Stay-behind

Stay-behind

In a stay-behind operation, a country places secret operatives or organisations in its own territory, for use in the event that the territory is overrun by an enemy. If this occurs, the operatives would then form the basis of a resistance movement, or would act as spies from behind enemy lines. Small-scale operations covered only small areas, but larger stay-behind operations envisaged entire countries being conquered.

Significant stay-behind operations existed during World War II, in which both the United Kingdom and Nazi Germany put in place such structures (the Auxiliary Units and the Werwolf organisation, respectively). During the Cold War, the NATO and CIA sponsored stay-behind forces in many European countries, intending that they would be activated in the event of that country being taken over by the Warsaw Pact or if the Communist party came to power in a democratic election. Many hidden weapons caches were found, in Italy, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and other countries, at disposition of these "secret armies". The most famous of these NATO operations was Operation Gladio, acknowledged by Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti on October 24, 1990.

In some cases, stay-behind operations have deviated from their stated purpose, and have been active against elements in their country which they deem to be subversive — rather than fighting an outright invasion, they claimed to be fighting a quieter subversion of their country. Some have been involved in domestic terrorism campaigns, such as Gladio's participation in Italy's strategy of tension and support for far-right military coups in Greece (the "Regime of the Colonels") and in Turkey. In this last country, General Kenan Evren, who staged the 1980 military coup, was a member of the "Counter-Guerrilla", Turkish stay-behind armies. In some countries, there has been a considerable degree of overlap between official stay-behind organisations and other, non-official groups — for example, the French Organisation armée secrète included many members of its country's stay-behind organisation.

List of stay-behind plans

*Auxiliary Units (United Kingdom)
*Gladio (Italy, although working in many countries)
**I&O (Netherlands)
**Lochos Oreinon Katadromon, or LOK (Greece)
**OWSGV (Austria)
**Plan Bleu, La Rose des Vents, and Arc-en-ciel (France)
**ROC (Norway)
**SDRA8 and STC/Mob (Belgium)
**Bund Deutscher Jugend - Technischer Dienst, or TD BJD (Germany)
*Nihtilä-Haahti plan (Finland)
*Projekt-26 (P-26, Switzerland)
*Werwolf (Nazi Germany)
*Regional Force Surveillance Units (Australia), non-secret units of the Royal Australian Corps of Infantry with officially acknowledged 'stay-behind' duties.
*Sweden had a stay-behind network organised by Informationsbyrån. It was active in the 1950s and 1960s and organised 3-4,000 persons. The recruits were controlled by SÄPO and were trained in guerilla warfare in U.S.A. and the UK. In 1951, CIA agent William Colby, based at the CIA station in Stockholm supported the training of stay-behind armies in neutral Sweden and Finland and in the NATO members Norway and Denmark. In 1953, the police arrested right winger Otto Hallberg and discovered the Swedish stay-behind army. Hallberg was set free and charges against him were mysteriously dropped.

References

*Nato's Secret Armies: Operation Gladio and Terrorism in Western Europe, by Daniele Ganser, ISBN 0-7146-5607-0


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  • Stay behind — Drapeau de l OTAN. Dans le cadre de la guerre froide, les cellules stay behind étaient des réseaux clandestins coordonnés par l OTAN. Implantées dans seize pays d Europe de l Ouest, ces cellules visaient à combattre une éventuelle occupation par… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • stay behind — ˌstay be ˈhind ˌstay ˈback [intransitive] [present tense I/you/we/they stay behind he/she/it stays behind present participle …   Useful english dictionary

  • Stay-behind — Organisationen sind militärische Widerstandsorganisationen die für den Fall der Okkupation eines Staates, oder von Teilen seines Territoriums, durch feindliche Truppen nachrichtendienstliche Aufklärung in den besetzten Gebieten leisten und… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Stay-behind — Drapeau de l OTAN. Dans le cadre de la guerre froide, les cellules stay behind étaient des réseaux clandestins coordonnés par l OTAN. Implantées dans seize pays d Europe de l Ouest, ces cellules visaient à combattre une éventuelle occupation par… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Stay behind — Gladio (ital. vom lateinischen gladius für Schwert) oder auch Stay Behind Organisation war der Name einer paramilitärischen Geheimorganisation von NATO, CIA und des britischen MI6 während des Kalten Krieges. Die Gladio Mitglieder sollten nach… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • stay behind — phrasal verb stay behind or stay back [intransitive] Word forms stay behind : present tense I/you/we/they stay behind he/she/it stays behind present participle staying behind past tense stayed behind past participle stayed behind to remain… …   English dictionary

  • Stay-behind belges — Stay behind en Belgique Les réseaux clandestins de l OTAN pendant la guerre froide, dits Stay behind, étaient actifs dans la quasi totalité des pays d Europe occidentale, dont la Belgique. Révélés en Italie le 24 octobre 1990 par le président du… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Stay-behind en belgique — Les réseaux clandestins de l OTAN pendant la guerre froide, dits Stay behind, étaient actifs dans la quasi totalité des pays d Europe occidentale, dont la Belgique. Révélés en Italie le 24 octobre 1990 par le président du Conseil Giulio Andreotti …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Stay-behind-Organisation — Stay behind Organisationen, deutsch teilweise Überrollgruppen genannt, sind militärische Widerstandsorganisationen, die für den Fall der Besetzung eines Staates oder von Teilen seines Territoriums durch feindliche Truppen nachrichtendienstliche… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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