REDACTED: Declassified Mysteries with Luke Lamana - The D-Day Con

Episode Date: February 11, 2025

In the tense months leading up to D-Day, a daring plan was set in motion to mislead the Nazis about where and when the invasion would take place. British intelligence recruited a motley crew of double agents, including a Spanish chicken farmer, a Serbian playboy, and a temperamental Russian-French journalist. As conflicting loyalties, personal grudges, and the weight of history collided, their actions would help determine the fate of one of the largest invasions in history.Be the first to know about Wondery’s newest podcasts, curated recommendations, and more! Sign up now at https://wondery.fm/wonderynewsletterFollow Redacted: Declassified Mysteries with Luke Lamana on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting https://wondery.com/links/redacted/ now.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to redacted, declassified mysteries early and ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple podcasts. On May 27, 1944, the Japanese ambassador to Nazi Germany, Hiroshi Oshima, sat down to tea at a Grand Mountain Retreat in the Austrian Alps with Adolf Hitler. Hiroshi had become an important player within the alliance between Germany, Japan and Italy that had plunged the globe into World War II. He was a sharp strategist and a true believer in the Nazi ideology, apart from the inconvenient fact that the Nazis view Japanese people as inferior beings.

In Perfect German, Hiroshi asked Hitler what he thought about the possibility of an invasion of Nazi-occupied Western Europe by the United States, Great Britain, and the other Allied forces. Hitler waved his hand as though he was swatting a fly. He said he knew all about the allied troops building up in the southeast of England. He was sure that they were preparing to invade the Pas-de-Calais region of France near the Belgian border, but he wasn't worried. The Nazi army would be well prepared to stop them and wipe them out for good. Hitler said he'd heard there might also be an attack some 200 miles to the south

along the French coast at Normandy, but this would almost surely be a diversion from the main invasion in Pas de Kille. He boasted to Hiroshi about the vast network of German spies in England that had confirmed the Allied plans. Hiroshi beamed at Hitler's confidence. He told Hitler he was sure the Germans and the Japanese would soon beat the Allies into submission. He thanked his host for the hospitality and left. After the meeting, Hiroshi wrote up a summary of the discussion, which he eagerly radioed to his colleagues in Japan. He never imagined that someone else would be intercepting and reading the message. The Americans had broken the encrypted Japanese wireless code over two years earlier. They had been listening in on the bulk of Japan's communication for nearly all of

the war. When Allied intelligence received Hiroshi's report on June 1st, they celebrated. The spy network Hitler was so proud of was made up almost entirely of double agents. They had been feeding the Germans false information about the Allied invasion for months. The army in the southeast of England didn't exist. The D-Day assault would be at Normandy, not Pas-de-Calais. Hiroshi's report only confirmed that their web of misinformation was paying off. Hitler told Hiroshi that the Allied attack would happen, quote, sooner or later. But in reality, it would take place within a week.

On June 6, 1944, the largest invasion by land and sea in history would hit the beaches at Normandy. The Allies were about to pull off one of the greatest deceptions in the history of death. Follow Scam Factory on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. From Ballant Studios and Wondery, I'm Luke Lamanna, and this is Redacted – Declassified Mysteries, where each week we shine a light on the shadowy corners of espionage, covert operations, and misinformation to reveal the dark secrets our governments try to hide. This week's episode is called The D-Day Con. The D-Day Con.

One of the underlying aspects of military service is unity. From the very beginning, our brains were reprogrammed in boot camp to think, move and respond as a unit, rather than as individuals. We did everything together. We got out of bed, we got dressed, we marched, everything. When you look at the broader scope of what it takes to win wars, you start to see why. Because in spite of all the effort being made, the coordination, the planning, in some cases the entire war can pivot on the actions of one person. So everyone has to be on point and doing what they need to do. You don't have to be a military historian to know that the Allied beach landing at Normandy, France, called D-Day, was one of the most important battles in military history. But it's crazy to think that

because of the actions of a few individuals, it almost didn't happen. By late 1941, World War II had been raging on for over two years, and Nazi Germany controlled much of Europe. Any chance the Allies had of winning the war rested on mounting an invasion somewhere in Europe. The Nazis knew an attack was coming and their army built defenses along the Atlantic coast from Norway to France, waiting for the day that the Allies would try to break through. As both sides prepared themselves for the invasion to come, each tried to gain the upper hand by using a network of spies. And behind the battle lines, both waged a shadow war of intelligence and lies. The vast majority of World War II spies were ordinary men and women from all walks of life.

