Editing Sabotage (section)

== As war tactic ==
[[File:"WARNING FROM THE FBI" - NARA - 516039.jpg|thumb|[[World War II]] poster from the United States]]

In war, the word is used to describe the activity of an individual or group not associated with the military of the parties at war, such as a foreign [[Espionage#Agents in espionage|agent]] or an indigenous supporter, in particular when actions result in the destruction or damaging of a productive or vital facility, such as equipment, factories, dams, public services, storage plants or [[logistics|logistic]] routes. Prime examples of such sabotage are the events of [[Black Tom explosion|Black Tom]] and the [[Kingsland Explosion]]. Like spies, saboteurs who conduct a military operation in civilian clothes or enemy uniforms behind enemy lines are subject to prosecution and criminal penalties instead of detention as [[prisoners of war]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Social History of Crime and Punishment in America: An Encyclopedia |author=Wilbur Redington Miller |date=29 June 2012 |page=186 |publisher=[[SAGE Publications]] |isbn=978-0-7618-6137-9 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Why We Fight: The Origins, Nature, and Management of Human Conflict |author=David Churchman |date=9 May 2013 |page=186 |publisher=[[University Press of America]] |isbn=978-0-7618-6137-9 }}</ref> It is common for a government in power during war or supporters of the war policy to use the term loosely against opponents of the war. Similarly, German [[nationalist]]s spoke of a [[stab in the back legend|stab in the back]] having cost them the loss of World War I.<ref>[http://www.dokumentarfilm.com/en/030303.htm Dokumentarfilm.com] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060226201823/http://www.dokumentarfilm.com/en/030303.htm |date=26 February 2006 }}</ref>

A modern form of sabotage is the distribution of software intended to damage specific industrial systems. For example, the U.S. [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA) is alleged to have sabotaged a Siberian pipeline during the [[Cold War]], using information from the [[Farewell Dossier]].{{efn|These allegations are contained in the 2004 book ''[[At the Abyss: An Insider's History of the Cold War]]''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Reed |first=Thomas C. |author-link=Thomas C. Reed |date=2004 |title=[[At the Abyss: An Insider's History of the Cold War]] |publisher=Random House Pub. |isbn=978-0-8914-1821-4 }}</ref> Critics have contested the authenticity of the account.<ref>{{cite news|first=Anatoly |last=Medetsky |url=http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/kgb-veteran-denies-cia-caused-82-blast/232261.html |title=KGB Veteran Denies CIA Caused '82 Blast|newspaper=The Moscow Times|date=18 March 2004 |access-date=30 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160131204755/http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/kgb-veteran-denies-cia-caused-82-blast/232261.html |archive-date= 31 January 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>Mackeown, Patrick (10 August 2006). [https://web.archive.org/web/20101113072603/http://www.bookscape.co.uk/short_stories/computer_hoaxes.php "Bookscape: Short Story - Famous Computer Hoaxes"]. Bookscape. Archived on 13 November 2010.</ref><ref name="Bloomberg Business; 10 October 2014">{{cite news |last1=Hesseldahl  |first1=Arik |last2=Kharif  |first2=Olga |date=10 October 2014 |title=Cyber Crime and Information Warfare: A 30-Year History |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/ss/10/10/1014_cyber_attacks/1.htm |newspaper=Bloomberg Business |page=2 |access-date=30 July 2015}}</ref>}} A more recent case may be the [[Stuxnet]] [[computer worm]], which was designed to subtly infect and damage specific types of industrial equipment. Based on the equipment targeted and the location of infected machines, security experts believe it was an attack on the [[Iran]]ian [[Nuclear program of Iran|nuclear program]] by the [[United States]] or [[Israel]].

