Naton salaiset armeijat

by Daniele Ganser

Laajaan tutkimukseen nojautuen Ganser osoittaa, miten Naton salaiset joukot sekaantuivat laittomuuksiin, jotka useissa tapauksissa johtivat väkivaltaisiin terroritekoihin ja joiden tarkoituksena oli mustamaalata vasemmistoa. "Terrorismin vastaisen sodan" aikakaudella tri Ganserin tutkimustulokset nostattavat perustavanlaatuisia kysymyksiä tiedustelupalveluiden roolista demokraattisissa yhteiskunnissa.

Kirjan suomalaiseen painokseen tulee lisäartikkeli koskien erityisesti Naton salaisia operaatioita Suomessa ja muissa liittoutumattomissa maissa. Kirja on aiemmin käännetty useille kielille.

Genres: History, Politics, Nonfiction, Conspiracy Theories, The United States Of America, War, Espionage

416 pages, Paperback

First published December 17, 2004

About the author

Daniele Ganser (born August 29, 1972 in Lugano) is a Swiss historian, author, 9/11 truther and Peak Oil lecturer. He is best known for his 2005 book NATO's Secret Armies, an adaption of his 2001 dissertation.

Daniele Ganser was Senior Researcher at the ETH Zurich, Center for Security Studies (CSS). He was president (2006-2012) of the Swiss branch of the "Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas" (ASPO), and taught a course (2012-2017) titled History and Future of Energy Systems at the University of St. Gallen.

Ganser has written books about the presumed NATO stay-behind network Gladio, the Swiss policy of refusing to integrate with the EU, the Cuban missile crisis and the Peak Oil theory.

He was president of the Swiss branch of the "Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas" (ASPO) and teaches History and Future of Energy Systems at the University of St. Gallen.

He questions the accuracy of the 9/11 Commission Report.

Reviews

[Ron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just finished reading 'NATO's Secret Armies: Operation Gladio and Terrorism in Western Europe.' Authored by Dr. Daniele Ganser, a Senior Researcher at the Center for Security Studies at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland, it was published in 2005.

Some of the key findings of Ganser's research are these:

The US CIA and British MI6, following the Second World War, set up secret right-wing organizations in all of the future NATO states, as well as the ostensibly neutral states, outside the Soviet-controlled eastern Bloc.

These structures varied in terms of how closely they were aligned with local governments. In fascist countries like Spain and Portugal, the organizations were closely aligned with and known to the local government's highest levels. In those countries with a more liberal democratic bent, these structures were unknown even to the highest levels of the local governments.

Many of the operatives of these terrorist forces employed by the US and Great Britain were explicitly fascist. In the case of Germany, the US carried on a public de-Nazification program after the war in concert with the German government even as it recruited some of the most vicious war criminals as allies, such as Klaus Barbie (the Butcher of Lyon) and Reinhard Gehlen (a Nazi intelligence chief whose organization was turned into the West German intelligence agency which later became the Bundesnachrichtendienst, the BND), along with hundreds of others.

Ostensibly established to operate as stay-behind forces in the event of a Soviet invasion of Western Europe, these forces nevertheless operated as both terrorist forces aimed at destroying leftist politics by way of direct attack or false flag terrorism blamed falsely on the left to discredit it.

In numerous countries, from the 40s to the 90s, such as Belgium, Italy, France, Portugal, Spain, Greece, Turkey, these right-wing Trojan Horse forces controlled mainly by the United States, engaged in massacres, torture, multiple coups d'etat, and other violence.

While it is known the countries in the Soviet Bloc enjoyed at best a limited degree of sovereignty--in fact, this was stated quite openly by Brezhnev and other Soviet leaders, the countries in Western Europe, where freedom was said to reign in contrast to the Soviet bloc, also enjoyed only a very limited sovereignty due to these secret, US-controlled organizations. In the Western case, however, this was not open, it was kept secret.

John F. Kennedy's assassination followed a period of leftist political success in Italy and a secret, right-wing, CIA-controlled subversion campaign. Kennedy insisted on a compromise with the Italian left. After he was assassinated, a right-wing coup went ahead in Italy under the auspices of the CIA and its Italian operators.

The purported and much-discussed dysfunction of democracy in places like Italy, Greece, and other countries was really a result of manipulation and terror at the hands of these CIA-controlled terrorist forces.

