a teenager at the time of D-Day and I knew many of the returning veterans who participated in it. This is an experienced author who has written other such stories, and he makes the words come to life for the reader. I loved it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 31, 2019
This is very atypical of books that I usually read, not in being a biography, but one about a spy. I'm not a big espionage reader, but this was truly an amazing story of one of the most fantastically successful double agents of WWII, code name of Garbo.
Juan Pujol Garcia was born in Spain and due to what happened there during the Spanish civil war, he became an ardent enemy of fascism. He was a troublesome child for his family, a dreamer who was often in trouble. Hand in hand with hatred of fascism, he had a deep and abiding love of film, and it was this combination that allowed him to create such elabourate fabrications during WWII that he is the only person to have become a Member of the Order of the British Empire, and also been awarded the Iron Cross, having so thoroughly duped Adolph Hitler and the Nazi spy organizations.
He was one of the true heroes of D-Day, creating such a completely believable misinformation campaign fed slowly to the Nazis that his coup is regarded as the greatest double-cross operation of the war and changed the course of the battle at Normandy.
After the war, he feared reprisals and concocted his own death, but he resurfaced in the 1980's after attending the D-Day remembrances at Omaha Beach, where news stories reached his first wife and their children, who had gone back to Spain (his first wife had remarried after his "death," as had he). The first wife's family eventually forgave him and accepted him back into their lives, not long before he died of a stroke in 1988 in Venezuela, marked by an appropriately blank stone.
Really fascinating story of how this person created and recreated himself, saving so many lives in the process.
Juan Pujol Garcia was born in Spain and due to what happened there during the Spanish civil war, he became an ardent enemy of fascism. He was a troublesome child for his family, a dreamer who was often in trouble. Hand in hand with hatred of fascism, he had a deep and abiding love of film, and it was this combination that allowed him to create such elabourate fabrications during WWII that he is the only person to have become a Member of the Order of the British Empire, and also been awarded the Iron Cross, having so thoroughly duped Adolph Hitler and the Nazi spy organizations.
He was one of the true heroes of D-Day, creating such a completely believable misinformation campaign fed slowly to the Nazis that his coup is regarded as the greatest double-cross operation of the war and changed the course of the battle at Normandy.
After the war, he feared reprisals and concocted his own death, but he resurfaced in the 1980's after attending the D-Day remembrances at Omaha Beach, where news stories reached his first wife and their children, who had gone back to Spain (his first wife had remarried after his "death," as had he). The first wife's family eventually forgave him and accepted him back into their lives, not long before he died of a stroke in 1988 in Venezuela, marked by an appropriately blank stone.
Really fascinating story of how this person created and recreated himself, saving so many lives in the process.
October 14, 2024
Very cool book about spycraft in WWII, specifically the deception operation surrounding Operation Overload/D-Day. Never heard of Agent Garbo before but obviously had heard of the extensive deception operation of the fake Army led by Patton in southern England that helped deceive Germany of the Allied main effort in their invasion of NW Europe in 1944. Great book that is worth reading. Key excerpts below.
- When 3500 mostly Canadian troops were killed, wounded or captured in the disastrous invasion at Dieppe, France, on August 19th 1942 - what the Germans mocked as the “ten-hour second front” - the British point was made. The Allies turned their eyes to North Africa. P91. PJK: never heard of this event previously. Interesting that it was essentially a test run to see if it would work. Obviously it didn’t.
- (late 1942) If it became known that there would be no D-Day in the next 12 months, Hitler would be free to pull troops in Panzer divisions out of Western Europe and bring them to bear on the eastern front. P123. PJK: Interesting that the Allied worked hard to keep German eyes looking in multiple directions (east, west, and south).
- Hitler was so unimpressed by rumors of an invasion he removed 27 of the 36 divisions guarding Western Europe and sent them to the front lines in Russia, Sicily, and the Balkans between April and December 1943, the exact opposite of what the Allies wanted the Germans to do. Ironically, had the Allies actually invaded France on September 9th, 1943, they would have found the beaches stripped of almost all their German troops. P150. PJK: Guess the Allies failed in their efforts as mentioned above. :(
- When 3500 mostly Canadian troops were killed, wounded or captured in the disastrous invasion at Dieppe, France, on August 19th 1942 - what the Germans mocked as the “ten-hour second front” - the British point was made. The Allies turned their eyes to North Africa. P91. PJK: never heard of this event previously. Interesting that it was essentially a test run to see if it would work. Obviously it didn’t.
- (late 1942) If it became known that there would be no D-Day in the next 12 months, Hitler would be free to pull troops in Panzer divisions out of Western Europe and bring them to bear on the eastern front. P123. PJK: Interesting that the Allied worked hard to keep German eyes looking in multiple directions (east, west, and south).
