Records of the Military Intelligence Division (RG 165) [The War Department and the Army Records]


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View a note on military records arrangement
The Military Intelligence Division (MID) was responsible for the collection, evaluation, and dissemination of military information, and among its major staff duties from 1939 to 1945, included the supervision of United States military attaches and military missions abroad, liaison with military attaches and missions in Washington from accredited foreign countries, negative (or counterintelligence) as well as positive intelligence work, and participation in joint intelligence-collection activities with the Navy and with other agencies of the Federal Government.

The March 1942 reorganization of the War Department included a major overhaul of the MID. The Intelligence Branch was replaced by the Military Intelligence Service (MIS), which assumed principal responsibility for collecting, evaluating, and disseminating intelligence information. Additional changes followed during the war, so that by 1944 MIS consisted of the following major components: 1) Information Group 2) Intelligence Group; 3) Administrative Group; and, 4) Counterintelligence Group.

MID records for the interwar period largely consist of a central correspondence file, with associated indexes. The pre-1942 records, for the most part, are located in the Archives I Building and are serviced by the Textual Reference Branch within that building. {Note 1}

Formerly Security-Classified Intelligence Reference Publications ("Regional File")  Received From U.S. Military Attaches, Military and Civilian Agencies of the  United States, Foreign Governments, and Other Sources, 1922-1944 (Entry 77)
   
        The records are arranged alphabetically by name or country or region and  thereunder according to a numeric-subject filing scheme initially prepared  by MID in 1920 as the Index Guide for Classification of Military Information.  This index organized intelligence materials for a particular country or region into  general and secondary subject categories, each of which was assigned four-digit  numerical designations. In the 1940 edition of the index, information was  organized into nine general categories: Geographic (1000-1320); Population and  Social Conditions (2000-2950); Political (3000-3870); Economic (4000-5070);  National Defense (5900-5990); Army (6000-6970); Navy (7000-7945); Air-Civil  (8000-8290); and, Air-Military (9900-9960). For each country or region,  additional miscellaneous subject files, correspondence, or memorandums are often  appended to the end of the numeric-subject files. The Numerical Series of  Intelligence Documents ("ID File"), which began in June 1944, was the  successor to this series. See Records of the Army Staff (RG 319) for the
        "ID" File.

        Boxes 1-3335 location: 390/31/10/02
        Box #  Country and/or Subject
        78-120  Argentina  location: 390/31/11/06
        146-149  Austria  location: 390/31/13/01
        150  Axis; folder entitled "Misc Axis Key Laws, Decrees and  Regulations" contains a publication entitled "Key  Laws,  Decrees and Regulations Issued by the Axis in  Occupied Europe." It was produced by the Reoccupation  Division of the Blockade Branch of the Board of Economic  Warfare, December 1942. location: 390/31/13/02
        1051-1377  Germany  location: 390/32/1/07
        1936-2040  Italy  location: 390/32/25/04
        2271-2371  Latin America location: 390/32/33/06
        2837-2853  Portugal  location: 390/33/10/03
        2900-2945  Spain  location: 390/33/11/05
        2968-2997  Sweden  location: 390/33/12/07
        2998-3007  Switzerland  location: 390/33/13/05
        3035-3062  Turkey  location: 390/33/14/03

Formerly Security-Classified Intelligence Reference Publications ("P" File)  Received From U.S. Military Attaches, Military and Civilian Agencies of the  United States, Foreign Government and Other Sources, 1940-1945 (Entry 79)

        This series includes intelligence report series issued by Allied, British, and  U.S. operations commands; intelligence bulletins and reports periodically  issued by specific Allied and U. S. organizations and agencies; and  individual publications or special reports. The records are arranged in 24  alphabetical subseries (A-W), thereunder generally in alphabetical order by  title, operational command (often by acronym), subject, country, or  organization, and thereunder chronologically or numerically by report or  publication number. A Continuation of the "P" File is located in Records  of the Army Staff (RG 319). Boxes 1-2619 location: 390/33/21/02 