In the West German state of Hesse, in the early 1950s, authorities--believing in the de-Nazification program--discovered, broke-up, and arrested the Nazis and neo-Nazis comprising the local, CIA-controlled secret army without realizing they were run by the United States. The US protected the individuals involved and the West German government was compelled to drop any further investigation.

In 1955, West Germany's entry into NATO was dependent on the American condition that West Germany would refrain from pursuing right-wing extremists, a demand the West German government felt compelled to accept.

Between 1982-5, a series of false-flag massacres (blamed on communists) took place at the hands of these right-wing terrorists and, in one case at least, included the participation of US Marines, in the Brabant region of Holland. 29 civilians were killed.

Though the CIA possessed a list of these right-wing terrorists, and controlled them, the Dutch Prime Minister at the time, Ruud Lubbers, said it would be "pretty much lethally dangerous" for him to talk about it.

The worst, but not the only, massacre carried out by these CIA-controlled terrorists occurred in Italy. On August 2, 1980 a bomb went off in the Bologna railway station killing 85 people and injuring some 200 others. It was blamed on Italian communists as part of a campaign to manipulate Italian politics and move the country's political culture to the right.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely the best of the books I've read on Operation Gladio, the various stay-behind armies setup by the US in Europe during the Cold War, and their links to various acts of terrorism. Both Paul Williams Operation Gladio and Philip Wilan's Puppetmasters have a lot of good information but indulge in a lot of speculation and use some dodgy sources in a few spots. Ganser's work however draws almost entirely from primary source parliamentary reports and contemporary reporting in major outlets. The book systematically walks through each NATO member and the ways in which their sovereignty was subordinated to US interests via CIA control of these secret armies. The chapters on Belgium, Greece, and Turkey are especially informative. Very important resource for understanding the real history of Western Europe during the Global Class War.

[Derek · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s great to have compiled in one spot a brief overview of Gladio operations in each NATO member state (less the US & UK themselves) along with sources, but I couldn’t help but walk away from this a little disappointed in the end. First, it should be mentioned that the editing and English translation could have used some more work. There were consistently major misspellings, punctuation errors and ungrammatical sentences, not that this would reflect on Ganser himself obviously. However, in his foreword Ganser mentions how the version we read today was edited down from a draft measuring over a thousand pages; one can’t help but wonder if that would’ve been a better or worse document.

In any case, there are a few particular elements not allowed an entirely thorough treatment in the text. Besides Ganser’s explanation of the motivations behind Pan-Turkist ideology, he discusses very little the racialism and other components motivating the Gladio soldiers themselves. This information would have been good to present not only for a fuller picture of the perpetrators of Gladio’s crimes but to shine further light on the undiscovered links in the network. Ganser often contents himself to admitting the unanswerability of a question given a lack of unclassified documentation rather than offering his own theories as well.

I found it interesting that he relies so heavily on Anglophone authors such as Christopher Simpson and Martin Lee doing similar work given the abundance of literature to be found were he to put aside his anti-Soviet convictions. In the conclusion he goes so far as to state that the Gladio network’s actions were justifiable in light of a rational fear of Soviet invasion, something that verges on absurdity as the network progressed past the 1960s. While Ganser puts a lot of pieces in one place that were undoubtedly actually coordinated as such at the time and makes a legitimate attempt at describing the stay-behind’s structure, there are certainly better individual books out there focusing on the subject matter of CIA operations in Europe.

[S.H. Villa · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is unusual for a book to be both dull and horrifying, but it is excused its dullness by being the only academic text on the NATO Gladio operations after WWII in Western Europe. The horrifying part is harder to excuse. It became known when the then Italian prime minister Andreotti confirmed the existence of Operation Gladio in the Italian parliament. This book is based on the report which followed in the early 1990s.

The CIA and British Intelligence were particularly keen to prevent any of the numerous communist parties from getting a grip in Western Europe. To this end, they took into the fold a number of prominent Nazis, some of whom they saved from prosecution, other rightwingers including members of the Mafia. They promoted certain rightwing political parties, such as the Christian Democrats in Italy which the Americans basically financed, and also set up secret armies. Weapons were supplied and held in large caches ready for any communist threat. And then when they got bored with waiting for communists to make a move, they set up false flag operations, especially in Italy. Bombs in banks, train stations and public places killed hundreds in total. They would then go out and arrest anarchists or communists who in some cases 'committed suicide' while in detention. In Belgium they had a gang with machine guns who went around killing people in supermarkets. All VERY ugly. And sad to think that humans can do these things to one another all to keep certain powerful people powerful. You can be assured that those who laid the explosives, fired into lines of women and children were not the ones who got the big bite of the apple.

