Sabotage und psychologische Kriegsführung. Ein Handbuch

Responsible for the project:

Two handouts on sabotage and psychological warfare appeared in the files of the US wartime intelligence service OSS (Office of Strategic Studies). Florian Wenninger and Jürgen Pfeffer translated and commentated them.

In the course of the Second World War the Greater German occupiers in Western Europe had mostly succeeded in smashing the local underground resistances. Thus, the Allies’ efforts to reignite the resistance did not focus on existing illegal organizations, but also on individuals not affiliated with any group. These “civil saboteurs” were supposed to make life as difficult as possible for the occupying forces – without weapons or explosives, armed only with what they could find in their toolboxes. Through wanton destruction of property, but especially through non-violent means and without risk to their personal safety: by spreading rumors, refusal to work and social pushback, meant to undermine morale in the long term.