Motivated by duty, money, or national pride, some of these agents became influential players in the war. Allies and Nazis alike competed for their loyalties, layering lies on top of lies as spies switched sides or pretended to. As the D-Day invasion loomed, British intelligence used their network of double agents to convince the Germans that an invasion was coming to the wrong location. agents to convince the Germans that an invasion was coming to the wrong location. They called their plan Operation Fortitude. It was risky. If the Nazis figured out the fake location was a lie, they would know the Allies were actually coming to Normandy, which could mean losing the war. The success of Operation Fortitude also rested on the shoulders of an unlikely team of spies,

including a Spanish chicken farmer, a Serbian playboy, and a temperamental Russian-French journalist who loved her dog even more than her mission. Each of them presented the British with unique challenges that could have exposed the entire con to the Germans. How did this quirky cast of characters come to work for the British in the first place and how did they convince the Germans to believe their lies? And most alarming of all, could these wild-card spies have possibly unraveled D-Day if they failed? This is their story.

This is their story. In the freezing winter of 1941, MI5 agent Tar Robertson was riding high as he walked through the rubble of war-torn London. MI5 was Britain's security agency and it had recently confirmed that more than two dozen agents the Nazis stationed in England had been captured or turned to work for the British. MI5 now controlled nearly every German agent in the country. As the leader of the agency's so-called double cross team, 32-year-old Tarr was in charge of all of them, or so he thought. He arrived at his office at MI5 headquarters to find a memo sitting on his desk. His heart sank as he read it. The British had intercepted reports from another German spy in England, one they hadn't known about. The spy had been sending intel to the Nazis for months, undetected.

A chill ran down Tar's spine. He didn't understand how he could have missed this. Tar hurried off to huddle with other members of MI5. The best thing to do was figure out who the spy was, capture him, and hopefully get him to come over to their side. But after pouring over the spice intercepted messages, Tarr and his co-workers were baffled. The reports made no sense whatsoever. He reported on major naval operations in a landlocked part of the country. He complained about blistering heat in London. He also seemed to have no idea how British currency worked.

It was almost like the guy had never even been to England. But by all appearances, the Opwehr, the German military intelligence agency, had been swallowing up his reports without a hint of suspicion. Tarr and his team didn't get it. Was this spy simply getting things wrong? Was he a fraud or mentally unstable? getting things wrong? Was he a fraud or mentally unstable? Eventually, Tarr's team found the man they were looking for. The rogue agent's name was Juan Pujol Garcia. He was a Spanish citizen and unsuccessful chicken farmer who had fled his own country during the Civil War. He hated fascism and had volunteered as a spy to British intelligence multiple times,

but his services had been declined. So Juan shifted gears. He decided he would sabotage the Nazis from the inside and convinced them to allow him to gather information. For months he'd been sending them long-winded reports about his reconnaissance in England, but in reality he was actually in Lisbon, Portugal. Juan spent his days reading every book about England he could get his hands on.

He used these details and his own vivid imagination to write up his reports to German intelligence, and they never suspected a thing. Tarr was delighted that such a cunning, motivated spy had fallen into his lap. He moved quickly to arrange for Juan to come to London, and by April 1942, Juan Pujol Garcia officially became a British spy. Juan's wife and son soon joined him from Lisbon, and they moved into a modest house on a quiet street. MI5 provided Juan with a cover identity as a Spanish refugee doing translation work at

the BBC. In reality, he was expanding the lies he'd been telling to the Germans. MI5 told him what fake information to offer up, and Juan put it into all of his reports. Tar liked the idea of giving his agents funny code names. Juan had performed his role for the Germans so perfectly, Tarr named him after Greta Garbo, who was considered the greatest actress in the world at that time. Agent Garbo soon became one of the Allies' most important double agents. Now Tarr just needed a few more unsuccessful chicken farmers.

In the fall of 1942, Tarr sat at his kitchen table checking his watch impatiently. He was waiting on one of his spies, a man named Dushko Popov. Popov had just returned from a trip to Lisbon and Tarr was eager to see what information he would bring back from his German handlers there. Popov was a Serbian playboy from a wealthy family. He never stayed tied down for long, either romantically or in business. He was so smooth that, after the war, some would say he was an inspiration for James Bond. As the owner of an import-export company, Popov traveled frequently around Europe during

the war, mostly through London and Lisbon. Lisbon was a neutral country during the war, and was used as a hub for spying by both sides. The Nazis were impressed by Popov's business connections in British society, and they recruited him as a spy. But it wasn't long before Popov came to the British, offering up his services as a double agent. Tar was never fully sure if he could trust Popov. He seemed to enjoy drinking and womanizing more than he did being a good spy.

