Operation Fortitude: The True Story of the Key Spy Operation of WWII That Saved D-Day by Joshua Levine

Author:Joshua Levine [Levine, Joshua]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Military, World War II, General
ISBN: 9780007413249
Google: dBhrEFWA0MgC
Amazon: B004TSCALG
Publisher: Collins
Published: 2011-04-04T00:00:00+00:00

While two branches of British Intelligence fought over him, the oblivious Pujol went on sending his fictitious reports. On 26 March he reported the sailing of a convoy of fifteen ships from Liverpool bound for Malta. This convoy – had it been real – would have been the first sent directly from the United Kingdom to relieve the beleaguered island. On 3 April the report was forwarded from Madrid to Berlin, resulting in a large operation being mounted by the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe to ambush the non-existent convoy. Pujol was trusted and valued by the Germans. His potential as a British double agent was immense, but while he was in Lisbon he remained at constant risk of being blown, either by a mistake of his own or by an Abwehr investigation. It was imperative that he be brought under proper control in England as soon as possible.

In the end Section V accepted the logic of Liddell’s arguments. A Section V man in Lisbon, Eugene Risso-Gill, tracked Pujol down and arranged to smuggle him on board a ship leaving Lisbon for Gibraltar. The operation had to be carried out in great secrecy. Departures from Lisbon were carefully monitored by the Abwehr; Pujol could not simply climb aboard the BOAC scheduled flight to Bristol. He later recalled that his legs were shaking as he walked up the gangplank of a ship. Twenty-four hours later he arrived in Gibraltar, before boarding a military aircraft which landed in Plymouth late on the afternoon of 24 April. He was met by two MI5 officers, Cyril Mills, who would codename him Garbo, and Tomás Harris, who would turn him into the finest double agent of the war.

Pujol, like Popov before him, was not subjected to Camp 020’s interrogation process. Having been processed at the London Reception Centre in Wandsworth, he was debriefed by Tomás Harris and Desmond Bristow, a Spanish-speaking Section V officer. They were soon convinced by his story, and excited by his potential. Some members of the Twenty Committee initially questioned him, believing his story too fantastic to be true. It was decided, therefore, to alert all members of the Twenty Committee to the existence of Ultra – which showed him to be genuine. Pujol was now a British double agent: at last he could send the Abwehr letters from the country in which he had pretended to be for the last nine months. He asked that his family be brought to London, and so Aracelli and their young child were smuggled out of Lisbon. The Pujols set up home in a large MI5 safe house at 15 Crespigny Road, a short walk from Hendon Central Underground Station.

Initially it had been decided that Cyril Mills would be Pujol’s case officer, but his lack of Spanish proved too great a handicap. The job was instead taken by Tomás Harris. Harris, a man of creative sensitivity as well as formidable intellect, was perfect for the role. While keen to encourage Pujol’s audacity, he possessed sufficient judgement to know when to restrain him.

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