Agent Garbo (41 page)

157 “it had become a hopelessly depressing document”: Quoted in Holt, p. 505.
“The plan has to be just close enough”: Quoted in Breuer, p. 13.

158 “no large scale cross-Channel operations”: Harris, p. 174.

“were proving themselves to be by far”: Hesketh, p. xvi.
“I have read in the English press”: KV 2/67, message of January 5, 1944.
“Conversation with a friend”: KV 2/67, message of January 21, 1944.

159 The Abwehr’s sources reported that artesian wells: Hesketh, p. 60.
“News from various sources”: KV 2/67, message of January 5, 1944.
“For tactical reasons one must assume”: KV 2/67, message of January 14, 1944.
“Numerous reports of the alleged postponement”: Quoted in Hesketh, p. 157.
people joked that you could walk: Perrault, p. 114.
“They came by land, by train, bus, truck”: Ambrose,
D-Day,
p. 151.

160 campfires were forbidden: Ibid., p. 152.
“The work Tommy Harris and I did”: Pujol and West, p. 226.

161 “What evidence there is”: Masterman, p. 187.
“hated the British like death”: KV 2/65, message of April 24, 1943.
the minister believed that Germany: KV 2/67, message of January 21, 1944.
“She emphasized one point above all”: KV 2/67, message of January 24, 1944.

162 “an impossible and insufferable
enfant terrible
”: Quoted in Levine, Kindle location 2867.
“‘I was not a much loved person’”: Unpublished transcript, Thaddeus Holt interview with David Strangeways, August 26, 1992.
Although a wonderful speaker: From Strangeways’s obituary,
Independent,
August 17, 1998.
Strangeways spied an abandoned Thames barge: Ibid.

163 MI6 knew that Gibraltar hotel employees: Wheatley, p. 86.
“the most all-containing brain”: Quoted in Holt, p. 14.
where he’d placed his office below a brothel: Levine, Kindle location 255.
“He was certainly the most unusual Intelligence officer”: Quoted in Holt, p. 14.
It could even dye a man brown: Ibid., p. 29.

164 The battle for Tunis: From Strangeways’s obituary,
Independent.

165 “He was ... so beautifully turned out”: Quoted in Holt, p. 334.
“Put it this way”: Thaddeus Holt interview with David Strangeways.

166 “It gave maximum offense”: Quoted in Levine, Kindle position 2902.
“Everybody was furious”: Quoted in Holt, p. 537.
“the beau ideal of an English country squire”: Roger Hesketh’s obituary,
Telegraph,
December 27, 2004.
“one of the best claret cellars in England”: Quoted in Holt, p. 478.
“a few new ideas” thrown in: Unpublished transcript, Thaddeus Holt interview with Christopher Harmer.
One day soon after his pronouncement: The account of Harmer’s conversation with Hesketh is from Thaddeus Holt’s interview with Harmer.

16. The Ghost Army

167 “putting a hooped skirt”: Quoted in Holt, p. 504.
“flatly refused to believe that it would be possible”: Howard, p. 506.
“But we are not
going
to land”: Quoted in Holt, p. 524.

168 “After the initial shock”: Quoted in Levine, Kindle location 2934.
“true to the tradition of English eccentricity”: Brown, p. 2.
“awful, ghastly staff procedures”: Quoted in Holt, p. 69.
“We got away with murder”: Unpublished transcript, Thaddeus Holt interview with David Strangeways, August 26, 1992.
Tate was a Danish spy: Hesketh, p. 55.

170 “The enemy will probably succeed”: Quoted in D’Este, p. 116.

171 “I’m not Jewish or Polish”: Juan Pujol, interview with Josep Espinas,
Identities,
Catalan TV documentary, date unknown.
“It would be of the greatest interest”: KV 2/68.
so much traffic was flowing: Harris, p. 179.
The Abwehr in Madrid: Macintyre, p. 164.
“By the main road between Leatherhead and Dorking”: KV 2/68, message of March 6, 1944.

172 “There are two or three American camps”: KV 2/69, message of March 19, 1944.
“You don’t take a great big silver salver”: Holt, p. 75.
“[German commanders] know we do not wish to see”: KV 2/67, message of February 23, 1944.

173 “German troops are now evacuating French territory”: KV 2/67, included with message of February 23, 1944.
It ordered them to find out: Perrault, p. 31.

17. The Backdrop

174 “goddamned natural-born ham”: Quoted in Macdonald, p. 101.
“See you in the Pas de Calais!”: Quoted in Levine, Kindle location 3226.
the barge’s captain and crew were arrested: Ibid., location 3284.

172 The deception planners hoped that Luftwaffe night raiders: Breuer, p. 161.
All his staff officers got fake promotions: Holt, pp. 85–86.
The Allies requisitioned a wind machine from a British movie studio: Breuer, p. 115.