Tar wanted to meet with Popov, to gauge if he was worth the risk of trusting him. Finally, Popov arrived at Tar's house, dressed to the nines in an expensive suit and overcoat. Tar eyed him suspiciously as he sat down. He asked Popov about his trip to Lisbon. Popov shrugged casually. He remarked how easy it had been to convince his handlers that he was on their side. By the time he left Portugal, the Germans had given him a new mission and $25,000 in cash. Tar tried to keep a straight face, but inside he was deeply impressed. Popov reached into the pockets of his overcoat and pulled out a large rolled-up

wad of cash. He dropped it on the table with a smile. Then he pulled out a few more. He pushed the money toward Tar, as if he was saying he was going all in. Tar was surprised. Carrying around that much cash was reckless, even stupid for a spy. On the other hand, Popov had leveled with him. It seemed he was showing Tar he had nothing to hide. Tarr leaned in closer. He asked Popov what mission the Nazis had assigned him. Popov said they'd asked him to find out information about an allied invasion of Europe.

Now that the Americans were fully engaged in the war, the Germans knew an invasion would be coming at some point. They wanted to be prepared. Tarr sat back, deep in thought. There wouldn't be much for Popov to report for some time. The D-Day plans were still a long way from being finalized. Then an idea struck him, one that could potentially change the course of the war. Tarr ran the double-cross team and managed a growing network of spies the Germans believed

were loyal to them. He was used to controlling what information they fed to the Nazis, but most of what they reported was true, even if it was ultimately useless. Tarr wondered if he could use his spies to feed the Germans misinformation. As long as he and his team plotted their moves carefully, the double-cross network could make the Germans believe whatever he wanted them to. Tarr took the money off the table. He thanked Popov for his loyalty and said MI5 would be in touch soon. Popov nodded and left, taking one last quick look at the money. Tarr thought

he might have seen a fleeting look of regret in Popov's eyes. Maybe he'd been hoping MI5 would give him a share for his loyalty. Tarr decided he would keep a close eye on Popov, just in case. On a dreary day in early 1944, Lily Sergeyev lay in her bed choking back sobs. She'd been crying ever since she got a letter informing her that her beloved dog Babs had been run over. MI5 had lied to her. The agency had promised that they would send Babs over to London to live with her. It was, after all, her one condition for becoming a British double agent. But now her best friend was dead, and Lily was beside herself. How could MI5 expect her to be loyal to them when they hadn't held up their end of the

bargain? Being a spy wasn't turning out to be the exciting adventure she'd pictured. She was born in Russia, but her family fled the Russian Revolution when she was young. She grew up in France and found her calling as a journalist. She loved traveling around and meeting important people. She'd even interviewed some of the highest Nazi officials before the war. Given her talents, a friend of hers recruited her as a German spy. Lily accepted. She planned to ultimately flip sides and help the British liberate her beloved France. She had hoped to be useful and have some adventures at the same time. But now she was 32 and stuck in a lifeless town on the outskirts of London, writing boring

letters to her German handlers. And as she stood in her misery, Lily's heart hurt. She felt completely alone. And now her dog was dead. Someone knocked on the door to Lily's apartment. She pulled herself out of bed and opened the door. It was Mary Shurer, her MI5 case officer. Mary walked into Lily's bedroom. Lily expected her to tell her how sorry she was to hear about Babs, some little display

of human decency. But she didn't. Instead, she just started talking about Lily's cover story for her next mission. Like nothing had ever happened. Lily found the British cold and unfeeling. They were more like machines than people. MI5 expected her to do everything they wanted, no matter how she felt about it. Mary told her that her next mission would be in Lisbon.

The goal was to obtain a radio transmitter from a German handler. That way she could send the Nazis misinformation more efficiently. By early 1944, the Allied plans for D-Day had been set, and Operation Fortitude, the fake invasion, was in full swing. The double-cross network of agents was slowly feeding the Germans false intelligence about where the invasion would take place. The British wanted it to appear they were targeting Pas de Calais instead of Normandy. Lily knew she was a part of this grand plan, but Mary had been cagey about the details.

It seemed like they didn't fully trust her. Mary asked if Lily was ready for a mission. Lily sighed. She just wanted all of this to be over. If she could use the radio transmitter to convince the Nazis of the D-Day Khan, she could help end the war. Then she could go home to Paris. On the other hand, without Babs, it didn't really feel like home anymore.

She was torn. She knew the Nazis were the real enemy, but the British hadn't treated her well, either. She wanted to punish them for what they'd done to her, and to Babs. But for the time being, she would pretend that all was well. Lily looked at Mary and nodded. She said she was ready for the mission. Have you ever gotten a message out of the blue? Maybe you ignore them or maybe you end up in conversation. Maybe they tell you about an amazing offer.

