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OPERATION GARBO
Offers the never-before-revealed story of the agent known only as GARBO and follows his real-life espionage from the gentlemen's clubs of London to the beach-head trenches of Normandy
205 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1985
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
February 18, 2016
I wish I could give this book 5 stars because I truly think that Garbo is one of the most fascinating people in our world's history. He has such an incredible, unique story -- one that everyone should read! However, some parts of this book were slow to read. I definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in WWII history or spy history.
May 12, 2022
The chapters that Pujol Garcia wrote himself are really very good!
February 14, 2023
I missed out some of the chapters but read all the chapters which were written by GARBO. Those that I read were very good.
September 15, 2013
The story of Juan Pujols, a Catalonian Spaniard who turned himself into the most unlikely but effective double agent of WW II, is fascinating. Written in 1985 this book is partly first person account an partially a historical narrative by Nigel West. This is an amazing story that is overly detailed and at times boring when told by Nigel West and subject to personal bias when told by Pujols. Despite that, it's still an interesting historical tale that gives insite into deception and the D-Day invasion. It's worth reading and then watching "Garbo: the Spy", a documentary available on Netflix.
June 27, 2020
Juan Pujol, Agent Garbo, was probably the most interesting and inventive of the British double agents. He was also the most important in Operation Fortitude, the deception operation that allowed the Allied landing in Normany with less of a German resistance than would otherwise have been. In other words, his work was directy instrumental in the operation that turned the tide of the war.
Pujol's story is fascinating, and he tells it simply and effectively. If it was his story alone, I would have given the book a higher rating.
The book was spoiled by the chapters written by Nigel West. West is the person who tracked Joan Pujol down after more than thirty years, and thus we have him to thank for finding Pujol which led to his writing about his part in serving the British during the war.
Pujol tells his own story. But he cannot tell the whole story because he was not privy to all the information that his handler and co-conspirator, Tomas Harris of MI6 had. So West deals with the story of the greater picture. But he does it by filling the book with minutiae that doesn't explain the story. He will mention a department within the government or military, or secret service and tell us who was in charge, second in charge, who the secretary was, etc. You try to focus in on all the names only to discover that none of them ever appears again. West fills (stuffs) the book with countless excerpts, sometimes the whole message that Pujol and his fictitous agents sent as the misinformation in the leadup and then through the early days of the Normandy landings. But not once does West explain what it was about any one of those messages that was misleading and how did it serve to misguide the Germans. Generally speaking they led the Germans to believe that the British were gathering to the north when they were actually gathering to the south. Or vice versa. All those messages about the troop movements or non-movements without being told their specific intent, made for tedious reading.
At the end, West stuffs the book further with a short discussion of the famous Cambridge spies. You have to wonder why. None of them were directly involved with Garbo, although Kim Philby probably knew about the operation. Why those pages devoted to Philby, Burgess, Maclean, Blunt, etc.? Because the man who directed Garbo on what to write and how to write it -- the brains behind the misinformation, Garbo's partner, was Tomas Harris, and since Harris knew Philby, Burgess, Maclean, and Blunt, and moved in their social circle (although he didn't attend Cambridge and West never suggests he was ever a communist), and he died in a car crash, on a straight road, well then, maybe Harris was a traitor too. Harris was not only Garbo's partner; he was a good friend who continued the friendship after the war, and helped him to resettle a few years later. Then he died. Unsubstantiated accusations had no place in this book.
Joan Pujol and Tomas Harris built on the few fictitious agents Pujol had created before even coming to Britain and together created a fictitious network of over two dozen spies, all reporting to Garbo who passed on all their infromation to the Germans -- information dictated to Garbo by Harris. What imagination, what coordination, what chutzpah! It's an incredible story, somewhat spoiled by West, but still worth reading.
Pujol's story is fascinating, and he tells it simply and effectively. If it was his story alone, I would have given the book a higher rating.
The book was spoiled by the chapters written by Nigel West. West is the person who tracked Joan Pujol down after more than thirty years, and thus we have him to thank for finding Pujol which led to his writing about his part in serving the British during the war.