176 “Here is your bird”: Ibid.
Map 51, of course, covered the Pas de Calais: Ibid., p. 117.
Entire books and technical journals were written: Ibid., p. 163.
In March, Churchill visited a sham armored division: Ibid., p. 114.

177 received checks that were five times the pay: Holt, p. 136.
The result of the last invention: Ibid., p. 84.
Battle sounds were recorded: Ibid., p. 86.

178 Coastal areas from Land’s End: Levine, Kindle location 3541.
There were the “Bunsen burners”: Holt, p. 87.

179 Prisoners of war in German concentration camps: Hesketh, p. 40.
Insignia were invented for Garbo’s phantom armies: Holt, p. 897.
A single wireless truck impersonated: Hesketh, p. 36.
In January 1944, Roenne estimated: Ibid., p. 169.

180 The Americans contributed: Holt, p. 504.
the Royal Air Force flew dummy aircraft: Hesketh, p. 70.
“80 Div. request 1,800 pairs of crampons”: Ambrose,
D-Day,
p. 81.
“Reliably reported soundings”: Hesketh, p. 166.

181 Hitler decided to keep 250,000 badly needed troops: Pujol and West, p. 166.
“Standing with his stiff fat neck”: Quoted in Phillips, p. 46.
“on the theory that the Second Front”: Quoted in Levine, Kindle location 3676.

182 “Eagerly he turned to the Colonial Secretary”: Ibid., Kindle location 3690.
When they had wanted the Germans: Holt, p. 78.
“Then, having allowed the person to look”: Wheatley, p. 146.

183 the deception planners also looked into: Holt, p. 500.
“The world of make-believe”: Quoted in Levine, Kindle location 3119.
“I created them. They were my children”: Juan Pujol, interview with Josep Espinas,
Identities.

184 By May, Roenne counted: Hesketh, p. 179.
“From now on we have to exaggerate”: Kahn, p. 496.
“Tangle within tangle”: Quoted in David Jablonsky,
Churchill, the Great Game and Total War
(New York: Routledge, 1991), p. 55.
Every single message: Harris, p. 190.

185 “The movement and regrouping”: Ibid.

18. The Buildup

186 “I am for bringing all our strength”: Holt, p. 574.
On May 2, the deputy of General Jodl: Kahn, p. 487.
“A partial success by the enemy”: Holt, p. 573.

187 “The situation as explained to me”: KV 2/67, message of April 9, 1944.

188 The blunder reinforced his growing belief: Ambrose,
D-Day,
p. 86.

189 “4 has displayed the ability of a simpleton”: KV 2/68.
“We here, in the very small circle”: KV 2/70, message of December 12, 1944.
“You should give him more encouragement”: KV 2/68.
In May, the French resistance reported: Perrault, p. 146.
There were rumors that other panzer divisions: D’Este, p. 108.

190 A squad of writers eavesdropped: Levine, Kindle location 3327.
until IBM invented a machine: Holt, p. 91.
The Third Army’s wireless network in the west: Hesketh, p. 91.
A card catalog was even kept: Levine, Kindle location 3409.

191 “The 6th American Armored Division”: Quoted in Hesketh, p. 176.
“The main enemy concentration”: Delmer, p. 160.
Garbo flashed sightings from his subagents: Pujol and West, p. 156.
“Present aircraft production 300 per month”: KV 2/68, message of February 18, 1944.

192 “What I was clearly able to get out of it”: Hesketh, p. 133.
“It seems to me preposterous”: Quoted in Levine, Kindle location 4074.

193 Pilots flew sorties and blew out the bridges: Hesketh, p. 118.
After arriving, von Cramer rushed: Levine, Kindle location 3574.

194 Churchill was reading reports of Garbo’s successes: Liddell, p. 93.
Heinrich Himmler sent a personal note: Harris, p. 74.
“It is a unique case of an agent’s report”: Ibid., p. 190.

195 “Speaking of the Second Front”: Quoted in Hesketh, p. 193.

196 “a blond, monocle, very bad black teeth”: KV 2/854.

19. The Prisoner

197 His real name was Johann “Johnny” Jebsen: Jebsen’s story is drawn from Popov’s memoir
Spy, Counterspy
and from Miller.

201 The agency even considered: Andrew,
Defend the Realm,
p. 297.
“The whole Tricycle set-up might collapse”: Liddell, p. 151.

202 Jebsen was ordered: Pujol and West, p. 154.
if the SD wanted to spirit him out of the country: Harris, p. 155.

203 “Under interrogation,” wrote J. C. Masterman: Masterman, p. 154.
“Tommy is still extremely apprehensive”: Liddell, p. 192.
“the agents should be used”: Ibid.

205 “They told him about what had happened”: Author interview with Andreu Jaume.
atormentado,
tormented: Author interview with José Antonio Buces.
he was giving him the Nazi salute: Harris, p. 136.
“I am not certain whether I am being carried away”: KV 2/67, message of February 23, 1944.
“His mother was Spanish and Gypsy”: Juan Pujol, interview with Josep Espinas,
Identities.