I can really show you how to make some money. And maybe that gets you into a lot of trouble. But this isn't a story about people like you, the people receiving these messages. This is a story about the people behind the messages, on the other end of the line. Thousands of them. Working in a micro city.

Built for scammers. From Wondery, the makers of Dr. Death and Kill List, comes Scam Factory. A new series about survival at the expense of others. Follow Scam Factory on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to Scam Factory early and ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple podcasts.

What's up everybody, it's Jason Kelsey and I'm here with my slightly famous little brother, Travis, AKA Big Yeti Kelsey. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, we're here to bring you a next level entertainment experience with our show, New Heights, where the Lumbaby reigns supreme. We're covering all the hardest hitting topics in order of importance, UFO sightings,

the ideal PB and J combo, and Trav becoming a big time acting star. Big time is a big stretch. We've got can't miss A-list interviews though. That's right, and of course, next level access to life inside the NFL and in the booth. Just because I retired doesn't mean I'm out of the game. Yeah, I mean, the old dad shoes suggest otherwise,

but those are the I'm out the game shoes right there. Listen and watch New Heights wherever you get your podcasts. And if you want to listen to us first without any interruptions and get bonus content, join one three plus in the one three app, Apple podcasts or Spotify. In February, 1944, Serbian playboy, Dushko Popov landed in Lisbon. A car was waiting for him as usual. He got in, preparing himself for another meeting with his German handlers. Popov was buzzing with excitement.

His handlers were playboys too, and they didn't care much for Nazi ideology. They routinely skimmed money off the top of Popov's salary from Berlin to pay for their hefty gambling and alcohol habits. Popov didn't mind, so long as it kept suspicion off of him. He was more concerned about MI5. He knew they still worried about his loyalty. There had been a fierce debate about his position among the double-crossed team. But ultimately they decided they could trust him enough to hand-deliver misinformation

about the D-Day Khan. Popov was keenly aware of how much responsibility he held. The invasion was only a few months away. If he was found out, it could ruin all their careful plans. Popov checked his briefcase. He made sure he had the documents the British had given him. All of them contained falsified details

that indicated an attack at Patekale. The Allies had even built up a fake army with wooden airplanes and inflatable tanks in the southeast of England to suggest they would land there. Popov carried photographs to bolster his story. The car dropped Popov off at the up there offices. He walked in with a big smile,

expecting a happy reunion with his handler. Instead, a new Nazi officer walked out to greet him, a man he'd never seen before. The officer was stern and serious. He eyed Popov with suspicion and seemed immune to his charms. For the first time since he defected to the British, Popov felt a prickle of nerves. The officer ordered Popov to take a seat in a side office. He had no choice but to oblige, his heart pounding under his expensive suit. The officer grilled him on his activity in London.

He asked him who he'd met with, where he'd been, how he'd acquired his intelligence. Luckily, Popov loved to gamble and he had a great poker face. He pulled out the documents and calmly told the officer how he'd been able to collect them. He talked about meeting high-level British businessmen who let slip about a buildup of troops across the channel from Patekallee. The photographs he brought were proof. The officer looked at the documents closely.

Popov sat back and smoked a cigarette. Inside he was burning with anxiety. If the officer called his bluff, he had no more cards to play. The interrogation continued for two days. In the end, the officer seemed to accept Popov's story. He thanked Popov for his work and took the doctored paperwork with him. Popov slumped back in his chair, relieved. He needed a drink, or maybe a few.

Shortly after Popov's trip, Lily Sergeyev also flew into Lisbon. On the flight, she debated whether or not she should slip away once she got back to Europe. She could turn her back on her life of espionage completely, but in the end, she decided against it. Lily wasn't a quitter, no matter how upset she was with how MI5 had handled things. Lily met with her German handler on March 14, 1944. He thanked her for all the excellent intelligence she had been providing lately. Then he told her he had something new for her.

He handed her a gift wrapped in paper and string. Lily slowly unwrapped the package. Inside the box was a small radio transmitter. Lily smiled. It was exactly what MI5 had been hoping the Germans would give her. This meant they really trusted her. Her handler explained that the Nazis wanted information about where the Allied troops were gathering. Lily was given instructions about when and how to radio them with messages.

