Following World War II, Sweden faced the looming threat of the Soviet Union and its drive to spread communism. In response, a resistance movement was formed - a so-called stay-behind network - involving Sweden's intelligence service, employers' association and labor movement. This network was fully legalized in 1955 and continued its clandestine work until the mid-1990s, with the mission of keeping communism and the Soviets out of Sweden.
For the network to function, complete secrecy was needed. Those involved could not even tell their loved ones. Individual agents were kept in the dark about the organizational structure, and even who they worked with. All had codenames and information was restricted to only those who absolutely needed to know. This movement was organized at the highest level of government, to protect Sweden should war come.
Drawing on extensive archival research, previously classified documents and interviews with key figures, Swedish author Johan Wennström peels back the layers of secrecy surrounding the Stay Behinds. Covering the men who created the network, the work its operatives carried out, the cell-like structure they relied on and how the US and UK intelligence services cooperated with it, this book also highlights lessons for today's NATO and makes a case for a defense policy grounded in national interest.
Johan Wennström, 2026
Published: Sep 08 2026
Format: Hardback
Edition 1st
Pages: 240
ISBN: 9781472877543
Imprint: Osprey Publishing
Dimensions: 9 x 6 x .75 inches
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Typeset by Lumina Datamatics Ltd
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Clays Ltd, Elcograf S.p.A.
Table of Contents
7 Foreword
13 Dramatis Personae
21 Chronology
23 Prologue
23 Sunday Walks
28 The Popular Image of the Resistance Movement
34 A Necessary Reassessment
41 PART ONE . INVASION
43 Chapter 1: A Possible Scenario
43 Attack on Sweden
47 "We Were Saved by the Bell"
53 Chapter 2: Something Must Be Done
53 "If a Communist Won, I'd End Up in Prison"
56 Homeland Stewardship
59 "Preparing an Underground Organization"
63 PART TWO . THE MEN OF 1949
65 Chapter 3: The Top Brass
65 The Sextuplets
70 Wild Man
87 Telegraph Man
88 Iron Man
91 Countryman
94 "Civil Unity Government"
99 Chapter 4: The Operatives
99 A Perfect Spy
110 The Unhappy One
111 The Hero of Märkäjärvi
117 PART THREE . WELL-ORGANIZED DEFEAT
119 Chapter 5: Operation Metro
119 "A Purely Swedish Organization"
125 "Everyone is Furious"
130 "A More Solid Footing"
135 Chapter 6: Vertical Contact
135 The Lone Wolf
140 "Two Hundred Men Under My Command"
143 The Veil is Torn
153 Chapter 7: Vivat Carolus Rex Sueciæ
153 Born on the First of May
157 Resistance After the Wall
161 "Romanticizing Resistance"
163 Epilogue
163 The Resistance Organization - The Empirical Evidence
168 Nations First 171 The Logic of Necessity
176 Afterwords
176 On Sources and Methods
183 The Human Cost - Elisabeth's Story
191 Acknowledgements
196 Notes
224 Sources and Bibliography
234 Index