Sabotage, done well, is inherently difficult to detect and difficult to trace to its origin. During [[World War II]], the U.S. [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI) investigated 19,649 cases of sabotage and concluded the enemy had not caused any of them.<ref>{{cite book|last=Marrin|first=Albert|title=The Secret Armies : Spies, Counterspies, and Saboteurs in World War II|year=1985|publisher=Atheneum|location=New York|isbn=0-689-31165-6|page=37}}</ref>

Sabotage in warfare, according to the [[Office of Strategic Services]] (OSS) [[Simple Sabotage Field Manual]], varies from highly technical ''coup de main'' acts that require detailed planning and specially trained operatives, to innumerable simple acts that ordinary citizen-saboteurs can perform. Simple sabotage is carried out in such a way as to involve a minimum danger of injury, detection, and [[reprisal]]. There are two main methods of sabotage: physical destruction and the "human element". While physical destruction as a method is self-explanatory, its targets are nuanced, reflecting objects to which the saboteur has normal and inconspicuous access in everyday life. The "human element" is based on universal opportunities to make faulty decisions, to adopt a non-cooperative attitude, and to induce others to follow suit.<ref name="SimpleSabotage">{{cite web|title=Office of Strategic Services Simple Sabotage Manuel|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/26184/page-images/26184-images.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121126170237/http://www.gutenberg.org/files/26184/page-images/26184-images.pdf|archive-date=26 November 2012|access-date=24 March 2012|date=17 January 1944}}</ref>{{rp|pages=1–2}}

There are many examples of physical sabotage in wartime. However, one of the most effective uses of sabotage is against organizations. The OSS manual provides numerous techniques under the title "General Interference with Organizations and Production":

* When possible, refer all matters to committees for "further study and consideration". Attempt to make the committees as large as possible—never fewer than five
* Bring up irrelevant issues as frequently as possible.
* Haggle over precise wordings of communications, minutes, resolutions.
* In making work assignments, always sign out unimportant jobs first, assign important jobs to inefficient workers with poor machines.
* Insist on perfect work in relatively unimportant products; send back for refinishing those with the least flaw.  Approve other defective parts whose flaws are not visible to the naked eye.
* To lower morale, and with it, production, be pleasant to inefficient workers; give them undeserved promotions.  Discriminate against efficient workers; complain unjustly about their work.
* Hold meetings when there is more critical work to be done.
* Multiply procedures and clearances involved in issuing instructions, paychecks, and so on.  See that multiple people must approve everything where one would do.
* Spread disturbing rumors that sound like inside information.

From the section entitled, "General Devices for Lowering Morale and Creating Confusion" comes the following quintessential simple sabotage advice: "Act stupid."<ref name="SimpleSabotage"/>{{rp|pages=28–31}}

=== Value of simple sabotage in wartime ===
The United States [[Office of Strategic Services]], later renamed the CIA, noted the specific value in committing simple sabotage against the enemy during wartime: "...&nbsp;slashing tires, draining fuel tanks, starting fires, starting arguments, acting stupidly, short-circuiting electric systems, abrading machine parts will waste materials, manpower, and time." To underline the importance of simple sabotage on a widespread scale, they wrote, "Widespread practice of simple sabotage will harass and demoralize enemy administrators and police." The OSS was also focused on the battle for hearts and minds during wartime; "the very practice of simple sabotage by natives in enemy or occupied territory may make these individuals identify themselves actively with the [[United Nations]] War effort, and encourage them to assist openly in periods of Allied invasion and occupation."<ref name="SimpleSabotage"/>{{rp|page=2}}

=== In World War I ===
On 30 July 1916, the [[Black Tom explosion]] occurred when German agents set fire to a complex of warehouses and ships in [[Jersey City, New Jersey]] that held munitions, fuel, and explosives bound to aid the [[Allies of World War I|Allies]] in their fight.

