Ewen Montagu dedicated his book Beyond Top Secret U to the memory of his colleague, describing him as ‘the greatest deceptioneer of us all’. Today, a sense of his genius comes across from the movements and messages of Garbo around D-Day. It was clear to those involved that Garbo’s greatest importance as a double agent and purveyor of false notions to the Germans would come once the Allied troops had actually landed on the beaches of Normandy and established a bridgehead. Getting ashore would be hard in itself, but their vulnerability would continue for several days thereafter. There was every chance that if the Germans hit back hard, using their best troops and Panzer reserves, thousands of British, US and Canadian soldiers would be pushed back into the sea, and the much-needed Second Front would die with them. Keeping those crack German troops away from Normandy, therefore, was of paramount importance, and Garbo was to play the most vital part in attempting to hold them at bay. Harris knew, thanks to the Bletchley decrypts, that Garbo was held in high regard by his Abwehr masters in Madrid.
What do You think about The Spy With 29 Names (2014)?
