Editing Operation Staybehind (section)

==Overview==
Operation Stay-Behind in the United Kingdom was a clandestine network established during the early Cold War to prepare for resistance against a potential Soviet invasion of Western Europe. Unlike other European countries where stay-behind networks were explicitly named (e.g., Gladio in Italy, Counter-Guerrilla in Turkey), the UK’s program lacked a single, well-documented codename, often referred to simply as the “stay-behind” network or associated with the broader Operation Gladio framework. Operating under the direction of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) and, to a lesser extent, the Special Air Service (SAS), the UK’s stay-behind units were designed to conduct guerrilla warfare, sabotage, and intelligence-gathering in the event of Soviet occupation. The network also played a role in countering domestic communist influence, particularly during the 1940s and 1950s, when the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was perceived as a threat.