Pujol tells his own story. But he cannot tell the whole story because he was not privy to all the information that his handler and co-conspirator, Tomas Harris of MI6 had. So West deals with the story of the greater picture. But he does it by filling the book with minutiae that doesn't explain the story. He will mention a department within the government or military, or secret service and tell us who was in charge, second in charge, who the secretary was, etc. You try to focus in on all the names only to discover that none of them ever appears again. West fills (stuffs) the book with countless excerpts, sometimes the whole message that Pujol and his fictitous agents sent as the misinformation in the leadup and then through the early days of the Normandy landings. But not once does West explain what it was about any one of those messages that was misleading and how did it serve to misguide the Germans. Generally speaking they led the Germans to believe that the British were gathering to the north when they were actually gathering to the south. Or vice versa. All those messages about the troop movements or non-movements without being told their specific intent, made for tedious reading.
At the end, West stuffs the book further with a short discussion of the famous Cambridge spies. You have to wonder why. None of them were directly involved with Garbo, although Kim Philby probably knew about the operation. Why those pages devoted to Philby, Burgess, Maclean, Blunt, etc.? Because the man who directed Garbo on what to write and how to write it -- the brains behind the misinformation, Garbo's partner, was Tomas Harris, and since Harris knew Philby, Burgess, Maclean, and Blunt, and moved in their social circle (although he didn't attend Cambridge and West never suggests he was ever a communist), and he died in a car crash, on a straight road, well then, maybe Harris was a traitor too. Harris was not only Garbo's partner; he was a good friend who continued the friendship after the war, and helped him to resettle a few years later. Then he died. Unsubstantiated accusations had no place in this book.
Joan Pujol and Tomas Harris built on the few fictitious agents Pujol had created before even coming to Britain and together created a fictitious network of over two dozen spies, all reporting to Garbo who passed on all their infromation to the Germans -- information dictated to Garbo by Harris. What imagination, what coordination, what chutzpah! It's an incredible story, somewhat spoiled by West, but still worth reading.
June 2, 2021
The kind of story that had to be true because otherwise it would be too fantastical to make up. The audacity of Juan Pujol Garcia's escapades as a counter-intelligence agent is mindblowing and he should be immortalised for the difference he made for the Allies during WWII. You will read this and wonder why Hollywood hasn't made a summer blockbuster out of this material years ago.... (Just please don't let Michael Bay do it.)
May 30, 2023
I found this a most interesting account of a brave, resourceful Spaniard working to helping Britain defeat Nazi Germany.
Juan Pujol Garcia remained an agent of the British, German Intelligence never sussed what was going on. This chap’s efforts helped in the success of the D-Day landings.
I was more taken with the chapters written by Juan Pujol Garcia than those by Nigel West, but still it is a well-worth the read.
Juan Pujol Garcia remained an agent of the British, German Intelligence never sussed what was going on. This chap’s efforts helped in the success of the D-Day landings.
I was more taken with the chapters written by Juan Pujol Garcia than those by Nigel West, but still it is a well-worth the read.
December 17, 2025
A monster of a read. I loved the sources of information, and Garcia’s (Agent Garbo) own telling of Operation Fortitude, but it’s such a difficult book to read.
The book has 11 chapters. The first page of the introduction is page one, and the first page of chapter seven is page 85. For some reason, West then decides the next 3 chapters - “Garbo’s Network”, “Operation Fortitude” and “Escape” to be over 100 pages long. Most of these chapters are heavily bogged down by full transcripts of communications between Garbo and some of his 24 sub-agents and the Abwehr, details of a lot of American and British Corps movements and honestly, it’s really boring. Entire pages in “Escape” were dedicated to transcipts of messages. I understand it’s a privilege to have access to this kind of material, but I do not need to see 2 and a half pages of the Abwehr saying thank you to Garcia. Garcia’s chapters are the chapters that flow best, convey emotion and genuinely tell a story. West went full Anthony Beaver in his detail.
Maybe the print in my book was small, but it took forever to get through. You read 10 pages and it feels like a lifetime. This is a proper historical account of an extrordinary man and event, but it is so attritional. I don’t like the longwinded epilogue either, West eventually insinuates/speculates that Tomas Harris may have been killed by the Russians, as he had ties to the Cambridge Five - a topic that has little to do with Garbo, apart from who Harris was. Garcia should’ve had the last words - it’s his book and his story.