        Box #  File/Publication Title
        776  Economic Intelligence Summaries-SHAEF [Supreme Headquarters  Allied Expeditionary Forces] Nos 1-34 1944-1945 Summary  Report #29, dated March 21, 1945 contains information on  "Allied Economic Relations with Switzerland."
location: 390/34/1/07
                                Economic Intelligence Weekly produced by the Economic  Advisory Branch of the British Foreign Office. Nos. 1-14.  1945 location: 390/34/1/07
        780  Economic Warfare-Blacklist location: 390/34/2/01
                Economic Warfare-Blockade location: 390/34/2/01
        780-784  Economic Warfare Intelligence Reports-From the Economic  Warfare Division, American Embassy, London
location 390/34/2/01
        784-787  Economic Warfare-Safehaven Reports-From the Economic Warfare  Division, American Embassy, London location: 390/34/2/02
        894-899  Federal Bureau of Investigation Reports regarding operations in  Central and South America ca.1943-1945. Most of the  records relate to Brazil, Costa Rica, Cuba, Guatemala, and  Peru. location: 390/34/4/03
        906  Finance Section Reports 1-8 Civil Affairs Branch HQ 12th  Army Group June 6, 1944-September 28, 1944
location: 390/34/4/05
                Financial Bulletin (folder marked as such) contains "Credit  Suisse Zurich{Note 2} Financial Bulletin 1944" which is an English  language edition of the Bank's Financial Bulletin of  December 1944.  location: 390/34/4/05
        924-948  Foreign Economic Administration records location: 390/34/5/01
These records are reports prepared by the Foreign Economic  Administration. Included are Report BL-141 "Smuggling  Activities of Suspected Firms, Individuals, and Ships, by  Commodity and Country," (Box 924); Report BL-189 "Swiss  Export of Arms and Machinery Items to the Enemy," (Box  924); Report EIS-23 "Property of the Nazi Party; its  Affiliates, Members, and Supporters in Germany," (Box 926);  Report EIS-25 "Property Transferred Under the Nazi Regime  in Germany," (Box 926); Report EIS-68 "German Economic  Penetration and Exploitation of Southeastern Europe," (Box  927); Report EP-37 "Materials Inventory of the European  Axis," (Box 931); Report "Looted Art in Occupied Territories  and Neutral Countries and Latin America, Preliminary  Report,"5 May 1945 (Box 932); and, Report ES-7 "German  Economic Interests in Chile." (Box 934) Most of the reports in  Boxes 935 to 948 relate to economic warfare against Japan  and industry in Germany.
        958  Fortnightly Summary of General Political and Economic Situation  in Europe, Far East, Americas, United Nations. three folders  1944-1945 location: 390/34/5/05
        1066  G-5 Weekly Intelligence Summary and Weekly Journal of  Information SHAEF February-May 1945 location: 390/34/7/07
        1082  German banking in 1944 prepared by Ministry of Economic  Warfare May 5, 1945 location: 390/34/8/03
        1090  German Press on Portugal and Spain prepared by British Embassy,  Lisbon June 15, 1944 location: 390/34/8/03
        1272-1274  M.E.W. Intelligence Weekly prepared by Ministry of Economic  Warfare 1942-1945 location: 390/34/11/07
        1331  Jewish Problem and British Policy (75 pp., September 18, 1937)
                The Jewish Problem and the United States (69pp., January 18,  1939)
        1335  La Suisse en Armes [1939-1945] hardback book written in French  and published in 1945.location: 390/34/13/02
        1350-1363  Justice Department-Economic Warfare Section Records 1942-1945  [included in boxes 1350-1351 are a Report on the Banque  Nationale Pour Le Commerce et L'Industrie ("Laval's Bank")  and a supplementary confidential report on the same subject.]  location: 390/34/13/05
        1604  Notes on Economic Intelligence prepared by Foreign Office and  Ministry of Economic Warfare, 4 folders, 1943-1945  location: 390/34/18/06
        1933  Proclaimed List of German Blocked Nationals and other proclaimed  Lists of Certain Blocked Nationals prepared by Department of  Justice 1941-1945 location: 390/34/25/04
        1935  Program for German Economic and Industrial Disarmament-Final  Report with Appendices prepared by the Enemy Branch of the  Foreign Economic Administration December 20, 1945  location: 390/34/25/04
        1989  Report on German Reparation to the President of the United States  February-September 1945, a printed bound copy of the report  prepared by the United States Representative and Associate  Representative on the Allied Commission on Reparations  September 20, 1945 location: 390/34/26/05
        2051  Safehaven Targets No. 1-21 (1945) and Safehaven Intercepts No. 8  1945 prepared by the Foreign Economic Administration  location: 390/34/27/07
        2052-2053  Scavenger Special Reports prepared by G-2 SHAEF 1945
location: 390/34/27/07
        2181  State Department Special Interrogation Mission, 3 folders of  Interrogations September-November 1945
location: 390/34/30/05
        2237  Summary of Enemy Economic Developments prepared by the  Ministry of Economic Warfare December 29, 1941. Contains  a section entitled "German Economic Relations with European  Neutrals." location: 390/34/31/06
        2404  Copies of various Treasury-printed reports including is a copy of  Census of Foreign-Owned Assets in the Untied States (88pp.  1945); Documents Relating to Foreign Funds Control (January  30, 1942); Documents Relating to Foreign Funds Control  (June 15, 1945); Preliminary Study of Corporations and Othe  Forms of business Organizations in Nazi Germany:  Concentration of Capital and Other Developments (June 13,  1944); Preliminary Study of German Clearing Agreements  (July 27, 1944); and Articles of Agreements: Inter Monetary  Fund and International Bank for Reconstruction and  Development: United Nations Monetary and Financial  Conference, Bretton Woods, N.H. July 1-22, 1944.
location: 390/34/35/02

