Operation Garbo (24 page)
Authors: Juan Pujol Garcia
Since the Security Service were confident that all the enemy’s agents in Britain were operating under their supervision, it was clear that Guttman was actually offering to identify the man known to him as
ARABEL
, and to MI5 as
GARBO
. Somehow the Abwehr man had to be prevented from carrying out his plan, as it would be impossible to maintain
GARBO
if the Germans suspected that he had been betrayed by a defector. Fortunately, Ivens had stalled for time and Guttman had declined to go into any detail for fear of showing his hand before a deal had been struck. This enabled Tommy Harris to dream up a
characteristically
ingenious solution to the problem. Early in September,
GARBO
reported that his courier had recently met someone in Lisbon who had mentioned that Guttman was planning to defect to the Allies. But instead of eliminating Guttman, which might suggest to the British that there had been a leak, the
traitor
should be allowed to continue his work. However, Guttman should be informed that
GARBO
had recently fallen under police suspicion (which was partly true) and that he had been obliged
to flee England. This manoeuvre would reduce
GARBO
’s value to the British should Guttman defect and, in all probability, would prevent Guttman from making a further approach. The Abwehr was delighted with the scheme and
GARBO
promptly wrote a number of letters as though he had made good his escape to Spain. At the Abstelle in Madrid word was circulated to Guttman that
ARABEL
had fled the country and the police in London were now resigned to the fact that he had escaped and had given up calling at his lodging.
The plan worked, and Guttman failed to make a second appearance at the British embassy. Evidently he did not have much confidence in the value of his DGI source to the British. It was later reported that Guttman committed suicide rather than face interrogation.
This narrow escape, similar to the
ARTIST
crisis earlier in the year, highlighted the danger that
GARBO
was facing in London. As he was notionally under police suspicion, at the end of September 1944 it was agreed with Madrid that he should go into hiding at the remote Welsh farmhouse that had been used by the deserter
CHAMILLUS
before his departure for Canada. But life in the rugged countryside did not suit
GARBO
. On 3 October he wrote a long letter, his thirtieth, describing his rain-sodden surroundings and his uncongenial companions:
There were three of us, the Welsh couple and a Belgian. The former are both fairly old, each of about sixty years of age. They work all day long in the fields looking after the farm, which consists of four herds of cattle and about a hundred fowls. The house is miserable and poor and it only has
electricity
through a miracle, since the electricity supply happens to pass through some mountains and goes to a village which is only ten miles away. The old man is a Welsh Nationalist who, in his youth, worked a great deal for the party. His English is worse than mine and I mostly do not understand what he says. They speak Welsh when they are talking together. He is now
no longer mixed up in politics. He is a friend of
DONNY
and it is in this farm that the group which was formed by those who are now working for us used to print their propaganda leaflets. They used to hide their documents; they had, and still have, a secret cellar which leads out of the basement of the house. It is a sort of shelter where the Belgian and I would hide should there be an unexpected visit from one of the neighbours. This, however, is very unlikely, since in this corner of the world no one will ever turn up, and secondly, because the nearest neighbour lives two and a half miles away from the farm. The Belgian is a man who is a little simple. I do not know whether his brains are atrophied. On studying him, he seems to be abnormal. We spend the day on our own, listening to the radio and reading books.
The Abwehr were suitably distressed by
GARBO
’s plight and, on 1 January 1945, he received the following from Lisbon, dated 12 December 1944:
My dear friend and colleague, the days are approaching which, in normal times, would be days of good cheer for us all. We are living through the decisive hours for the future of humanity and the civilisation of Europe and surely for the whole world, and the thoughts of the tremendous
unhappiness
which this evolution has, to some extent, brought with it for millions of human beings does not allow conscientious people to enter into the good atmosphere of these festive moments. Thus, during these days we will devote ourselves with more intensity, if this should be possible, to thinking about our companions who, in the performance of their duty and in defence of their ideals, are now in a dangerous
situation
, terrible and very disagreeable. I should like to be a writer in order that I should have facility to find the words which might fully give you to understand the high esteem which we
all have for you and the desire we and our headquarters have to collaborate with you.
We have, in your personality, your character, your valour, all these virtues which become a gentleman. I hope, nevertheless, that from what I have written to you, you will have been able to feel that which perhaps through lack of ability to express myself in the written word I have been unable to impress adequately. We here, in the very small circle of colleagues who know your story and that of your organisation, talk so often about you that it often seems as if we were living the incidents which you relate to us, and we most certainly share, to the full, your worries. On account of them, I know that with the approach of Christmas you will be suffering many bitter moments at having to spend these days separated from the people who mean most in your life. I trust, nevertheless, that the satisfaction of being able to contribute, through the mediation of the organisation which you have created, to a sacred cause, which is that of the struggle for the maintenance of order and salvation in our continent, will give you comfort and moral strength to be able to go ahead with us until we have overcome our obstacles.
At the termination of this year of truly extraordinary struggles, I wish to express to you our firm and absolute conviction that next year will bring us further along our none too easy road, at the end of which we will find that which has been awaiting us as a worthy recompense for all the sacrifices which this temporary task has imposed upon us.
For you, personally, my dear friend, you already know that my greatest wish is to see you soon free from your present critical situation and united once more with your family. We pray to the Almighty that He may give them and you His protection as He has done up till now, and that He may inspire those who direct the destination of countries to avoid the final catastrophe in the world. What is now taking place in many countries in Europe is perhaps the first way of light which He
has shown us to illuminate and demonstrate what would occur if wise judgment is not shown in time, in order that it should be appreciated where the true danger lies.
