PamphletDesc1ibing M 1750 ·----- Records of the ------· ShanghaiMunicipal Police ----- 1894-1949 Records of the Central Intelligence Agency Record Group 263 tfl As­ o~oe-- M1750 RECORDS OF THE SHANGHAI MUNICIPAL POLICE 1894-1949 This publication was prepared by Jo Ann Williamson, with assistancefrom National Archives and Records Administration volunteers and student interns. National Archives and Records Administration Washington, DC I 1993 t;' ; I l. TABLE OF CONTENTS Description Introduction Appendix A Investigative Files of the Shanghai Municipal Police D FILES. Reports of Speciai Branch made between 1929-1949 4 IO FILES. Reports made 1916-1929 144 MIS FILES 161 N FILES. Reports Made 1943-1945 During Japanese Occupation 162 U FILES. Reports Made 1940-1945 During Japanese Occupation 174 W FILES. Station W (Western Area) 177 FMP FILES. French Municipal Police 177 BW FILES. Bubbling Well Station Reports 177 CID FILES. Criminal Intelligence Division 178 CS FILES. Crime and Special Branch 178 SMPFILE 179 United States. NatiOnal Archives and Records Administration. Records of the Shanghai municipal police 1894-1949.-Washington, DC: National Archives F FILES. French Political Police 179 Trust Fund Board, National Archives ai:id.Records Administration, 1993. 185 p.; 23 cm.-(National Archives mictofilm publications. Pamphlet FC FILES. Film Censorship 179 describing M1750.) Cover title. H Files. Headquarters Staff 180 "These files are part of the records of the Central Intelligence Agency. Record Group (RG) 263. "-p. 1. Appendix B "This publication was prepared by Jo Ann Williamson ... " Related Records 1. Police-China-Shanghai-Records and correspondence-Microform catalogs. 2. Shanghai (China). Municipal Police-Archives-Microform catalogs. 3. (Formerly) Security Classified Records Relating to Espionage 181 United States. Central InteUigence Agency-Archives-Microform catalogs. 4. Activities in Shanghai, 1926-1948 ("Willoughby Collection") Inteiligence service-China-History-Sources-Bibliography-Microform catalogs. I. Williamson, Jo Ann. IT. National Archives Trust Fund Board. ill. Title. Microfilm Copy of Registration Cards of Russian Emigrants, 181 IV. Series 1940-1945 28055561 Microfilm Copy of Registration Certificates of the Russian 182 Emigrants Committee, 1944-1945 9;,e,,C 'b~ -f Microfilm Copy of the Tsingtao Registration Cards, 1946-1949 182 INTRODUCTION Other Records 183 On the 67 rolls of this microfilm publication, M1750, are reproduced Roll List 184 some of the Shanghai Municipal Police investigation files, 1894-1944. These files are part of the records of the Central Intelligence Agency, Record Group (RG) 263. Background Before World War II, Shanghai was divided into three sovereign jurisdictions. The French Concession occupied a small area close to the city center while the largest jurisdiction, both in population and area, was the Chinese Municipality of Greater Shanghai; part of the Republic of China. However, the city's commercial and industrial core, the great port, fashionable clubs, hotels, and consulates aII were located in the third jurisdiction, the International Settlement, .an entity unique in world politics. This International Settlement did not belong to any one power; its ruling body, known as the Shanghai Municipal Council and elected by the ,"ratepayers," was composed of citizens of a number of powers. Although "international" in outward appearance, during most of its history the Council was effectively controJled by British interests. The settlement's law enforcement agency was the Shanghai Municipal Police (SMP). While the force included Chinese, Indian, and later Russian and Japanese personnel, until World War II the Commissioner and senior officers were alwaj,s British. The functions of the police force were dictated by the strange political demarcations of Shanghai and by the opportunities they presented for criminal activity. ·The SMP.Special Branch also served as an intel1igence gathering and, occasionally, as an executive arm of the British Secret Intelligence Service in the Far East. As a center of political activity in China and the home of a cosmopolitan population (including thousands of White Russian emigr~. as well as 20,000 Jewish refugees), Shanghai was a natural target for intelligence operations by several powers. In 1938, as the Japanese expanded their control over sections of China, they demanded increased representation on the Shanghai Municipal Council and also on its ·police force. After Pearl Harbor the Japanese invited the British and American personnel serving on both to continue their duties under Japanese supervision; however, by July 1942, all British officers of the SMP had been forced to resign. These individuals later spent the remainder of the war in internment camps. When the Japanese took over the city in December 1941, they left the collection of.police files largely intact. The only ones that they apparently removed were Special Branch reports on Japanese personalities. In the spring of 1949, as Communist forces approached Shanghai, the Nationalist Chinese garrison commander gave the remaining Special