www.voicesofwar.co.uk
was the rst inkling of the D-Day invasion planned for later that year, and
Pujol played a leading role in Operation Fortitude, the deception campaign
to conceal Overlord. He sent over 500 radio messages between January
and June that year, at times more than twenty messages per day. His aim
was to persuade them that the attack was coming via Calais instead.
To back this objective the Security Service agents and their case ofcers were
carefully prepared to communicate information, frequently in unimportant
scraps, with each scrap would contribute to a bigger picture.
At the heart of the deception plan was a whole “ghost” army, the First US
Army Group (FUSAG). This comprised 11 non-existent divisions (150,000
men) beneath the command of General George S. Patton. This was also
a ctitious appointment, carefully chosen as Hitler admired the American
General. The FUSAG was apparently located in Kent and Essex, poised to
join any invasion of France, far away from the genuine attack to the west.
Other agents were used to substantiate this deception plan and as a whole,
the operation was so successful that German Intelligence, and the German
High Command believed the false story completely.
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 it to be 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. However,
when the call was made at 3 AM, no reply was received from the German