Despite my complaints, I do recommend it. I have no problem with the content, just maybe the way it was conveyed.
The book has 11 chapters. The first page of the introduction is page one, and the first page of chapter seven is page 85. For some reason, West then decides the next 3 chapters - “Garbo’s Network”, “Operation Fortitude” and “Escape” to be over 100 pages long. Most of these chapters are heavily bogged down by full transcripts of communications between Garbo and some of his 24 sub-agents and the Abwehr, details of a lot of American and British Corps movements and honestly, it’s really boring. Entire pages in “Escape” were dedicated to transcipts of messages. I understand it’s a privilege to have access to this kind of material, but I do not need to see 2 and a half pages of the Abwehr saying thank you to Garcia. Garcia’s chapters are the chapters that flow best, convey emotion and genuinely tell a story. West went full Anthony Beaver in his detail.
Maybe the print in my book was small, but it took forever to get through. You read 10 pages and it feels like a lifetime. This is a proper historical account of an extrordinary man and event, but it is so attritional. I don’t like the longwinded epilogue either, West eventually insinuates/speculates that Tomas Harris may have been killed by the Russians, as he had ties to the Cambridge Five - a topic that has little to do with Garbo, apart from who Harris was. Garcia should’ve had the last words - it’s his book and his story.
Despite my complaints, I do recommend it. I have no problem with the content, just maybe the way it was conveyed.
April 20, 2019
The story of a double agent extraordinaire. One might also describe the story as a double irony. First, there is the irony of a man of deep liberal convictions and strong apolitical roots who volunteered for the allied cause out of principle and then went on to become a master of lies and deception. Second, there is the irony of how the most extensive premeditated effort at deception in World War II became one of the greatest forces for good in the defeat of Nazi forces. I was also amazed at how a man who for several years was at the very epicenter of world changing decisions and events could then find a quiet spot in a South American country and for the next 30 plus years be content with life as an ordinary teacher and bookstore owner.
March 3, 2024
Ciekawa historia. Garcia jest sprawniejszym autorem niż Nigel West - części napisane przez byłego podwójnego agenta są ciekawsze, napisane lepszym językiem niż bym się tego spodziewała. Z kolei rozdziały napisane przez Westa - dziennikarza, który odnalazł po latach agenta Garbo - są przepełnione nieistotnymi detalami, nudne i przypominają raczej eseje naukowe niż fragmenty książki o szpiegu.
Taka nierówność w książce raczej dziwi niż przeszkadza, choć żałuję, że Garbo nie mógł napisał całości, a West jedynie posłowie, w którym wyjaśniłby drobne niejasności czy zarysowałby nieco kwestie historyczne. Ostatecznie czyni to zatem "Kryptonim Garbo" książką poprawną, ale nic ponadto.
Taka nierówność w książce raczej dziwi niż przeszkadza, choć żałuję, że Garbo nie mógł napisał całości, a West jedynie posłowie, w którym wyjaśniłby drobne niejasności czy zarysowałby nieco kwestie historyczne. Ostatecznie czyni to zatem "Kryptonim Garbo" książką poprawną, ale nic ponadto.
April 6, 2026
Like many others are saying here: could’ve given it a better rating had it not been for the chapters written by Nigel West. Couldn’t bother reading chapters 9 and 10, and the epilogue. The parts written by Juan Puyol Garcia are very in interesting and captivating. However, the parts written by West are spent explaining too many details that add very little to the story. I found it outright confusing. Very difficult to tell what mattered and what didn’t. A real shame because it is such a fascinating tale.
April 7, 2024
This story has been told many times but this version benefits from Juan Pujol Garcia's own account of his early life and post-War activities. It also has useful appendices detailing Garbo's 'sub-agents'. (There are some inconsistencies between the information here and the table of the network at the front of the book but presumably it is the compiler of that table who is in error.) The whole XX story is endlessly fascinating.
November 10, 2024
Well written historical account of a major Allied deception during WWII. I particularly appreciated that a lot of the book is a historian giving context to the actions of the famous double agent telling his own narrative, as I'm always quite skeptical about the objectiveness autobiographical accounts of events. I wonder if in the time since the books publication more information from German and Russian archives might not have become available, making a revised and expanded edition feasible.