From here, go on to read about what has become known as Gladio B in Sibel Edmonds book The Lone Gladio. 9/11 yet another false flag operation allowed the US to justify invasions in the Middle East.

[Luka Novak · Rating 1 out of 5]

While the topic is very interesting and author seemed to do decent ammount of research the main flaw of the book is that it doesn't rely on primary sources. Instead it uses secondary sources like testemonies of people involved and various reports.

While author freely admits this and explains primary sources were not available this severly decreases the extent of what book can actually uncover, since secondary sources are by nature less reliable and less that full.

Good attempt but far short of what it could be.

[Matteo · Rating 4 out of 5]

i am glad this book exists. it sheds light on an important part of european history (and italian history) that i did not know enough about, and about which not enough has been written

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mr. Chomsky said it best: “important, urgent reading.”

[Vítor Monteiro · Rating 3 out of 5]

In a nutshell, it is a book with much truthful and important information (very little from primary sources), mixed together with many "maybes" of hearsay and speculation, and some critical research failures (it says for one that the Portuguese New State dictatorship was overthrown in May 1st, 1974, when any one with the middle school level knowledge would know it happened on April 25th, and this is quite an omen to take the book with some grains of salt). The book is harmed by a logic that the Cold War was just an antileftist paranoia against a left that was not trying to do anything to fight an ideological/political combat and that any apparent radical left action was either a false flag by the far-right, or far left groups acting manipulated by far-rightists that convinced them that they were on the same side (both things happened, but again, to what extent?, and clearly either of those instances did not always occur). It suffers from a lot of conspiracy theory logic that all events happen because there is some group in the shadows pulling all the strings, and nothing can happen by mistake, coincidence, rush or existence of multitudes of different groups all trying to use each other. Some quoted authors have admited that the book does misquote them or attributes them intentions they didn't have (even quoted authors that have praised the book as a whole). No amount of facts can change these basic flaws of book intent. Books like this need an alternate response that is willing to see the Cold War as the fight of equal country blocs and ideological factions that it was, not falling into hindsight falacy of assuming that the US and the right always took the lead because we now know they won.

Your research is cornbread, your argument is invalid.

[Doug · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though written in dull, academic style, this story exploded on the scene in the early 1990s, with various European governments confirming it. It's the story of secret right-wing/Nazi armies setup by the U.S. and NATO at the start of the Cold War to serve as behind-the-lines shock troops in the event of a Soviet invasion. Since that never occurred, these secret armies ended up taking part in numerous false-flag terrorist operations they blamed on the left. It's a key text linking the right and false terrorism as policy.

[sabisteb aka callisto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nachdem ich Foschepoths „Überwachtes Deutschland“ gelesen habe, hatte ich schon nur noch sehr wenige Illusionen, in einer Demokratie zu leben. Dieses Buch jedoch, zerreißt auch noch den letzten dünnen Schleier der Illusion, den der Westen als seine ach so grandiosen Ideale rühmt.
Wenn man nach Foschepoths Buch noch die Hoffnung hatte, dass man an diesem System irgendwas retten oder verbessern könnte, macht einem diese Buch klar, dass da nicht mehr zu retten ist, sondern, dass diese Strukturen mit Stumpf und Stiel eliminiert werden müssen und etwas vollkommen Neues her muss. Dafür muss aber erst das amerikanische Imperium entmachtet werden.

