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Re:WWII: Failed novelist becomes a spy for Germany, makes up... by Bluescreenbuddy on Friday March 08, 2024 @08:32AM (#39640856)
This would make a great series on HBO.
Re:WWII: Failed novelist becomes a spy for Germany, makes up... by DinaCoder99 on Friday March 08, 2024 @08:41AM (#39640929)
Eddie Chapman even more so!
Re:WWII: Failed novelist becomes a spy for Germany, makes up... by mhh__ on Friday March 08, 2024 @09:17AM (#39641238)
The Ben MacIntyre anthology would be a winner
Re:WWII: Failed novelist becomes a spy for Germany, makes up... by wrp on Friday March 08, 2024 @07:54AM (#39640618)
Strangely, there is no mention of the Graham Greene novel, Our Man in Havana.
Re:WWII: Failed novelist becomes a spy for Germany, makes up... by agwa on Friday March 08, 2024 @08:43AM (#39640954)
Apparently Greene learned about García while working for MI6 and it inspired Our Man in Havana! https://earlybirdbooks.com/our-man-in-havana-excerpt
Re:WWII: Failed novelist becomes a spy for Germany, makes up... by bloat on Friday March 08, 2024 @09:31AM (#39641349)
And then Our Man In Havana inspire le Carré to write the Tailor Of Panama. It's a story that keeps on giving!
Re:WWII: Failed novelist becomes a spy for Germany, makes up... by hprotagonist on Friday March 08, 2024 @07:59AM (#39640652)
learned about this some years ago on tumblr of all places.

https://dumb-science-jokes.tumblr.com/post/172122916995/magp...

Re:WWII: Failed novelist becomes a spy for Germany, makes up... by Waterluvian on Friday March 08, 2024 @08:35AM (#39640883)
The casual, frank, oftentimes exaggerated style demonstrated here is one of my favourite narrative styles for learning history.
Re:WWII: Failed novelist becomes a spy for Germany, makes up... by FinnLobsien on Friday March 08, 2024 @08:43AM (#39640952)
I think part of that is because their only intent is to tell the story in a way people understand. They're not trying to sound smart because there's no editor or boss that reviews their writing.

Their point is to make sure someone gets the story, not that they get promoted or something

Re:WWII: Failed novelist becomes a spy for Germany, makes up... by Waterluvian on Friday March 08, 2024 @08:55AM (#39641059)
That makes sense. It reminds me of Drunk History. The way a drunk person will just tell you a story without any complex fluff because sentences are expensive when you’re drunk.
Re:WWII: Failed novelist becomes a spy for Germany, makes up... by FinnLobsien on Friday March 08, 2024 @09:15AM (#39641220)
hahaha never heard of that one. I like "write like your reader has to pee" lol
Re:WWII: Failed novelist becomes a spy for Germany, makes up... by hef19898 on Friday March 08, 2024 @11:06AM (#39642383)
What about people reading on the toilette?
Re:WWII: Failed novelist becomes a spy for Germany, makes up... by Waterluvian on Friday March 08, 2024 @11:08AM (#39642407)
Write like your reader’s legs have fallen asleep.
Re:WWII: Failed novelist becomes a spy for Germany, makes up... by hef19898 on Friday March 08, 2024 @11:13AM (#39642473)
That would do it! I just wonder, in which direction, shorter writing because people want to get up or longer because you are sitting anyways?
Re:WWII: Failed novelist becomes a spy for Germany, makes up... by kohbo on Friday March 08, 2024 @12:40PM (#39643534)
I found it really hard to follow and internalize the information
Re:WWII: Failed novelist becomes a spy for Germany, makes up... by 082349872349872 on Friday March 08, 2024 @07:27AM (#39640436)
> instead he moved to Lisbon and created bogus reports about Britain from a variety of public sources