- Hitler was so unimpressed by rumors of an invasion he removed 27 of the 36 divisions guarding Western Europe and sent them to the front lines in Russia, Sicily, and the Balkans between April and December 1943, the exact opposite of what the Allies wanted the Germans to do. Ironically, had the Allies actually invaded France on September 9th, 1943, they would have found the beaches stripped of almost all their German troops. P150. PJK: Guess the Allies failed in their efforts as mentioned above. :(
December 2, 2020
Another one of the amazingly written Spy story. I recently have read quite a few books about the spy of the world war like Kim Philly, Oleg Gordievsky, Eddie Chapman, all of them had shown how these spies were different in their own way making them a major part of spy history. Similarly, Garbo was just an incredible agent who achieved the title of "A man who fooled Hitler".
I really liked this one because even though there isn't much action or something thrilling happening the work which garbo did make this novel an amazing read. I mean I was mesmerized by how much he had fooled the German about all the work that he was doing for them, supposedly. Even though at few points the identity of garbo being a double agent was at risk but still everything turned out to be awesome.
One another thing that makes this whole Garbo story awesome is that whenever we read history, generally, people like Garbo aren't mentioned in them but still this Novel shows that how important Garbo was for the success of the D-Day.
The best skill that I liked about garbo was his avid imagination, I mean how he made up fake agents who were working for him and then on behalf of that agent he uses to send back information to the Abwehr, was just amazing.
Some of the quotes that I really liked about this novel was:
-> In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies
-> The best spies dwell in silence
I really liked this one because even though there isn't much action or something thrilling happening the work which garbo did make this novel an amazing read. I mean I was mesmerized by how much he had fooled the German about all the work that he was doing for them, supposedly. Even though at few points the identity of garbo being a double agent was at risk but still everything turned out to be awesome.
One another thing that makes this whole Garbo story awesome is that whenever we read history, generally, people like Garbo aren't mentioned in them but still this Novel shows that how important Garbo was for the success of the D-Day.
The best skill that I liked about garbo was his avid imagination, I mean how he made up fake agents who were working for him and then on behalf of that agent he uses to send back information to the Abwehr, was just amazing.
Some of the quotes that I really liked about this novel was:
-> In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies
-> The best spies dwell in silence
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 29, 2019
I had known about agent Garbo for ages. One cannot read an account of the D-Day invasion without encountering some reference to agent Garbo and FUSAG, the phantom army that kept Rommel's tanks in place by threatening Pas de Calais. So convincing was the ruse that even after the war, there were Germans convinced of its existence.
This book is incredibly well written and highly detailed at the same time. Without getting bogged down in historical distractions, Talty does a fantastic job telling a gripping tale and filling in as many details as can be found on this competent agent. Even better, he spins out the aftermath and one finds that Garbo remained Garbo all his life to the point where we are never sure the definitive historical biography can even be written.
A perfect book for fans of WWII and espionage.
This book is incredibly well written and highly detailed at the same time. Without getting bogged down in historical distractions, Talty does a fantastic job telling a gripping tale and filling in as many details as can be found on this competent agent. Even better, he spins out the aftermath and one finds that Garbo remained Garbo all his life to the point where we are never sure the definitive historical biography can even be written.
A perfect book for fans of WWII and espionage.
January 30, 2025
If not for one dispatch sent to German spies just in time, D-Day may have been a rout of Allied troops, and the Nazis might have won the war. That’s how important “Agent Garbo” – Juan Pujol – was to WWII.
This is a really fascinating book, about a fascinating, curious man, a Spaniard who, for reasons not entirely clear, took it upon himself to destroy the Nazis.
Pujol offers his untested spying services to the British, but they wouldn’t take him. So he offered himself to the Germans, with the thought of becoming a double agent. And he so became.
Pujol didn’t have anything more than his wiles and amazing imagination, along with an eye for detail. He started by becoming a valuable German asset, then he turned back to the British, becoming their most important spy in the war.
The stories are amazing, and it’s no exaggeration to say that the success of D-Day did depend, at least partly, on Pujol’s success in fashioning dozens of fake junior spies to feed the Germans false information.
This is a really fascinating book, about a fascinating, curious man, a Spaniard who, for reasons not entirely clear, took it upon himself to destroy the Nazis.
Pujol offers his untested spying services to the British, but they wouldn’t take him. So he offered himself to the Germans, with the thought of becoming a double agent. And he so became.
Pujol didn’t have anything more than his wiles and amazing imagination, along with an eye for detail. He started by becoming a valuable German asset, then he turned back to the British, becoming their most important spy in the war.
The stories are amazing, and it’s no exaggeration to say that the success of D-Day did depend, at least partly, on Pujol’s success in fashioning dozens of fake junior spies to feed the Germans false information.
