Abteilung III b

Abteilung IIIb was the military intelligence branch of the Imperial German Army from 1889 until the end of the First World War.
History.
The service was created in 1889 as a section in the Prussian General Staff, and was named "Sektion III b". At the beginning of World War I, the section was upgraded to a department and renamed "Abteilung III b". Its initial responsibility solely consisted of counterintelligence, and its foreign intelligence capabilities were limited. The focus of its counterintelligence efforts was on France and Russia, the navy being responsible for intelligence on the United Kingdom.
In 1917, an explicit authorization for domestic education was adopted. The secret "III b" was developed under the previous head of Abteilung III b, Walter Nicolai, as war made the need for a secret police force more pressing. Never before had a German intelligence group held such influence in the German Reich. At the end of the war, the division was disbanded.
When the war began, the network of agents in enemy countries was quickly removed as the agents were arrested. The Secret Service could not provide information about enemy intentions and operational deployment plans. At the General Staff, within the News Department, the 'enemy editor' grew more suspicious of information delivered as facts, as the intelligence reports often proved to be wrong. In the assessment of the enemy situation, there was one mishap after another. The fundamental error lay in the separation of news gathering and analysis.
As the war progressed, it increasingly established itself as a secret police and propaganda organization. Nicolai, the head of the secret police, was often referred to in the left press as the "father of lies" and disinformation, among other things.
In addition, the Abteilung III b was in competition with the Naval Intelligence, also called 'News Department', and the intelligence operations of the Foreign Office became exposed.
Outline.
During the First World War, the division was significantly upgraded and divided into press, propaganda, intelligence and defense: