Foreign Armies East (German: Fremde Heere Ost (FHO), founded in 1938), operated as a military-intelligence organization of the Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH) - the Supreme High Command of the German Army before and during World War II.
[5] During World War I, the department was heavily involved in military intelligence, counter-intelligence and sabotage.
[6] The FHO initial task was the collection of statistical and technical data on the armies that Germany was at war with or countries that it had planned to invade including Poland, Scandinavia, Balkans, the Soviet Union, China,and the United States.
[7] As the war ended, Gehlen hid himself, his staff and his microfilmed files in the chaos of the downfall of Hitler's government.
General William Wilson Quinn of the US Seventh Army, recognized Gehlen's name from a report by Allen Dulles of the OSS.
[11] Many of the controversial aspects of Gehlen and his organization, such as its links to old Nazis, and its infiltration by Eastern bloc agents, were later described by Heinz Höhne & Hermann Zolling, in articles and a book, The General Was a Spy.