Albert Bachmann

Albert "Bert" Bachmann (26 November 1929 in Zurich - 12 April 2011 in Ireland) was a Swiss military intelligence officer.

Early life Bachmann was born in Albisrieden and worked as a printer after leaving school at age 14. As a young man he flirted with communism, joining the youth wing of the PdA. Following the 1948 Communist seizure of power in Czechoslovakia, he changed course and became strongly patriotic. Its warning of the danger from collaborationist elements in the Swiss Left made it the subject of national debate. 'Défense civile' has since been translated for distribution in Japan and Egypt; an attempt by Franco's Spain to buy the right to publish the book was rebuffed by the Swiss military. Bachmann was not involved in the subsequent political controversy- he was on an undercover mission in the Republic of Biafra, a small nation struggling for independence from Nigeria.

Schilling incident In November 1979 Austrian police arrested Kurt Schilling, one of Bachmann's operatives, who was charged with spying on Austrian troops on exercise near Sankt Pölten. As the Austrian government had invited observers from Eastern Europe, it was not clear why he was there. The Swiss government sold Liss Ard in the early 1980s, but Bachmann continued to live in the West Cork region following his departure from Switzerland. He reputedly owned a number of properties near Tragumna outside Skibbereen, and ran a riding school in the area for a number of years.