Iron Cross, Second Class Juan Pujol García MBE (Spanish: [ˈxwam puˈʝol ɣaɾˈθi.a]; 14 February 1912 – 10 October 1988), also known as Joan Pujol i García (Catalan: [ʒuˈam puˈʒɔl i ɣəɾˈsi.ə]), was a Spanish spy who acted as a double agent loyal to Great Britain against Nazi Germany during World War II, when he relocated to Britain to carry out fictitious spying activities for the Germans.

[2][3] After developing a loathing of political extremism of all sorts during the Spanish Civil War, Pujol decided to become a spy for Britain as a way to do something "for the good of humanity.

The false information Pujol supplied helped persuade the Germans that the main attack would be in the Pas de Calais, so that they kept large forces there before and even after the invasion.

Pujol had the distinction of receiving military decorations from both sides of the war – being awarded the Iron Cross and becoming a Member of the Order of the British Empire.

[8][9] The third of four children, Pujol was sent at age seven to the Valldemia boarding school[10] run by the Marist Brothers[11] in Mataró, twenty miles (32 km) from Barcelona; he remained there for the next four years.

[16] Pujol engaged in a variety of occupations prior to and after the Spanish Civil War, such as studying animal husbandry at the Royal Poultry School in Arenys de Mar and managing various businesses, including a cinema.

[14][19] However, he was equally ill-treated by the Nationalist side, disliking their fascist influences and being struck and imprisoned by his colonel upon Pujol's expressing sympathy with the monarchy.

[19][27] In 1940, during the early stages of World War II, Pujol decided that he must make a contribution "for the good of humanity"[4] by helping Britain, which was at the time Germany's only adversary.

[19][25] Starting in January 1941, he approached the British Embassy in Madrid three different times,[4] including through his wife (though Pujol edited her participation out of his memoirs),[19] but they showed no interest in employing him as a spy.

[29] The Abwehr accepted Pujol and gave him a crash course in espionage (including secret writing), a bottle of invisible ink, a codebook, and £600 for expenses.

[26] In February 1942, either he or his wife (accounts differ)[33] approached the United States after it had entered the war, contacting U.S. Navy Lieutenant Patrick Demorest in the naval attache's office in Lisbon, who recognised Pujol's potential.

[7] The British had become aware that someone had been misinforming the Germans, and realised the value of this after the Kriegsmarine wasted resources attempting to hunt down a non-existent convoy reported to them by Pujol.

[17] Pujol operated as a double agent under the XX Committee's aegis; Cyril Mills was initially Bovril's case officer; but he spoke no Spanish and quickly dropped out of the picture.

In November 1942, just before the Operation Torch landings in North Africa, Garbo's agent on the River Clyde reported that a convoy of troopships and warships had left port, painted in Mediterranean camouflage.

"[4] Pujol had been supposedly communicating with the Germans via a courier, a Royal Dutch Airlines (KLM) pilot willing to carry messages to and from Lisbon for cash.

[41] During planning for the Normandy beach invasion, the Allies decided that it was vitally important that the German leaders be misled into believing that the landing would happen at the Strait of Dover.

[4] In order to maintain his credibility, it was decided that Garbo (or one of his agents) should forewarn the Germans of the timing and some details of the actual invasion of Normandy, although sending it too late for them to take effective action.

Special arrangements were made with the German radio operators to be listening to Garbo through the night of 5/6 June 1944 using the story that a sub-agent was about to arrive with important information.

Part of the "Fortitude" plan was to convince the Germans that a fictitious formation – First U.S. Army Group, comprising 11 divisions (150,000 men), commanded by General George Patton – was stationed in southeast Britain.

A German message to Madrid sent two days later said "all reports received in the last week from Arabel [spy network codename] undertaking have been confirmed without exception and are to be described as especially valuable.

"[42] A post-war examination of German records found that, during Operation Fortitude, no fewer than sixty-two of Pujol's reports were included in OKW intelligence summaries.

The German Commander-in-Chief in the west, Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, refused to allow General Erwin Rommel to move these divisions to Normandy.

[52] The Nazis never realised they had been fooled, and thus Pujol along with Eddie Chapman, another double agent, earned the distinction of being one of the few to receive decorations from both sides during World War II.

Eventually, Tomás Harris' friend Anthony Blunt, the Soviet spy who had penetrated MI5, said that he had met Garbo, and knew him as "either Juan or José García".

Allason hired a research assistant to call every J. García – an extremely common name in Spain – in the Barcelona phone book, eventually contacting Pujol's nephew.

After that he visited the Special Forces Club and was reunited with a group of his former colleagues, including T. A. Robertson, Roger Fleetwood Hesketh, Cyril Mills and Desmond Bristow.