Pujol's Story

Pujol's early reports were full of errors. He claimed that London was so hot in summer that foreign diplomats would all move to Brighton. The Germans didn't pick up on these clues partly because of course they were inclined to believe him. They gave Pujol his first codename, Arabel. Soon his lies grew more ambitious. During the siege of Malta, when Germany and Italy were attacking the British base on the island, he reported that there was a British convoy of five ships sailing from Liverpool to the western Mediterranean. Back in London, the German action sent shockwaves through British intelligence. Yet the British military intelligence service MI5 and the secret intelligence service SIS, also