Abstract

By the outbreak of World War II, French intelligence services had accumulated encyclopedic knowledge of Germany’s military establishment. France, for example, had an embedded mole in secret German communication centers who supplied high-value intelligence for more than a decade and gave vital Enigma encryption secrets to the Allies, and it had another formidable agent who unmasked German spies and “turned” officers in Abwehr, Germany’s principal spy agency. German intelligence boasted of penetrating the Deuxieme Bureau, France’s most important intelligence service, and secret sessions of the Senate. In truth, neither France nor Germany could hardly conceal secrets from one another. France’s success in intelligence, however, has been obfuscated by the ignominious Fall of France in a few short weeks as well as France’s failure to anticipate the audacious German attack through the Ardennes. Arguably less a shortcoming of intelligence, this failure was more a question of France’s leadership and its colossal inaction against the German Western Offensive.

摘要

到第二次世界大战爆发时，法国情报部门已经积累了有关德国军事机构的百科全书式知识。例如，法国在德国秘密通信中心有一个嵌入的间谍，十多年来提供高价值情报，并向盟军提供重要的 Enigma 加密机密，还有另一个强大的特工揭露德国间谍和“变身”军官在德国的主要间谍机构 Abwehr。德国情报部门吹嘘自己可以渗透法国最重要的情报部门 Deuxieme 局和参议院的秘密会议。事实上，无论是法国还是德国，都很难对彼此隐瞒秘密。然而，法国在情报方面的成功，法国在短短几周内可耻的沦陷以及法国未能预见到德国通过阿登地区进行的大胆进攻，这使人们感到困惑。可以说，这次失败与其说是情报方面的缺陷，不如说是法国领导层及其对德国西部进攻的巨大不作为的问题。