The Freedom Fighter’s Manual is the comic book version of the 1944 OSS Simple Sabotage Field Manual. It was distributed in Nicaragua by the Contras during their war against the Sandinistas.
Unlike the OSS manual, the CIA version was distributed directly to would-be saboteurs. Consequently, its tone is different from the OSS manual, which was intended to train the trainers. It has been updated, of course. There is no material on sabotaging steam locomotives in this one. It also has much less detail on sabotaging machinery, probably because destroying Nicaragua’s heavy industry was not a key goal of the war effort. There is some new information, such as pulling down telephone wires with a homemade grappling hook.
The use of Molotov cocktails and other less than discrete methods of sabotage are advocated. The OSS precursor was much more concerned with deniability on the part of the resisting population. Apparently, collateral damage was of less concern to the CIA, although to be fair (to both sides), the Gestapo was a much more efficient and fearsome enemy than the Sandinistas. ( )