October 13, 2017
Reads like a fast-paced novel, but is totally, 100% historical! Love Stephan Talty!
I totally am not a fan of World War 1 or 2 era history, preferring the medieval age, renaissance, reformation, the sailing age or the 1700s. This book made learning about this period in history fun and enjoyable.
For those that think that if there was ever an catastrophe, that actors would have no place in this world, (like I did), read this book and become acquainted with one of the most brilliant minds that ever walked a stage: Juan Pujol, a.k.a Agent Garbo.
"All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts," -Shakespeare - As You Like It
I totally am not a fan of World War 1 or 2 era history, preferring the medieval age, renaissance, reformation, the sailing age or the 1700s. This book made learning about this period in history fun and enjoyable.
For those that think that if there was ever an catastrophe, that actors would have no place in this world, (like I did), read this book and become acquainted with one of the most brilliant minds that ever walked a stage: Juan Pujol, a.k.a Agent Garbo.
"All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts," -Shakespeare - As You Like It
May 22, 2021
The topic of "Agent Garbo," a double agent working for the British against the Nazis in World War II, is fascinating. His efforts to become a spy for the British are amazing. Based on Talty's research, his contributions to the war effort were huge. But the book? For me, meh. Just too much hyperbole and trying to jazz up the narrative. Even the subtitle (which, admittedly, may have been forced on the author by the publisher) is over the top. Yes he was brilliant and yes, he clearly was a key reason that the Germans were deceived through the war. But he wasn't alone. Other spies are mentioned, but shortchanged. Garbo also had a team that made his ideas work. But most of all, for me, the author walked a very fine line between historical fiction and history. A bit too close for me.
August 22, 2021
The best novel I've read this year. A must for WWII buffs.
Jean Pujol was a Spanish nobody whose hatred of Hitler and the Nazis led him to take extraordinary measures to stop them at all costs. If it meant inventing a whole slew of spies and somehow make them believable to the Axis powers-that-be, Pujol did it. Interspersed with other true stories, this account not only gains credibility (to an extraordinary story) but makes for an exciting story overall. Unbelievable yet true that the Nazis should be so gullible and that Pujol (Agent Garbo) would have the audacity and imagination to do what he did.
Jean Pujol was a Spanish nobody whose hatred of Hitler and the Nazis led him to take extraordinary measures to stop them at all costs. If it meant inventing a whole slew of spies and somehow make them believable to the Axis powers-that-be, Pujol did it. Interspersed with other true stories, this account not only gains credibility (to an extraordinary story) but makes for an exciting story overall. Unbelievable yet true that the Nazis should be so gullible and that Pujol (Agent Garbo) would have the audacity and imagination to do what he did.
May 22, 2019
A well-written and engaging portrait of a fascinating and enigmatic man.
It isn't for the serious WW2 espionage buffs but you could do no better as an introduction to the field.
I got a little lost with the surrounding cast at times but it aims for a character portrait of Garbo and does an admirable job given the obvious secrecy surrounding him for many years.
Some great little stories and factoids thrown in there about other ingenious tricks we (the Brits) played, and told with panache.
I recommend Operation Mincemeat by Ben McIntyre as a follow-up. Thoroughly enjoyable!
It isn't for the serious WW2 espionage buffs but you could do no better as an introduction to the field.
I got a little lost with the surrounding cast at times but it aims for a character portrait of Garbo and does an admirable job given the obvious secrecy surrounding him for many years.
Some great little stories and factoids thrown in there about other ingenious tricks we (the Brits) played, and told with panache.
I recommend Operation Mincemeat by Ben McIntyre as a follow-up. Thoroughly enjoyable!
June 13, 2019
"Juan Pujol could have become one of the world's great swindlers had he chosen to, a Ponzi schemer or a gigolo, but instead he yearned to do good."
This is probably the most fascinating, hard to believe story I've ever read. The five stars are a tribute to the subject as much as it is to the actual book. I'll admit I got confused at times and there were some editing errors, but I can't give it anything less. What boggles my mind as much as the narrative is that I never heard anything about this guy before. Which is kind of a travesty in my mind.
This is probably the most fascinating, hard to believe story I've ever read. The five stars are a tribute to the subject as much as it is to the actual book. I'll admit I got confused at times and there were some editing errors, but I can't give it anything less. What boggles my mind as much as the narrative is that I never heard anything about this guy before. Which is kind of a travesty in my mind.
September 30, 2019
reads a bit like a dramatization of historical events, somewhat like how i remember talty's illustrious dead. garbo's story is certainly an interesting one, and talty tells it well, and this book is full of other spy folks of an interesting nature and i wonder if the writer had a difficult time finding the goods on garbo. its a brief book and, until the d-day operation, the most compelling aspects regard the war around garbo and not particularly the spy bits which read as unsophisticated and amateurish.
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