Posted on 11/07/2015 5:54:53 AM PST by NYer
When you think of Allied espionage, you might imagine disguised explosives, wiretaps, bat bombs, or other dramatic inventions. But declassified documents reveal that World War II was won in part by more everyday saboteursâpurposefully clumsy factory workers, annoying train conductors, and bad middle managers, all trained by the U.S.'s Simple Sabotage Field Manual.
In 1944, World War II was in its final throes. Though the Allies were holding their own against the Axis, they were in need of more troops and more local cooperation. The Office of Strategic Services (OSS), a precursor to the CIA, envisioned a special kind of special forcesâan army of dissatisfied European citizens, waging war on existing governments simply by doing their jobs badly. They wrote up the Simple Sabotage Field Manual, a kind of ultimate un-training manual, which was full of ideas for motivating and inspiring locals to make things harder on their governments. Selections and adaptations from it were disseminated in leaflets, over the radio, and in person, when agents met people who seemed right for the job.
There are âinnumerable simple acts which the ordinary individual citizen-saboteur can perform,â the manualâs introduction promises. It is possible to commit destruction with âsalt, nails, candles, pebbles, thread, or any other materials he might normally be expected to possess.â
The potential of these materials is limited only by the saboteurâs imagination and circumstances. You could jam a lock with a hairpin, drop a wrench into a fusebox, or sand a surface thatâs supposed to be lubricated. As the manual explains, thinking bigger is better. Any military factory worker could easily slash an army truckâs tires on their way to workâbut itâs even better to spill a bunch of hair into an assembly-line cauldron, spoiling the rubber meant to outfit a whole fleet.
A second type of simple sabotage, the manual explains, requires no tools and produces no physical damage. Instead, âit is based on universal opportunities to make faulty decisions, to adopt a non-cooperative attitude, and to induce others to follow suit.â Like all good maneuvers, this tactic gets a fancy nameââthe human element.â Once again, thereâs a simple sabotage for every occasion. Citizens should âcry and sob hysterically at every occasion, especially when confronted by government clerks.â Train conductors can âissue two tickets for the same seat in the train, so that an interesting argument will result.â Most impressively, any audience member can ruin a propaganda film by bringing a bag of moths into the theater: âTake the bag to the movies with youâ and leave it on the floor of an empty section of the theater. âThe moths will fly out and climb into the projector beam, so that the film will be obscured by fluttering shadows.â
Middle managers, especially, can get in on the act. Those with white-collar jobs should pontificate, flip-flop, and take every decision into committee, says a section on âGeneral Interference with Organizations and Production.â âBring up irrelevant issues as frequently as possible,â the OSS advises. Promote bad workers and complain about good ones. âHaggle over precise wordings⦠Hold conferences when there is more critical work to be done.â
CIA's manual for "simple sabotage" from 1944. Sounds like the management training manual for some jobs I've had. pic.twitter.com/TN7MdiPF8m â Lars Doucet Ù (@larsiusprime) November 3, 2015
To a reader entrenched in modern-day bureaucracies, this sounds a little like how things go even when no trickery is planned. âSome of the instructions⦠remain surprisingly relevantâ as âa reminder of how easily productivity and order can be undermined,â writes the CIA website. A few businessmen recently wrote an advice book based on the Simple Sabotage manual, meant to help frustrated higher-ups âdetect and reduce the impactâ of saboteur tactics.
This is a thoroughly contemporary take, though. At the time, the OSS was careful to point out to saboteur recruiters that most people are not naturally prone to idiotic decisions. âPurposeful stupidity is contrary to human nature,â they write in a section called âMotivating the Saboteur.â Your average recruit âfrequently needs⦠information and suggestions,â incentives, and the assurance that there are many saboteurs like him, sanding things that donât need to be sanded, holding meetings that donât need to be held, and bringing bags of moths to the movies.
The whole manual is available for your perusal on the CIAâs website. Pages 8 through 11 have good instructions for setting almost anything on fire. Page 19 teaches you how to derail mine cars. And remember, if you are caught, âalways be profuse in your apologies.â Happy trails, saboteurs.
A great example of this can be seen in the film: The Train Theatrical Trailer (1964)
Set in August 1944, the film, shot in black-and-white, sets French Resistance-member Paul Labiche (Lancaster) against German Colonel Franz von Waldheim (Scofield), who is attempting to move stolen art masterpieces by train to Germany. Inspiration for the scenes of the train's interception came from the real-life events surrounding train No. 40,044 as it was seized and examined by Lt. Alexandre Rosenberg of the Free French forces outside Paris.
Ping!
Dilbert's all over this!
Sounds like what Sears middle management has done in Sears for decades thru multiple changes in top management who had good plans that were never implemented.
It’s a pity that the animated Dilbert is off the air: Wally could have regaled folks with how his great uncle, Von Wallson of Braveria, won the war for the Allies.
You beat me to it!
5.56mm
Let’s not give anybody any ideas....
“Middle managers, especially, can get in on the act. Those with white-collar jobs should pontificate, flip-flop, and take every decision into committee”
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Sounds like what Liberals are forcing on American business with their alphabet soup of federal agency mandates and hyphenated congresscritter-named “Acts”.
Wally is the true star of Dilbert.
For later. Thank you.
L
Stick it to the Man Ping.
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