see also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Scherhorn

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Re:WWII: Failed novelist becomes a spy for Germany, makes up... by zanellato19 on Friday March 08, 2024 @08:02AM (#39640670)
Are you in favor of the nazis? Because this comment makes it looks like you are.
Re:WWII: Failed novelist becomes a spy for Germany, makes up... by bigbillheck on Friday March 08, 2024 @08:19AM (#39640769)
Check their post history they're some sort of white supremacist (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39519099 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39397491 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39405619) which isn't necessarily nazi but is in the same ballpark.
Re:WWII: Failed novelist becomes a spy for Germany, makes up... by benjijay on Friday March 08, 2024 @09:16AM (#39641227)
Have these been removed since you linked them, or is viewing flagged comments some power I haven't figured out yet?
Re:WWII: Failed novelist becomes a spy for Germany, makes up... by pavlov on Friday March 08, 2024 @09:24AM (#39641286)
There's probably a karma limit to viewing flagged comments, since myself and the poster you're replying to have this ability and we both have >1k karma.
Re:WWII: Failed novelist becomes a spy for Germany, makes up... by hef19898 on Friday March 08, 2024 @09:33AM (#39641372)
You can set "show dead" in your profile, no karma limit needed I am aware of.
Re:WWII: Failed novelist becomes a spy for Germany, makes up... by pavlov on Friday March 08, 2024 @10:44AM (#39642106)
Thanks! I had no idea I’ve set this flag :D
Re:WWII: Failed novelist becomes a spy for Germany, makes up... by benjijay on Friday March 08, 2024 @09:47AM (#39641507)
Gamechanger, much gratitude to you!
Re:WWII: Failed novelist becomes a spy for Germany, makes up... by hef19898 on Friday March 08, 2024 @09:50AM (#39641537)
Welcome! Having it activated is pretty eye opening at times.
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Re:WWII: Failed novelist becomes a spy for Germany, makes up... by bavent on Friday March 08, 2024 @09:59AM (#39641607)
Which type of white? Do Irish count now? Or do you mean only Anglos and those of German descent? What about Slavic people? Are they white now or still hated by you types? I can never keep track.
Re:WWII: Failed novelist becomes a spy for Germany, makes up... by hef19898 on Friday March 08, 2024 @10:15AM (#39641758)
I hope this is last comment of the this person to get him blocked...
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Re:WWII: Failed novelist becomes a spy for Germany, makes up... by hef19898 on Friday March 08, 2024 @10:22AM (#39641844)
And you seem to be one the few nut jobs and racists who has a problem with looking at people with a different skin color. So the problem was within you all the time.

Just out of couriosity, for as long as you are still with us, how exactly do you think you ramblings and BS will change your perceived problem of not enough "Whites" in London? And specifically London, are other places ok for you the way they are? Does the place change when you move? So many questions...

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Re:WWII: Failed novelist becomes a spy for Germany, makes up... by hef19898 on Friday March 08, 2024 @10:31AM (#39641949)
How about you take your crap to Truth Social or 4Chan now? And don't forget to take your meds, you need them.
Re:WWII: Failed novelist becomes a spy for Germany, makes up... by bigbillheck on Friday March 08, 2024 @12:26PM (#39643367)
Going by observations, the rule here seems to be that you can say whatever horrible things you like as long as you maintain decorum.
Re:WWII: Failed novelist becomes a spy for Germany, makes up... by _visgean on Friday March 08, 2024 @07:54AM (#39640621)
> Pujol had a key role in the success of Operation Fortitude, the deception operation intended to mislead the Germans about the timing, location and scale of the invasion of Normandy in 1944

Maybe read the article before commenting? He was very much against nazis.

