Juan Pujol García Fooled Nazi High Command With Fake Spy Network

By Harlan Pryce · August 9, 2026

German military intelligence trusted a fictional spy network while MI5 fed them carefully crafted lies to steer the High Command toward incorrect conclusions.

The file's catalogue entry records a stream of letters and wireless telegraphy. Specifically, the entry for KV 2/69 in the UK National Archives describes copies of communications between the Germans and a man known by the British as Garbo. These records are situated within the Security Service’s Personal (PF Series) Files, specifically under the heading of World War II Double Agent Operations.

To look at the catalogue entry is to see the fingerprints of a massive, invisible effort. The description for KV 2/69 notes that these communications were "incorporating British deception material." This is the precise point where the agent's personality ends and the state's objectives begin. Garbo was not merely a conduit for information; he was a delivery system for carefully crafted falsehoods designed to steer the German High Command toward a specific, incorrect conclusion.

Wireless Telegraphy and the German Ear

In the language of the archives, "WT" refers to wireless telegraphy. For the Germans, these signals were the heartbeat of their intelligence network in a hostile environment. For the British, they were a dial they could turn to modulate the enemy's perception of reality. The catalogue entry for KV 2/69 indicates that the records contain the actual copies of these transmissions.

Public records establish that the man behind the signal was Juan Pujol García, a Spanish citizen who managed a feat of singular audacity: he convinced the Germans he was their spy while secretly working for the United Kingdom. The Germans codenamed him Alaric and believed he commanded a vast network of agents called "Arabal." In reality, the network existed only on paper and in the imaginative capacity of the German analysts who trusted his reports.

British Deception Material

The phrase "incorporating British deception material" is the most critical part of the catalogue description. It transforms the file from a simple log of messages into a record of psychological warfare. When an agent like Pujol García transmitted a report, the content was often curated or entirely authored by MI5. The goal was to build a relationship of trust with the Abwehr—the German military intelligence—by providing enough true, though often useless, information to make the critical lies believable.

This process required a delicate balance. If the deception was too obvious, the agent was executed; if it was too subtle, it failed to influence German troop movements. The files in the KV 2 series capture this tension in real-time. By reading the wireless traffic, one can see the exact moment the British decided to push a particular narrative, and by tracking the German responses, they could tell if the hook had been set.

KV 2/63 through KV 2/69

KV 2/69 is not an isolated record. The archive's catalogue reveals a sequence of related files—KV 2/63, 2/64, 2/65, 2/66, and 2/67—all bearing the same description. This repetition suggests a high volume of traffic. The sheer number of files dedicated to Garbo’s communications reflects the scale of the deception operation he anchored.

These files represent the operational day-to-day of one of the most successful double-crosses in history. While we have the catalogue descriptions, the actual pages of these letters and WT logs remain the primary evidence of how Pujol García navigated the space between two warring empires. The catalogue tells us the material is there—the letters, the signals, the carefully placed lies—but it does not tell us the specific moment the Germans realized they had been played, or if they ever truly did.

Beyond these communication logs, other records exist within the UK National Archives, such as KV 2/4200, KV 2/4201, and KV 2/4206. These files, which the catalogue identifies as pertaining to Pujol García and his various aliases, including Bovril and Immortal, suggest a career that extended beyond the immediate wireless traffic of the war years. The communications in KV 2/69 are the tactical records; the other files likely contain the biographical and administrative aftermath of a man who lived his life as a professional fiction.