CIA's Landsberg Project: covert military and paramilitary specialist's training program in the Early Cold War, Part One

In 1951, several Soviet nationality groups were organized by CIA according to their ethnic components into "guard companies." In July 1951, the CIA established a secret training facility  (“Area B”) at the Displaced Persons camp in Landsberg, am Lech Bavaria, West Germany, about 65 kilometers from Munich. The primary installations at Landsberg consisted of two buildings: an office building, a combination barrack building and mess hall.

The purpose of the CIA-organized groups was purely Paramilitary or Political Action activities during hostilities with the Soviet Union.

Here is the protocol between CIA and the Ukrainian ZP UHVR in December 1951:

1. The fundamental policy of the United States towards all peoples is self-determination.

2. The United States will encourage the anti-Stalin struggle on the part of all peoples of the territories now controlled by the Soviet Union.

3. The United States will not coerce any national group to change their political views nor interfere with their freedom to propagate their own concepts.

Operational

1. Training for current operations shall continue separately from other activities. Personnel for current operations will include those men already in the Kaufbeuren training area, any Landsberg trainees willing to return to the homeland, and approximately six to eight new recruits to be spotted in or outside of Germany by members of the ZP UHVR. In addition to partisan warfare, the recruits for current operations shall be thoroughly trained in every aspect of current Soviet life and clandestine underground tactics so that they will be able to maneuver and operate on their own should that prove necessary. The main purpose for this training will be to provide support and reinforcements for the underground movement in the homeland. One responsible member of the ZP UHVR (UHVR) will be assigned to the training area to assist in the successful completion of the program.

2. A Ukrainian Guard Company composed of two hundred men will be formed and given general military training to prepare them as wartime reserve units. The ZP UHVR (UHVR) may place qualified officers and men to the extent of its ability to recruit them. Should the ZP UHVR not be able to recruit the entire guard complement, the remainder will be recruited from among other Ukrainian groups and from the memberships of the various Ukrainian emigre parties. Emphasis will be placed on paramilitary training, and the cadres will be made available to the ZP UHVR (UHVR) for the spotting of qualified men for current operations. If this first attempt at establishing a Ukrainian guard company proves successful and desirable, it is conceivable that other Ukrainian guard companies will be established later.

3. Those trainees at Landsberg who have qualified for political action training will be sent to the United States as soon as their clearances have been received.

4. Those trainees at Landsberg who are not qualified either for P/A or current operations and who do not wish to become members of the guard company will be released from Landsberg and returned to civilian life immediately.

5. The primary concern of American-ZP UHVR (UHVB) collaboration is the continued existence of the Ukrainian underground movement. However, the gathering of intelligence information by the Ukrainian underground and its transmittal to us by any feasible means is regarded as a most desirable aspect of United States ZP UHVR (UHVR) cooperation,

Trainees at Landsberg had to sign the following pledge before a witness:

I, the undersigned, hereby declare that I will under no circumstances reveal anything having to do with my recruitment for or my period of stay at the US Government Camp in Landsberg. I solemnly swear that I will reveal to no one the location of the U.S. Camp at which I stayed nor discuss with anyone the Americans whom I met before or during my period of stay at Landsberg.

Further, I hereby declare that I have no claims whatsoever against the U.S. Government or any of its organs as a result of my stay at the U.S. Camp in Landsberg, and I declare that I have been fully compensated for all services I have rendered before and during my entire stay at Landsberg.

I hereby declare that I am aware that should I break my oath to maintain the strict secrecy that I pledged above, I will be liable to any executive action that the U. S. Government may deem appropriate in my case.