A row between a spy and his wife almost compromised World War Two D-Day operations, secret MI5 files show.
Juan Pujol, who was codenamed Agent Garbo, had helped to convince the Nazis the landings would not take place in Normandy but in the Pas-de-Calais. But after being confined to their London house to protect his identity, his wife threatened to go to the Spanish embassy in a row in June 1943. She said she would tell all unless she was allowed to visit her mother.
Homesick
The family was based in Harrow, north-west London, where Agent Garbo had a network of sub-agents sending false intelligence reports to his German spymasters. His feedback of false information to the Nazis diverted them away from the scene of the actual D-Day landings on 6 June 1944.
Mrs Pujol not only struggled to cope with the pressure of the family’s double life but also became homesick. She was missing Spanish food and became upset at her husband being absent so often. Fears that the Pujol family would be recognised on the streets of London, led to Mrs Pujol being frustrated at the restrictions imposed on her and their two children.