Portland Public Library

Agent Garbo, the brilliant, eccentric secret agent who tricked Hitler and saved D-Day, Stephan Talty

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 281-283) and index

individual biography

plates

index present

non fiction

Agent Garbo

bibliography

773669656

Stephan Talty

the brilliant, eccentric secret agent who tricked Hitler and saved D-Day

Agent Garbo tells the astonishing story of a self-made secret agent who matched wits with the best minds of the Third Reich--and won. Juan Pujol was a nobody, a Barcelona poultry farmer determined to oppose the Nazis. Using only his gift for daring falsehoods, Pujol became Germany's most valued agent--or double agent: it took four tries before the British believed he was really on the Allies' side. In the guise of Garbo, Pujol invented armadas out of thin air and brought a vast network of fictional subagents whirring to life. His German handlers believed every word, and banked on Garbo's lies as their only source of espionage within Great Britain. For his greatest performance, Pujol had to convince the German High Command that the D-Day invasion of Normandy was a feint and the real attack was aimed at Calais. The Nazis bought it.--From publisher description

pt. I. The Making of a Spy -- 1. Tom Mix in Barcelona -- 2. The Training Ground -- 3. Araceli -- 4. The white city 5. The Game -- 6. The Snakepit -- pt. II. Garbo's Rise -- 7. A Fresh Riot of Ideas -- 8. The System -- 9. The Debut -- 10. The Blacks and the Santa Clauses -- 11. The Rehearsal -- pt. III. The Far Shore -- 12. The Dry Run -- 13. An Intimate Deception -- 14. Haywire -- 15. The Interloper -- 16. The Ghost Army -- 17. The Backdrop -- 18. The Build-Up -- 19. The Prisoner -- 20. The Hours -- 21. The Weapon -- pt. IV. Breakoff -- 22. The End -- 23. The Return