Records of the Captured Personnel and Material Branch{Note 3}

  Formerly Security-Classified Interrogation Reports and Correspondence on  Prisoners of War (MIS-Y) 1943-1945 (Entry 179)

        The records in this series constitutes a general reference collection of  interrogations and intelligence reports received or collected by the Branch  in Washington, DC. The series is organized into several subseries.
        Boxes 349-772 location: 390/35/7/05

Reports - Combined Services Detailed Intelligence Center (CSDIC) Allied Forces HQ
        Box  Folder File #  Subject
        642  7  PWP33  German banking: Aspects of practice and notes on  personalities (including Schacht, Funk, and Puhl).  Information derived from 5 PW, all with banking  experience in Germany, and includes details on the  Reichsbank, the Deutsche Bau-undBodenbank AG,  the Landesbank der Provinz Westfalen and  personalities, 45 pp. November 17, 1944  Addendum to PWP33 includes comments on  personalities (including Schacht, Funk, and  Puhl), 3 pp. January 22, 1945
location: 390/35/13/05
        642  7  PWP34  Regional fiscal administration in Germany. Details  supplied by 3 PW who worked in regional banks, 22  pp. November 13, 1944 location: 390/35/13/05
        642  7  PWP48  Working of a regional clearing house for savings  banks in Germany. Information supplied by PW who  was head of statistics department in a Dusseldorf  bank, 26 pp. December 29, 1944.
location: 390/35/13/05
        642  7  PWP52  Reichswirtschaftsministerium (RWM): Functions  and organization (Reich Ministry of Economics).  Information furnished by PW who worked in foreign  trade area and covers development of RWM, its  position in the economic organization, internal  organization, personalities, 49 pp. January 23, 1945  location: 390/35/13/05 
        642  7  PWP56  Aspects of German banking and insurance business.  Details supplied by PW who was employed by  several insurance companies, 27 pp. February 19,  1945 location: 390/35/13/05
        642  7  PWP61  Notes on German museums and evacuation of  German art treasures provided by 4 PW, 5 pp.  March 4, 1945 location: 390/35/13/05
        642  7  PWP65  Notes on administration of enemy property in  Germany; PW who was administrator of all enemy  banks in France, 4 pp. March 9, 1945  location: 390/35/13/05
        642  7  PWP67  Reichsbank and its relations with other institutions;  details supplied by 2 PW, 49 pp. March 25, 1945  location: 390/35/13/05
        643  1  PWP71  Social insurance in Germany. Two PW furnished  details about direct and indirect Reich administration  of insurance institutions; the working of social  insurance: health, accident, pension; personalities, 33  pp. April 3, 1945 location: 390/35/13/05
        643  1  PWP73  Transfer of enemy assets in France to the  Treuhandstelle of the German military commander;  the German Aero-Bank in Paris. Details supplied by  PW who was administrator of all enemy banks in  France, 5 pp. April 4, 1945 location: 390/35/13/05
        643  1  PWP76  German banking. Details provided by 3 PW, former  banking officials, 28 pp. April 12, 1945  location: 390/35/13/05
        643  1  PWP79  German purchases of foreign and German securities,  Sperrmark, foreign currency and gold in Paris.  Information provided by PW, administrator of bank  in Paris, 8 pp. April 14, 1945 location: 390/35/13/05
        643  1  PWP89  German purchases of gold, foreign currency, and  securities in black markets of France, Belgium and  Holland. Interviews with 2 PW, 10 pp. May 6, 1945  location: 390/35/13/05
        643  1  PWP103  Organization and activities of Staatliche  Kreditanstalt Oldenburg-Bremen and Bremer  Landesbank. Details provided by PW, former  employee of bank, 61 pp. June 23, 1945  location: 390/35/13/05
        644  1  PWP106  Personalities in the economic and statistical  departments of the Reichsbank, 2 PW, 4 pp.  June 5, 1945 location: 390/35/13/05
        644  1  PWP110  I.G. Farben - organization, central financial and  commercial offices, economic espionage,  personalities. Details supplied by PW, former  employee in chemicals branch, 29 pp. June 13, 1945  location: 390/35/13/05
        644  1  PWP118  Organization and personalities of the Rechnungshof  des Deutschen Reichs (State Accounts Department),  8 pp. June 27, 1945 location: 390/35/13/05
        644  1  PWP127  Organization and activities of Deutsche  Siedlungsbank, Berlin, 16 pp. July 13, 1945  location: 390/35/13/05
        644  1  PWP131  Germany's financial policy in occupied and quasi-  occupied territories (excluding Russia and Poland).  Information provided by PW, former fiscal  administrator, 29 pp. July 25, 1945
location: 390/35/13/05
