The Chicken Farmer Who Defeated Hitler
In a Nutshell
Juan Pujol García, a Spanish chicken farmer, became a double agent known as Garbo who built a network of 27 fictional spies that convinced Hitler the D-Day invasion would target Calais instead of Normandy. He fed the Nazis so much convincing disinformation that German forces stayed in the wrong place even after the landings began, earning him both the Iron Cross and an MBE. Pujol later faked his death in 1949 and hid in Venezuela to escape Nazi retribution.
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Juan Pujol García was a Spanish chicken farmer who had previously managed a one-star hotel before going bankrupt. In 1941 at the start of World War II, he decided he wanted to work as a spy for MI5 against the Nazis. He walked into the British embassy in Madrid and offered his services. The embassy told him to put his request in writing and they would get back to him, which was their way of dismissing him. He returned multiple times and was repeatedly rejected.
On his fourth attempt, Pujol instead entered the German embassy. He expressed hatred for the British and offered to spy for the Nazis against Britain. The Germans trained him, gave him small tasks, and he proved himself by learning how their intelligence operations worked. He eventually recruited multiple agents inside Britain and built his value to the Nazi intelligence service.
After establishing himself with the Nazis, Pujol returned to the British embassy and presented himself as a valuable Nazi spy seeking to work for MI5. He was accepted. MI5 gave him the codename Garbo after Greta Garbo, the famous actress, due to his exceptional acting and deception skills.
Pujol built a network of 27 fictional sub-agents inside Britain that the Nazis believed were real. All the agents and their activities were entirely invented. He created detailed stories about what these imaginary agents were supposedly doing, feeding the information back to the Germans through MI5.
During the planning for D-Day, Pujol provided so much convincing fake intelligence that he persuaded the Nazis the invasion would occur at Calais rather than Normandy. Hitler and Himmler received his reports and redirected significant German forces to Calais. Even after the Normandy landings began, his disinformation remained so credible that Hitler awarded him the Iron Cross. Pujol became the only spy to receive both the Iron Cross from Hitler and an MBE from Britain.
Three individuals were considered most critical to D-Day success: Eisenhower for the United States, Montgomery for Britain, and Juan Pujol García. Despite his double awards, Pujol faked his own death from malaria in Mozambique in 1949. He actually lived in a bookstore in Venezuela to avoid Nazi retribution. In the 1980s, three former MI5 colleagues in their late 80s recognized him in an intelligence pub in Britain. They had believed he was dead and were shocked to see him alive.
In 1949, millions of former Nazi servicemen were still alive. Many Nazis had fled to South America, making Pujol's decision to fake his death and relocate to Venezuela a calculated precaution against potential retaliation for his role in defeating the Third Reich.
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