GROUP II / IA
MADRID I to BERLIN
RSS 128, 130/9/6/44
TPC on 12896 kcs at 1030 GMT 9/6/44
AUI on 9288 kcs at 1107 GMT
8/6/44
256

267. To HEROLD. Please engage LUDWIG MARTIN in this. Other departments have not. V ALARIC ARABEL reports 9th June from GOLF COURSE via FELIPE. After personal consultation on 8th June in LONDON with my agents DONNY DICK and DORICK, whose messages forwarded today, I believe on the basis of the fact that there are strong provisions of troops in South East and East England, which are not involved in present operations, that these operations are red herring, with the aim to bind hostile resources, and that there will follow critical attacks elsewhere. Bearing in mind the air attacks that have happened there and the strategically advantageous situation of the mentioned marshalling area, these could well happen in the area of PAS DE CALAIS, especially as during such an attack the nearest airbases would alleviate such an endeavour with air strikes. As I have heard yesterday from my contact V AMY (letter KO SP OKDOS No 934, 4/44), there were 75 Divisions in ENGLAND before the start of the FRANCE operation.

KOSP 5879.

GROUP II/IA
MADRID I to BERLIN

GROUP II/IA refers to the German agent transmitting the message and their controller. Madrid is where the message was sent from with a German Enigma encryption machine.

RSS 128, 130/9/6/44

128 tells us the code was the 128th message picked up by the British Radio Security Service (RSS) that day. 130 is the number of the agent listening in.

TFC on 12896 kcs at 1050 GMT 9/6/44
AUI on 9288 kcs at 1107 GMT 8/6/44

The message was sent twice, on 8 and 9 June 1944, at different times from stations AUI and TFC, call signs the Germans changed every day.

267

This was message number 267 from Madrid to Berlin that day.

An HEROLD

HEROLD is the German codename for a senior German army officer, probably Gen Alfred Jodl, based in Berlin.

LUDWIG MARTIN

Code for a figure, unknown to the British, who the agent believes should be informed of the memo’s contents.

V ALARIC ARABEL meldet 9ten Juni aus GOLFPLATZ ueber FELIPE

“V ALARIC ARABEL reports 9 June from GOLFPLATZ via FELIPE”. V means secret agent. Alaric Arabel is the German codename for Juan Pujol Garcia – a Spanish businessman and British double-agent who the Nazis believed was running a network of spies in the UK for them. Golfplatz is the German code for Britain, Felipe is Pujol’s handler.

DONNY, DICK AND DORICK

These are the names of three entirely fictious spies for Germany who, Pujol writes, have told him that large numbers of Allied troops remain gathered in southern England. This, Pujol says, means the initial D Day landings were just a “red herring”. Of course, this is disinformation.

PAS DE CALAIS

Pujol writes that the “critical attacks” are still to come, most likely to be focused on Pas de Calais in northern France. In truth, this is a bluff on Pujol’s part, intended to keep German forces away from the rearguard of the actual invasion sites in Normandy.

AMY

Here Pujol quotes AMY, another fictitious agent, telling him that there were 75 divisions in England before the France landings – meaning more were still to come. The Germans have no idea that this is untrue.

Continue reading the main story

It was an audacious double-cross that fooled the Nazis and shortened World War II. Now a newly-released document reveals the crucial role played by Britain’s code-breaking experts in the 1944 invasion of France.

A fascinating story – and I agree with the comment at the end that suggests that the work of Bletchley Park and British heros should be taught in schools.