Pro-Government Militias
Documentation for Gladio P26
Nov. 23, 1990 The Associated Press
... a report by a parliamentary commission that said the clandestine resistance group was set up by military officials outside political control.
The force also was supposed to be used against domestic subversion.
It said it formally abolished the force, codenamed P-26, last week.
Switzerland's announcement followed recent revelations of a clandestine network of guerrilla units and arms caches, organized in NATO countries in the 1950s, that would have coordinated resistance in case of a Warsaw Pact invasion of western Europe.
Today's parliamentary report said it found no evidence that the Swiss group had "direct links" with NATO's paramilitary network. But it said the unit cooperated with an unidentified NATO country in developing telecommunications equipment.
About 400 people participated in P-26, most of them weapons, telecommunications and psychological warfare experts, the report said.
The group, secretly financed by the defense department, maintained a network of mostly underground installations throughout Switzerland. Its commander was a private citizen who could mobilize the force without consulting army or government.
The parliament investigation centered on Switzerland's Defense Ministry. The probe was launched after revelations that the ministry, along with other government offices, kept secret files on citizens
Nov. 23, 1990 The Associated Press
Dec. 5, 1990 Guardian
Over the past few weeks, government after government, with the notable exception of the British, has been forced to admit that the organisation whose original purpose was to set up resistance groups against occupying Warsaw Pact forces still exists. It has come be to known as Operation Gladio, after its Italian branch.
Two threads have emerged. Ministers, let alone parliaments, knew nothing about the secret units; second, while nominally established as 'stay-behind' sabotage groups to combat communist forces, in some countries they soon had internal political targets in their sights.
Representatives from these units have been meeting regularly in Brussels in the Allied Coordination Committee. This consists of civilian and military personnel, according to Italian and Belgian sources. Guy Coeme, the Belgian defence minister, has said it last met in Brussels in late October.
The network was not confined to Nato countries. An inquiry in Switzerland recently revealed the existence of a secret organisation, P26. It had 400 agents with access to guns and explosives with a German radio system, Harpoon, set up in 1985 to contact parallel groups in neighbouring countries.
One early task was to take over plans for a Swiss government-in-exile in south-west Ireland in the event of invasion. Another was to prepare for action against 'subversion'.
On November 14, the Swiss government hurriedly dissolved P26 the head of which, it emerged, had been paid Pounds 100,000 a year
Sept. 20, 1991 The Guardian (London)
The latest agreement was signed in 1987.
The disclosures are made in a report by a magistrate ordered by the Swiss government to investigate the activities of P26 after a parliamentary outcry last year.
The existence of P26, which is in the process of being dismantled, came to light last year following the disclosure of a Europe-wide Gladio network of 'stay behind' groups originally set up to organise resistance in the event of a conventional attack by the Warsaw Pact.
It describes the group's collaboration with British secret services as 'intense', with Britain providing valuable know-how.
P26 cadres participated regularly in training exercises in Britain, the report says.
The activities of P26, its codes, and the name of the leader of the group, Efrem Cattelan, were known to British intelligence, but the Swiss government was kept in the dark, according to the report.
It says that documents giving details about the secret agreements between the British and P26 have never been found