Our unit of 13 men handled 37 languages.

I was (originally) assigned from the replacement depot at Marburg am Lahn to the 322nd M.I. in Bremen in late June of 1947. Within days I was sent to the Intelligence School in Oberammergau ; this was in the former Messerschmitt facility. Upon my return from the school, the 322nd M.I. was changed to the 323rd M.I. detachment. The 323rd existed until 1948 when it was redesigned as the 7854 MI Det.

Our office was located at 44 Hohenlohestrasse at the Hotel Zur Post (near the Bahnhof) and our field office was at the Bahnhof where incoming refugees, Ex P.O.W.'s, deserters and Displaced Persons would come to our field office to receive I.D. and ration cards. While there they were interviewed. One of our men would screen for possible valued intelligence and if warranted they were sent to the main office at 44 Hohenlohestrasse for interrogation. All positive information were forwarded to H.Q. in Heidelberg.

I was the only Army interrogator and there were four Department of Army civilians. This was my assignment for three years. My main job was interrogating in German. I was also Military Government Court interpreter for Norwegian, Swedish and Danish.

ADDTIONAL INFORMATION
Looking at the above photo (Bremen Barracks): The building where the guard is standing (to the right) is where we were billeted, on the 2nd or 3rd floor. To the right, the 382 M.P. were in the next building and across the square was a school where I attended classes on Russian, German and also English.

INTELLIGENCE MISSION ON THE BORDER (1950-1952)

The intelligence mission of the Seventh Army units patrolling the borders was limited in scope. The 15th and 24th Constabulary Squadrons and the 6th ACR troop, which had regular patrolling responsibilities on the border, occasionally apprehended illegal border crossers, but all interrogations were carried out by German border police agencies and US military intelligence teams assigned that mission since patrol members normally did not have a foreign language capability.

A certain amount of positive intelligence was acquired through visual observation of the border area by unit patrols and aircraft, with the aircraft having the advantage in depth of observation. Unusual activity among the eastern patrols, changes in frequency in patrols, changes in type of equipment carried, were typical of the kind of information gathered by border patrols. Information of a minor nature was sometimes obtained by observation posts in daylight and listening posts at night, although their primary mission remained early warning.

Seventh Army was responsible for collecting by noncovert means intelligence within the US Zone pertaining to the physical security of zonal borders adjacent to the Soviet Zone and Czechoslovakia. This function was carried out by the 7827th Military Intelligence (MI) Service Company, which had MI sections assigned along the border to facilitate its collection mission. Illegal border crossers apprehended by American troops were turned over to the 7827th sections for interrogation. It also compiled the information gathered by noncovert means by the border patrols. Its most important function was its close liaison with the German border police agencies, which captured the lion's share of illegal border crossers and passed on information of intelligence value to the 7827th. The unit was redesignated as the 532d Military Intelligence Service Company on 15 August 1951 and redesignated and reorganized as the 532d Military Intelligence Service Battalion on 21 September 1951; it continued to work directly for the Seventh Army G-2, as had the 7827th MI Service Company. The counterintelligence mission in the US Zone belonged to the 66th Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC) Group, with its 427th Counter Intelligence Corps Detachment providing this service to the Seventh Army. The 427th CIC Detachment, in addition to its overall counterintelligence mission, investigated border incidents, conducted border liaison between the US and Soviet Zones, and interrogated illegal border crossers and German prisoners of war returning, from the east.

As can be seen from the above, there was some overlap in missions between the two organizations -- particularly in the interrogation of illegal border crossers. Several conferences were held in the first half of 1951 between these two organizations and other interested parties, and it was decided that beginning on 1 October 1951 the 532d Military Intelligence Service Battalion would be responsible for centralizing American collection efforts from illegal border crossers (IBC). Since this unit made most of the initial contacts with the IBCs apprehended by American patrols and had a close liaison with the German agencies, it was a natural choice. The unit was responsible for making up identification cards on the IBCs and ascertaining their knowledge ability in various fields of intelligence (e.g., ground military, air, naval, political, economic, or scientific and technical), and to notify the agencies primarily concerned with that type of information. This single point-of-contact method made for a significant improvement in liaison with the German agencies.

During Detachment R's time in Regensburg, several students who would later become General Officers or US Ambassadors studied there, including BG Donald Blake (USAF), MG Clark Baldwin, Jr. (USA), LTG Sam Wilson (USA), Ambassador John McSweeny, and MG Charles Timmes (USA).

Commandants of Detachment R during its time in Regensburg included LTC Theodore F. Hoffman, LTC Albert Martin, LTC Kenneth Lemley, and LTC Ladislaus Maslowski.

If you know of other officers who served on the staff during that period or have any "tales" to tell -- or photos to share -- about Detachment R during its days in Regensburg, please contact LTC (USA, Retired) Joe Clare -- a 1976 graduate of the US Army Russian Institute (the successor designation of Detachment R) -- at "kjclare (at) cox.net".