Deuxième Bureau
Encyclopedia
The Deuxième Bureau de l'État-major général (Second Bureau of the General Staff) was France's external military
Military
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...

 intelligence agency
Intelligence agency
An intelligence agency is a governmental agency that is devoted to information gathering for purposes of national security and defence. Means of information gathering may include espionage, communication interception, cryptanalysis, cooperation with other institutions, and evaluation of public...

 from 1871 to 1940. It was dissolved together with the Third Republic
French Third Republic
The French Third Republic was the republican government of France from 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed due to the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, to 1940, when France was overrun by Nazi Germany during World War II, resulting in the German and Italian occupations of France...

 upon the armistice with Germany. However the term "Deuxième Bureau", like "MI5
MI5
The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...

" or "SMERSH
SMERSH
SMERSH was the counter-intelligence agency in the Red Army formed in late 1942 or even earlier, but officially founded on April 14, 1943. The name SMERSH was coined by Joseph Stalin...

", outlived the original organization as a general label for the country's intelligence service.

French military intelligence was composed of two separate bureaus prior to World War II. The Premier Bureau was charged with informing the high command
High command
The phrase High command may refer to:* Command * Chain of command* Commander-in-Chief* Defence minister* Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, the WWII command structure popularly known as "German High Command"Compare:* Staff...

 about the state of French, allied, and friendly troops, while the Deuxième Bureau developed intelligence concerning enemy troops. The Deuxième Bureau was celebrated for its cryptanalytical
Cryptanalysis
Cryptanalysis is the study of methods for obtaining the meaning of encrypted information, without access to the secret information that is normally required to do so. Typically, this involves knowing how the system works and finding a secret key...

 work, but criticized for its involvement in the Dreyfus Affair
Dreyfus Affair
The Dreyfus affair was a political scandal that divided France in the 1890s and the early 1900s. It involved the conviction for treason in November 1894 of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a young French artillery officer of Alsatian Jewish descent...

 and its consistent overestimation of German military formations prior to World War II.

Its final director was Colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...

 Louis Rivet.

19th Century

On June 8, 1871, the French Ministry of War
Minister of Defence (France)
The Minister of Defense and Veterans Affairs is the French government cabinet member charged with running the military of France....

 authorized the creation of a service charged with performing "research on enemy plans and operations."

In 1872 the Ministry authorized the creation of a military counter-espionage
Counter-Espionage
-Cast:* Warren William as Michael Lanyard* Eric Blore as Jamison* Hillary Brooke as Pamela Hart* Thurston Hall as Insp. Crane* Fred Kelsey as Detective Wesley Dickens* Forrest Tucker as Anton Schugg* Matthew Boulton as Inspector J...

 service.

In 1876 a Statistiques et de reconnaissances militaires ("Military Statistics and Recognition") section was added to the Deuxième Bureau.

In 1886 a law was passed penalizing espionage activity (another would be passed in 1934).

In October 1894 the Dreyfus Affair occurred and proved so politically divisive that, in May 1899, the government shifted responsibility for counter-espionage to the Ministry of the Interior. A small intelligence section remained within the General Staff, but the Service de surveillance du territoire (Territorial Surveillance Service, SST), an agency of the Sûreté générale, became responsible for the pursuit of foreign spies on French soil. Counter-espionage was to be handled by special Sûreté
Sûreté
Sûreté is a term used in French speaking countries or regions in the organizational title of a civil police force, especially the detective branch thereof.-France:...

 police chiefs. The Deuxième Bureau's statistical section remained in operation until September 1, 1899, when it was disbanded.

1900s'-1920

In 1906 Georges Clemenceau
Georges Clemenceau
Georges Benjamin Clemenceau was a French statesman, physician and journalist. He served as the Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909, and again from 1917 to 1920. For nearly the final year of World War I he led France, and was one of the major voices behind the Treaty of Versailles at the...

 became Président du Conseil
French government ministers
The Cabinet of France is a body of top administration members of the Prime Minister's Cabinet. In French, the word gouvernement generally refers to the "Administration", but in a narrower sense to the Cabinet.The Council is responsible to the French National Assembly...

. With complete control of Interior Ministry
Minister of the Interior (France)
The Minister of the Interior in France is one of the most important governmental cabinet positions, responsible for the following:* The general interior security of the country, with respect to criminal acts or natural catastrophes...

 funding, he created special counter-espionage units, the "brigades du Tigre", a reference to Clemenceau's nickname. Commanded by police commissioner
Police commissioner
Commissioner is a senior rank used in many police forces and may be rendered Police Commissioner or Commissioner of Police. In some organizations, the commissioner is a political appointee, and may or may not actually be a professional police officer. In these circumstances, there is often a...

