Counterintelligence Activities of Gendarmerie Railway Police before and during World War I

Abstract

The article analyzes the role of the gendarmerie railway police in the system of counterintelligence agencies in the Russian Empire before and during World War I. Based on documentary materials, the goals of enemy espionage on railways are revealed. Measures taken by the gendarmerie to restrict photography of railway infrastructure are examined. Through analysis of secret correspondence between gendarmerie leaders and railway department heads, categories of individuals most actively recruited by German and Austro-Hungarian intelligence for espionage are identified: prisoners of war, foreign nationals not involved in combat, and children. The organization of surveillance of foreign officials’ railway transport movements within the Russian Empire is also explored. The conclusion is drawn that the gendarmerie railway police’s ability to carry out counterintelligence tasks was complicated by their simultaneous duties as general and political police, as well as the scale of the infrastructure they were tasked with protecting.