Lives of the Incredibly Awesome: “The Spy Who Came In From the Emmentaler”

As the leader of Swiss military intelligence, Albert Bachmann (aka Henry Peel or Black Hand) was regarded as a visionary by a select few and dismissed as paranoid by most. His belief in an imminent Soviet invasion of Switzerland led him to create a secret intelligence service unknown to his own government.  Further debriefing below:

• After the 1968 Soviet takeover of Czechoslovakia, Bachmann co-wrote the “Civil Defense,” a worst-case scenario guide meant to prepare the Swiss against a possible invasion. 2.6 million copies were printed.

• Appointed to run Swiss intelligence in 1976, he created Project 26, a secret army of 2,000 resistance fighters trained to wage guerrilla warfare against Soviet troops.

• In the event of a Soviet invasion, Bachmann bought Liss Ard, a 200-acre estate near Cork, Ireland, to serve as a refuge and headquarters for an exiled Swiss state government.

For more about the life of this Swiss spymaster, read The Obits: The New York Times Annual 2012, a new annual that collects the best of The New York Times obituaries from the previous year. And check back next week, for another installment of Snippets of the Lives of the Incredibly Awesome.