During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, the Special Brigades (french: Brigades spéciales, or BS) were a French police force in

Vichy France Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its te ...

specializing in tracking down "internal enemies" (i.e.

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

workers), dissidents, escaped prisoners, Jews and those evading the obligatory labour service. It was dependent on the

Direction centrale des Renseignements généraux The ''Direction Centrale des Renseignements Généraux'' (Central Directorate of General Intelligence), often called ''Renseignements Généraux'' (RG), was the intelligence service of the French National Police, answerable to the ''Direction Gén ...

(RG) and worked in direct collaboration with the German civil, secret and military police, the '' Geheime Feldpolizei''. It was based in room 35 on the first floor of the Paris

Prefecture of Police In France, a Prefecture of Police (french: Préfecture de police), headed by the Prefect of Police (''Préfet de police''), is an agency of the Government of France under the administration of the Ministry of the Interior. Part of the National P ...

. The Special Brigades was known to commit

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. definitions of tortur ...

. The Special Brigades was organized by the Director of General Information at the Prefecture of Police Lucien Rottée, who appointed Commissioner Fernand David as Head of the Special Brigades. After the Liberation of France, 150 police officers from the Special Brigades were prosecuted. Sixty-four inspectors were sentenced, including twenty-two to the death penalty: ten were executed. Rottée and David were tried, condemned for treason and executed by firing squad at Fort de Montrouge on May 5 1945.

See also