Aber beginnen wir am Anfang. Jeder hat schon mal irgendwie von Gladio (dem italienischen Zweig der stay-behind Armeen) gehört, eine Geheime Armee im Auftrag der Nato. Die eigentliche Idee, geboren aus den Erfahrungen des zweiten Weltkrieges war gar nicht so schlecht. Diese geheimen Armee, auch stay-behind genannt, sollten im Falle einer Invasion, den Kontakt zur Exilregierung halten und den Widerstand im Land organisieren. Das an sich ist nicht verwerflich und dass so eine Armee geheim gehalten werden muss, ist verständlich. Was jedoch CIA, MI6 und die NATO letztendlich aus diesem eigentlich sinnvollen Projekt gemacht haben, ist so widerwärtig, dass man sich fragt, warum die Europäischen Regierungen überhaupt noch mit den USA und UK zusammenarbeiten, oder besser, nach diesem Buch fragt man es sich nicht mehr. Wenn man dieses Buch liest, erkennt man, was da gerade in der Ukraine passiert, denn es ist schon mehrfach passiert, und die NATO verwendet immer noch die alten Methoden der 60er Jahre und irgendwie fallen die Leute doch immer noch darauf hinein.
Was ist so verwerflich an dem, was die NATO mit den Geheimarmeen veranstaltet hat? Ich denke, die Beispiele sprechen für sich selbst:
• Stay-behind Strukturen waren eine Grundvoraussetzung zum Beitritt zur NATO.
• Stay-behind Mitglieder wurden nur aus der rechten Szene und aus ultrakonservativen Kreisen rekrutiert, also Mitglieder der SS (Klaus Barbie, Gehlen) und GESATPO. In Italien arbeiteten (und arbeiten) mit der Mafia zusammen und rekrutierte gesuchte Terroristen (die auch in den verschiedenen Ländern untereinander weitergereicht wurden).
• Stay-behind Armeen verübten Terroranschläge gegen die eigene Bevölkerung und schoben es den unbequemen Linken, Sozialisten und Kommunisten in die Schuhe, um damit die Bevölkerung dazu zu bringen, mehr Sicherheit zu fordern, sogenannte False Flagg Anschläge. (Brabant- Anschläge in Beligien, Oktoberfestattentat, …)
• Stay behind Armeen putschten mehrfach gegen kommunistische, Linke, demokratisch gewählte Regierungen. Das war auch ihre Hauptaufgabe, mit ihrer Hilfe entfernt die CIA unbequeme Regierungen und installiert anschließend NATO Marionetten: 1967 in Griechenland, 1980 in der Türkei, 1961 in Frankreich (gescheitert – Warum wohl haben die Franzosen die NATO aus ihrem Land rausgeschmissen?!)
• Die italienische Gladio hatte die Aufgabe „Italiens Ausrichtung am Westblock unter allen Umständen zu garantieren, selbst wenn die Wähler eine andere Einstellung zeigen.“ (S. 62) – Wer da noch an Wahlen und Demokratie glaubt, ist naiv und beratungsresistent.
• In Frankreich wurde diese Armee von der Industrie gesponsert (Peugot z. Bsp), damit diese die Gewerkschaften, Sozialisten und Kommunisten schwächen. (S. 147) – Ich gehe mal davon aus, daran hat sich bis heute nichts geändert, nur dass nun wohl auch die Banken massiv sponsern würde ich vermuten.
• Laut FM 30-31 Handbuch der CIA ist „in Friedenszeiten Gewaltakte durchzuführen und diesen dann den Kommunisten anzulasten, um somit ein Klima der Furcht und der Wachsamkeit zu erzeigen (S. 361) “ Eine Standartvorgehensweise. - 9/11? Der Absturz der polnischen Regierung vor ein paar Jahren (die wollten eine Mittelmacht etablieren, die sich weder an Ost noch an West bindet).

Schlussfolgerungen:
• Kein einziger europäischer Staat kontrolliert seine eigenen Geheimdienste. Die sind alle in der Hand der CIA und des MI6 bzw. Außenstellen dieser Organisationen. Egal, was Foschepoth auch über Verträge schreiben mag, die Ausrüstung stammt seit dem zweiten Weltkrieg von der CIA und NSA, die Leute werden und wurden dort ausgebildet und die Geheimdienste kooperieren länderübergreifend miteinander als eine einzige Struktur, egal wer gerade regiert. Der italienische Geheimdienst wird durch ein geheimes Protokoll reguliert, das Italien von den USA aufgezwungen wurde (S. 116)
Es stellt sich nun nur noch die Frage, wer steuert die CIA, die die anderen Geheimdienste wie Marionetten tanzen lässt? Die Banken? Die amerikanischen Oligarchen?
• Da braucht man sich nicht mehr lange fragen, warum unsere SPD nicht mit den LINKEN zusammenarbeitet, obwohl die letzten Wahlen eine linke Mehrheit ergeben haben… Wer glaubt, dass diese Strukturen nicht mehr existieren, der irrt. Wenn Deutschland eine linke Regierung bekäme, hätten wir hier sehr bald einen Putsch durch diese CIA Truppen, da hat die SPD keinen Lust drauf, und dass die Politiker der Linken auch heute noch vom Verfassungsschutz beobachtet werden ist auch bekannt.
• Während die Sowjetunion ihre Archive öffnete, bleiben jene der Amerikaner verschlossen (S. 140). Wem sollten wir da wohl eher trauen? Den USA sicherlich nicht.
• „Es ist unsere Überzeugung, dass die erste Phase politischer Aktivität Bedingungen generieren muss, welche die Schaffung von Chaos in allen Strukturen des Regimes ermöglichen.“ (S. 193) – Klingt schwer nach Ukraine 2014.
• Mit ein paar ideologischen Zaubertricks bezeichnete Truman das korrupte und rechtslastige Regime in Athen plötzlich als demokratisch und tat deren Opposition als Terroristen ab( S. 333). Klingt erneut nach Ukraine 2014.

