Operation Valuable

Operation Valuable
Part of the Cold War
Top left: American forces recruiting paramilitary soldiers in Munich, Germany Top right: US Colonel F. H. Dunn inspecting the anti-communist Company 4000 during training in Hohenbrunn, Bavaria in November 1950 Bottom left: The Sigurimi with a captured CIA agent Bottom right: Josip Broz Tito with US General John C. H. Lee, charged to take down fellow communist ruler Enver Hoxha
Date 1949–1956 Operation Valuable: 1949–1954 (5 years) Operation BG/Fiend: October 1950–May 1956 (5 years and 7 months) Location Albania Result Operational failure
Belligerents
Albania	Western Bloc: United States United Kingdom France Albanian exiles NATO Italy West Germany Greece Turkey Separatists: KEVA Yugoslavia
Commanders and leaders
Enver Hoxha Mehmet Shehu	Dean Acheson Frank Wisner Franklin Lindsay James G. McCargar David Smiley Julian Amery Josip Broz Tito
Units involved
Albanian People's Army Sigurimi	United States Army CIA Kompania 4000 OPC British Army MI6 French Army SDECE Italian Navy UDBA
Strength
Unknown	Initial operation: // 500 agents // 2,000 paramilitary soldiers 5 submarines 180 C-47 aircraft 80 landing craft assault boats 6 landing craft utility 7,500 commandos Unknown
Casualties and losses
Unknown	1949–1954 // 300 agents dead 961 agents and paramilitaries killed or captured 60 agents killed
400 civilians executed

Operation Valuable was a failed covert operation conducted during the Cold War by France, the United Kingdom and the United States in collaboration with other Western Bloc nations. The operation aimed to overthrow the communist regime of Albanian ruler Enver Hoxha as part of broader efforts to counter communist influence around the world and install pro-Western leaders. It involved strategic military actions, incorporating air, naval, and ground assets in pursuit of its objectives.

As part of the operation, the French General Directorate for External Security (DGSE), the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS or MI6) and the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) launched a joint covert operation using Albanian expatriates as agents. Other anti-communist Albanians and Europeans from other nations worked as agents for Greek and Italian intelligence services, some supported by MI6 and the CIA.

Many of the agents were caught, put on trial, and either shot or condemned to long prison terms of penal labor.