These thoughts are also, to some extent, directed to all the companions of your organisation. I trust that it will be possible for you to pass them our thoughts, our good wishes and our gratitude for their magnificent work, and, in particular, to those who have helped you to resolve the present situation as true friends, to
BENEDICT
,
DAGOBERT
, the courier,
DONNY
etc. We hope very sincerely that one of these days it will be possible for us to express to them all our feelings in a more concrete form.
I know, my dear friend, that it is not possible to
recompense
materially all that you and your organisation are doing; nevertheless, I wish very sincerely that all your colleagues should have the possibility of being able to do something during the days of Christmas which will remind them that our thoughts are with you. Were it possible, I would send from here something to each of them as a small token. In view of the circumstances, I have no alternative but to confine myself to money, which, I trust, they will be able to accept as an expression of personal attention. I should be grateful to you, therefore, if you would take the necessary measures to effect this, and I leave it to your judgment to decide the amount which should be given to each of them in accordance with your knowledge of the various friends. I think that maybe the equivalent of a month’s payment might be suitable, but as I have already said, you have absolute freedom to take the decision in this connection.
I purposely have not dealt with service matters in this letter. This I shall do when I have received your personal letter, which, I hope, will give me details about your plan for
escaping
, which I asked for by message, which will enable me,
forthwith
, to reply regarding all the possibilities in this connection.
I enclose, with this letter, a remittance of $3,000.
With our most cordial regards and a firm handshake.
The $3,000 brought the total paid to
GARBO
’s network up to $20,000, enough to finance most of MI5’s other double agents. As usual, the money was paid to a Spanish fruit merchant in pesetas in Madrid. He then made the dollar equivalent
available
to
GARBO
at his London office. The enclosure of $3,000 referred to in the letter was simply a note authorising the fruit merchant to release the Abwehr’s funds to their spy in London. The scheme had been code-named, appropriately, plan
DREAM
by MI5. In spite of German optimism,
GARBO
’s mind had already been turning increasingly to the notional question of escape. The following month he grew a beard and sent a photograph of himself (referring, for security, to his ‘friend’) to the Abwehr in Madrid. They were not noticeably impressed with the disguise. In a letter from Lisbon dated 20 March, but received 1 April, the Abwehr commented tactfully:
Having examined the photographs of the friend I must assure you that the camouflage is perfect. On the other hand, if I am to be quite frank about expressing my opinion I must say that this camouflage presents quite a lot of difficulties on account of the by no means usual shape of the friend’s beard, since I think I can say with certainty that one can see very few people nowadays who wear a beard of that shape, with the exception of those beards which are rather more developed and one connects with people advanced in years.
GARBO
ignored these adverse remarks and, even in the last weeks of the war, gave no hint that his entire network had been an elaborate sham.
In the last of some 2,000 messages
GARBO
broached the subject of the future of his own network.
DICK
and
DORICK
had remained particularly loyal, in spite of the adverse military situation on the continent. Throughout the winter months of 1944 these two sources had been active, although the signals must have made depressing reading for the Abwehr. On 23
November, for example,
DORICK
had liaised with
BENEDICT
and reported:
DORICK
. Sudbury: Saw large convoys of 58th Infantry Division moving direction of Cambridge.
BENEDICT
: This confirms that the troops of this division seen by me in Glasgow were on leave … Have ascertained that 80th Infantry Division has been stationed in area between Ipswich and Stowmarket but that it left this district again between 10th and 15th of this month. Am proceeding to Yorkshire to investigate on basis of information received from my contact that 5th Armoured Division was moving to that county.
Once
DORICK
had reached Yorkshire, he maintained a steady flow of information:
DORICK
reports from York: has discovered that Fourth British Army has moved here but can find no sign of other divisions reported moving north in this area as yet. He is continuing investigations, though he states there is no sign of
preparations
for embarkation and has been told that Fourth Army and Northern Command are being amalgamated and will control any future landings in Germany, whether to help the present offensive or to occupy areas which you abandon, in the same way as other commands have been given similar roles; for instance, Norway in the case of Scottish Command and the Channel Islands in the case of Southern Command … 80th British Infantry Division has left Canterbury area.
Even at this late date
DORICK
was still sufficiently keen to indulge in a little detective work to achieve his objectives. On 6 December
GARBO
gave this account of his activities in the north:
DORICK
. York. Agent has finally discovered that 58th Division is stationed in the areas surrounding Leeds. He discovered this
division by following the direction of very large convoy of brand-new heavy trucks with divisional sign painted, which were being delivered to the division. Have discovered that 80th Division is stationed in the areas of Bedale and Catterick. … Agent assures me there is no immediate danger of an
embarkation
since 80th Division is undergoing training.
Ten days later
DICK
demonstrated that he too was still active in the south of the country:
DICK
. Bournemouth. Saw considerable number of newly arrived American troops which are starting to occupy camps near here. These wear the sign of red shield divided
horizontally
, the main, lower portion in red, the smaller, upper portion blue. Superimposed on blue portion is white design like a telephone receiver. Have not been able to identify this yet but am continuing investigation.
By the New Year of 1945 it was impossible to avoid the truth – that the Third Reich was crumbling – and
DAGOBERT
’s agents became increasingly anxious to disband. In
GARBO
’s thirty-ninth letter, dated 8 April 1945, he explained: