What did the declassified documents reveal?

This is the Simple Sabotage Field Manual, Office of Strategic Services, dated seventeen January nineteen forty‑four. The manual is notable as the OSS’s instructional guide on low‑technology sabotage intended for use by ordinary citizens in occupied territories, and it has been reproduced in full by The Black Vault. The document was released to the public through The Black Vault’s online archive. The e‑book version was uploaded on August fourth two thousand eight, sourced from a Project Gutenberg text that reproduces the original OSS field manual. The declassification authority is the Office of Strategic Services, and the material is now in the public domain. The document reads as follows. “Strategic Services (Provisional) Field Manual No. 3. Office of Strategic Services, Washington, D. C., seventeen January nineteen forty‑four. This Simple Sabotage Field Manual is published for the information and guidance of all concerned and will be used as the basic doctrine for Strategic Services training on this subject. The contents of this Manual should be carefully controlled and should not be allowed to come into unauthorized hands. The instructions may be placed in separate pamphlets or leaflets according to categories of operations but should be distributed with care and not broadly. They should be used as a basis of radio broadcasts only for local and special cases and as directed by the theater commander. AR 380‑5, pertaining to handling of secret documents, will be complied with in the handling of this Manual. – William J. Donovan. Contents: 1. Introduction. 2. Possible Effects. 3. Motivating the Saboteur. 4. Tools, Targets, and Timing. 5. Specific Suggestions for Simple Sabotage. 1. Introduction. The purpose of this paper is to characterize simple sabotage, to outline its possible effects, and to present suggestions for inciting and executing it. Sabotage varies from highly technical coup‑de‑main acts that require detailed planning and the use of specially trained operatives, to innumerable simple acts which the ordinary individual citizen‑saboteur can perform. This paper is primarily concerned with the latter type. Simple sabotage does not require specially prepared tools or equipment; it is executed by an ordinary citizen who may or may not act individually and without the necessity for active connection with an organized group; and it is carried out in such a way as to involve a minimum danger of injury, detection, and reprisal. Where destruction is involved, the weapons of the citizen‑saboteur are salt, nails, candles, pebbles, thread, or any other materials he might normally be expected to possess as a householder or as a worker in his particular occupation. His arsenal is the kitchen shelf, the trash pile, his own usual kit of tools and supplies. The targets of his sabotage are usually objects to which he has normal and inconspicuous access in everyday life. A second type of simple sabotage requires no destructive tools whatsoever and…

Why was this case declassified?

This material entered the public record through the U.S. declassification and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process. The originating source document is linked on this page so the citation chain is auditable.

Case File · ARCHIVE-1045Declassified

Filed JUL 27 · 2026Runtime 3 min

Simple Sabotage Field Manual

U.S. public record · FOIAUpdated July 27, 2026

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◆ BLUF — The short version

This is the Simple Sabotage Field Manual, Office of Strategic Services, dated seventeen January nineteen forty‑four. The manual is notable as the OSS’s instructional guide on low‑technology sabotage intended for use by ordinary citizens in occupied territories, and it has been reproduced in full by The Black Vault.

Date: JUL 27 · 2026
Release: Declassified · U.S. public record (FOIA)
Source document: View the primary source document

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What was Simple Sabotage Field Manual about?: This is the Simple Sabotage Field Manual, Office of Strategic Services, dated seventeen January nineteen forty‑four. The manual is notable as the OSS’s instructional guide on low‑technology sabotage intended for use by ordinary citizens in occupied territories, and it has been reproduced in full by The Black Vault.
Why was this case declassified?: This material entered the public record through the U.S. declassification and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process. Storyflo narrates it directly from the public release.

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