She would be using Morse code as an extra precaution. Then her handler looked at her seriously. He explained that there was a chance that the British might try to make contact with her and flip her to their side, and from there get her to sabotage the Nazis. Lily fought the urge to smile. She wanted to say, you have no idea. Then her handler gave her something called a control signal, a small code that would tell the Germans if the British knew

she was spying and were trying to manipulate her. All Lily had to do was put a double dash into one of her messages, and the Germans would know she was relaying false information. Lily knew what she should do. The moment she got back to England, she should tell her case officer Mary everything this man had told her, including the part about the control signal. But she couldn't stop thinking about how cold the woman's reaction had been after her dog Babs had died. Not a flicker of sympathy. Not the slightest display of compassion.

Why should she be faithful to a person like that? So Lily made a secret pact with herself. She decided she would tell her case officer everything about her time in Lisbon. Everything except the control signal. Lisbon. Everything except the control signal. It gave her a thrill to keep a secret from MI5, to hold just a little bit of power over them. If she really wanted to, she could ruin the entire D-Day plot, just like the British had ruined her life when they let Babs die. On the flight back to England, Lily couldn't stop smiling. For the first time since the war began, she felt like

she had some control over her life. While Popov and Lily enjoyed the sun in Lisbon, Juan Pujol Garcia was pacing back and forth in his office in gloomy London. A fascist spy from Wales was causing problems with the D-Day Khan. The spy was stationed in the southwest of England, which is where the troops were gathering for the real invasion of Normandy. The spy would surely see all the military activity and warn the Germans. Juan thought carefully about what to do with this man. He couldn't allow him to relay any real information.

So he came up with a plan. What if the spy came down with a serious illness, one that would keep him from reporting on any future troop movements? The fascist spy, of course, did not exist. He was one of Wan's many invented contacts. He had been working for MI5 for two years now. During that time, Juan had invented a network of over 20 fake agents. He fed their made-up reports on Allied plans to the Germans, who never seemed to suspect

that he might be lying to them. But the process of creating his fake network was stressful. Juan often spent 12 hours a day in his office, spinning his web of false information. He had to keep detailed notes of every report to keep his lies consistent. By the end of the war, his various fake agents had over a million classified pages in their files. The Germans had to believe every lie he told them.

If they noticed even a slight discrepancy in his reports, it could ruin everything. To make matters worse, Juan's wife Aracely was miserable in London. She was cut off from her community in Spain and forbidden from speaking about her husband's work. Every night she and Juan would argue for hours. One day she threatened him with blackmail. She said she would reveal his role as a spy unless she and her son were allowed to go back home.

Juan had to think fast. He didn't want to lie to his wife, but his work was too important, so he came up with a plan. He had a contact from MI5 come to his house and tell his wife that Juan had been arrested because of her threats. By the time he came home a few hours later with a made-up excuse about his release, she was beside herself. Through her tears, she promised to never tell anyone about his work. Despite the challenges of being a spy, Juan remained incredibly motivated to defeat the Germans. He had lived through the terrors of fascism in Franco's Spain.

He wanted to do as much damage to the Nazis as possible. Plus, with every made-up report, he delighted in taunting the Germans. Juan could make them believe anything he came up with. In early May 1944, Tar Robertson sipped his afternoon tea, enjoying a rare moment of peace. D-Day was only a few weeks away. The Allies were amassing an army of more than 150,000 troops to strike at Normandy. Most nights, Tar slept at his office, at least he tried to sleep. He would usually lie awake at night worrying about whether the Germans would buy into his plan. If they believed the invasion was happening at Calais, the Germans would be unprepared for the real invasion at Normandy and the war would hopefully be over within the year.

One of Tars colleagues came running into his office. The panicked look on his face was all Tarr needed to know. Something had gone terribly wrong. Tarr learned that one of Popov's sources in German intelligence had been arrested. This source knew Popov was a double agent. MI5 had no idea why Popov's source had been detained, but the possibility that he would be interrogated could unravel the whole Operation Fortitude plan. If the source revealed Popov was a double agent, the Germans would immediately identify his intelligence as false, which would lead them to see that the invasion was not happening in Calais, but Normandy. The double-cross team exploded into chaos at the news.

Some of Tarr's colleagues yelled at him, saying they knew Popov couldn't be trusted. Tarr shouted back that it wasn't Popov's fault that his source had been arrested. They needed to make a plan, and the team loudly argued about how best to move forward. Some agents asserted that only Popov needed to be shut down, but others said Popov's source could potentially reveal the entire double-cross operation. So the whole thing needed to be disassembled as soon as possible. Amidst all the shouting, Tarr's head was spinning. The invasion was only a month away. They were so close to convincing the Nazis of the Kaloy invasion. Popov had been especially crucial to this plan.