On 11 January 1917, Fiodore Wozniak, using a rag saturated with phosphorus or an incendiary pencil supplied by German sabotage agents, [[Kingsland Explosion|set fire to his workbench]] at an ammunition assembly plant near [[Lyndhurst, New Jersey]], causing a four-hour fire that destroyed half a million 3-inch explosive shells and destroyed the plant for an estimated at $17 million in damages. Wozniak's involvement was not discovered until 1927.<ref name="McGeorgeKetchem19831984">{{cite journal|last=McGeorge II|first=Harvey J.|author2=Christine C. Ketchem |title=Sabotage: A Strategic Tool for Guerilla Forces|journal=World Affairs|volume=146|issue=3|pages=249–256|year=1983–1984|publisher=World Affairs Institute|jstor=20671989}}</ref>{{rp|page=250}}

On 12 February 1917, [[Arab Revolt|Bedouins allied with the British]] destroyed a Turkish railroad near the port of [[Wajh]], [[Derailment|derailing]] a Turkish locomotive. The Bedouins traveled by camel and used explosives to demolish a portion of track.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Condit|first1=D. N.|last2=Cooper|first2=Bert H. Jr.|title=Challenge and Response in Internal Conflict. Volume 2. The Experience in Europe and the Middle East|date=1967-03-01|journal=Defense Technical Information Center |location=Fort Belvoir, VA|doi=10.21236/ad0649609}}</ref>

=== Post World War I ===
[[File:193109 mukden incident railway sabotage.jpg|thumb|[[Empire of Japan|Japanese]] experts inspect the scene of the "railway sabotage" on the [[South Manchurian Railway]] in 1931. The "railroad sabotage" was one of the events that led to the [[Mukden Incident]] and the Japanese occupation of [[Manchuria]].]]

In Ireland, the [[Irish Republican Army (1917–22)|Irish Republican Army]] (IRA) used sabotage against the British following the Easter 1916 uprising. The IRA compromised communication lines and lines of transportation and fuel supplies. The IRA also employed passive sabotage, with dock and railroad workers refusing to work on ships and rail cars used by the government. In 1920, agents of the IRA committed arson against at least fifteen British warehouses in Liverpool. The following year, the IRA set fire to numerous British targets again, including the Dublin Customs House, this time sabotaging most of Liverpool's firetrucks in the firehouses before lighting the matches.<ref name="Howard L. Douthit III, Captain, USAF 1988">{{cite book|last=Douthit III|first=Howard L.|url=https://archive.org/details/DTIC_ADA188034/mode/2up|title=The Use and Effectiveness of Sabotage as a Means of Unconventional Warfare- An Historical Perspective from World War I Through Vietnam|publisher=Air Force Institute of Technology|year=1988|location=Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio}}</ref>

=== In World War II ===
[[File:SABOTAGE CAN OUTWEIGH PRODUCTION - NARA - 515321.jpg|thumb|[[United States]] [[United States home front during World War II|World War II]]-era poster warning against sabotage]]
[[Lieutenant colonel (United Kingdom)|Lieutenant Colonel]] George T. Rheam was a British soldier, who ran [[Brickendon|Brickendonbury Manor]] from October 1941 to June 1945 during [[World War II]], which was Station XVII of the [[Special Operations Executive]] (SOE), which trained specialists for the SOE. Rheam innovated many sabotage techniques and is considered by [[M. R. D. Foot]] the "founder of modern industrial sabotage."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/aug/28/history|title=Espionage for dummies|last=Sale|first=Jonathan|date=2001-08-28|work=The Guardian|access-date=2020-01-01|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/the-wwii-soe-training-manual-rigden|title=the-wwii-soe-training-manual-rigden|pages=[https://archive.org/details/the-wwii-soe-training-manual-rigden/page/n14 8]|language=en}}</ref>

[[File:Derailment 226-b-6082.webm|thumb|thumbtime=07:17|right|300px|A film from [[Camp Claiborne]] from March 8, 9 and 10 1944 of derailment tests done on the [[Claiborne-Polk Military Railroad]]. The tests were done to better train allied personnel in acts of [[rail sabotage]] during [[World War 2]].]]
Sabotage training for the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] consisted of teaching would-be saboteurs' key components of working machinery to destroy.
"Saboteurs learned hundreds of small tricks to cause the Germans big trouble. The cables in a telephone junction box&nbsp;... could be jumbled to make the wrong connections when numbers were dialed. A few ounces of [[plastique]], properly placed, could bring down a bridge, cave in a mine shaft, or collapse the roof of a railroad tunnel."<ref>{{cite book|last=Marrin|first=Albert|title=The Secret Armies : Spies, Counterspies, and Saboteurs in World War II|year=1985|publisher=Atheneum|location=New York|isbn=0-689-31165-6|page=77}}</ref>

