A Brief History
On October 24, 1990, the Italian Prime Minister addressed the Italian parliament about the existence of Operation Gladio, a NATO program in Italy and other countries, even some non-treaty nations, whereby a secret army would wage guerrilla war against the Soviets should they overrun any of these countries.
Digging Deeper
During World War II, the British set up their Home Guard to fill this role in case Britain was overrun by the Germans. The idea is to have loyal patriots spread throughout the land, trained in sabotage and communications skills with secret caches of arms conducting secret war against any occupier, sort of a “sleeper cell” arrangement waiting for the right time to go into action.
Other Allied nations had resistance and guerrilla fighters reporting intelligence to Allied armies as well as conducting raids and sabotage. These “underground” efforts were supported by the British SOE (Special Operations Executive) and the American OSS (Office of Strategic Services, predecessor of the CIA).
Even Germany, the target of so many of these organizations, created their own program in 1944 when it became apparent that the Fatherland would be soon overrun by the Allies. The German program was called “Werewolf,” and the name struck fear in the hearts of Allied commanders, especially when it was discovered that the Germans had supplied Allied military uniforms to their operatives. Luckily, the German people quickly understood the counterproductive nature of such activity and the actual covert war against the occupying Allied armies never really amounted to much. The Werewolf program never got the adequate manpower, training and arms to be an effective force, a fact realized by the SS, who co-opted the Werewolf organization for its own purposes, which was to help SS officers and their families escape the advancing Soviets!
Unfortunately for NATO, one of the accusations against Gladio made by critics and various sources was that the organization had been used for “false flag” operations as well, conducting minor terrorist actions (bombings and the like) in order to blame the Communists and other subversives, an effort to keep the Cold War warm. Of course, NATO governments deny this, but it is likely the organizations were used at least to monitor internal threats as well as prepare for external threats.
Some NATO nations admitted the existence of Gladio type “stay behind” armies (known in each country by a unique code name other than Gladio), while others denied having such an organization. Some NATO nations claimed to dissolve their branch of that tree.
Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: With the likelihood of a Soviet takeover gone with the dissolution of the Soviet Union, is there still a need for these covert armies? Should prudent nations maintain secret programs to continue resistance in case of catastrophe? What do you think about these “stay behind” armies?
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Daniele, Ganser. NATO’s Secret Armies: Operation GLADIO and Terrorism in Western Europe (Contemporary Security Studies). Routledge, 2005.
Williams, Paul L. Operation Gladio: The Unholy Alliance between the Vatican, the CIA, and the Mafia. Prometheus, 2015.