Shutting him down now was the safer bet, but they'd be losing a valuable asset. The eyes around the room turned to Tar, who knew that the decision finally came down to him. Tar ordered the room to be quiet. He decided that Operation Fortitude was too important to be stopped. The team would just deactivate Popov as an agent, since he was at the highest risk of

being exposed. All the other double agents would continue sending false intelligence that pointed to Patekalei. The double-crossed team would monitor German communications as closely as possible. If the Brits found out that Popov's source talked to the Germans, they would shut Doublecross down completely. As Tarr went back to his office, he'd hoped he'd made the right decision. The pressure of ensuring the Allies' victory weighed heavily on his shoulders. If the Germans caught wind that they were being lied to, the whole war could change on a dime. they were being lied to, the whole war could change on a dime. On May 17th, less than three weeks before the invasion, Lily Sergeyev was feeling down again.

She was having health problems, she missed Babs, and she was tired of lying. Her work as a spy had been non-stop for weeks. She had sent several reports of false military information to her German handler, exactly as the British had asked her to do. It was all very draining, especially considering how little she was being paid. With every radio transmission, Lilly toyed with the idea of sending two dashes, her control signal to indicate she was being coerced by the British. If she sent it, the Nazis would immediately know the messages she was sending were false.

She still hadn't told the British about her control signal. Keeping it a secret made her days just a bit brighter, even if she never used it. Lily's MI5 case officer, Mary, came to see her. Lily figured it was to go over radio communications, but Mary finally seemed to realize how depressed Lily was. She asked if Lily wanted to go see a movie together. They both deserved a day off. Lily wasn't sure if this was some kind of trick. This was very unlike Mary, who was usually overly formal, but going to the movies sounded a lot more fun than sending off more radio transmissions, so she agreed.

The two of them went to see Gone with the Wind. When they left the theater, Lily was completely stunned to see Mary crying. Maybe her case officer wasn't such a machine after all. The next day, Mary came over to discuss Lily's next transmission. It might have been Mary's display of emotion the day before, or maybe she was just tired of keeping a secret, but Lily couldn't stand it anymore. She blurted out that her handler had given her a control signal. Mary's eyes widened in horror. Lily knew she had just kicked the hornet's nest. Mary's friendliness from the day before melted away. In a cold voice, she told Lily not to go anywhere. She

said she had to inform Tar Robertson and raced out of the apartment. Lily sat down on her bed. She realized it had been a huge mistake to tell the truth, but there was no going back now. Tar drove as fast as he could to Lily's apartment. His blood was boiling. Lily had already caused enough problems with all her moping about her dog. Now she may have just sacrificed everything he'd worked for only weeks away from the finish line.

After storming in, he demanded to know whether she had sent a control signal. If she had, the Germans would know the reports she sent were lies. Lily stayed calm in the face of Tar's anger. She promised that she hadn't sent the signal. She had only kept it from them because she was angry about Babs and about how little she was being paid. Tarr's face flushed red. He couldn't believe that she might have thrown all of Operation Fortitude out the window out of spite. Was a little dog really worth sabotaging the mission that might end the most deadly war in world history? He yelled at Lily for being so childish and selfish.

She yelled back that MI5 had been selfish when they hadn't kept their promise about Babs. Tar asked her to tell him what the control signal was. Lily refused to tell him, especially after he'd been so rude to her. Tar took her radio transmitter away and left in a huff. He raced back to MI5's office. He instructed the members of his team to pour over Lily's communications. They had no idea what the control signal was, but they needed to try and find it. If she had sent it to her handler, their whole plan would need to change, fast.

As TAR looked over Lily's telegrams, fear bubbled up inside him. He had just lost Popov. Now another one of his agents was potentially compromised. He had only a few weeks to make sure the mission still had a chance of succeeding. Tarr didn't trust Lily, not after she lied about the control signal. But for now, all he could do was hope that she'd been telling the truth when she said she hadn't sent it. true crime enthusiasts? Join us for Wondry's Exhibit C inaugural True Crime Cruise aboard the luxurious cruise ship the Norwegian Joy for an unforgettable voyage from Miami to

Nassau, Bahamas. Take to the high seas for this enthralling around-the-clock true crime experience. Immerse yourself with some of the best minds in criminal psychology and your favorite true crime podcast hosts and experts, all while enjoying top-tier amenities and breathtaking ocean views. The Exhibit C Cruise is the ultimate true crime experience where you and fellow enthusiasts can share theories and participate in activities like an immersive murder mystery, a beat the polygraph challenge, or self-defense classes that would deter any would-be criminal. Come for the intrigue. Stay for the sunshine. Go to exhibitccruise.com to learn more and sign up for the pre-sale.