Branch files ··, r I to the local American Strategic Services Unit (SSU), a military intelligence Related Records successor of the OSS. (The SSU was later integrated into the Central InteI1igence Agency.) When the files were hurriedly loaded on board an American warship, Appendix B describes other records of the Shanghai Municipal Police that some of the boxes fell into the Wbangpoo River; others were damaged when the have been allocated to National Archives Record Group 263. These include the ship transporting them ran into a typhoon. However, most of the files safely "Willoughby Collection," the SMP documents selected and bound in 20 volumes reached Japan and, eventually, the United States. by G-2 (Military Intelligence) in connection with the Sorge investigation; a microfilm copy of registration cards of Russian emigrants, 1940-4S; a microfilm General C. A. Willoughby, Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2 (Military copy of registration certificates of the Russian Emigrants Committee, 1944-4S; a Intelligence),in General Douglas MacArthur's Far Eastern Command,used the microfilm copy of the Tsingtao Registration Cards, 194649; and miscellaneous files as the main source for his special investigation of Soviet double agent other records. Richard Sorge, who served in Shanghaiin the I930's. Several volumes of extracted materials were bound up for this purpose. The records were eventually transferred to the Central Intelligence Agency and later to the National Archives. Records Description Records of the Shanghai Municipal Police transferred to the National Archives included both microfilm and original records. The major portion of the microfilm, 67 rolls identified as the "investigation files," was created by the U.S. Army, apparently in support of General Willoughby'"Sinvestigative activities. It is this Army-prepared microfilm that constitutes M1750. The criteria for selection of records to be film~ are not known; the effort did not always preserve the S:MP's original filing-schemes and Sometimesonly portions of a particular file were filmed. Nevertheless, the film makes accessible a substantial portion of some very interesting records, and numerous researchers have requested copies of it. This publication responds to that interest. Because this film was not created under ideal filming conditions, there are problems associated with its use. Archivists working with the files of the Shanghai Municipal Police in National Archives custody have learned that while there is considerable overlap between the microfilm and the paper records, many paper records were not filmed and some filmed files were not transferred to the National Archives in paper form. Appendix A is a list of investigative files of the S:MPfrom which records were selected for inclusion in Ml750. The arrangement of the listed files follows as closely as possible the order apparently intended by the Shanghai Municipal Police. The list includes records that exist only on paper, records that exist only on microfilm, and records that exist both on paper and on microfilm. The list distinguishes between these record types in the following manner: list entries for records that exist only on paper include a box number, a file number. and a file description, but no roll number; list entries that exist only on microfilm include a roll number, a file number, and a file description, but no box number; and list entries that exist in both paper and microfilm include a box number, a roll number, a file number, and a file description. In some cases file descriptions are transcribed file titles, even to the extent of retaining the original British spelling of words; but in most cases they are NARA-prepared summaries of file content. 2 3 Folder Title/Contents Box Roll File APPENDIX A 8/18 Duties of membersof Cr. & Sp. Br. D Files. Registry. 7.5.31 Transferof work pertainingto communistic Reports of Special Branch made between 1929-1949 1 8/20 activitiesfrom S 1 to S2. 18.5.31 Instructionsto membersof CrimeBranch, 1 8/22 Box Roll File Folder Title/Contents Hdqrs. 8/23 SpecialBranch offices, departmental 1 transfers. Special Branch Registry 1 1 1 Confessionof Chulkoff segregatedfrom Crime & Special 1 1 4 Intelligencereport - political - Communists Branch Registry. May 1, 1934 1 1 5 Intelligencereport - political - notables Boarding House Section of C.1 taken over 1 I 6 Intelligencereport - political- general 8/24 situation (Jan. 28, 1929) by Special Branch, S2, from June 1, I 7 Reports concerningGeorge Gressey 1934 Addresses of foreign membersof Special I 8 Special BranchSection organizationsand 1 1 8/25 work, 1929-1941. Covering index to Branch file D.S. 1-25. 10 (C.I.D.) office notes - Foreign Section, I 8/1 Work of" A" Division (1929) Jan. 29, 1929 Arrestof TsiangHwa Tsao, aliasTsiang 1 8/2 Work of "B" Division (1929) 10 Tung Ydh, alias Kang Chang Ze, alias 1 8/3 Duties of J.C.D.I. Nakagawa and Japanese membersof Special Branch Bi Sho-Wan,Korean terrorist Intelligencereport - political- military- I 8/4 Duties of Russian membersof C.I.D. 1 11 labour& tranSlationof extractsfrom I 8/5 Work of SI (Int.