Code name of Juan Pujol Garcia, a Spaniard who was taken on by Germans in World War II to spy on the British. He became one of the most effective double agents in history.

Garbo worked against the Germans because of his dislike of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. He believed that only an Allied victory in the war could depose Franco. After offering his services to British intelligence and being rejected, Garbo was accepted by the German Abwehr. He departed Madrid in July 1941, obstensibly en route to England, carrying secret writing materials, lists of questions, money, and accommodation addresses.

Garbo actually went to Lisbon, where he tried unsuccessfully to contact British intelligence. He told the Germans he had reached Britain, and in July 1941 he began writing reports about British naval and shipping matters, which he sent to the Abwehr. He also told them of the network that he was establishing in Britain.

In Jan. 1942 Garbo, still in Lisbon, finally met with British intelligence officials and once more offered himself to the British as a double agent. After fighting between the British Secret Intelligence Service (M16) and Security Service (M15) over who would control him, Garbo arrived in Britain in April 1942 and remained there for the rest of the war, operating as a double agent under the control of the Twenty Committee. (His wife and young son went with him.)

In London, he established a paper network of national agents to improve his credibility with the Germans. He told the Abwehr that he had 14 agents and 11 well-placed contacts. He also gave himself a deputy, a substitute radio operator, and several assistants scattered around the country.

One of Garbo's imaginary agents was a "Wren, " as members of the WRNS (Women's Royal Naval Service) were called. Garbo said the Wren was sent to headquarters for the Southeast Asia theater in Ceylon, where she passed information to him for the Abwehr. The Germans in turn passed the phony information to the Japanese military attaché in Berlin to be passed on to Tokyo.

The Germans were extremely impressed with Garbo's reports, most of which were sent by post to Abwehr addresses. One report, obstensibly written before the Anglo-American landing in North Africa in Nov. 1942, reached the Germans after the landings. The Abwehr responded that "your last reports are all magnificent but we are sorry they arrived late, especially those relating to the Anglo-Yankee disembarkation in Africa. " These postal delays led the Germans to establish radio links with Garbo.

Garbo's activities forced the Germans to reveal several of their real agents to British intelligence. And the Germans paid for the deceptive operation, clandestinely sending about $340,000 to Garbo to pay for his network.

The Germans awarded Garbo the Iron Cross (In absentia) for his information on the D-Day Allied invasion of France (June 6, 1944). The British government made him a Member of the British Empire for the same phony information, which he sent to the Germans by British-controlled radio.

Garbo was his British code name; his German code name was Rufus. He later wrote an account of his career as a double agent, Garbo (1986).