The Fighting 69th Infantry Division Association, Inc. Vol. 50 No. 2 ...

The 69th Counter
Intelligence Corps
Submitted By: Ellis M. Benson
69th CIC Detachment
426 East Fulvia Street
Leucadia, California 92024-2145
The 69th Counter Intelligence Corps detachment
was activated 23 September 1944 at Camp Shelby,
Mississippi and traveled with this Division overseas.
The original strength of seven was increased to seventeen
upon arrival in England, the additional men
being selected from the Division.
Having graduated from the University of California
at Berkeley in Dec. 1941 with a major in history and a
minor in German, I was sent to the Air Force where I
had a short stint from which I was transferred to the
Army Specialized Training Program to learn Italian
by the total immersion method back at the University
of California at Berkeley. After nine months of this
training and having achieved fluency in the language,
the army, being what it is, shipped me to the 69th
Combat Engineers at Camp Shelby and I went overseas
with that unit.
Upon arrival in England the call went out for men
with language and other capabilities. I was selected by
the 69th CIC (Counter Intelligence Corps) and identified
as a Special Agent. The unit was quartered in the
Winchester School where the new men began training
in investigative and interviewing techniques.
A large amount of equipment was gathered to
include fingerprint material. We
were issued 45 pistols as well as
snub nose 38's to use as concealed
weapons. Also issued were Khaki
trench coats. Instead of rank
insignia we wore the U.S. symbols
on each collar of the shirt as
well as on the military cap, and
were addressed as Mister. We
were issued carbines for use in
several jeeps which were allocated
to the detachment.
The Detachment crossed the
Channel with the Division from
Southhampton to LeHavre in
January 1945 and was housed in
the King George V Hotel in Paris
directly after its liberation. We
moved with the Division through
France and Belgium going from
town to town interviewing the
mayors seeking French collaborators
or rexistes as the Belgian
Nazi collaborators were known.
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Our task basically was to remove the risk of such collaborators
as the Division moved.
As the Siegfried Line was breached and we entered
Germany the task of identifying Nazi leaders as well
as fanatic individuals who might pose a threat to our
troops became all engrossing.
A questionnaire (Fragebogen) was developed which
was administered to each suspect. Generally the
German people in the Nazi period and even prior to
that, were taught in their culture to respect authority.
Therefore they tended to respond truthfully to the
questions. It was indeed rare to find anyone who had
not been a member of the party or at least one of its
affiliate organizations. For example teachers were
told in 1937 to join the party or lose their jobs.
The number of affiliate organizations was large to
the extent that almost anyone could find one which
had some interest for them, for example the party sailing
club, sports club, skiing club and so on.
Of course. teenage children were mandated to join
the Hitler Youth (Hitler Jugend). Or for the younger
ones, the girl's club Bund Deutche Madel. Mature
women were brought together in the Frauenschaft.
Teachers were joined in the Bund Deutsche Lehrer.
Many professors and vocations were brought together
under the party aegis.
The CIC task was to follow leads in each town expecting
to find those who might pose a threat. The top
expectation of course was to find one of the upper leadership
Nazis. At most our detachment did capture
leaders of the Gau (state) level and mostly at the
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