Agent Garbo : the brilliant, eccentric secret agent who tricked Hitler and saved D-Day
(Book)

Includes bibliographical references (pages [281]-283) and index.

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 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. 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 a million-man army, invented armadas out of thin air and brought a vast network of fictional subagents 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.