        657  1  SIR10  Interrogation of foreign service official outlining his  connections with SS and SD and contacts in  Germany, Finland, Sweden, and Denmark, 12 pp.  January 30, 1946 location: 390/35/13/07
        657  1  SIR20  Amt VI activity in Switzerland, 3 pp. March 29,  1946 location: 390/35/13/07
        657  1  SIR38  Interrogation of Gen Lt der Waffen SS Oswald  Pohl. Details on Pohl's activities for past year, 21  pp. June 4, 1946 location: 390/35/13/07
        657  2  PIR25  Major ig Heinrich Maximilien Golcher. Details on  his relationship with the Japanese Intelligence  Service and also in connection with arrangements  made for smuggling of ball bearings from Sweden to  Germany, 5 pp. October 3, 1945
location: 390/35/13/07
        657  2  PIR73  Werner Dankwort, head of Political Dept. in  German Legation, Stockholm, 2 pp. January 2, 1946  location: 390/35/13/07
        657  2  PIR94  Kurt Freiherr von Schroder, banker, 4 pp. January  24, 1946 location: 390/35/13/07
        657  2  PIR111  Lt d R Franz Mammen, merchant marine officer,  assistant to German Naval Attache, Buenos Aires, 5  pp. February 16, 1946  location: 390/35/13/07
        657  2  PIR113  Wilhelm von Pochhammer, official at German  Embassy, Buenos Aires, 2 pp. February 16, 1946  location: 390/35/13/07
        657  2  PIR117  Krafft Friedrich Wilhelm Simmross, member of Abw  I M, KO Spain, 4 pp. February 21, 1946  location: 390/35/13/07
        657  2  PIR118  Gottfried Julius Brandt, import merchant and  position in Press Dept. of German Embassy,  Buenos Aires, 7 pp. February 20, 1946  location: 390/35/13/07
        657  2  PIR119  Oblt d R Johann Martin Muller, merchant and asst.  to German Naval Attache, Buenos Aires, 5 pp.  February 21, 1945 location: 390/35/13/07
        657  2  PIR128  Franz Rudolf Schumann, salesman, assistant to  German military attache, Buenos Aires, 4 pp.  March 11, 1946 location: 390/35/13/07
        661  1  SIR931  Dachau concentration camp, 12 pp. September 9,  1944 location: 390/35/13/07  662  1  SIR1185  Notes on Hitler, military hq, and special trains.  Interrogation of confidential clerk to Luftwaffe  general, 17 pp. November 13, 1944
location: 390/35/13/07
        662  1  SIR1292  Insurance of French and German workers in France,  2 pp. December 3, 1944 location: 390/35/13/07
        665  2  SIR1728  Amt VI, RSHA. Organization of central office,  methods, agents, personalities, organizations  with which Amt VI maintained liaison, foreign  policy activities, etc. 88 pp. October 1, 1945  location: 390/35/14/01
        666  1  M1090  German social insurance. Health, unemployment,  and old age insurance, 7 pp. March 27, 1945  location: 390/35/14/02 
        666  1  M1110  Financial conditions in Germany. Financial assets in  Argentina, business activities of Nazi Party,  banking conditions during the war, currency  questions, security dealings, effect of air raid  damage on commercial insurance, tax payments,  Hamburg banking institutions and personalities, etc.,  7 pp. April 2, 1945 location: 390/35/14/02
        666  1  M1122  Reich Ministry of Finance. Organization, future  organization, recommendations for immediate  action, financial activities,  personalities, dispersal of  the Ministry, etc. 16 pp. April 15, 1945
location: 390/35/14/02 
        666  1  M1128  Secret instructions to German bank, September  1944, 1 pp. April 14, 1945 location: 390/35/14/02
        666  1  M1141  Notes on banking and finance in Germany, 11 pp.  April 29, 1945 location: 390/35/14/02
        666  2  M1184  Taxation and confiscation of church property in Nazi  Germany, 9 pp. June 25, 1945
location: 390/35/14/02
        667  1  M968  Misc. information including Dachau concentration  camp, 7 pp. November 22, 1944
location: 390/35/14/02 
        668  1  M1065  Interrogation of PW who served with SS Guard Bn  at Oranienburg/SA concentration camp. Duties of  individual guard companies, suitcase department  (where PW was assigned), treatment of prisoners,  types of inmates and personalities, layout of main  camp, etc. 23 pp. March 11, 1945
location: 390/35/14/02
        668  2  NOI532  Legations Finance Department of the German  Foreign Office, 4 pp. March 12, 1945  location: 390/35/14/02
        668  2  NOI548  SS economic enterprises, SS Arbeitslager,  Leonberg, 5 pp. April 4, 1945
location: 390/35/14/02
        668  2  NOI563  Personalities, German Foreign Office, 9 pp. April  14, 1945 location: 390/35/14/02
        669  1  NOI575  Dachau concentration camp, August 1944, 5 pp.  April 24, 1944 location: 390/35/14/02
        669  2  NOI610  Personalities of I.G. Farben, 13 pp. May 24, 1945  location: 390/35/14/02
        669  2  NOI616  I.G. Farben personalities, 11 pp. June 4, 1945  location: 390/35/14/02
        669  3  CI6  Descriptions of Nazi political personalities, listed by  city of residence. 42 pp March 20, 1945  location: 390/35/14/02