Fazit: „Die Fakten über Gladio zeigen, dass die Legislative nicht in der Lage war, die versteckten Zweige der Exekutive zu kontrollieren, und es in den Demokratien auf beiden Seiten des Atlantiks keine parlamentarische Kontrolle der Geheimdienste gibt oder, wenn es sie gibt, sie nicht funktionieren. Schon lange ist bekannt, dass totalitäre Staaten eine ganze Reihe von Geheimarmeen unterhielten. Doch sollte ersthafte Fehlfunktionen auch in zahlreichen Demokratien zu entdecken ist zumindest überraschend.“(S. 380)
Hier irrt sich der Autor meiner Meinung nach. Im Westen hat es noch nie eine Demokratie gegeben. Wenn nur totalitäre Regime diese Mittel verwenden, muss man halt einsehen, dass man auch in einem totalitären Regim lebt und eben nicht in einer Demokratie oder nur in einer Scheindemokratie Marke DDR. Wenn es doch einmal zu demokratischen Wahlergebnissen kam, wurden diese gewählten Regierungen von den Geheimarmeen entfernt und durch Marionettenregime ersetzt. Der Osten und der Westen unterscheiden sich nur in einem Punkt, die im Osten wussten, dass es eine Farce ist, die im Westen glaubten an die Farce und waren und sind somit dümmer und naiver als der von ihnen bekämpfte Osten. Aber auch im Westen wachen die Menschen langsam auf und erkennen, dass alles, was sie bisher glaubten, eine Lüge ist.

Man kann an diesem Buch natürlich kritisieren, dass der Autor nicht auf Originalunterlagen zurückgreifen konnte, ABER Geheimdienste operieren nicht im Luftleeren Raum. Sie hinterlassen Spuren in der Realität wie Trevor Paglen auf der 30c3 in Six Landscapes sehr schön zeigte.

Was ich aus diesem Buch schließe? Wählen bringt nichts. Entweder man wählt brav seine Unterdrücker oder die gewählte Regierung wird ausgetauscht. Bisher wurde in Deutschland durch die Massenmedien verhindert, dass die CIA durchgreifen musste und die Illusion von Freiheit zerstört wurde. Warum die Politiker sich nicht währen und Mitspielen? Warum sie alle Rückratlose Wendehälse sind? Das ist Teil des Systems. Wählen bringt nichts.
Auch der Autor konnte nicht belegen, wer wirklich hinter all diesen Geheimarmeen steckt. Wer steuert die CIA? Wer bestimmt den Kurs, den dem der westliche Block zu folgen hat? DAS wäre meiner Meinung nach, eine sehr wichtige Frage und die Antwort ein Teil der Lösung des Problems.


Was ich vermisse, ist ein Schaltbild der Verstrickungen, das das Problem visualisiert.

[Kersplebedeb · Rating 2 out of 5]

Would have been a four-star book had the translation not been so crappy - truly unfortunate.

[Ignat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Realpolitik. CIA and MI6 created and sponsored terrorists states around the world. Secret NATO protocols. Must read!

[Ben Ireland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good book. I learned a lot.

[John Davie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The revelations of the secret American sponsored and run Nazi and Nazi collaborator armies throughout Europe throws much light on its present involvement in Ukraine.