Panic among the double-cross team grew as the clock ticked down to D-Day. On June 4th, just two days before the invasion, Juan Pujol Garcia went for a walk around London. His work and home life were both stressful. His wife was still deeply unhappy, but she kept her grievances inside the house. Having a moment to himself helped ease his nerves. When Juan returned home around 8.30 pm, he found his case officer anxiously waiting for him. Juan asked him what was wrong.

The case officer explained, earlier that day, a teletype operator for the Associated Press had made a major mistake. She had accidentally sent out a fake message about an allied invasion while practicing her typing. It didn't take long for Radio Moscow and Radio Berlin to announce to the world that the Allies were heading into Europe. This was seriously bad news. Juan knew the Germans would be whipped into a frenzy of anxiety and would soon reach out

to him for answers. Juan needed to calm the Nazis down. If they believed that the invasion was happening, they'd send reinforcements all along the coast, including to Normandy. Juan needed to keep the German troops focused on Calais. Juan hurried into his house and got to work. A familiar mix of stress and excitement came over him as he frantically radioed his German handlers. He tried to make light of the leak and wrote to them, quote, surprised by the news in the papers about the girl who communicated the false alarm. He was hoping they would catch his drift, that it was a stupid mistake and not worth

worrying over. No matter what happened, he insisted, the Germans needed to stay focused on Calais. Juan held his breath until the Germans confirmed that they got his message. Juan's case officer thanked him for his work. Despite his nerves, Juan couldn't help but be a little proud of himself. He'd come a long way from his days as an unsuccessful chicken farmer. Even he couldn't have imagined how important he would be to the Allied war effort. The invasion at Normandy was happening in two days.

Juan said a little prayer that the Germans would take the bait and stay focused on the wrong place. At 10.15 pm on June 5, 1944, Helmut Meyer, a Nazi counter-intelligence officer stationed in Calais, rushed out of his office. He had just intercepted a message that could change the course of the entire war. Major sprinted into the dining room, out of breath. His commanding officer barely looked up from his game of bridge. Major told the officers that he had just intercepted a message from the French resistance.

The news about the invasion from the Associated Press had been a false alarm, but this intelligence was real. The invasion was happening within 48 hours, and it was headed to Normandy. The officer sighed and put down his cards. He thought for a moment. Meyer's pulse quickened with anticipation. The officer gave the order to put the division on full alert. Meyer saluted, his hand trembling with fear. The invasion, dreaded for over two years, was finally here. As he hurried out of the dining room, he heard the officer mumble, I'm too old a bunny to get too excited about this. Meyer raised an eyebrow.

He couldn't help but think that excited wasn't the right word. Shouldn't he be terrified? The invasion was imminent. If the Nazis didn't fight off the Allies, they could lose Western Europe. As Meyer radioed Hitler's headquarters back in his office, he figured someone in Nazi command would care about what he just learned. Meyer was wrong.

The night before D-Day, Hitler did not order any changes to Nazi strategy. He completely believed that the Normandy invasion was a distraction from a larger assault some 200 miles to the northeast. His army remained at Calais. Thanks to the efforts of the double cross team, he thought the D-Day assault was a diversion, a small precursor to the main invasion. At 3 am on June 6th, Juan Pujol Garcia gritted his teeth. It had been a long night. Really, it had been a long few years.

And all his hard work had led to this moment. He was sitting in his house with a handful of MI5 agents. Juan's wife and son were in bed, unaware that the world was about to change. The allied troops were hours away from landing at Normandy. The double-crossed team would know very soon if their deception had paid off. A pit of worry settled in Juan's stomach as he turned on the wireless transmitter and the agents gathered around him. He needed to send the Germans one more carefully crafted message before the invasion.

He looked at Tar, a nervous smile on his face. Juan tapped out an urgent report in Morse code. He told the Germans that an invasion was coming to Normandy in mere hours. It was an abrupt reversal from what he'd been saying up to this point. But by warning the Germans ahead of time, Juan could maintain his cover. The Germans would never suspect him of double-crossing them if he gave them real intel. The message was carefully timed so that it wouldn't give the Nazis enough time to defend the attack, but it would allow Juan to continue sending along false information about another

invasion coming to Patekale. There was no response from the German side. The agents started pacing back and forth. They looked at Juan. He double-checked that the receiver was working. He shrugged. The German handlers were usually very punctual. Fifteen minutes later, Juan sent the message again. No response. The MI5 agents started loosening up. If the Germans were asleep at the wheel, it was their funeral. By the time they finally got a response back hours later, Juan was exhausted and a little drunk.

