Novel research: Agent Garbo

Information from a poster at Bletchley Park, now a museum:

“By 1943, GARBO alias ARABAL had convinced the Abwehr that he had recruited 27 agents in Britain. The Abwehr agreed to pay their salaries and expenses into a Spanish bank account. Every agent was fictitious, and their “salaries” paid for the entire deception plan!

Garbo reported one agent finding an entire “Allied army” assembling in Scotland ready to attack Norway once the Russians attacked from the East. This information was to prevent the German occupation forces in Denmark and Norway moving south as reinforcements once the Normandy invasion began.

British intelligence knew there were 12 German armoured divisions positioned in the Pas-de-Calais area against an expected invasion there. For D-Day to succeed, these troops had to be kept away from Normandy for at least 48 hours. To hold them, three Garbo “agents” reported an “Allied army” assembling in South East England, ready to invade the Pas-de-Calais. Dummy landing barges and tanks were built to deceive over-flying Luftwaffe aircraft.

The Abwehr believed both stories.”