[Rutger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disconcerting Cold War story.

I learned about this book a few years ago, after I did some googling on Gladio, but put it aside after I checked the bio and bibliography of the writer, Daniele Ganser. Ganser turned out to be a self-styled “Friedesforscher” (peace researcher) who veers into conspiracy theory stuff, like 9/11 being an inside and stuff like that. However, recently I (again) stumbled upon operation Gladio and checked the background literature, and (again) I had to conclude this book “NATO’s secret armies” is the best choice to read on the topic. Ganser did not disappoint, not at all.

Operation “Gladio” (Italian for sword) was a clandestine CIA/MI6 Cold-War program to form resistance movements in Western Europe in case of a sudden Soviet invasion – mostly in NATO member states, though not only (Switzerland). The fear of Soviet communism was immense after WWII and understandable looking at Eastern Europe at the time. The Americans and Brits decided communism shouldn't conquer one inch further into the West, and deservedly so. During the Cold War, the US took on a sole leadership role and the Brits became more of a junior partner in NATO and Gladio.

The best way to describe Gladio is to divide it into; good, bad and ugly. First, the good part; a hard lesson of WWII was that it’s very hard to organize, train and operate a resistance movement *after* an invasion. Ideally, you want to connect loyal, smart, strong and patriotic people before such a thing happens. Gladio primarily focused on what was considered the enemy within: the communist parties in Western Europe -- though popular among the public, communists were considered by the CIA to be likely candidates for a post-invasion Soviet puppet government. Thus, it followed that communists needed to be discredited as much as possible.

Onwards, to the bad part. Ideals tend to be noble, but you make your hands dirty during implementation. So it was with Gladio. After the decision was made to organize underground resistance movements, stay-behinds as they were called, the CIA had to look for recruits among the public. The logic for recruitment was very cynical: if the communists invade, who will resist them the most? Answer: the far-right, i.e. ultranationalists, neo-nazis, paramilitaries and the like. These people could be relied upon to fight communists until the death, they would never accept them.

Finally, the ugly. These secret armies were not dormant, they were active; and the bigger the communist party (or the more opposed to American FP) was in a NATO country, the more Gladio action they had. Far-right radicals got the go-ahead (and immunity from prosecution) to commit “false flag” terror attacks against civilian targets. These attacks served two functions; 1) It was assumed that the populations had to be scared through a “policy of tension” and nothing scares people more into submission than violence and terrorism and 2) authorities would blame the communists for the false flag in order to discredit them. To me, this all sounded incredible, until I looked into it – and it was all likely to be true.

The bombing of the Bologna train station, the Oktoberfest bombing and the Brabant killings all had clear links to Gladio and served a political purpose. For example, the Brabant killers became active in Belgium during a time in which Belgium was considered to be the weakest NATO member; the public didn’t want nuclear weapons on its soil, and thus had to be subdued some way – then the BrabantKillers (Bende van Nijvel) started raising hell and the rest is history... The Italian terrorist Vincenzo Vinciguerra, responsible for the Bologna train station bombing, publicly stated he committed the atrocity for political purposes (to manipulate public opinion into calls for an authoritarian state) and how he received approval from people in high places. He even resented being called "neofascist", because he saw himself as an instrument of the state!

I give the book 4 stars, but it’s 5 stars for the content and 3 for the writing and structure. I think Ganser could have done more with the story, but, then again, why has nobody else looked into this? At least, Ganser managed to collect all the relevant information and show how similar the separate national Gladio networks were. Highly recommended.

[David Flood · Rating 4 out of 5]

NATO's Secret Armies by academic Daniele Ganser is a collected history of "Operation Gladio". An American and British sponsored effort after the Second World War to establish 'Stay Behind' networks of secret resistance fighters with access to arms, explosives and radios. The initial premise is that, as the USSR was ascendant in Europe at the time of the defeat of Nazi Germany, the Americans and British were concerned that the partisans in European countries who'd resisted the Nazis (usually leftists) would coalesce into winning electoral victories that'd be friendly to the USSR. Expecting a confrontation with the USSR these 'stay behind' networks could resist the Communist Governments of Europe just as the partisans had resisted the Nazi's.

