Teaching and training group for tele-spying in the Bundeswehr

The teaching and training group for tele- spying of the Bundeswehr ( LAFBw ) was a legend for the paramilitary special unit 404 / III of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) and existed formally from 1964 to 1979. In the context of the Cold War it was apparently only for use as a stay -behind organization provided. The model was the British Special Operations Executive .

history

The unit was founded on December 23, 1964 and is legendary as the German Armed Forces' long-distance spy group . In the case of defense , their task was to organize resistance groups behind enemy lines for partisan or guerrilla warfare , smuggling agents and material by land, air and sea, observations , training courses, and training BND members to lead Command and Special Forces. Internally, the group was apparently called the Clandestine Action Group . The training took place until 1968 in a German army facility in Heufeld near Bad Aibling , then in Munich . In the case of defense, the members of the group were not subject to the Hague Land Warfare Regulations due to the modus operandi . As far as is known, the members of 404 / III were recruited from members of the three armed forces of the German armed forces, the army , air force and navy .

The training took place in cooperation with units of the Bundeswehr such as the paratroopers and the 10th Special Forces Group of the United States Army in Bad Tölz ; the latter had previously practiced working with West German stay-behind groups. The training program apparently also included the completion of lone fighter courses together with members of the Bundeswehr, the Federal Border Guard and the American Special Forces , as well as pioneer training for explosives and intelligence training in a BND school in Munich. During the exercises, the members of the group also made use of depots in the hiding places that had been set up around 1950.

In the mid-1970s, there were apparently differences between the Federal Ministry of Defense and the BND about their joint cooperation, mainly due to the group's lack of combatant status . Eventually the formal collaboration was discontinued and the group officially dissolved in October 1979; Informally, contacts, especially for material procurement, are said to have existed until 1986.

literature

• Erich Schmidt-Eenboom / Ulrich Stoll: The partisans of NATO. Stay-Behind Organizations in Germany 1946-1991 , Berlin (Chr. Links Verlag) 2015. ISBN 3-86153-840-7 . ISBN 978-3-86153-840-0
• Agilolf Keßelring : The organization Gehlen and the new formation of the military in the Federal Republic , Berlin (Ch. Links Verlag) 2017. ISBN 978-3-86153-967-4 . ISBN 3-86153-967-5

Web links

• Ulrich Stoll: The man who became Dieter Gerlach . Bonus material Chapter 8: Reinhard Gehlen's shadow troop - the stay-behind organization of the BND 1956 to 1968 , in: Erich Schmidt-Eenboom / Ulrich Stoll: Partisanen der NATO. Stay-Behind Organizations in Germany 1946-1991 , Berlin (Chr. Links Verlag) 2015