OCCUPATION: A high ranking official in the Spanish department of the Ministry of Information.
ADDRESS: Not mentioned. (Address in Madrid given as Palace Hotel.)
RECRUITED: Was first mentioned as being in contact with GARBO on 16.5.42.
This character has certainly been the most important of GARBO’s contacts. He was represented as having been increasingly indiscreet as his confidence and his liking for GARBO grew. GARBO firstly worked as a part-time employee in the ministry on J(3)’s recommendation, and a great deal of important deception material that was passed over shortly after D-Day was attributed to this source. MCCANN was told in confidence about GARBO’s activities and informed that one of the notional characters in the GARBO case had been built up around him.
GARBO’s Close Contact No 4 – known as: J(4) or CENSOR AT THE MINISTRY OF INFORMATION
NAME: Not mentioned.
NATIONALITY: British.
OCCUPATION: Employed at the Ministry of Information.
ADDRESS: Not mentioned.
RECRUITED: Was first mentioned as a contact of GARBO on 10.4.43.
This character was created primarily with the object of building him up as a source for deception material. It was planned that this source should eventually provide GARBO with ‘STOP’ and ‘RELEASE’ notices issued to press censors. Thus, by indicating a complete press ‘STOP’ on all mention of a certain area, the enemy would be expected to deduce that the area indicated was likely to be a target area for operations.
To implement this plan, the Germans were told that the censor had introduced himself to GARBO in the ministry and, after they had become acquainted, he disclosed to GARBO that he was extremely left wing and had been passing certain secret information to the British Communist Party. It happened that at this time the press had raised the question of certain secret information having been passed to Mr [‘Manny’] Shinwell [MP] by someone, unidentified, employed by the Ministry of Information, and questions were raised in the House. The censor, therefore, assumed the role of the source of these leakages and told GARBO that he was now lying low since the question had been given so much publicity. He offered to assist the Spanish ‘Reds’ in a similar capacity if GARBO would act as his cut out.
Although the character was built up on these lines, it was not found necessary to use him in any serious role to implement the cover story for OVERLORD, so that after March 1944 the censor was allowed to fade out of the picture.
GARBO’s Close Contact No 5 – known as: J(5) or THE SECRETARY AT THE MINISTRY OF WAR
NAME: Not mentioned
NATIONALITY: British
OCCUPATION: Secretary in the Secretariat of the ‘Ministry of War’. A more precise definition of the nature of her work was never given.
ADDRESS: Not given.
RECRUITED: This contact was first referred to on 4.9.43.
This character was mainly created as build-up for GARBO and it was proposed that she should play an important role in the final deception story. We built her up by passing over relatively high-grade, general information, attributed to her indiscretions.
Domestically, she was represented as having fallen in love with GARBO.
GARBO was authorised by the Germans to spend money on her as lavishly as he wished in the hope that he could extract more valuable information from her. She supplied GARBO with information about the Moscow Conference in 1943, attributing her source to a colleague who had attended the conference as secretary to the Chief of the British Military Mission.
She was given as the source for a certain amount of high-grade chicken food1 about the movements of important British Service chiefs. She was used to implement PLAN BODYGUARD.
In the spring of 1944 the Germans were very much on edge and apprehensive about the possibility of an imminent attack, and J(5) was used until early May to reassure them that there was no possibility of an immediate invasion. Although at that date this information should have served her as a good build-up, it did not in fact do so as the Germans, in reply, warned GARBO that he should not place too much confidence in her word, as it was common practice in government offices to mislead the subordinate personnel lest they should, through knowledge of the true facts, cause a leakage through indiscretion.
She was, however, used again immediately after D Day to support the build-up of the notional FUSAG, by confirming that there were seventy-five divisions in the UK prior to the Normandy landing, whereas there were in fact less than fifty.
This character was then allowed to fade out of the scene, on the assumption that GARBO did not think it prudent to continue to forward her information in view of the warning which he received from the Germans.
Agent No 1 – known as: THE PORTUGUESE COMMERCIAL TRAVELLER
NAME: CARVALHO
NATIONALITY: Portuguese.
OCCUPATION: Commercial traveller.
ADDRESS: Newport, Men.
RECRUITED: Prior to 17.8.41.
This character was the first to be created by GARBO while he was still in Portugal. Though he lived in Newport, the majority of his reports were on the counties of Devon and Cornwall. He was alleged to remain, throughout his career, a rather colourless individual who worked regularly but without great zeal, presumably picking up information, mostly about airfields and military camps, which he came by in the course of his commercial travels.
He was eventually given secret ink and a cover address in Lisbon, to which he corresponded directly, receiving his questionnaires and replies through GARBO. The writing was done by a member of this office.
In view of the fact that there was no one in the office to whom we could delegate the work of writing who had fluent Portuguese, it was decided to make him write in French. The Germans were given the excuse that although a Portuguese he had fluent French. Since there were a lot of Belgians and Frenchmen in the area where he was living, we said that to write in French would serve as perfect cover should one of his letters be detected by the British Censor, since they would undoubtedly look for the author among these nationals and be unlikely to suspect a Portuguese.