The Polish Home Army [[Armia Krajowa]], which commanded the majority of resistance organizations in Poland (even the National Forces, except the [[Military Organization Lizard Union]]; the Home Army also included the [[Polish Socialist Party – Freedom, Equality, Independence]]) and coordinated and aided the [[Jewish Military Union]] as well as more reluctantly helping the [[Jewish Combat Organization]], was responsible for the greatest number of acts of sabotage in German-occupied Europe. The Home Army's sabotage operations [[Operation Wieniec|Operation Garland]] and [[Operation Belt|Operation Ribbon]] are just two examples. In all, the Home Army damaged 6,930 locomotives, set 443 rail transports on fire, damaged over 19,000 rail cars, and blew up 38 rail bridges, not to mention the attacks against the railroads. The Home Army was also responsible for 4,710 built-in flaws in parts for aircraft engines and 92,000 built-in flaws in artillery projectiles, among other examples of significant sabotage. In addition, over 25,000 acts of more minor sabotage were committed. It continued to fight against both the Germans and the Soviets; however, it did aid the Western Allies by collecting constant and detailed information on the German rail, wheeled, and horse transports.<ref>[[Home Army#Major operations]]</ref> As for Stalin's proxies, their actions led to a great number of the Polish and Jewish hostages, mostly civilians, being murdered in reprisal by the Germans. The [[Gwardia Ludowa]] destroyed around 200 German trains during the war, and indiscriminately threw hand grenades into places frequented by Germans.

The [[French Resistance]] ran an extremely effective sabotage campaign against the Germans during World War II. Receiving their sabotage orders through messages over the [[BBC radio]] or by aircraft, the French used both passive and active forms of sabotage. Passive forms included losing German shipments and allowing poor quality material to pass factory inspections. Many active sabotage attempts were against critical rail lines of transportation. German records count 1,429 instances of sabotage from French Resistance forces between January 1942 and February 1943. From January through March 1944, sabotage accounted for three times the number of locomotives damaged by Allied air power.<ref name="Howard L. Douthit III, Captain, USAF 1988" /> See also [[Normandy landings]] for more information about sabotage on [[D-Day]].

During World War II, the Allies committed sabotage against the Peugeot truck factory. After repeated failures in Allied bombing attempts to hit the factory, a team of French Resistance fighters and [[Special Operations Executive]] (SOE) agents distracted the German guards with a game of soccer while part of their team entered the plant and destroyed machinery.<ref>{{cite book|last=Marrin|first=Albert|title=The Secret Armies : Spies, Counterspies, and Saboteurs in World War II|year=1985|publisher=Atheneum|location=New York|isbn=0-689-31165-6|page=83}}</ref>

In December 1944, the Germans ran a [[false flag]] sabotage infiltration, [[Operation Greif]], which was commanded by [[Waffen-SS]] [[commando]] [[Otto Skorzeny]] during the [[Battle of the Bulge]]. German [[commando]]s, wearing [[United States Army uniforms in World War II|US Army uniforms]], carrying [[US Army]] weapons, and using US Army vehicles, penetrated US lines to spread panic and confusion among US troops and to blow up bridges, [[ammunition dump]]s, and fuel stores and to disrupt the lines of communication. Many of the commandos were captured by the Americans. Because they were wearing US uniforms, a number of the Germans were executed as spies, either [[Summary execution|summarily]] or after [[military commissions]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Ardennes, 1944: Peiper and Skorzeny |url=https://archive.org/details/ardennespeipersk00pall |url-access=limited |author=Jean-Paul Pallud |date=28 May 1987 |page=[https://archive.org/details/ardennespeipersk00pall/page/n15 15] |publisher=[[Osprey Publishing]] |isbn=0-85045-740-8 }}</ref>

=== After World War II ===
[[File:PalestineRailways-1946-sabotage-JaffaJerusalem-1.jpg|thumb|[[Palestine Railway]]'s K class 2-8-4T steam locomotive and freight train on the Jaffa and Jerusalem line after being sabotaged by [[Jewish]] paramilitary forces in 1946.]]

