《The Gestapo:A History of Horror》By Jacques Delarue
The Gestapo's power spread throughout France (5)
On 11 November 1942, the Secretaries of State of the Ministry of Defence Bridou, Ophan, and Yannikern issued an order not to resist to the units of the Armistice Army, which René Buske conveyed to the police, and the German army successfully entered the free zone.
After the British and Americans landed in North Africa on the 8th, the Germans invaded Tunisia. They feared the Allied landings on the Mediterranean coast and had no illusions about the Welcome of the Americans by the French people. On the evening of 10-11 November, a note informing the Vichy government that German troops needed to occupy the Mediterranean coast.
At 7 a.m. on the 11th, the wehrmacht troops pushed south across the demarcation line and implemented a plan that had been made in advance, called "Operation Anton". That morning, von Lundstedt traveled to Vichy to give Pétain an official notice announcing the occupation of the area previously known as the Free Zone. The armistice regiments received orders to leave their posts on the 9th, but because Bridou gave the opposite order at the last minute, they were confined to the barracks at the risk of being captured.
As the Germans sped south, six Einsatzgruppen commandos also drove to six Towns in France, where they would be stationed. These are all auberge and Knohen, who will open new "branches" in the southern region.
The Gestapo and SS security services have long had observers in the southern region. Under the cover of the Armistice Commission, the German consulate and the German Red Cross, the agents have been working underground for months. In Vichy, senior SS commando leader Geisler formally formed a German police delegation in February, which began arrests on the morning of November 11.
Georges Brand, a member of the French Resistance, smiled at the German firing squad, but it was a fake shooting arranged by the Germans.
From 11, 12 and 13 November, the Gestapo was officially established, depending on the situation in each region. An Einsatzgruppen commando unit has been established at the headquarters of each military district in the southern region. In early December, these commandos were transformed into several security police/SS security service commandos, in other words, they became regional bodies of the same nature as in the northern region, now based in Limoges, Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier, Toulouse and Vichy. The German police system now covers the whole of France, forming a tight network, which consists of the following:
The headquarters in Paris control all of France, except for the northern part of Brussels and the Calais Channel; the Upper Rhine, Lower Rhine and Moselle rivers are under German jurisdiction. On this basis, the Germans established 17 regional offices in Paris, Angers, Bordeaux, Chalon-sur-Marne, Dijon, Nancy, Orléans, Poitiers, Rennes, Rouen, Saint-Quentin, Limoges, Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier, Toulouse and Vichy.
These 17 offices consist of 45 branches (55 in June 1944), 18 less important posts (reduced to 15 in June 1944), 3 special border police checkpoints (6 in June 1944) and 18 border posts. A total of 1,100 men were under the command of Paris. They would ensure that the Gestapo would still be able to control France when the Allies landed. Together with the three regional institutions of Lille, Metz and Strasbourg and their subordinate branches, the total number is 131.
In addition to this, numerous auxiliary institutions must be added: mercenary squads, specialized agencies, contingents that continue to multiply everywhere, not to mention the continued assistance provided by active "french traitors", members of the French Popular Party, French Nazis, "French militias", etc., during 1943 and the first six months of 1944.
Anti-communist propaganda poster of the French People's Party with the words "Communism - Enemy of France".
Every department of the Gestapo was constantly sending agents and placing them in the most effective organizations and administrative offices: military commands, labor exchanges, "propaganda" agencies, and so on; these agents in turn recruited a large number of informants, spies, supporters, paid informants, and when they think of these things, people tremble with fear, imagine what the fate of France and the French would have been if the outcome of this war had been different.
In April Himmler came to Paris and personally inspected his main offices. He had good reason to be satisfied: his policies had begun to bear fruit. A decree issued on 30 January established a militia organization whose leadership was entrusted to Danand, whom Auberg had high hopes for. With a little patience, he can be copied. The French police are not credible, and politically reliable volunteers could have replaced them, who would play the role that the SA once played in Germany.
A decree of 11 February officially characterized the "French Anti-Bolshevism Volunteer Corps", declaring it a "public utility" after 19 months of existence. With the help of propaganda, the Germans recruited many French volunteers with high salaries as bait, and they were then taken under German control to Verdun station, from where they were sent to the Kruzhnęna Training Center in the Polish forest.
Finally, Himmler's favorite child, the Waffen-SS, began recruiting members throughout France. The recruitment campaign was launched in the autumn of 1942 at a meeting of the Friends of the Waffen-SS. Under the leadership of Secretary of State Paul Marion, intelligence chief Dorio, Dia, Rusto, Danand, Könipping, Kangs (commanding the First Brigade of the Waffen-SS), the organization appealed to public opinion to provide moral and material assistance to these fighters in German uniforms who "defended France".
French soldiers of the 33rd "Charlemagne" Grenadier Division of the Waffen-SS
In Germany, 1943 was a particularly auspicious year for Himmler. At the end of the year, he would become Minister of the Interior, Chief of The German Police, arbiter of all racial and Germanization issues vital to the Nazi regime, which would give him the freedom to dispose of the "New Germans" recovered from the conquered territories. He was entrusted with the repatriation of the Germans to the German Empire, as well as Minister of Public Health, as responsibilities for this department had been transferred to the Ministry of the Interior.
As SS master, he presided over a large number of affiliated organizations and pseudo-scientific research institutions, which gave his influence in the University of Science and Technology and the German medical organization. As the supreme ruler of the camps, he earned astronomical income for the SS, causing the latter to rapidly inflate their accounts at the Imperial Bank, which was shamefully known as "Max Heilig" (a fake account created by the Nazis for money laundering and resale of stolen goods). Finally, his own private army, the SS, added 7 new divisions in 1943 alone, including 4 German and 3 foreign divisions, bringing the total to 15 divisions.
As a result, Himmler's career followed a curve that was diametrically opposed to the fate of his country. 1943 was the year his power reached its peak, while Germany suffered unbearable military and political defeats: the Battle of Stalingrad, the collapse of North Africa, the Allied attack on Italy, and the fall of Italian fascism.
At the time of Mussolini's fall, Himmler, as Minister of the Interior, was given full powers to run the empire. When allied bombing destroyed Hamburg, luftwaffe chief of staff General Jeshnerk committed suicide in despair, and when Manstein retreated to the Dnieper in the face of the red army's mighty thrusts, Himmler proudly introduced his Führer to his new Waffen-SS divisions that would fight to save Europe. He ascended to the throne in the ruins of his country and in the misery of his people.