 Célestin Hennion
Célestin Hennion
Célestin Hennion CVO was a French police officer who rose to head the Prefecture of Police . He is notable for his reorganisation of the Préfecture and the introduction of the Tiger's Brigades...

, the mobile brigades were to handle special operations of the judicial police related to counter-espionage.

In February 1907 the 2ème Bureau was reactivated and was reassigned some of the contre-espionnage responsibilities it had had prior to the Dreyfus affair. Commanded by General Charles-Joseph Dupont, the 2ème Bureau worked with the Interior Ministry, and especially Commissioner Hennion's mobile counter-espionage brigades, which worked closely with France's border patrols.

In August 1911 the oversight of counter-espionage activities was assigned to the administration of the judiciary police that supervised the mobile brigades. In 1913 the government officially assigned counter-espionage operations on foreign soil to the Ministry of War, with the Ministry of the Interior being responsible for border security and prosecution.

In May 1915 the Section de Centralisation du Renseignement ("Central Intelligence Section", SCR) was created and assigned to Commandant Ladoux. It was attached to the 2ème Bureau, which also administered the operations of the Bureaux centraux de renseignement (BCR). Altogether the organization was known as the 5ème Bureau. The SCR was attached to the Section de renseignements (Intelligence Section, SR) in April 1917.

In February 1917 the Président du Conseil put a commissioner of the Sûreté Nationale in charge of the criminal police, general intelligence, and counter-espionage. His command included a filing and archiving section, a section devoted to propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....

 (propagande révolutionnaire, PR) and the SR and SCR. The SR provided a clearinghouse for centralized intelligence-gathering while the SCR was a small team of specialized counter-intelligence officers reporting to the Ministry of War, while a team of police officers were in charge of the arrest of suspects and judicial enquiries.

1930's

In April 1934 the Direction Générale de la Sûreté Générale was changed to the Direction Générale de la Sûreté nationale, with a post of Controller-General in command of Counter-Intelligence. In March 1935 the position was given authority over the territorial police, the police de l’Air, the TSF, and the police carrier-pigeon service.

In June 1936 Colonel Louis Rivet succeeded Colonel Roux as head of the intelligence service and a new organization the Service de centralisation des renseignements (Central Intelligence Service, CE). The CE, headquartered at 2 bis avenue de Tourville, Paris, was run by Commandant
Commandant
Commandant is a senior title often given to the officer in charge of a large training establishment or academy. This usage is common in anglophone nations...

 Guy Schlesser.

In March 1937 the government decreed that territorial surveillance was the responsibility of the police alone, and was to be executed by strictly legal means. A new organization, the Bureau central de Renseignements (Central Intelligence Bureau, BCR) was established the same month and a special section devoted to "preventative defence" was created within the SCR.

In July 1939, at the prompting of military intelligence, a counter-intelligence charter was established and the National Council amended the penal code (article 75 and following) to integrate all 1810, 1886, and 1934 counter-intelligence laws.

Directors of the Deuxième Bureau

  • Colonel Jean Sandherr, between 1886 and 1895
  • Georges Picquart
    Georges Picquart
    Marie Georges Picquart , was a French army officer and Minister of War. He is best known for his role in the Dreyfus Affair.-Early career:...

    , between 1895 and 1896
  • Hubert-Joseph Henry
    Hubert-Joseph Henry
    Hubert-Joseph Henry , French Lieutenant-Colonel in 1897 involved in the Dreyfus affair. Arrested for having forged evidence against Alfred Dreyfus, he was found dead in his prison cell...

    , from 1897 to 1898
  • Colonel Maurice-Henri Gauché, from 1937 to 1940
  • Colonel Louis Rivet, 1940

20th century operations and agents

The Deuxième Bureau developed a reputation as Europe's top cryptoanalytical service in the early 20th century. It scored a notable success at the outbreak of World War I when it cracked the German's diplomatic cryptographic system. The French cryptoanalysts were able to decipher the lengthy telegram containing the German declaration of war before the German Ambassador in Paris could decipher it.

In June 1918 Captain Georges Painvin
Georges Painvin
Georges Jean Painvin was a French cryptanalyst during the First World War. His most notable achievement was the breaking of the ADFGVX cipher in June 1918.Before the First World War, Painvin taught paleontology and geology...

