Operation Gladio (Italian: Operazione Gladio) was the codename for a clandestine North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) “stay-behind” operation in Italy during the Cold War.
Its purpose was to prepare for, and implement, armed resistance in the event of a Warsaw Pact invasion and conquest. Although Gladio specifically refers to the Italian branch of the NATO stay-behind organizations, “Operation Gladio” is used as an informal name for all of them.
The name Gladio is the Italian form of gladius, a type of Roman shortsword- once the most feared close distance weapon. Stay-behind operations were prepared in many NATO member countries, and some neutral countries.
The role of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Gladio and the extent of its activities during the Cold War era, and any relationship to terrorist attacks perpetrated in Italy during the “Years of Lead” (late 1960s to early 1980s) is the subject of debate. .
World War II experience
In the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Winston Churchill created the Special Operations Executive (SOE) in 1940 to assist resistance movements and carry out subversive operations in enemy-held territory across occupied Europe.
Guardian reporter David Pallister wrote in December 1990 that a guerrilla network with arms caches had been put in place following the fall of France.
It included Brigadier “Mad Mike” Calvert, and was drawn from the 5th (ski) battalion of the Scots Guards, which was originally intended to fight against the Soviet forces attacking Finland.
Known as Auxiliary Units, they were headed by Major Colin Gubbins, an expert in guerrilla warfare who later led the SOE. The Auxiliary Units were attached to GHQ Home Forces, and concealed within the Home Guard.
The units were originally created in preparation of a possible invasion of the British Isles by the Third Reich.
Several of their members subsequently joined the Special Air Service and saw action in France in late 1944.
Their existence did not become widely known by the public until the 1990s, despite a book on the subject which was published in 1968, written by David Lampe.
Post war creation
After World War II, the UK and the US decided to use a “stay-behind” paramilitary organizations, this time, with the official aim of countering a possible Soviet invasion through sabotage and guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines. Arms caches were hidden, escape routes prepared, and loyal members recruited, whether in Italy or in other European countries.
The stay-behind armies that were created with the experience and involvement of former SOE officers, for the first time, had a picture that became an “icon” and “symbol” was published May 16, 1977 by the “Corriere d’Information,” and in the following days was taken up by many other newspapers in Italy and abroad.
Following Giulio Andreotti’s October 1990 revelations, General Sir John Hackett, former commander-in-chief of the British Army on the Rhine, later declared on November 16, 1990, that a contingency plan involving “stay behind and resistance in depth” was drawn up after the war.
Clipped from The Greenville News, 18 Nov 1990, Sun, Main Edition, Page 14
The same week, Sir Anthony Farrar-Hockley, former commander-in-chief of NATO’s Forces in Northern Europe from 1979 to 1982, declared to The Guardian that a secret arms network was established in Britain after the war.
Farrar-Hockley wrote two books about these type of engagements , the last being published in 1982 , The Third World War: The Untold Story, which elaborated on the original.
Farrar-Hockley had aroused controversy in 1983 when he became involved in trying to organise a campaign for a new Home Guard against a potential Soviet invasion Operating in all of NATO ,and even in some neutral countries, such as Spain, before its 1982 admission to NATO.
After the creation of NATO in 1949,Gladio was first coordinated by the Clandestine Committee of the Western Union (CCWU) and integrated into the “Clandestine Planning Committee”overseen by the SHAPE (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe), which transferred to Belgium after France’s official withdrawal from the NATO military organization – but not from NATO as a whole – because it was not followed by the dissolution of the French stay-behind paramilitary movements.
The existence of these clandestine NATO units remained a closely guarded secret throughout the Cold War until 1990, when the first branch of the international network was discovered in Italy.
While the press said that the NATO stay-behind units were ‘the best-kept, and most damaging, political-military secret since World War II’, the Italian government, amidst sharp public criticism, promised to close down the secret army. Italy insisted identical clandestine units had also existed in all other countries of Western Europe.
This allegation proved correct and subsequent research found that in Belgium, the secret NATO unit was code-named SDRA8, in Denmark – Absalon, in Germany -TD BJD, in Greece – LOK, in Luxemburg Stay-Behind, in the Netherlands – I&O, in Norway – ROC, in Portugal – Aginter Press, in Spain – Red Quantum, in Switzerland – P26, in Turkey – Özel Harp Dairesi, In Sweden – AGAG (Aktions Gruppen Arla Gryning), in France – ‘Plan Bleu’, and in Austria – OWSGV; however, the code name of the stay-behind unit in Finland remains unknown.
Upon learning of the discovery, the parliament of the European Union (EU) drafted a resolution sharply criticizing the fact.
Yet only Italy, Belgium and Switzerland carried out parliamentary investigations, while the administration of President George H. W. Bush refused to comment.
If Gladio was effectively “the best-kept, and most damaging, political-military secret since World War II”, it must be underlined, that on several occasions, arms caches were discovered and stay-behind paramilitary organizations officially dissolved.
First publicly revealed in Italy
The Italian NATO stay-behind organization, dubbed “Gladio”, was set up under Minister of Defense Paolo Taviani‘s supervision.
Vincenzo Vinciguerra had revealed its existence during his 1984 trial. He is an Italian neo-fascist activist, a former member of the Avanguardia Nazionale (“National Vanguard”) and Ordine Nuovo (“New Order”). He is currently serving a life-sentence for the murder of three Carabinieri by a car bomb in Peteano in 1972. The investigation in this previously unsolved affair by prosecutor Felice Casson led to the revelation of “Gladio” networks around Western Europe
According to media analyst Edward S. Herman, both the President of Italy Francesco Cossiga and Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti, had been involved in the Gladio organization.
Giulio Andreotti’s revelations on 24 October 1990
When Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti publicly recognized the existence of Gladio on 24 October 1990. He spoke of a “structure of information, response and safeguard”, with arms caches and reserve officers.
He also gave a list of 622 civilians who according to him were part of Gladio, to the Commissione Stragi, (the parliamentary commission) which was in charge of investigations on comitted bombings during the Years Of Lead in Italy.
Andreotti also stated that 127 weapons’ cache had been dismantled, and said that Gladio had not been involved in any of the bombings committed from the 1960s to the 1980s.
The list of Gladio members given by Andreotti was believed to be incomplete because it didn’t include, Antonio Arconte, and others who described an organization very different from the one brushed by Giulio Andreotti – Arconte described an organization closely tied to the SID secret service and the Atlanticist strategy.
US State Department’s 2006 response
The US State Department published a communiqué in January 2006 which, while confirming the existence of NATO stay-behind efforts, in general, and the presence of the “Gladio” stay-behind unit in Italy, in particular, with the purpose of aiding resistance in the event of Soviet aggression directed westward, from the Warsaw Pact, dismissed claims of any United States ordered, supported, or authorized terrorism by stay-behind units.
The State Department stated that the accusations of US-sponsored “false flag” operations are rehashed former Soviet disinformation based on documents that the Soviets forged; specifically the Westmoreland Field Manual, also called US Army Field Manual 30-31B was a Cold War-era forgery by Soviet intelligence services.
It has been called the Westmoreland Field Manual because it is signed with the alleged signature of Gen William Westmoreland whose forged nature was confirmed by former KGB operatives, following the end of the Cold War.
source:wikiwand