He was GARBO to the Allies and ALARIC to the Germans – the most successful double agent of the Second World War. Indeed, his spy network across Britain was so highly regarded that he was decorated for his achievements ... by both sides. Throughout the war, GARBO kept the Germans supplied with reports from his ring of twenty-four agents. Hitler's spymasters never discovered or even suspected a double-cross, but all the agents in GARBO's network existed solely in his imagination. In one of the most daring espionage coups of all time, GARBO persuaded the enemy to hold back troops that might otherwise have defeated the Normandy landings on D-Day; without him, the Second World War could have taken a completely different course. For decades, GARBO's true identity was a closely guarded secret. After the war, he vanished. Years later, after faking his own death, Juan Pujol García was persuaded by the author to emerge from the shadowy world of espionage, and in this new edition of his classic account, now updated to include his agents' original MI5 files, GARBO reveals his unique story.

Describes the life of Juan Pujol, a poultry farmer who opposed the Nazis and concocted a series of staggering lies that lead to his becoming one of Germany's most valued spies, while actually acting as a double-agent for the Allies.

Juan Pujol, a young Spanish antifascist, became agent GARBO, a master of deception and intrigue. His story contains all the hallmarks of classic spy adventure—enciphered messages, secret inks, items concealed in cakes—culminating in one of the greatest strategic deceptions in history. Through a ring of invented subagents, GARBO and his MI5 controllers succeeded in convincing the Germans that the DDay landings were only a diversionary tactic, thus safeguarding the Allied landings and hastening the end of the war in Europe. Secret History Files is an exciting series from The National Archives that puts covert history in readers’ hands. Dossiers previously classified as "Top Secret" are now available, with an explanatory introduction and background analysis by expert historians. Publisher’s Note: This publication brings you in full the ’Summary of the Garbo Case 1941—1945’ by Tomás Harris. All document references are to the original files, which may be consulted under supervision at the National Archives, Kew. Our intention is to reproduce the material as faithfully as possible without compromising the integrity of the original. This means that the occasional inconsistency or typing error survives from Harris’s text. The symbol [...] is used where material from the original document has been retained under section 3(4) of the Public Records Act 1958.

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 I was born in 1912 in Barcelona, Spain. I grew up near the railway line, and my mother always spoke Catalan at home, but never Castilian. We were first and foremost Spaniards, and we never felt the sting of separatism. #2 My father, Juan Pujol, was a Catalan through and through. He had a difficult childhood, but he was able to set up his own little factory and become the most important dye-house in Barcelona. He was extremely honest and noble, and he instilled those qualities in me. #3 My father was a loving and caring man, who was always there for me. He not only broke his own toys, but also those of his children. He would take us for long walks along the beach, and buy us cakes and sweets when we were in the hospital. #4 My father was a liberal who believed in freedom. He never attended political gatherings or party meetings, and he abhorred oppression. He taught me to respect the individuality of human beings, their sorrows and their sufferings, be they rich or poor, good or evil, black or white.

The number one bestselling author of Agent Zigzag and Operation Mincemeat exposes the true story of the D Day Spies.

National Jewish Book Award Finalist The little-known story of screenwriter Salka Viertel, whose salons in 1930s and 40s Hollywood created a refuge for a multitude of famous figures who had escaped the horrors of World War ll. Hollywood was created by its “others”; that is, by women, Jews, and immigrants. Salka Viertel was all three and so much more. She was the screenwriter for five of Greta Garbo's movies and also her most intimate friend. At one point during the Irving Thalberg years, Viertel was the highest-paid writer on the MGM lot. Meanwhile, at her house in Santa Monica she opened her door on Sunday afternoons to scores of European émigrés who had fled from Hitler—such as Thomas Mann, Bertolt Brecht, and Arnold Schoenberg—along with every kind of Hollywood star, from Charlie Chaplin to Shelley Winters. In Viertel's living room (the only one in town with comfortable armchairs, said one Hollywood insider), countless cinematic, theatrical, and musical partnerships were born. Viertel combined a modern-before-her-time sensibility with the Old-World advantages of a classical European education and fluency in eight languages. She combined great worldliness with great warmth. She was a true bohemian with a complicated erotic life, and at the same time a universal mother figure. A vital presence in the golden age of Hollywood, Salka Viertel is long overdue for her own moment in the spotlight.

This declassified WWII report offers a detailed look at the Allied campaign to deceive the Nazis about the immanent attack on Normandy. As the conflict in Europe wore on, the Germans braced for an amphibious assault on France. The only question was where and when the Allies would strike. This required an intricate misinformation campaign to throw the Nazis off the scent. The objective of Operation Fortitude was to persuade the enemy that the long-awaited landings would take place in the Pas-de-Calais, and that any attack in Normandy would be nothing more than a diversionary feint that could be safely ignored. Hundreds of bogus agent reports were manufactured, an entire US Army Group was invented, false radio signals transmitted, and inflatable tanks, dummy bombers built of balsa wood and canvas landing craft were positioned where they could be photographed by the Luftwaffe. The elaborate ruse suggested an imminent amphibious assault from Dover, across the shortest stretch of the English Channel. Operation Fortitude was an extraordinary success. In this volume, the classified official history of the entire operation, written by Roger Hesketh as head of the team of D-Day deception specialists, has been declassified and released.

"This new edition of MYTHOLOGIES is the first complete, authoritative English version of the French classic, Roland Barthes's most emblematic work"--

The author of GCHG describes covert missions that “are worthy of spy fiction, but the entire book is utterly fascinating and informative. Brilliant!” (Books Monthly) Written by the renowned expert Nigel West, this book exposes the operations of Britain’s overseas intelligence-gathering organization, the famed Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, and traces its origins back to its inception in 1909. In this meticulously researched account, its activities and structure are described in detail, using original secret service documents. The main body of the book concerns MI6’s operations during the Second World War, and includes some remarkable successes and failures, including how MI6 financed a glamorous confidant of the German secret service; how a suspected French traitor was murdered by mistake; how Franco’s military advisors were bribed to keep Spain out of the war; how members of the Swedish secret police were blackmailed into helping the British war effort; how a sabotage operation in neutral Tangiers enabled the Allied landings in North Africa to proceed undetected; and how Britain’s generals ignored the first ULTRA decrypts because MI6 said that the information had come from “a well-placed source called BONIFACE.” In this new edition, operations undertaken by almost all of MI6’s overseas stations are recounted in extraordinary detail. They will fascinate both the professional intelligence officer and the general reader. The book includes organizational charts to illustrate MI6’s internal structure and its wartime network of overseas stations. Backed by numerous interviews with intelligence officers and their agents, this engaging inside story throws light on many wartime incidents that had previously remained unexplained. “[An] extraordinary book.” —The Daily Telegraph “Fascinating reading.” —Firetrench

Operation Fortitude tells the thrilling tale of an ingenious decption that changed the course of the Second World War. The Story is one of intrigue, drama, and good fortune, practically a Hollywood script. It is the tale of double agents, fake radio transmissions and dummy invasion craft.