        Reports-Various
        Box #  File Title
        743  Military Intelligence Service Report on Safehaven location: 390/35/15/01
        745  State Department Special Interrogations (2 files) location: 390/35/15/02
            Person Interrogated:
            Ernst Wilhem Bohle
            Heinrich Franz Johannes Borchers
            Hans Heinrich Dieckhoff
            Herbert Von Dirksen 
            Heinz T. Von Falkenstein
            Ulrich Von Gienanth
            Hermann Goering
            Ander Hencke
            Andor Hencke
            Ernst Adolf Hepp
            Baron Oswald Von Hoyningen-Huene
            Hans Thomsen
            Wilhelm Keppler{Note 4}
            Dr. Eugene Klee
            Hans-Heinrich Lammers
            Otto Meissner
            Baron Joseph Hermann F.E.M. Von Mentzingen
            Gerhard Johannes Georg Kleeberg
            Hanna Feldtange
            Freihere C.H.K. Von Neurath
            Dr. Hermann Neubacher
            Captain Dietrich Niebuhr
            Dr. Theodor Paeffgen
            Franz Von Pappen
            Friedrich W. Von Prittwitz
            Richard Von Kuehlmann
            Carl Berthold Franz Rekowski
            Joachim Von Ribbentrop
            Karl Ritter
            Paul Otto Gustave Schmidt
            Franz Xaver Schwarz{Note 5}
            Colonel Conrad Steinhaeuser
            Dr. Karl Stroelin
            Wilheim Ernst August Tannenberg
            Fritz Ernst Adalbert van Twardowski
            Dr. Edmund Veesenmayer

