This is coolbert: Fourth Arm IV.

Without a doubt, the catastrophic fourth arm operations in Albania and the Ukraine were doomed from the start from treachery.

And the culprit in this case is well known. "Kim" Philby, the notorious arch traitor, who, while being employed in the upper echelons of the British Secret Intelligence Service [MI6], was also acting as a Soviet agent the entire time. Anything and everything of a secret nature that passed through the hands of Philby was betrayed to the Soviets. The value of Philby's betrayal from 1945 onwards can just not overestimated.

With regard to the Albanian misadventure of the western fourth arm forces, Philby's treachery is perhaps even more profound. Not only did Philby betray the infiltrators in every way that he could, but it has been suggested that Philby was the one who initiated, suggested, and pushed the entire idea of fomenting partisan warfare in Albania in the first place.

I want to repeat, so that it is clear, what I have just said. Not only did Philby betray the Albanian operation from the start, he was the one who THOUGHT UP THE WHOLE THING FROM THE START!?!?!?

With regard to the Ukrainian OUN, the evidence is less clear. Surely treachery on the part of Philby was involved. Not quite as dramatic perhaps as was the case in the Albanian misadventure, but significant nonetheless. It has been noted that Philby after the end of WW2 was head of Section 5 of MI6, Soviet counter-espionage. This section did not deal just with counter-espionage however. It was the section also dealing with all matters such as partisan warfare, subversion, sabotage, etc. So Philby would again have been the man on the spot for liaison between western fourth arm forces and the OUN.

Now, these failures had a very marked impact on the policy makers of the western powers. After this, the concept of "rolling back communism", and "positive intervention" were discarded, at least for eastern Europe. It was realized that fourth arm active measures of guerilla/partisan warfare were not feasible and containment of communism in Europe was a more practical and workable goal. Guerilla/partisan warfare by fourth arm forces was tried in other parts of the world, such as Laos [Hmong], Tibet [Khambas], Nicaragua [contras], etc., but not ever again contemplated for Europe. In this sense, Philby and his mentors won a stupendous victory for their "cause".

coolbert.