This agent was sent to Northern Ireland with commercial cover, in place of another agent who had originally been intended to be sent there. He was one of the principal sources used in support of Operation STARKEY, during which period he covered the area of Southampton.
We realised that though he was required on that operation, his presence in south-west England would be undesirable during Operation OVERLORD, as he would see too much in this part of England. It was, therefore, decided to have one of his letters supposedly discovered in censorship during the time of Operation STARKEY, with the result that several Belgians were detained in the Southampton area and all non-residents, including the agent, ordered to leave.
Though the agent himself was not discovered, the incident greatly shook his confidence, and when GARBO accordingly came to realise that his morale was seriously shaken he decided a few months later to pay him off and allow him to resign from the service.
Agent No 2 – known as: THE SWISS BUSINESSMAN
NAME: William Maximilian GERBERS
NATIONALITY: British (of German-Swiss descent.)
OCCUPATION: Not mentioned.
ADDRESS: Bootle, Liverpool.
RECRUITED: Prior to 17.8.41.
This agent, one of GARBO’s creations during the period he was working in Lisbon, was perhaps one of the most colourful characters of the organisation, though he came to an untimely end. Not only was he responsible for the Malta convoy report but for numerous other Naval reports of a rather high grade, which were forwarded after GARBO’s arrival in the UK. He worked well until the preparations for Operation TORCH had commenced, when it was realised by the Admiralty that his presence in Liverpool was most undesirable. The agent was therefore reported as having fallen ill and to be about to have an operation for what appeared to be cancer. Three months went by, during which time the agent was paid, though due to his illness he was unable to contribute
any information.
On visiting Liverpool during November 1942, GARBO discovered that the agent had died on the 19.11.42 and an obituary notice, which was inserted at our request in the Liverpool Daily Post, was forwarded to the Germans in evidence.
Agent No 2’s Subagent No 1 – known as: 2(1) or THE WIDOW
NAME: Mrs William Maximilian GERBERS.
NATIONALITY: British
OCCUPATION: Housewife
ADDRESS: Bootle, Liverpool.
RECRUITED: Prior to 10.4.43.
Following the death of her husband, Agent No 2, she found herself in a very difficult financial situation and stated her willingness to do anything to help GARBO in return for employment. GARBO, realising that she was not well suited to engage in espionage, decided, nevertheless, not to abandon the loyal wife of an ex-collaborator and that it would be wise to employ her to look after his household, as, by having a woman of complete confidence about the house, there would be less danger of his activities being discovered. One or two low-grade reports were sent over as attributed to her, but they were so bad that GARBO decided to suppress any further reports she might submit to him.
She did, however, serve a very useful role in the organisation. When the volume of wireless traffic became great she assisted GARBO with the enciphering of messages, and later she was used as a cut-out for contact between the agents, and finally as a contact between GARBO and Mrs GARBO, GARBO and Agent No 3, and between Agent No 3 and the operator after GARBO had gone into hiding.
Agent No 3 – known as: THE VENEZUELAN
NAME: Not mentioned. (His letters to the Germans were signed PEDRO.)
NATIONALITY: Venezuelan.
OCCUPATION: Of independent means.
ADDRESS: Glasgow.
RECRUITED: Prior to 7.10.41.
This was the third and last of the agents recruited by GARBO while he was operating in Lisbon. He was represented as having been educated at the University of Glasgow and was still in the UK at the outbreak of war. Though his exact means of livelihood were never disclosed, the impression was given that he was a man of means whose family had properties in Venezuela, one near Comuna and another in Caracas.
From the outset, GARBO showed a preference for this agent and, being the oldest survivor of the network, after disposing of Agents Nos 1 and 2 it was natural that he should have finally gained the rank of deputy chief of the GARBO network.
He was the first to be given secret ink to write directly to the Germans, who furnished him with a cover address in Lisbon for this purpose. The letters were written in this office. They were written in English, a language which the Germans were told he knew as well as his native Spanish, if not better, since he had been absent from Venezuela for many years. His traffic was, on the whole, higher grade than that of any other agent during the first two years of the history of the network.
After GARBO’s first arrest in 1944 the entire organisation was directed by this agent, and the Germans came to regard him as an able substitute for the chief of the organisation. The purpose of handing over the organisation to this agent and removing the control from GARBO was primarily with a view to being able to run the organisation entirely through this office, without the personality of GARBO entering into it, and this was achieved. Thus, during the last months of the running of the case, this office was in direct communication with the German Intelligence Service, utilising only officers of this department to communicate in English on a wireless transmitting set which was installed within our office building.
Agent No 3’s Subagent No 1 – known as: 3(1) or THE NCO IN THE RAF
NAME: Not mentioned.
NATIONALITY: British.
OCCUPATION: NCO in the RAF
ADDRESS: Glasgow
RECRUITED: First mentioned as a contact of Agent No 3 on 3.2.43.
