Geheime Feldpolizei The ( Secret Field Police ) or GFP , was the secret military police of the German Wehrmacht until the end of the Second World War . These units were used to carry out plain - clothed security work in the field such as counter - espionage , counter - sabotage , detection of treasonable activities , counter - propaganda and the provision of assistance to the German Army in courts - martial investigations . GFP personnel , who were also classed as " Abwehrpolizei " , operated as an executive branch of German military intelligence detecting resistance activity in Germany and occupied France . The need for a secret military police developed after the annexations of the Sudetenland in 1938 and Czechoslovakia in 1939 . Although security " einsatzgruppen " ( or security task forces ) belonging to the Nazi Security Services had been used during these operations , the German High Command felt it needed a specialist intelligence agency with police functions that could operate with the military but act like a security service to arrest potential opponents and eliminate any resistance . After studying data collected in Spain , Austria and Czechoslovakia , Generaloberst Wilhelm Keitel , commander in chief of the OKW , issued the " " Dienstvorschrift für die Geheime Feldpolizei " " ( Regulations for the secret police ) . Function . The GFP was created on 21 July 1939 . Although officially part of the Wehrmacht , its personnel were mainly recruited from police officers who had been assigned to the armed forces . They were assigned the legal status of " Wehrmachtsbeamte auf Kriegsdauer " ( military officials for the duration of the war ) and retained the authority of other police agencies as well as the " Sicherheitsdienst " . GFP agents could wear either civilian clothes or uniforms in the course of their duties . A GFP official was also entitled to pass through any military roadblocks or enter military buildings . They could also utilise military signals and communications equipment , commandeer military vehicles , procure military supplies and accommodation wherever necessary in execution of their duty . In occupied areas , the GFP also provided personal escort to military VIP ' s , assistance to state security agencies in counter espionage , interrogation of suspects , prevention of sabotage and the detection of enemy agents . In practice , GFP activity depended on the region in which it was operating . Work in occupied northern and western Europe was markedly different from operations conducted on the Eastern Front . In the Netherlands , Denmark and Norway , GFP agents were mainly confined to the secret police protection of senior Wehrmacht officers . In Belgium and France , the GFP became an executive part of the civilian police service , working alongside the military authorities to combat acts of resistance , the British Special Operations Executive and sabotage using terror tactics such as detentions , deportations and the execution of hostages . However in Eastern Europe and the Balkans , the GFP used constantly escalating terror against partisan s , Jews and arbitrary " suspects " . As an anti - partisan group , it worked alongside " einsatzgruppen " to execute and torture captured fighters and civilians suspected of helping the Soviet resistance . With the help of collaborators , the GFP also mounted operations to systematically burn down homes and entire villages . The GFP was also responsible for summarily executing prisoners before they could be liberated by the advancing Red Army . For example , in 1943 a GFP report to SS and Police Leader William Krichbaum stated that 21 , 000 people had been killed " some in combat , and many shot after interrogation " on the Eastern Front . From mid - 1943 onwards , the GFP was ordered to track down and capture all deserters after some " Wehrmacht " soldiers in France and Russia had begun joining partisan groups . By 1944 , desertion rates rapidly rose following the major retreats of Operation Bagration and the Falaise pocket . The " Geheime Feldpolizei " arrested 3142 " Wehrmacht " personnel for desertion from Army Group Centre in 1944 . But many troops were victims of increasingly confused rear areas where competing , often overlapping responsibilities of many military departments meant soldiers did not have the correct papers or were in the wrong locations . Convicted soldiers were either shot or sent to " Strafbattalion ne " . The GFP also investigated any claims of defeatism talk in line infantry . Another specialist unit called " gruppe 729 " was created to interrogate all " Wehrmacht " soldiers who had managed to escape from Soviet captivity . The general fear was that the NKVD may have " re - educated " these former captives to spread defeatism and anti - fascist propaganda . Soldiers suspected of being Soviet spies were sent to a special GFP camp at Danzig in Poland . By 1944 , the camp held 400 prisoners . Organization . The " Geheime Feldpolizei " was commanded by the " Heerespolizeichef " ( Chief of Army Police ) , who initially had the equivalent military rank of major . Subordinate to the " Heerespolizeichef " , but equivalent to the rank of major , was the " Feldpolizeidirektor " who was in charge of a GFP unit or " gruppe " . On 24 July 1939 , the title of " Heerespolizeichef " was upgraded to the military rank of " oberst " . A GFP unit in the " Wehrmacht " consisted of 50 personnel . This included : However after 1941 , units sent to Russia were strengthened to 95 personnel . All groups were fully motorized . Their armaments were limited to light infantry weapons . In 1943 , the " Luftwaffe " was given its own version of GFP . This resulted in another reorganisation of the ranks structure . Although the GFP was a distinct military organisation , from its inception it generally carried out the same duties as the " Gestapo " and the " Kripo " . Operations directed against populations in occupied countries employed methods similar to the SD and SS . This earned it the nickname " " Gestapo der Wehrmacht " " . By the end of 1942 , nominal control of the GFP was transferred to the SD . The Reich Security Main Office finally took full control in the spring of 1944 despite the reluctance of the " Wehrmacht " . All GFP units remained under the full control of the SS until the end of the war . Operations in occupied France . Following the defeat of France in 1940 , the GFP established its main headquarters at the Hôtel Bradford on the rue Saint Philippe du Roule in Paris ( 8ème arrondissement ) . Other sections for the départements of Nord and Pas de Calais were based at rue de la Traversière in Brussels . Each GFP " gruppe " consisted of a fifty - man unit until May 1942 when the entire command was restructured by SS Brigadeführer Karl Oberg , the Higher SS and Police Leader ( " Höhere SS - und Polizeiführer " , HSSPF ) " Frankreich " ( France ) . This reorganisation created the " Group 6 / 10 " which contained the " Kommando für Kapitalverbrechen " ( Capital crimes unit ) . It ran the infamous Balard shooting range at Issy - les - Moulineaux in the 15e arrondissement which was used to torture and execute 143 prisoners . The GFP also oversaw the work done by the French Brigades Spéciales part of the Renseignements généraux . These units , which were part of the French police ' s intelligence service , specialised in tracking down " internal enemies " ( e . g . the French Resistance ) , Jews and those evading work conscription . The Special Brigades were based in room 35 of the Paris police headquarters . The Brigade Spéciale N°2 was notorious for using torture as well as leading investigations , manhunts , surveillance and interviews of suspects in Occupied France .