Time Period: World War II

Country of Origin: Germany

Juan Pujol Garcia was a Spaniard who grew up during the time of the Spanish Civil War. Due to his childhood, Garcia grew a hatred for fascism and communism, so when World War II appeared on the horizon, Garcia knew he must take part as a spy for Britain, Germany’s only enemy at the time. Originally denied by the British to become a spy, Garcia instead decided to become a German spy, with the hopes that the British would accept him as a double agent. The German’s were interested in Garcia, who claimed he was operating out of Britain, despite being in Lisbon, Portugal. He was given the codename “Arabel” by the German spymasters.

Garcia used a multitude of deceptions to feed the Germans misinformation, while siphoning money from them. Despite not understanding the British currency system, he sent itemized lists to Germany, where he said he would send the monetary total later. Juan Garcia went one step further though, creating an entire web of fabricated spies. This included such outlandish stories, such as, “Moonbeam,” a Venezuelan student in Scotland who was in charge of three other fabricated spies. At the peak, Garcia had a spyweb of up to 26 fabricated spies, all supposedly working to send information to Germany. When he offered his services to Britain again, they saw the importance of his misinformation, hired him, and put him under the command of the famous XX Committee. He was given the codename “Garbo” by the XX Committee.

Garcia, or Arabel, or Garbo, was instrumental in the misinformation he provided to the Germans concerning the mainland invasion of France. After supposedly conferring with his web of spies, Arabel told the Germans that the first invasion was to be a distraction. The Germans responded stating that this information was “exceptionally valuable.” Later, when asked to confirm the damage of future V1 Rockets, Garcia refused, so the XX Committee arranged to have him “arrested.” When he was released, he forwarded a letter to Germany from the Home Secretary for his “unlawful imprisonment.”

By the end of the war, Garcia had received $340,000 USD to fund his web of spies. For his work, he was granted the Order of the British Empire. Soon after the war ended, Garcia ran into one of his German spymasters, who gave the Iron Cross to Garcia for his help during the war. This ironic distinction places Juan Pujol Garcia as one of the only people during World War II to receive such high decorations from both sides of the war.