Following the defeat of France in 1940, the GFP established its main headquarters at the Hôtel Bradford on the rue Saint Philippe du Roule in Paris (8ème arrondissement). Other sections for the departments of Nord and Pas de Calais were based at rue de la Traversière in Brussels. Despite their small numbers, the GFP constituted the "root" of the German police organ which terrorized the French people for four years of occupation.[3]