Secret armies : $b the new technique of Nazi warfare — John Shaqi
Secret armies : $b the new technique of Nazi warfareSpivak, John L. (John Louis)
History
Secret armies : $b the new technique of Nazi warfare
Spivak, John L. (John Louis)
Fascism; Propaganda, German; Secret service -- Germany
The Cagoulards are still very active. Members are being recruited with
leaders pointing out to the fearful ones that there is nothing to
worry about--almost all of those arrested in the early days of the
investigation are free, out on bail or kept in a "gentleman's
confinement" where they can do virtually as they please. "Our power is
great," new members are told.
As is customary in secret terrorist societies, the members are sworn
to silence with death as the penalty for indiscretion. The penalty
when it is employed is usually administered in American gangster
fashion. Each member is allotted to a "cell," the basic unit of the
military organization, and assigned to a secretly fortified post for
training. One of these posts discovered by the _Surete Nationale_ was
in an old boarding house run by two ancient spinsters with equally
ancient guests who spent their time in rockers, knitting and reading
and not dreaming that underneath the porch on which they sat so
tranquilly was a fortress with enough explosives to blow the whole
street to smithereens. Into this particular fortification, the cell
members would steal one by one after the old maids had retired,
entering by a concealed door three feet thick and electrically
operated.
There are two different kinds of cells in the Cagoulards, "heavy" and
"light" ones. They differ in the number of men and the quantity of
armaments assigned to them. The "light" cell has eight men equipped
with army rifles, automatics, hand grenades, and one sub-machine gun;
the "heavy" one has twelve men similarly armed but with a machine gun
instead of a sub-machine gun. Three cells form a unit, three units a
battalion, three battalions a regiment, two regiments a brigade and
two brigades a division of two thousand men. The battalions (one
hundred and fifty men) are subdivided into squads of fifty to sixty
men with ten to twelve cars at their disposal for quick movement
throughout the city. These automobile squads are given intensive
training.
Members are not required to pay dues, for enough money comes in from
industrialists and the German and Italian Governments to eliminate the
need of collecting money from members for operating expenses. Every
effort is made to function without written communications. No
membership cards are issued. Notices of meetings, drill and rifle
practice are issued verbally, and so far as the mass membership is
concerned, nothing in writing is placed in their hands.
A twenty-page handbook with instructions on street fighting was issued
to group commanders and, lest a copy fall into wrong hands and betray
the organization, it was boldly entitled: _Secret Rules of the
Communist Party_. The instructions are specific and are based upon the
insurrectionary tactics issued to the Nazi Storm Troopers. They fall
into six sections: General Remarks; Group Fighting; Section Fighting;
Choice of Terrain; Commissariat; and Policing Groups.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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