February 25, 2019
Overall interesting book, giving a good historical perspective. Narrative paints a good picture of GARBO, his thinking and reasoning. Only thing that would have been beneficial is an author adding some additional information to give the reader a bigger picture of what happened overall.
August 10, 2021
Entertaining enough but a book was a stretch, this feels more suitable for a longread essay.
October 12, 2023
Absolute madness from beginning to end. So much happens so quickly.
March 12, 2024
Me encantaría poder leer los manuscritos originales escritos por Juan Pujol García en catalán y castellano.
July 5, 2024
A little bit Lengthy, but definitely a good story that could have more potential than what actually had on this book
October 6, 2025
Very dense, hence only the 4 rating. Still a fasinateing look at one of the most valuable double agents in WWII.
June 4, 2026
This was soooo cool, history buff in me loved it !!!
March 12, 2021
Agent Garbo was an ingenuous double spy who deceived the Germans again and again during WWII. Working with British colleagues to create a large fictional army the Nazis were fooled as to the position of troops as the Allies prepared for invasion of Germany. He even misled the Germans as to where the invasion would begin.
A highly creative and imaginative individual, Juan Pujol became Garbo, a double agent who created a vast network of mythical spies to dupe the enemy. His reports to the Germans contained just enough truth to be believed so often that they relied on him to verify their spy messages even into Dday. It was originally difficult to convince the British that he was giving the Nazis misinformation and that he really wanted to be a double agent. Working with individuals such as Kim Philby to agents ande Tricycle, Pujul time and again led the Nazis astray. As the war rolls on he even tricks his wife for the cause.
Using his imagination and incredible talent, he was even able to convince Hitler that the landing at Normandy (D-Day) was not the main invasion and tanks and troops elsewhere should be held elsewhere. Once the invasion began, Hitler was so convinced that it was a decoy for the real invasion at Calais. another two months. Pujul was the only person in WWII awarded the Iron Cross by Germany and the OBE (Order of the British Empire).
This incredible story is well researched and documented. Reading like a novel, it’s a real life story that is almost too incredible to be believed. Highly recommended!
A highly creative and imaginative individual, Juan Pujol became Garbo, a double agent who created a vast network of mythical spies to dupe the enemy. His reports to the Germans contained just enough truth to be believed so often that they relied on him to verify their spy messages even into Dday. It was originally difficult to convince the British that he was giving the Nazis misinformation and that he really wanted to be a double agent. Working with individuals such as Kim Philby to agents ande Tricycle, Pujul time and again led the Nazis astray. As the war rolls on he even tricks his wife for the cause.
Using his imagination and incredible talent, he was even able to convince Hitler that the landing at Normandy (D-Day) was not the main invasion and tanks and troops elsewhere should be held elsewhere. Once the invasion began, Hitler was so convinced that it was a decoy for the real invasion at Calais. another two months. Pujul was the only person in WWII awarded the Iron Cross by Germany and the OBE (Order of the British Empire).
This incredible story is well researched and documented. Reading like a novel, it’s a real life story that is almost too incredible to be believed. Highly recommended!
December 19, 2019
I am pretty disappointed by the book. It's filled with monotonous descriptions of the events even from Garbo's own narratives. It could have elaborated on the details and more psychological depictions from the spy master himself. Also if you are not an expert in all the WWII related scenes, celebrities, and even locations of different troops, you would find it hard to read without having to constantly googling about them.
January 23, 2016
I read this book because of a Mental Floss article that basically summarized the book. I thought the first chapter written by Pujol moved slowly, but it's his life, and he said a lot less than I probably would about my life. However, strangely, I found that the chapters written by Nigel West were too dense. Yes, he provided us with background information, which is unavoidable, but his writing is rather dry.
What bothered me most was the weird tenses and phrasing. Perhaps it's just an antiquated technique, but it was hard for me to follow simple sentences that should've been unquestionable. It also didn't help when West switched back and forth between nicknames for the made-up spies and their official titles, like J-1. Stick with just one, and don't switch in the same chapter. Also, he wrote as if the characters that Pujol conjured up were real people, which is really confusing even though I knew all along that all of Garbo's subagents were fictional. It got as bad as Game of Thrones---and pretty much all characters here have two "names."
