‘Stay-Behind’ in France: Much ado about nothing?

Stay-behind networks in France were set up starting in 1948 and were aimed at responding to the possibility of a Soviet armed attack into Western Europe. Participants were identified, and arms and explosives cached, to be activated in case of hostilities. This activity became folded into a multilateral effort under the Allied Coordination Committee (ACC) of NATO. In France, the network was run as a highly compartmented activity under the French external intelligence service (DGSE). As the Soviet threat receded, the stay-behind activity became more and more dormant, and in 1990 it was quietly disbanded, immediately after the P-2 scandal broke in Italy.     

防空兵群(团)火力配系优化

首先阐明了防空兵群(团)火力配系优化的基本概念,然后,运用作战模拟的有关理论,分别建立了火力单位距目标的最佳配置距离(D)、防空兵群(团)对来袭目标的抗击率(Pk)和被保护目标的安全率(Pa)的优化模型。在此基础上,提出了防空兵群(团)火力配系优化的一般方法。最后通过一个实例,说明了防空兵群(团)火力配系的具体步骤。     

New Light on the Gold Sword of Major George Wilson

This paper provides new information on the gold sword awarded to Major George Wilson, 39th Regiment of Foot, in 1800 and on the retailer and silversmith, who were commissioned to provide the token.     

Principles of Minimum Force and the Parachute Regiment in Northern Ireland, 1969–1972

Developing literature on Operation Banner, the codename for the British military operation in Northern Ireland, has indicated that the conduct of soldiers deployed was not always in line with principles of minimum force. Adherence to these principles would seem to have been essential to the success of the operation given the initial deployment of the soldiers was in the role of military aid to the civil power. This article will examine the role of one of the British Army’s most aggressive units, the Parachute Regiment, and will show how the responses of the regiment to the demands of the operation in Northern Ireland were frequently in contravention of minimum force principles.