Actually, the “smoke of Satan” comment was in 1972, not during the Council.
The story goes that as John XXIII lay dying, he said to Cardinal Heenan, “Stop the Council! Stop the Council!”
The Party Line from the time of Puis X through the fifties was that Modernism had been vanquished. You’ll find that stated in popular histories of the Church. It just went underground, and came roaring back at the Council.
I thought it was after the Council too. But the reality is that Paul VI and John XXIII are the ones responsible for allowing Satan to enter the Church via the Vatican II Council. Until a pope comes along to straighten out that mess, we will continue to see the heresy and apostasy. Perhaps we are truly in the end times though.
The same thing happened with the Marxist liberation theology that went on hibernation under H.H. John Paul II and H.H. Benedict XVI to reappear in full force with the support of Pope Francis.