He not only spied for the Germans under the code name Alaric, but he also spied for the British under the code name Garbo.
At the outbreak of war, Juan first approached the Allies to offer his services as a spy, but they turned him down.
He then approached the Germans, who accepted his offer. Juan then began feeding them innocuous information about Britain that he got from travel guides, magazines, and newspapers.
The information was useless, but it was true enough that the Germans came to trust their new agent.
After establishing his credibility as a German spy, the Allies took him seriously and brought him to Britain as their spy.
While Juan continued to feed the Germans mostly true but useless information, the Germans sent him enough cash to fund the fake spy ring he had invented in Britain.
During the lead-up to the Allied invasion of Normandy in 1944, Juan worked overtime providing misleading information to the Germans about where the invasion would hit.
He had them so convinced that the landings would take place at Pas-de-Calais that they moved large numbers of troops there, and kept them there even after the beachheads at Normandy were well established.
For his services to Britain’s MI6, Juan was invested by King George VI as a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1944.
That same year, Juan’s “service” to the German Abwehr earned him the Iron Cross Second Class, which was delivered to him by the Germans after the war ended…. meaning they never figured out he was a double-agent.
After the war, British Intelligence helped Juan fake his own death and relocate to Venezuela.
On June 6, 1984, Juan Pujol García returned to Europe and visited Normandy, the site of the invasion that his deception help to succeed. #HistoryLand