, a DB cryptoanalyst, was able to crack part of the Germans' ADFGVX cipher
Cipher
In cryptography, a cipher is an algorithm for performing encryption or decryption — a series of well-defined steps that can be followed as a procedure. An alternative, less common term is encipherment. In non-technical usage, a “cipher” is the same thing as a “code”; however, the concepts...

. These intercepts allowed an effective response to the movements of the German Army's 15 division-strong advances under Ludendorff at Montdidier
Montdidier
Montdidier is the name of several communes in France:* Montdidier, in the Moselle département* Montdidier, in the Somme département...

 and Compiègne
Compiègne
Compiègne is a city in northern France. It is designated municipally as a commune within the département of Oise.The city is located along the Oise River...

, about 50 miles north of Paris.

Prior to World War II, a Deuxième Bureau agent codenamed 'Rex' made contact with Hans-Thilo Schmidt
Hans-Thilo Schmidt
Hans-Thilo Schmidt codenamed Asché or Source D, was a spy who, during the 1930s, sold secrets about the Germans' Enigma machine to the French...

, a German cipher clerk, in the Grand Hotel of the Belgian
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 town of Verviers
Verviers
Verviers is a Walloon city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Liège. The Verviers municipality includes the old communes of Ensival, Lambermont, Petit-Rechain, Stembert, and Heusy...

. Schmidt, who worked at Defence Ministry Cipher Office in Berlin, sold the French the manuals explaining how to operate the top secret Enigma cipher machine
Enigma machine
An Enigma machine is any of a family of related electro-mechanical rotor cipher machines used for the encryption and decryption of secret messages. Enigma was invented by German engineer Arthur Scherbius at the end of World War I...

 being used by the German Army. Schmidt ultimately provided all the information necessary to crack the complex ciphers, which would play a key role in the Allied victory.

In September 1939, when France declared war on Germany in response to Germany's invasion of Poland, Josephine Baker
Josephine Baker
Josephine Baker was an American dancer, singer, and actress who found fame in her adopted homeland of France. She was given such nicknames as the "Bronze Venus", the "Black Pearl", and the "Créole Goddess"....

 was recruited by the Bureau and provided them with information as an "honorable correspondent."

Raymond Arthur Schuhl, a French propagandist who had served in the 6th Section of the Deuxieme Bureau until the fall of France, became the OSS
Office of Strategic Services
The Office of Strategic Services was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime intelligence agency, and it was a predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency...

 Chief of Morale Operations in Switzerland and was its principal forger through the war. Schuhl operated for the OSS under the cover name Robert Salembier (code name "Mutt"). He oversaw a prolific print shop in Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...

 that produced millions of white and black pamphlets, leaflets, cards, postage stamps, and other forms of printed propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....

.

World War II reorganization

Following the defeat of France in 1940, the Vichy France
Vichy France
Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...

 regime's intelligence service was organized within the Centre d’information gouvernemental (CIG), under the direction of Admiral François Darlan
François Darlan
Jean Louis Xavier François Darlan was a French naval officer. His great-grandfather was killed at the Battle of Trafalgar...

. Under the command of Colonel Louis Rivet, head of the Deuxième Bureau since 1936, they set up the Bureau des Menées Antinationales (BMA, the "Bureau of Anti-national Activities"), officially an organization opposing communist activities and resistance
French Resistance
The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...

 efforts and accepted by the Germans under the terms of the armistice.

Meanwhile on July 1, 1940, the Free French government-in-exile in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 created its own intelligence service. Under the leadership of General Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....

, Major André Dewavrin
André Dewavrin
Andre Dewavrin was a French officer who served with Free French Forces intelligence services during World War II.He was born in Paris, the son of a businessman...

 was assigned to command the organization. Initially known as the Service de Renseignements (SR), the agency changed its name to Bureau Central de Renseignements et d’Action Militaire (BCRAM) in April 1941, and again in January 1942 to Bureau Central de Renseignements et d’Action (BCRA) the name by which it was best known.

At the end of the war, in 1945, this became the modern French counter-espionage service, the Service de documentation extérieure et de contre-espionnage
Service de Documentation Extérieure et de Contre-Espionnage
The Service de Documentation Extérieure et de Contre-Espionnage was France's external intelligence agency from 6 November 1944 to 2 April 1982 when it was replaced by the Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure...

(SDECE, "Foreign Documentation and Counter-Espionage Service").
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