This man was represented as a drunkard and gambler with whom Agent No 3 made contact, believing him to have been capable of parting with confidential information for a monetary consideration. We did acquire through this source an aircraft recognition manual, which helped considerably in building up the case. We also used this character as a means of demonstrating to the Germans the complete integrity of GARBO and his Agent No 3. When the opportunity first arose to acquire this book, GARBO decided that he should consult the Germans before parting with cash and ascertain from them the approximate sum which this information might be worth. He was authorised to pay up to £100 for it. However, when it came to discussing the price with 3 (1), Agent No 3 discovered that this man, contrary to his expectations, was very small-minded so far as financial matters were concerned, and thus he succeeded in getting the book for the small sum of £3. Through this incident the Germans were able to appreciate that GARBO and his Agent No 3 were honest: though they had been authorised to pay £100 for the book, they did not take advantage of the fact that they were able to purchase it for so small a sum as £3, which is what the Germans were charged.
This character was allowed to fade out of the picture in September 1944.
Agent No 3’s Subagent No 2 – known as: 3(2) or THE LIEUTENANT IN THE 49TH DIVISION
NAME: Not mentioned.
NATIONALITY: British.
OCCUPATION: Lieutenant in the 49th British Infantry Division.
ADDRESS: Not mentioned.
RECRUITED: First mentioned as being in contact with Agent No. 3 on 1.10.43.
Agent No 3 made contact with this rather talkative lieutenant on a train journey from Glasgow to London. In the first place, the contact was used to confirm and explain certain reports which Agent No 3 had made on his own observations in the Troon area, where a brigade of the 49th Division was represented as undergoing assault training.
In support of TINDALL, we implied, through this source, that the 49th Division, which had been trained in mountain warfare, would be an assault division in an attack against Norway. Thus, when the preparations for Operation TORCH were well advanced, this contact was reported as returning to Scotland to join his division. A great number of troops employed in the TORCH operation did in fact leave from the Clyde, and when it was later ascertained that the 49th Division had not embarked we were able to maintain the threat to Norway, instead of, perhaps, exposing it as a cover plan for the TORCH operation.
This source played a very small role henceforth. He was active as late as September 1944, when, after the 49th Division had entered operations in France and been identified by the Germans, we had an occasion to make contact with him again through Agent No 3. This officer, now promoted in rank, told the agent of all his adventures overseas and the routing of his division through France. This was passed back to the Germans, who, having taken prisoners, were in a position to prove the accuracy of the information.
Agent No 3’s Subagent No 3 – known as: AGENT 3(3)
NAME: Not mentioned.
NATIONALITY Greek.
OCCUPATION: Seaman.
ADDRESS: Glasgow.
RECRUITED: Prior to 19.12.43.
When building up the network to implement FORTITUDE NORTH and FORTITUDE SOUTH, though these cover plans for Operation OVERLORD had not then been developed in detail, it was realised that at least two GARBO agents would have to operate in Scotland: one on the west coast, the other on the east coast.
Agent No 5, who had at one time worked with Agent No 3 in Scotland, had left for Canada a few months earlier in order to build up a sub-organisation for GARBO there. Therefore, this new character was created to substitute Agent No 5.
He was a Greek merchant seaman who had been working on the SS Bristol City at the time she was torpedoed by the Germans, in May 1941. This experience caused him to decide to desert from the Merchant Navy, and prior to his recruitment as our agent he had, for nearly two years, been living on his wits and on small sums of money which he would occasionally borrow from his friends, among whom was our Agent No 3.
Recruiting him, however, was a difficult case, since he was a man of strong communist sympathies. Apart from this
he was ideally suited. Therefore, it was decided to recruit him by deceptive means. Agent No 3 approached him as if he himself were a secret agent of the Russians, and stated that as the Russians were unable to get information from the Anglo-Americans about the Second Front they had found it necessary, in the interests of their own operations, to try to discover as much as possible about British plans by secret means. He was promised good pay, and at the same time given the assurance that he would be assisting the inter-Allied cause. After accepting, he was warned that any indiscretion might lead to complications between the British and the Russian governments, and that if he were indiscreet the Russians would have no hesitation in liquidating him.
During the first few months of his activities he stayed close to Agent No 3. They made joint reports. Thus, we were able to cut down the volume of information passed over until we were due to implement FORTITUDE NORTH. They parted company and 3(3) was moved over to the east coast of Scotland.
His usefulness to us came to an end shortly after D-Day and so we allowed the standard of his reporting to deteriorate, until November 1944, when he asked Agent No 3 if he might be allowed to resign. GARBO had already commented on the very poor grade of his reports by this time and expressed a desire to be rid of him. It was, therefore, much to GARBO’s relief that the suggestion to resign came from the agent.
Greece had by then been liberated, and the agent decided that he wanted to return to his native land, even if to do so meant handing himself over to the British authorities as a deserter and paying the penalty for this. After being further threatened by Agent No 3 as to the consequences if he were indiscreet about his work for the ‘Russians’, he was told that he might carry out his plan, and he was given the sum of £100 as a final pay-off.
Operation Garbo Page 24