A consequence of this plan was that if you want to train and arm resistance fighters to fight communists, you're likely to recruit people on the far right. So we have this ludicrous situation in 1945 onward where the Americans and Brits are arming the Mafia, Vichy French Police, and Italian and Greek Fascists. Once in place, these armies are largely left to run on their own and immediately devolve into committing false flag acts of terrorism in their countries designed to discredit broader leftist movements. Equal parts ludicrous as well as horrifying, this is a great break down, country by country of covert actions taken during the Cold War and how it shaped contemporary European landscape. There are obvious parallels to actions taken in this book with how the US and UK have backed militant groups in other parts of the world in the 21st Century.

The translation I read was on https://libcom.org - it could have benefited from a proof reading but the content of this book is fascinating.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thorough country-by-country exposé of Operation Gladio, a joint effort between the CIA and MI6 to construct "stay behind armies" in the case of a Soviet invasion of western Europe using the NATO membership apparatus as a structure to organize coordination and training across forces. Of course, the invasion never came, and the stay behind armies were molded by the Truman Doctrine of containing geopolitical expansion of communism. The NATO secret armies were thus composed of avid fascists, monarchists, and anti-communists which employed 'strategies of tensions' involving political assassinations and false flag terrorist attacks on civilians which were orchestrated to implicate trade unions, socialists, and primarily communists. These were the ground operations. In tandem, the military polices coordinated with these stay behind armies and their counterparts in neighbouring countries to participate in training and strategy, chiefly led by Britain and the US. These were the military/security operations. All of these operations were subservient to NATO, Britain (early on, particularly in Greece where Britain created a right-monarchist force to fight left-democratic partisans who resisted Mussolini and defeated Hitler at the same time - yes, Churchill and Hitler's forces were on the same side at the same time in Greece) and the United States, particularly the CIA (the many military coups were orchestrated by the CIA directly, or at least had their approval - President Carter did not know the 1980 coup was their doing until his CIA station chief in Turkey said "we did it!"). There has yet to be a judgment for these horrific acts.

[Carlos · Rating 5 out of 5]

El lado oscuro del terrorismo en Europa y la muestra de cómo en occidente no somos santos.

[Деян Колев · Rating 5 out of 5]

Колосално, чудесно структурирано и много информативно четиво.

[Aaron Sheridan · Rating 1 out of 5]

A big fat disappointment of a book. The only utility was having what is known about the disparate Gladio stay-behind networks of NATO countries brought together in one source. But even then this utility is severely limited by the structure, the research and the writing.

Like others have pointed out here, the English translation is awful. It reads very badly and is full of silly errors. I didn't mind the left-over Germanism, after all its Ganser's first language, but the spelling mistakes and confusing turns of phrase were quite numerous. Further, the book is structured in a case-by-case way, taking the reader through each country's Gladio apparatus and history. But it's a totally unjustified approach - a thematic or chronological approach would have suited it much better. One chapter was just three pages long, an extensive "we don't know, actually" that really could have been a footnote or part of a larger chapter on limitations.

Speaking of limitations, its clear Ganser actually doesn't really know that much about Gladio. Nothing more than what had already been printed or documented, at least. That's fine, he could have compensated by placing the revelations in the context of Western imperialism, Cold War history or military history - but he seemingly doesn't know much about those either. This was clear from the chapters on Britain and the US. There was no attempt to address Gladio operations in the context of CIA meddling, the Troubles, police spying or in the wider domestic efforts at suppressing left-wingers in these countries. Nor does Ganser attempt to bring in wider foreign policy or international relations developments and their effects on Gladio operations, besides those that directly affected a particular countries stay-behinds.

Instead what you have is the dumping of info about one country, the gaps tied together by conjecture and conspiratorial conclusions presented as fact. At times Ganser goes into minute detail to the point of boring you, at others he stretches info so thin you're dying for him to just admit his gaps in knowledge. Other times he comes back to some useless info repeatedly to pad out the book - The Harpoon radio system is interesting, but one mention of this single piece of equipment (used for only two years in the eighties!) was enough.

I genuinely hated reading this thing. The conclusions it comes to - that the West murdered, bombed, interfered and funded nutters all in the name of anti-communism; that this is bad for democracies at home and abroad; that our governments are effectively terrorists - isn't exactly news for anybody paying attention, and certainly not worth trudging through this book for. I'm all for some conspiratorial reading but this falls flat in its insistence on some very thin gruel as meaty facts - the approach seen in Chaos, far better written and researched, where the limitations are laid bare and there's no attempt at drawing together a theory, would have suited this much better.