Re:WWII: Failed novelist becomes a spy for Germany, makes up... by churchill on Friday March 08, 2024 @07:51AM (#39640591)
How exactly do you mean?
Re:WWII: Failed novelist becomes a spy for Germany, makes up... by mjhay on Friday March 08, 2024 @10:02AM (#39641638)
The Nazi's SD and Abwehr intelligence services were incredibly incompetent, as this case shows. The Abwehr did have a relatively high concentration of anti-Nazis, which didn't help either.
Re:WWII: Failed novelist becomes a spy for Germany, makes up... by jandrese on Friday March 08, 2024 @10:15AM (#39641762)
Plus a number of the members were outright British agents, notably in their training corps.
Re:WWII: Failed novelist becomes a spy for Germany, makes up... by hef19898 on Friday March 08, 2024 @10:13AM (#39641745)
The SD was reasonably competent in counter-intelligence, they were by incompetence by the SEO so.

Agree that foreign intelligence operations were beyond bad. I want to call out Fremde Heere Ost under Gehlen in particular, one for his and his departments constant failures to analyse the Soviet, and two fornhim being choosen to lead the new German foreign intelligence service due to his only qualification: being staunchly anti-communist.

Re:WWII: Failed novelist becomes a spy for Germany, makes up... by FactKnower69 on Friday March 08, 2024 @10:29AM (#39641921)
>After developing a loathing of political extremism of all sorts during the Spanish Civil War, Pujol decided to become a spy for Britain as a way to do something "for the good of humanity".

So he joined up with the British Empire just as it began carrying out a genocide in Bengal in 1943. The centrist brain is incredible

Re:WWII: Failed novelist becomes a spy for Germany, makes up... by istultus on Friday March 08, 2024 @11:01AM (#39642301)
I find it best to just sit at home and shout that everyone else but me is morally corrupt, YMMV.

(As an aside, isn't the "centrist brain" always blamed by extremists for not picking a side? But here he picked a side?)

Re:WWII: Failed novelist becomes a spy for Germany, makes up... by ben_jones on Friday March 08, 2024 @10:33AM (#39641973)
Let’s be honest how aware were British citizens of events in Bengal under wartime censorship?
Re:WWII: Failed novelist becomes a spy for Germany, makes up... by hef19898 on Friday March 08, 2024 @10:58AM (#39642261)
Also he fought the Nazis, and didn't support the Bengal famine or blocking of mitigation actions. And yes, most people didn't know what happened, even in India itself it took a while until new spread.
Re:WWII: Failed novelist becomes a spy for Germany, makes up... by m3kw9 on Friday March 08, 2024 @11:22AM (#39642582)
He can’t win in your books, he can join up with hitler or just do nothing and play with himself right?
Re:WWII: Failed novelist becomes a spy for Germany, makes up... by skykooler on Friday March 08, 2024 @10:46AM (#39642138)
I learned about this from an episode of Citation Needed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blN49yGet8g

It's a great watch!

Re:WWII: Failed novelist becomes a spy for Germany, makes up... by jftuga on Friday March 08, 2024 @04:55PM (#39646985)
I found this fascinating:

Excerpt 1: "Pujol had the distinction of receiving military decorations from both sides of the war – being awarded the Iron Cross and becoming a Member of the Order of the British Empire."

Excerpt 2: "His fictitious spy network was so efficient and verbose that his German handlers were overwhelmed and made no further attempts to recruit any additional spies in the UK, according to the Official History of British Intelligence in World War II."

Excerpt 3: "On occasion, he had to invent reasons why his agents had failed to report easily available information that the Germans would eventually know about. For example, he reported that his (fabricated) Liverpool agent had fallen ill just before a major fleet movement from that port, and so was unable to report the event. To support this story, the agent eventually "died" and an obituary was placed in the local newspaper as further evidence to convince the Germans. The Germans were also persuaded to pay a pension to the agent's widow."

Excerpt 4: "For radio communication, "Alaric" needed the strongest hand encryption the Germans had. The Germans provided Garbo with this system, which was in turn supplied to the codebreakers at Bletchley Park. Garbo's encrypted messages were to be received in Madrid, manually decrypted, and re-encrypted with an Enigma machine for retransmission to Berlin. Having both the original text and the Enigma-encoded intercept of it, the codebreakers had the best possible source material for a chosen-plaintext attack on the Germans' Enigma key."