The MI5 team had been celebrating quietly but heartily. The Germans had received the warning too late. The fighting in Normandy had already begun. The MI5 agents clapped Juan on the back. Tar shot him a proud look. Juan beamed. He had been at the forefront of fooling the Nazis. This was a major win for Operation Fortitude. For the Nazis, this failure to respond would go down as an outrageous blunder. But there was still the chance they could move their troops to meet the Allied forces

in Normandy. It would be up to Juan and the other double agents to keep them concerned about Patekalei. The MI5 agents left as the sun broke over the horizon. Juan got into bed just as his wife was waking up. He knew he had to get up soon and get back to work. But for a moment he savored the success of their plan. The Nazis had been fooled. The Allies were storming into Europe. They had pulled off the D-Day Khan. Hitler slept in on the morning of June 6th. He assumed the Normandy attacks didn't need his full attention. It was a mistake that would lead to his downfall.

Even though the Germans were caught by surprise, they still maintained defenses at Normandy, and the fighting on the beaches was brutal. Over 4,000 Allied soldiers died on D-Day alone. Still, the casualties would have been far worse if the Germans had put their whole strength into defending Normandy. if the Germans had put their whole strength into defending Normandy. Following the landings, Operation Fortitude spies kept up their covers as German operatives. Some agents, like Lilly, radioed their handlers with apologies and excuses for why they'd missed the attack. But Juan reprimanded his handler for missing his warning about the Normandy invasion. The Germans apologized for having underestimated him. The double-crossed team continued to feed the Germans' intelligence that a second,

larger attack was imminent. Their cover would be blown soon enough. But the longer they could keep German troops pinned down in Calais, the more lives they were saving. Even Winston Churchill aided in the effort. He lied to the House of Commons that more attacks were coming. For weeks, German generals held the bulk of their forces at Potech-Hallee, waiting for an invasion that never came. Eventually, the double-cross program was shut down. Lily Sergeyev was more than happy to part ways with MI5. She returned to a liberated France and fell in love with a US Army major. They got married the following year.

Popov's source never revealed that he was a double agent. He continued to spy for the British until the war ended, when he returned to his life of business, drinking, and womanizing. The Germans never suspected that Juan Pujol Garcia and his network of spies were all the trick. In fact, Hitler himself recommended Juan for the Iron Cross, a medal usually reserved for frontline soldiers. Juan cherished that he had fooled the Nazis so well, he ended up retiring to a stress-free

life on the beaches of South America. A happy ending that was well deserved. The double-crossed team did not claim full credit for catching the Germans off-guard. The build-up of a fake army with inflatable tanks helped sell the story to the Nazis. An allied bombing campaign in the Patekale area kept German attention focused there as well. But most historians agree that the actions of the double-crossed team played a critical role in the Allied victory. Their work helped secure the success of the D-Day landings and turned the tide of the war. These ordinary people turned spies of Operation Fortitude risked

their lives to convince the Nazis of a complete lie. The course of history was changed forever, all thanks to a failed chicken farmer, a Serbian gambler, and a journalist who loved her dog. From Ballen Studios in Wondery, this is Redacted – Declassified Mysteries, hosted by me, Luke Lamanna. A quick note about our stories. We do a lot of research, but some details and scenes are dramatized. We used many different sources for our show, but we especially recommend Doublecross, the true story of the D-Day spies by Ben McIntyre,

and Agent Garbo, the brilliant eccentric secret agent who tricked Hitler and saved D-Day, by Stefan Talty. Also the article, The Day We Didn't Invade Normandy, eccentric secret agent who tricked Hitler and saved D-Day by Stefan Talty. Also the article The Day We Didn't Invade Normandy by Michael J. Sokolow for Slate magazine. This episode was written by Jake Natureman. Sound designed by Andre Plews. Our producers are Christopher B.

Dunn and John Reed. Our researcher is Sarah Vytak. Fact checking by Brian Ponent. For Ballin Studios, our head of production is Zach Levitt. Script editing by Scott Allen. Our coordinating producer is Samantha Collins. Production support by Avery Siegel. Produced by me, Luke Lamanna. Executive producers are Mr. Ballen and Nick Witters. For Wondery, our head of sound is Marcelino Villalpando.

Senior producers are Laura Donna Pallavota, Dave Schilling, and Rachel Engelman. Senior managing producer is Nick Ryan. Managing producer is Olivia Fonte. Executive producers are Erin O'Flaherty and Marshall Louis. For Wondery. Wondery. Wondery. Wondery.

Follow Redacted, declassified mysteries on the Wondery app, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to every episode of Redacted early and ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey.