# Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 26, 2015, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-cross-the-true-story-of-the-d-day-spies/741413 "2015-12-26T20:18:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tara57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@Tara57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tara57)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2015, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-cross-the-true-story-of-the-d-day-spies/741413/1 "2015-12-26T20:18:46Z")
I couldn’t put this book down on a long road trip: Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies, by Ben Macintyre. Although I don’t enjoy military history, I picked it up from the library on a whim because it sounded interesting enough to keep me occupied. It is a fascinating spy story, a cross between James Bond and Oceans 11. The book discusses British spies and counter agents attempting to deceive Germany about the location of the D-Day invasion. The truth is stranger than fiction. > **[Double-Cross System](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-Cross_System)** > > The Double-Cross System or XX System was a World War II counter-espionage and deception operation of the British Security Service (a civilian organisation usually referred to by its cover title MI5). Nazi agents in Britain – real and false – were captured, turned themselves in or simply announced themselves, and were then used by the British to broadcast mainly disinformation to their Nazi controllers. Its operations were overseen by the Twenty Committee under the chairmanship of John Cecil Maste... > **[Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies: Macintyre, Ben: 9780307888778:...](https://www.amazon.com/Double-Cross-Story-D-Day-Spies/dp/0307888770)** > > Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies \[Macintyre, Ben\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies ---
**Author:** ![MarcusF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@MarcusF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarcusF)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2015, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-cross-the-true-story-of-the-d-day-spies/741413/2 "2015-12-26T21:56:38Z")
Yes, definitely a good read. Ben Macintyre knows how to tell a story (and the history is pretty good!). You might also like \*Operation Mincemeat \*by Macintyre, the story of the “man who never was” used to plant the fiction that the Allies would invade Sardinia rather than Scilly in 1943. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2015, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-cross-the-true-story-of-the-d-day-spies/741413/3 "2015-12-26T22:39:25Z")
I’m a big fan of Juan Pujol, aka GARBO aaka the greatest bullshit artist who ever lived. Does it cover Pujol and Tomas Harris’ contributions? ---
**Author:** ![Tara57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@Tara57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tara57)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2015, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-cross-the-true-story-of-the-d-day-spies/741413/4 "2015-12-26T22:43:59Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > I’m a big fan of Juan Pujol, aka GARBO aaka the greatest bullshit artist who ever lived. Does it cover Pujol and Tomas Harris’ contributions? Garbo, yes, quite a bit. Tomas Harris doesn’t sound familiar, but do keep in mind I speed read it in the car. The cast of characters is rich and large. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2015, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-cross-the-true-story-of-the-d-day-spies/741413/5 "2015-12-26T23:06:05Z")
> [@Tara57](#): > > Garbo, yes, quite a bit. Tomas Harris doesn’t sound familiar, but do keep in mind I speed read it in the car. The cast of characters is rich and large. Harris was his Spanish speaking MI5 handler. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-cross-the-true-story-of-the-d-day-spies/741413/6 "2015-12-27T01:54:06Z")
> [@MarcusF](#): > > Yes, definitely a good read. Ben Macintyre knows how to tell a story (and the history is pretty good!). > > You might also like \*Operation Mincemeat \*by Macintyre, the story of the “man who never was” used to plant the fiction that the Allies would invade Sardinia rather than Scilly in 1943. Second the plug for Mincemeat. I read Montegu’s “The Man Who Never Was,” and enjoyed it, but Macintyre follows up with additions and corrections, filling in details that Montegu was forced to omit or to distort. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-cross-the-true-story-of-the-d-day-spies/741413/7 "2015-12-27T19:27:32Z")
Picked it up and am reading it right now. Thanks for the recommendation! ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-cross-the-true-story-of-the-d-day-spies/741413/8 "2015-12-28T18:00:29Z")
There’s a pretty good documentary about Garbo that I saw a few years ago: [Amazon.com](http://www.amazon.com/Garbo-Spy-Nigel-West/dp/B006WCDAHK/ref=sr_1_2?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1451325457&sr=1-2&keywords=garbo+spy) Also, check out Ken Follett’s gripping novel _Eye of the Needle_, about a Nazi spy undercover in Great Britain who figures out what the Allies are up to and must be stopped before he tells Hitler. > **[Eye of the Needle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_of_the_needle)** > > Eye of the needle or eye of a needle is the tunnel-like space near one end of a sewing needle. > Eye of the Needle also may refer to: > **[Operation Fortitude](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Fortitude)** > > Airborne assaultBritish Sector > American Sector > Normandy landingsAmerican Sector ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-cross-the-true-story-of-the-d-day-spies/741413/9 "2015-12-28T20:00:45Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > There’s a pretty good documentary about Garbo that I saw a few years ago: [Amazon.com](http://www.amazon.com/Garbo-Spy-Nigel-West/dp/B006WCDAHK/ref=sr_1_2?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1451325457&sr=1-2&keywords=garbo+spy) For a long time, I was working on the Wikipedia article on Garbo - mostly because I really want his story to be made as a movie. Someone like Guillermo del Toro would do an exceptional job of it. I haven’t done anything on Wikipedia for a year after some jerk of an admin when on a tear and deleted a lot of stuff I had built on another article. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-cross-the-true-story-of-the-d-day-spies/741413/10 "2015-12-28T21:07:40Z")
Yes, there’s a lot of good stuff to Garbo’s story. I particularly like that he was decorated by both King George VI and Adolf Hitler, and that by the end of the war the Germans were funding virtually the entire British counterintelligence program! ---
**Author:** ![Tara57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@Tara57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tara57)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-cross-the-true-story-of-the-d-day-spies/741413/11 "2015-12-31T20:48:35Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > For a long time, I was working on the Wikipedia article on Garbo - mostly because I really want his story to be made as a movie. I was mentally casting and looking forward to the Steven Spielberg or Ron Howard movie or miniseries while I read this book. Jude Law (Tricycle), Tom Hanks. Eddie Redmayne, Tom Hardy, Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman (Jensen), Gael Garcia Bernal (Garbo). Anna Kendrick (spy with the dog). ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-cross-the-true-story-of-the-d-day-spies/741413/12 "2016-01-01T00:04:26Z")
> [@Tara57](#): > > I was mentally casting and looking forward to the Steven Spielberg or Ron Howard movie or miniseries while I read this book. Jude Law (Tricycle), Tom Hanks. Eddie Redmayne, Tom Hardy, Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman (Jensen), Gael Garcia Bernal (Garbo). Anna Kendrick (spy with the dog). It would make an excellent HBO series. I’ve been giggling out loud at some of the bits. Very enjoyable writer. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-cross-the-true-story-of-the-d-day-spies/741413/13 "2016-01-01T00:36:18Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > I’m a big fan of Juan Pujol, aka GARBO aaka the greatest bullshit artist who ever lived. Does it cover Pujol and Tomas Harris’ contributions? I came in specifically to mention him, although I figured someone must already have done so. If I had to point to one person as a personal hero of mine, it would be [Joan Pujol Garcia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Pujol_Garcia). Here’s Ebert’s review of the excellent documentary [Garbo the Spy](http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/garbo-the-spy-2011), mentioned above. This film should not be missed. > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Yes, there’s a lot of good stuff to Garbo’s story. I particularly like that he was decorated by both King George VI and Adolf Hitler, and that by the end of the war the Germans were funding virtually the entire British counterintelligence program! No doubt about it, the guy was simply a class act. And then after the war, he was content to disappear into even further obscurity, if that were possible. He let everyone think he was dead when in reality he had emigrated to Venezuela and ran a small bookstore/gift shop (according to the Wikipedia link) or cinema (which I think the documentary claims). ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-cross-the-true-story-of-the-d-day-spies/741413/14 "2016-01-01T01:07:14Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Yes, there’s a lot of good stuff to Garbo’s story. I particularly like that he was decorated by both King George VI and Adolf Hitler, and that by the end of the war the Germans were funding virtually the entire British counterintelligence program! I’ve wondered a bit about how thoroughly British counter-intelligence compromised German networks in the UK - basically completely, and not just via Garbo by any means - and yet how they were so compromised themselves by the Soviets. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-cross-the-true-story-of-the-d-day-spies/741413/15 "2016-01-01T01:37:48Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > No doubt about it, the guy was simply a class act. > > And then after the war, he was content to disappear into even further obscurity, if that were possible. He let everyone think he was dead when in reality he had emigrated to Venezuela and ran a small bookstore/gift shop (according to the Wikipedia link) or cinema (which I think the documentary claims). The Nazis thought he was a loyal Nazi. MI5 confirmed everything about what he did during the war, but I always wondered if he did anything _after_ the war in terms of finding the ones who went to South America. He was totally obscure until 1982, when he was ID’d. I love that he traveled to Normandy for the 40th anniversary of D-Day to pay his respects. As horrific and difficult as that was, I can only imagine how much worse it would have been with the full might of the German military machine had been there, if Rommel hadn’t been twiddling his thumbs in Calais.