Roger Masson

Masson was the son of commercial director Jules Auguste and Eugénie Jeanneret.[4] After completing his high school diploma and studying history at the University of Neuchâtel, Masson joined the Swiss Armed Forces, becoming an infantry soldier. In 1915 he was promoted to lieutenant.[5] In 1922, Masson was promoted to Captain, becoming an infantry instructor and by 1927 had become a member of the general staff.[4] In 1928, he attended ETH Zurich where he studied military science, before continuing study at the École supérieure de guerre (military education institute) in Paris.[4] In 1931, Masson became a co-editor and later editor-in-chief of the Swiss Military Review (Revue militaire suisse), which is a Swiss publication devoted to security and defence policy issues,[6] a position he held until 1967.[4] In 1935, Masson became a lecturer in the ETH Zurich. At the same time he was promoted Chief of Staff of Division 1.[4]

In 1936, Masson was put in charge of section 5 of General staff, which constituted the military intelligence service of the Swiss armed forces.[7] In the years leading up to the war, he attempted to rebuild the section that had been virtually dissolved during the interwar period. This happened due to a number of complex reasons that included personal problems, lack of understanding, the general staff disliked having an intelligence agency and the false believe in the security provided by the League of Nations as well as the false belief that peace-time sources of information would be available during time of war or crises.[7] With the approach of war, Chief of the Army General Staff Jakob Labhart issued an order on 22 February 1938 that contained instructions to rebuild army intelligence.[7] Combined with an increased budget, it authorised Masson to form a strategic intelligence service, known as "Id".[7] At the time, Masson recognised that Swiss Intelligence would no longer only offer intelligence on basic military facts but instead focus on all German operations.[8] At the time that agency was still both underfunded and understaff but it wasn't until the Munich crisis of August 1938 and the agencies successful intelligence operation that the Swiss Government recognised that it needed a well-funded intelligence service.[9] Masson was able to use the money to open field-offices on the northern, western, and southern front as well as fund training for new agent as well as recruit new informants.[9]

On the 1 March 1942, Masson was promoted to Assistant Chief of Staff with the rank of colonel-brigadier.[10] In January 1944, group Id was expanded to include the territorial service and renamed Group "Ib". This resulted in Masson commanding a unit consisting of 300,000 men.[11]

On 8 September 1942, Masson left Switzerland and travelled across the Rhine to meet Schellenberg at a restaurant at the Waldshut train station.[12]

• Braunschweig, Pierre (2004). Secret channel to Berlin : the Masson-Schellenberg connection and Swiss intelligence in World War II. Philadelphia: Casemate. ISBN 1-932033-39-4. OCLC 53823206.