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by Erin E. Thompson, USAICoE Staff Historian
OPERATION CHOO-CHOO PROVES MERIT OF CIVIL SECURITY
On 2 February 1946, the Bamberg Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC) Sub-Regional Office conducted Operation CHOO-CHOO, a civil security operation on a passenger train traveling from Bamberg to Nuremberg, Germany. The outcome proved the value of civil security organization during the post-war occupation.
In November 1945, the Army began placing CIC units into German occupation zones based on geographic and domestic considerations. Many key cities were allotted their own CIC regional headquarters, and in the Third Army Eastern Military District, they were located in Munich, Bamberg, and Regensburg. These offices were responsible for coordinating operations and establishing a communications network across the region in southern Germany. From these regional headquarters formed numerous sub-regional offices with corresponding CIC detachments from the 970th CIC Detachment.
Civil security was a crucial element of CIC activity during the occupation period, especially during the first year of denazification in the Allied zones. The CIC often operated as a civil police force while local governments were being reorganized and the U.S. Constabulary was being developed to take on law enforcement duties. During this period, the CIC undertook numerous operations to locate and interrogate Nazi officials and other subversive elements hiding within the civilian populace. Operation CHOO-CHOO was one of those operations.
On 2 February 1946, the Bamberg Sub-Regional Office received word of increasing traffic on the passenger train traveling between Bamberg and Nuremberg. A conference between the commanders of local troop units decided action was needed to determine whether the increase in traffic heralded some act of civil disruption or something more sinister. The group coordinated Operation CHOO-CHOO to begin inspecting passengers.
The train left Bamberg at 12:45 p.m. on 2 February with approximately 1,200 passengers crammed into ten dilapidated train cars. The train was halted a short distance from the city by CIC operatives, and passengers were asked to disembark, at which time their luggage and person were searched. Ten counterintelligence agents, ten military police (MP) personnel, and fifteen tactical security troops participated in a thorough investigation of the train compartments and its civilian riders. One CIC agent and one MP were assigned to each train car; the CIC agent examined personal papers and belongings and performed brief interrogations of passengers, while the MP was responsible for searching any individuals detained under suspicion. Once the train was emptied, agents performed a thorough search of the compartments for concealed or discarded contraband. After more than an hour, passengers were allowed to reboard the train, except for twenty-four detainees who were transported to the Bamberg CIC offices for further investigation.
Operation CHOO-CHOO had one final phase. Two CIC agents dressed in civilian clothes had boarded the train along with the other passengers in Bamberg. They were subjected to the same security checks as the others, although the MPs had been alerted in advance to allow the undercover agents to maintain their firearms. They then reboarded the train and traveled to Nuremberg with the goal of mingling with and eavesdropping on civilians to discern any missed suspects and to get a better understanding of civilian sentiment for such traffic delays. The agents reported nothing suspicious about the remaining passengers and found most civilians thought the search generally satisfactory in maintaining order. Operation CHOO-CHOO ended without providing evidence of counterintelligence interest, but it proved the operational efficiency and success of the CIC’s civil security methods.
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| Date Taken: | 01.25.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 01.25.2024 09:50 |
| Story ID: | 462402 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 95 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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