206 “Whichever way you look at this case”: Liddell, p. 193.

20. The Hours

207 “I am particularly interested to know”: KV 2/67.
“He says that the 52nd Division is at present in camps”: KV 2/67.

208 He was stripped of his rank: Perrault, p. 147.
“I could cheerfully shoot the offender myself”: Ambrose,
D-Day,
p. 84.
A young British officer told his parents: Perrault, p. 131.
And when the planners opened: Ibid., p. 148.

209
URGENT AP NYK FLASH
: Ibid., p. 220.
“Surprised by the news in the papers”: KV 2/69, message of June 4, 1944.
“appalling slip-up”: Liddell, p. 205.
“I hope to God”: Quoted in D’Este, p. 527.

210 “From the moment I set foot in England”: Pujol and West, p. 223.
“The Division is destined for an attack”: KV 2/69, message of June 5, 1944.
At 2000 hours, the German propaganda broadcaster: Ambrose,
D-Day,
p. 192.
“very depressed”: The words of Eisenhower’s driver, Kay Summersby, quoted in D’Este, p. 519.

211 “modest but beautifully prepared meal”: Delmer, p. 178.

212 These false “echoes”: Breuer, p. 176.

213 “I am very disgusted”: KV 2/69, message of June 7, 1944.
an American GI named William Funkhouser: Funkhouser interview, Virginia Military Institute, John A. Adams ’71 Center for Military History and Strategic Analysis, Military Oral History Project, www.vmi.edu/uploadedFiles/Archives/Adams_Center/FunkhouserW/FunkhouserW_interview.pdf.

214 “I remember thinking that the American beaches”: “The Spy Who Saved Europe,”
Mail on Sunday,
June 3, 1984.
“Not a single unit”: Delmer, p. 514.

215 The diversion helped convince the chief of staff: Levine, Kindle location 3792.
“On 5 June 1944”: Ambrose,
D-Day,
p. 91.
“We feared a massive counter-attack”: “The Spy Who Saved Europe.”

216 “I today lunched”: KV 2/69, message of June 9, 1944.
“It is clear that Hitler and his entourage”: Hesketh, p. 204.
He agreed to send Rundstedt: Ibid., p. 202.

217 “The main thrust must be expected”: Farago, p. 801.
“As a consequence of certain information”: Delmer, p. 189.
Ten armored divisions: Hesketh, p. 101.

218 Pujol and Harris celebrated: Delmer, p. 190.
A month after, a total of twenty-two: Juárez, p. 338.

219 “You can accept it as 99 percent certain”: Quoted in Hesketh, p. xix.
“Lack of infantry was the most important cause”: Ibid., p. xxi.
It had been “a decisive mistake”: Quoted in Holt, p. 589.
“night lighting exercises”: WO 171/3832, War Diary, May 18, 1944, 2230 hours.
battle noise simulators: WO 171/3868, “Report on Operation Transcend, Part II,” March 11, 1945.
misleading signposts: WO 171/3869, January 1945.
fake bomb craters: WO 171/3868, January 12, 1944, 1830 hours.
“dummy sniper heads”: WO 171/3868, “Camouflage: Lessons from June 1944 to February 1945,” March 14, 1945.

220 He could, for 200 francs each: WO 171/3868, War Diary, March 1945.
“It is fair to say”: WO 171/3868, report on “Insignia, Symbols, Marks and Signs,” February 1945.
It had never recovered: Cumming, p. 3.
“I trust I shall be provided”: Miller, Kindle location 5349.

221 Popov even knocked on the doors: Ibid., location 5445.
“Connoisseurs of the double cross”: Pujol and West, p. 11.
“the greatest double cross operation”: Ibid., p. 13.
“His contribution to D-day was indeed stranger”: Hesketh, p. xix.
“Your work with Mr. Pujol”: Bristow, p. 274.

222 When the Allies captured German intelligence maps: Unpublished transcript, Thaddeus Holt interview with David Strangeways.
On Roenne’s big map of the Western Front: Kahn, p. 520.
When the war diarist: The Schramm anecdote is drawn from Levine, Kindle location 4122.

21. The Weapon

223 In the summer of 1943: Harris, p. 242.
“I must now discuss another matter”: KV 2/69, message of June 10, 1944.
“Circumstances dictate that you should carry out”: Quoted in Hesketh, p. 254.

224 “Day and night [the V-1] thunders down”:
Das Reich,
July 2, 1944.
“8 dead and 13 wounded”: KV 2/69, message of July 3, 1944.

225 “[The policeman] started to insult me”: KV 2/69, message of July 14, 1944.
“I cannot at this moment”: Quoted in Hesketh, p. 274.

226 He told the Germans he’d fled to a hideout: Harris, p. 264.
the police closely interviewed a supposedly terrified Araceli: Ibid., p. 268.
“[Tommy Harris’s] plan is to get [Garbo] to write”: Liddell, p. 287.