From 1948 to 1960, the Malayan Communists committed numerous effective acts of sabotage against the British Colonial authorities, first targeting railway bridges, then hitting larger targets such as military camps. Most of their efforts were intended to weaken [[Malaysia]]'s colonial economy and involved sabotage against trains, rubber trees, water pipes, and electric lines. The Communists' sabotage efforts were so successful that they caused backlash among the Malaysian population, who gradually withdrew support for the Communist movement as their livelihoods became threatened.<ref>{{cite book|last=Report prepared by the Historical Evaluation and Research Organization under contract for the Army Research Office|title=Isolating the Guerrilla: Classic and Basic Case Studies (Volume II)|year=1966|publisher=Historical Evaluation and Research Organization|location=Washington}}</ref>

In [[Mandatory Palestine]] from 1945 to 1948, Jewish groups opposed British control. Though that control was to end according to the [[United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine]] in 1948, the groups used sabotage as an opposition tactic. The [[Haganah]] focused their efforts on camps used by the British to hold refugees, and radar installations that could be used to detect illegal immigrant ships. The [[Stern Gang]] and the [[Irgun]] used terrorism and sabotage against the British government and against lines of communications. In November 1946, the Irgun and Stern Gang attacked a railroad twenty-one times in a three-week period, eventually causing shell-shocked Arab railway workers to strike. The [[6th Airborne Division]] was called in to provide security as a means of ending the strike.<ref name=":0" />
=== In Cyprus ===
Sabotage against [[British Armed Forces|British Forces]] was one of the primary methods used by [[EOKA]] during the [[Cyprus emergency|Cyprus liberation campaign]] in order to weaken the British posture on Cyprus.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=French |first=David |date=2 February 2015 |title=British Intelligence and the Origins of the EOKA Insurgency |journal=British Journal for Military History |volume=I |issue=2 |pages=87}}</ref> One of the more famous sabotage operations undertaken by EOKA was the [[Sabotage at RAF Akrotiri]] where 3 members of the organisation entered the base and placed multiple bombs undetected and destroying 4 [[English Electric Canberra]] aircraft and one [[de Havilland Venom]] aircraft.<ref>{{Cite web |title=26 Νοεμβρίου 1957, η ΕΟΚΑ χτυπά την αεροπορική βάση Ακρωτηρίου |url=https://neakypros.com.cy/index.php/news/17425 |access-date=2024-08-22 |website=NeaKypros: Τελευταία Νέα Κύπρος |language=el-gr}}</ref>

=== In Vietnam ===
The [[Viet Cong]] used swimmer saboteurs often and effectively during the [[Vietnam War]]. Between 1969 and 1970, swimmer saboteurs sunk, destroyed, or damaged 77 assets of the U.S. and its allies. Viet Cong swimmers were poorly equipped but well-trained and resourceful. The swimmers provided a low-cost/low-risk option with high payoff; possible loss to the country for failure compared to the possible gains from a successful mission led to the obvious conclusion the swimmer saboteurs were a good idea.<ref>{{cite book|last=Babyak|first=E.E. Jr. LtJG USNM|title=Swimmer Sabotage or The Most Dangerous Mine|publisher=Naval Mine Warfare School|year=1971|location=Charleston}}</ref>

=== During the Cold War ===
On 1 January 1984, the Cuscatlan bridge over the [[Lempa river]] in [[El Salvador]], critical to the flow of commercial and military traffic, was destroyed by guerrilla forces using explosives after using mortar fire to "scatter" the bridge's guards, causing an estimated $3.7 million in required repairs, and considerably impacting on El Salvadoran business and security.<ref name="McGeorgeKetchem19831984"/>

In 1982 in [[Honduras]], a group of nine Salvadorans and Nicaraguans destroyed a main electrical power station, leaving the capital city [[Tegucigalpa]] without power for three days.<ref name="McGeorgeKetchem19831984"/>{{rp|page=253}}