All in all, great book. And I should check this myself, but I wish there was a passage about Garbo's trip to Normandy. This was mentioned in the Mental Floss article, and I assumed it would be an epilogue in the book. Nope. Now, the book could've come out before Pujol's trip to the cemetery in France, but that seems like a poor publishing choice. I was very disappointed. Plus I would've rather ended with Pujol than with a recap and "Where They Are Now" summary from West. Would've been nice sandwiched in; wasn't nice as the last words.
What bothered me most was the weird tenses and phrasing. Perhaps it's just an antiquated technique, but it was hard for me to follow simple sentences that should've been unquestionable. It also didn't help when West switched back and forth between nicknames for the made-up spies and their official titles, like J-1. Stick with just one, and don't switch in the same chapter. Also, he wrote as if the characters that Pujol conjured up were real people, which is really confusing even though I knew all along that all of Garbo's subagents were fictional. It got as bad as Game of Thrones---and pretty much all characters here have two "names."
All in all, great book. And I should check this myself, but I wish there was a passage about Garbo's trip to Normandy. This was mentioned in the Mental Floss article, and I assumed it would be an epilogue in the book. Nope. Now, the book could've come out before Pujol's trip to the cemetery in France, but that seems like a poor publishing choice. I was very disappointed. Plus I would've rather ended with Pujol than with a recap and "Where They Are Now" summary from West. Would've been nice sandwiched in; wasn't nice as the last words.
July 21, 2021
The most interesting parts, to me, were the first-person narratives of Juan Pujol García.
April 15, 2015
Excellent Story, Spanish translation seems a bit clumsy in spots, but every detail is here. The appendices even include every character in Garbo's Completely notional stable of spies. The fact that Garbo created these fictitious,"agents," out of whole cloth, completely on the run, as it were, makes the whole tale even more fantastic. It becomes a bit sad at the end where the story trails off into the Blunt-Burgess Soviet penetration of MI-5, but Garbo's role was never compromised by those later events. Very good read.
July 25, 2019
A fascinating story of deception on a massive scale perpetrated by MI5 on German military intelligence during World War II. This was initiated by a Spaniard, originally recruited as a spy by Germany, who, working with MI5. used his knowledge and his connections to confuse and deceive the enemy about Allied intentions before D-Day, thereby saving many lives and contributing to the success of the invasion.
The problem with the book is that it is too detailed, using a variety of code names concerning largely imaginary spies supplying false information. Frankly, I was confused.
The problem with the book is that it is too detailed, using a variety of code names concerning largely imaginary spies supplying false information. Frankly, I was confused.
August 9, 2013
This is a brilliant story and an example of what one man can do. Garbo was certainly not alone in his fight, but he started the act which became one of the biggest double agent schemes--if not the biggest--in World War II.
The writing is a little shaky, with run-on sentences and confusing event sequences, but it boasts an impressive vocabulary (I had to look up numerous words) and provides a great, and detailed, account of Garbo's World War II story.
The writing is a little shaky, with run-on sentences and confusing event sequences, but it boasts an impressive vocabulary (I had to look up numerous words) and provides a great, and detailed, account of Garbo's World War II story.
November 26, 2015
Documentary. Would have been nice if it was a novel. To much data, and the most interesting part of it is max 10 pages.
I would like to be able to compare Garbo - Arabel throught the Abwehr's eyes, which will probably never happen. Seems like they bought everything Garbo's team was feeding them.
Very interesting story, not very well written though.
I would recommend this book only for die hard ww2 fans :)
I would like to be able to compare Garbo - Arabel throught the Abwehr's eyes, which will probably never happen. Seems like they bought everything Garbo's team was feeding them.
Very interesting story, not very well written though.
I would recommend this book only for die hard ww2 fans :)
December 1, 2015
Still the best book on British double agent GARBO, written by the man himself.
September 2, 2017
Intriguing, want to read more about the deception involving the invasion of Normandy. Garbo is/was a compelling figure in world history, a master of the double cross born out of his experiences during the civil war in Spain.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews