Doussot — Special Brigade No. 1
After the dissolution of the PCF on 26 September 1939, the Paris Préfecture de Police set up Special Brigade No. 1 (BS1), a 20-inspector unit specialising in tracking down underground communists. Its chief: Commissaire , 45, formerly of the Renseignements généraux. Methods: surveillance, mail interception, agent infiltration (informers), preventive arrests.
Doctrine: enforce the September 1939 law (penalties: 2 to 5 years' imprisonment for communist activity, up to death for "treason" in cases of propaganda against national defence). Targets: PCF militants, CGT-U trade unionists, Marxist intellectuals.
From 26 September 1939 to 29 February 1940: 3,200 arrests by the BS1. Trials before military courts. 2,100 convictions, including 4 PCF deputies (the trial of the 44 deputies came in April 1940).
In May 1940, the BS1 was reinforced by the BS2 — created for the surveillance of foreigners (Jews, foreign communists, German anti-fascists in exile). Combined strength: 60 inspectors.
Doussot had to decide on his targeting strategy.
How should Doussot prioritise his targets?
Doussot applied B and C combined. Recruitment of informers (notably , "Jacques the Swiss") who infiltrated the clandestine cells. Identification of the entire hierarchy of the clandestine PCF. Targeted arrests of cadres: , (briefly arrested in December 1939, released), . During the Occupation 1940-1944, the BS1 and BS2 carried on their mission under Vichy and under German occupation — direct collaboration with the Gestapo in the persecution of resistance fighters and the hunting of Jews. The BS2 organised the round-ups of July 1942 (Vel d'Hiv). Doussot, long suspected of collaboration, remained in post until August 1944. Arrested at the Liberation, tried in November 1944, sentenced to 12 years in prison. Released in 1949. Died in 1958. The BS1-BS2 remains one of the most controversial episodes in the history of the French police: continuity between the Third Republic and Vichy, early police collaboration, and the Nazi exploitation of a ready-made infrastructure.
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