FRENCH SPY SYSTEM

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 816, 9 November 1929, Page 13

FRENCH SPY SYSTEM

ESPIONAGE IN RHINELAND GREAT SECRET SERVICE The headquarters of the French Secret Service are the so-called “Second Bureau” in the Ministry of War at Paris. This bureau is in touch with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as with the Ministry of the Interior, which in its turn is affiliated to the “Surete Generate,” a kind of political police, who must not be confused with the "Police d’Etat.” The officials and agents of the “Surete” —about 1,000 strong—are at the permanent disposal of the Ministry of War, and are employed in obtaining political Information, ia espionage and counter-espionage, and in recruiting persons who will serve as spies and agents, writes a correspondent in the “Manchester Guardian Weekly.” There is a branch of the “Surete” at Mainz, in the Rhineland. It is subordinated to the General Headquarters of the French Army of Occupation and is made up of about 10 officers and about 35 employees. There are sub-branch services at Coblenz and Treves. Three Services These three seryices that are maintained in the Rhineland as part of the French occupation are called “bureaux statistiques,” “eeonomiques,” or “techniques.” They are the nucleus of a spy system that covers all Germany. The employ a number of secret agents known as “indicateurs,” who are recruited either by the officials of the “Surete” or by Germans in French pay, the so-called “recruteurs.” The “indicateurs” are ordinary spies. They are sent into unoccupied territory after they have given proof of their capacity and of their contact with German sources of information. They number about 1,800 or 2,000. They investigate all German factories and workshops where there seems to be the slightest chance that war material might be produced. They take special interest in the chemical industry and try to obtain samples, plans,, patents, secret recipes and methods, and so on. They make surveys of athletic grounds, both in occupied and unoccupied territory, in case they might be suitable landing or starting places for airplanes in case of war. These “indicateurs” are especially concerned with finding out anything that might be considered a German infringement of the Treaty of Versailles. How Spies Are Recruited The officials of the “Surete” in all the Rhineland number about 180. Besides the branches at Mainz, Coblenz and Treves there are so-called “secteurs” in Wiesbaden, Kreuznacfi, Hochst, Bad Ems, Duren, Kaiserslautern, Zweibruckeu, Pirmasenz, Speyer, Ludwigshafen and Landau Each “secteur” employs about ten officials, whose duty It Is to keep a close watch on the whole of the occupied territory. They, like the special “recruteurs,” have to recruit spies and agents, and on the first of every month they draw up a list of their new recruits and forward it io Mainz. They have instructions to approach such persons as might be easily influenced —those, for example, who live

beyond their means, who drink heavily, or who bear Germany some grudge. They also try to join German clubs and societies and to get into touch with German officials. Methods and Pay They havfe instructions to approach German regular soldiers (Reichswehrmen) who come to the Rhineland on leave (no German troops can he stationed in the demilitarised zone). Every Reichswehrman has to obtain a permit from the iuter-AUied military authorities before he can come to the Rhineland on leave. The “Surete” are always informed, and one of their agents will try to start a conversation with the German soldier, will treat him to drinks, or will promise him employment with good pay. Several times it has happened that a German soldier on leave has been trapped into saying too much and. has, in a rash moment, given some sort of information he should not have given. Once having done this he is lost. He will be blackmailed by being told that unless he works for the French he will be reported to the German authorities. The “recruteurs” get from 1,000 to 3,000 francs (about £8 4s to £25) a month. For every “indicateur” they recruit they get a premium of from 50 to 500 francs. If they have been very successful and if the German authorities are on their tracks —unlike the officials of the “Surete” they are German subjects and therefore liable to arrest and trial under German law —they receive employment in France. The French are very anxious that none of their agents shall be caught by the Germans. Some time ago a certain Dovermann (alias Losser) was caught by German detectives at Euskirchen. He broke away from his captors and made a successful dash for the rooms of the French "Commissaire Militaire.” A French military escort arrived and took him to Mainz. At Mainz he received a French uniform in which he could cross into French territory unhinderatf.