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Title: Agent Garbo: The Brilliant, Eccentric Secret Agent Who Tricked Hitler and Saved D-Day
Author: Stephen Talty
Genre: History (WWII espionage/biography)
Thingummies: 5
Synopsis: The biography of a Spanish double-agent whose magnificent, meticulous trail of falsehoods convinced the Nazi spy runners that D-Day would land at Calais.
Thoughts: I'd started to hear about the enormous fictional army that fooled the Nazis back when I was a child, but I feel like a lot more detail has become public knowledge in recent years. While I doubt any single book could encompass the sudden professionalization of the Great Game, this one does a very thorough, and fascinating, job portraying a single, key agent.
Juan Pujol, who would later be codenamed "Garbo", was a complete loser, a dreamer who failed at nearly everything he touched. Until he decided to make it his life's mission to stop the Nazis. Without any backup of any kind, he walked into the German intelligence offices, spouting fabulous nonsense, and slowly hoodwinked them into believing that he was a major source. It took a surprisingly long time for the British to realize that he was feeding the Nazis misinformation and that he actively wanted to be a double agent for them, but once they did, his story really takes off.
A host of dazzling personalities waltzes through Pujol's career, from Kim Philby to agents like Tricycle and Brutus to Hitler's own spymaster. And the capers they pull off are so audacious that they would look ridiculous in fiction. Pujol finally even has to con his own wife in the name of the cause. And it all leads up to one major test--disguising one of the largest invading armies the world has ever seen.
The history is riveting and appears to be thoroughly researched. While there is no grand master thesis to be discovered, this book does an excellent job of revealing an undertold story that more than deserves to be told.
Author: Stephen Talty
Genre: History (WWII espionage/biography)
Thingummies: 5
Synopsis: The biography of a Spanish double-agent whose magnificent, meticulous trail of falsehoods convinced the Nazi spy runners that D-Day would land at Calais.
Thoughts: I'd started to hear about the enormous fictional army that fooled the Nazis back when I was a child, but I feel like a lot more detail has become public knowledge in recent years. While I doubt any single book could encompass the sudden professionalization of the Great Game, this one does a very thorough, and fascinating, job portraying a single, key agent.
Juan Pujol, who would later be codenamed "Garbo", was a complete loser, a dreamer who failed at nearly everything he touched. Until he decided to make it his life's mission to stop the Nazis. Without any backup of any kind, he walked into the German intelligence offices, spouting fabulous nonsense, and slowly hoodwinked them into believing that he was a major source. It took a surprisingly long time for the British to realize that he was feeding the Nazis misinformation and that he actively wanted to be a double agent for them, but once they did, his story really takes off.
A host of dazzling personalities waltzes through Pujol's career, from Kim Philby to agents like Tricycle and Brutus to Hitler's own spymaster. And the capers they pull off are so audacious that they would look ridiculous in fiction. Pujol finally even has to con his own wife in the name of the cause. And it all leads up to one major test--disguising one of the largest invading armies the world has ever seen.
The history is riveting and appears to be thoroughly researched. While there is no grand master thesis to be discovered, this book does an excellent job of revealing an undertold story that more than deserves to be told.