Records of the Central European Branch

Security-Classified General Correspondence 1919-1944 (Entry 181)

        Boxes 932-956 location: 390/35/16/01
        Box #  Country  Subject
        942  Germany  Current Events location: 390/35/16/03
        943  Germany  Economics location: 390/35/16/03
        944  Germany  Foreign Policy location: 390/35/16/03
        946  Germany  Jews (1935) location: 390/35/16/03
        951  Germany  Trade location: 390/35/16/04


Footnotes

{1}Return to text Among the records are the Formerly Security-Classified Correspondence and Reports, 1917-1941 (1,810 ft.); Formerly Security-Classified Record Cards for the Unclassified and Formerly Security Classified General Correspondence, 1917-1941 (75 ft.); Formerly Security-Classified Name Index (378 ft.), Subject Index (103 ft.), and Geographic Name Index (10 ft.) to Correspondence of the Military Intelligence Division, 1917-1941.

{2}Return to text One of the three major Swiss banks. It was founded in 1856 and opened an American branch in 1940. It is headquartered in Zurich. The following information is provided to assist researchers to understand the Swiss banking system: the three major Swiss banks during and after World War II were Credit Suisse (founded 1856, American Branch established 1940; headquartered in Zurich), Swiss Bank Corporation (founded in 1872, American Branch established in 1939; headquartered in Basel), and the Union Bank of Switzerland (founded in 1912 and headquartered in Zurich). The Swiss have a Federal Banking Commission. It consists of seven to nine members appointed by the Federal Council. This body is ultimately responsible for regulating banking activity in Switzerland. The Swiss National Bank is the Central Bank of Switzerland. In addition to providing the confederation with a common currency, the bank is the governmental arm charged with carrying out the federal government's monetary policy. It is somewhat similar to the United States Federal Reserve Bank. However, it should be noted that the Swiss National Bank, founded in 1907, differs from other national banks in that it is not a state bank but has share holders, mainly cantons and other public bodies. The Swiss Bankers Association is a trade organization devoted to looking after the interests of the Swiss banking establishment.

{3}Return to text Throughout most of the war designated the Prisoner of War Branch.

{4}Return to text Hitler's personal adviser on economic affairs and the chief liaison between the Nazi Party and the business world.

{5}Return to text Treasurer of the Nazi party.


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