Operation Gladio
Patch reads 'In silence, we serve freedom.'
Operation GLADIO was a NATO stay-behind operation started after WWII, putting NATO soldiers and paramilitary organizations on ground in Western European countries in case of a Soviet Invasion, however in the 1970s the operation was revealed in full by the former Italian intelligence general Gianadelio Maletti who publicly claimed that NATO and the CIA helped arm and fund far-right terrorist organizations in Italy, as well as other countries across Europe, including but not limited to; Norway, Greece and France.
A full list of the attacks Operation Gladio has been connected to will be listed below:
- 1960 - In Turkey the military supported by secret armies stages a coup d’état and kill Prime Minister Adnan Menderes.
- 1961 - In Algeria members of the French stay-behind and officers from the French War in Vietnam found the illegal Organisation Armee Secrete (OAS) and with CIA support stage a coup in Algiers against the French government of de Gaulle which fails.
- 1964 - In Italy the secret stay-behind army Gladio is involved in a silent coup d’état when General Giovanni de Lorenzo in Operation Solo forces the Italian Socialist Ministers to leave the government.
- 1967 - In Greece the stay-behind army Hellenic Raiding Force takes over control over the Greek Defence Ministry and starts a military coup d’état installing a right wing dictatorship.
- 1969 - In Mocambique the Portugese stay-behind army Aginter Press assassinates Eduardo Mondlane, President of the Mocambique liberation party and leader of the FRELIMO movement (Frente de Liberacao de Mocambique).
- 1969 - In Italy the Piazza Fontana massacre in Milano kills sixteen and injures and maimes 80 and is blamed on the left. Thirty years later during a trial of right-wing extremists General Giandelio Maletti, former head of Italian counter-intelligence, claims that the massacre had been carried out by the Italian stay-behind army and right wing terrorists on the orders of the US secret service Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in order to discredit the Italian Communists.
- 1971 - In Turkey the military stages a coup d’état and takes over power. The stay-behind army Counter-Guerrilla engages in domestic terror and kills hundreds.
- 1972 - In Italy a bomb explodes in a car near the village Peteano killing three Carabinieri. The terror, first blamed on the left, is later traced back to right-wing terrorist Vincenzo Vinciguerra and the Italian stay-behind code named Gladio.
- 1973 - Gianfranco Bertoli attacks the Milan police HQ with a hand grenade, indepth investigation into the incident reveals connections he had with Operation Gladio.
- 1974 - In Italy a massacre during an anti-fascist demonstration in Brescia kills eight and injures and maims 102, while a bomb in the Rome to Munich train “Italicus Express”, kills 12 and maims 48.
- 1977 - In Turkey the stay-behind army Counter-Guerrilla attacks a demonstration of 500,000 in Istanbul by opening fire at the speaker's platform leaving thirty-eight killed and hundreds injured.
- 1977 - In Spain the secret stay-behind army with support of Italian right-wing terrorists carries out the Atocha massacre in Madrid and in an attack on a lawyer's office closely linked to the Spanish Communist party kill five people.
- 1978 - In Italy former Prime Minister and leader of the Christian Democratic Party, Aldo Moro, is taken hostage in Rome by an armed secret unit and killed 55 days later because he wanted to include the Italian Communists in the government.
- 1980 - In Italy a bomb explodes in the waiting room of the second class at the Bologna railway station, killing 85 and seriously injuring and maiming a further 200. Investigators trace the crime back to right-wing terrorists.
- 1980 - In Turkey the commander of the stay-behind army Counter-Guerrilla, General Kenan Evren, stages a military coup and seizes power.
- 1980 - In Germany a far-right militia attacks an Oktoberfest celebration in Munich, the bombing is connected to Operation Gladio.
- 1984 - In Turkey the stay-behind army Counter-Guerrilla fights against the Kurds and kills and tortures thousands in the following years.
- 1985 - In Belgium a secret army attacks and shoots shoppers in supermarkets randomly in the Brabant county killing twenty-eight and leaving many wounded. Investigations link the terror to a conspiracy among the Belgian stay-behind SDRA8, the Belgian Gendarmerie SDRA6, the Belgian right-wing group Westland New Post, and the Pentagon secret service Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA).
Aftermath of the bombing at Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura
The remains of the carbomb used in the attack
Dead bodies on the sidewalk in the aftermath of the explosion
Wreckage of the train after the bombing
Civilians running from the scene of the shooting
The aftermath of the bombing at the west wing of the Bologna station
A dead body under a sheet after the deadly bombing
For further information on Operation Gladio I highly recommend watching the following movie, released in 1992 it covers the extent of Gladio rather impressively and it's very worthy of more attention and praise than it's given credit for:
Operation Gladio (1992)
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