[Nada Qaryouti · Rating 4 out of 5]

By the end of every chapter the conclusion is clear: The Secret Nato Armies existed and continue to operate well beyond their initial purpose. The Cold War was just the excuse they needed to instigate, infiltrate, and manipulate the political system of every western nation.

Not surprisingly, the instigators are the CIA which is always closely followed by MI6. A common strategy was to secretly fund and arm these stay-behind forces who were also trained and commanded by British secret services. Their secret operations included terrorism, executions, massacres and spying on all Western European nations. These tactics were used continuously in order to control every nation from the inside.

Tracing the origin of how all 16 countries joined NATO becomes ever more transparent as the book is written in classic journalistic form - without expressing any personal opinions, the facts and evidence reveals the truth. Even the sordid coverups and inversions are destined to expose the realities.

The tragic reality is that even after the people demanded an investigation into all this state-sponsored terrorism, there was nothing ever done to seek justice by any of the Governments, and the culprits often got away with it.

This book is a valuable source of fact-based information because the writer draws a web-like pattern from the detailed accounts - the evolving nature of secret warfare departments, statements from agents and officials, and the many secretive operations are all connected.

[reece · Rating 4 out of 5]

An incredibly juicy book about the monstrous tentacles of American Empire that sadly suffers a bit from the writer being a kook. I was honestly enjoying this book a little more before I looked into Glanser’s reputation in the field.

Don’t get me wrong, I do believe most of this stuff did happen but I think the author does this thing a few times where he has the evidence needed to get 99% of the way there so he’ll kinda sneak in what he needs to tie it in with whatever he’s trying to say. Which is a shame because the stuff he does have evidence for still paints a pretty compelling story.

Nevertheless, despite my complaints, this will definitely be staying on the bookshelf as it’s filled with useful stuff as long as you don’t mind having to eat around Glanser’s weird unprofessional idiosyncrasies.

[Hristo Simeonov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Книга, разказваща много, но и оставяща много въпроси. И то никак не лесни такива. Докъде точно стига двуличието на Запада ? Геройство или тероризъм е да извършваш действия само с обяснението, че очакваш нещо да се случи ? Доколко "тайните армии на НАТО" формираха днешна Европа и не "берем ли плодовете" на тяхната безнаказаност ? Не подмениха ли "тайните армии на НАТО" демокрацията и това, което беше извоювано с кръвта на милиони по време на Втората световна война ?
Оставям на вас на прочетете "Тайните армии на НАТО: Операция "Гладио" и Тероризмът в Западна Европа" и да се опитате да намерите отговорите за вас. Препоръчвам.

[Jan Jaap]

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ISBN 978 3 86489 388 9 Westend Verlag GmbH, Neu-Isenburg 2023

I got the book in German today (2024 1111 mo 17:50 cet). And saw that it is a translation by Carsten Roth published by Westend Verlag. The original thesis seems to be also in English.

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https://lccn.loc.gov/2004008336

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[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was insane. So much behind the scenes action in the capitalist western Europe showing a truth not known by Americans: communism was stamped out by force in many of these capitalist countries soon after WW2. Especially egregious examples were Italy, Greece, and Turkey. Just an absolute facade of "you're free to be communist in capitalist countries". No, you never were, the USA and Britain made sure of that using their superpower violence. Absolute must-read for any 20th century history fan.

[Linus · Rating 2 out of 5]

I grunden en fantastisk historia men boken är alltför torr och träig för att jag ska orka ta till mig berättelsen. Men för den som har mer tålamod än jag så är det säkerligen en fantastisk sammanställning av Natos Stay Behind i Europa.

[Nathan Miao · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very detailed insight into secret Gladio networks across Europe. At times redundant as information repeats between chapters on different countries. Crucial insight into Cold War politics and the truth about “liberal democracy” in Europe

[Brad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Repetitive at times, and with the occasional equivocating language to try to present a "bird's eye view" as a way to avoid the inevitable accusations of a pro-Soviet outlook just for critiquing NATO policy, but overall a fascinating and damning history.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is well researched and doesn’t overindulge in speculation. Considering the relative lack of information we have on the stay behind networks this is pretty impressive. Could’ve used a proofreader though

[Ave Mets]

Reading this must be complemented with reading its criticisms.