Blood of the Lions () is a 263-page book published in 1965 by Prezzo Libri and republished in 1969 by Feltrinelli.
The book contributed to the training of violent non-state actors in Italy during the "Sessantotto" and the Years of Lead, and also abroad, such as in the case of the Italian Red Brigades and the Palestinian Fatah.
On 1 October 1978, men from a special unit led by General Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa raided a Milanese apartment on Via Monte Nevoso, used as a hideout by the Red Brigades, finding, along with other books and documents, a copy of Blood of the Lions. Blood of the Lions was also one of the books in the personal library of Valerio Verbano, a young militant of Autonomia Operaia who was assassinated by a neo-fascist commando on February 22, 1980.
The work is composed of two political writings by Edouard-Marcel Sumbu, a former Congolese rebel exiled in Cuba â "A Call from the Fighters to All the Congolese People for a Mass Revolt Against the Kinshasa Reaction" and "Speech at the Cultural Congress of Havana: Culture and National Independence" â and the Italian translation of a special text or military manual written for the United States Army Special Forces, titled ST 31-180 Special Forces Handbook, which summarizes various tactics and techniques of unconventional warfare, guerrilla warfare, sabotage, and artisanal production of various types of explosive and incendiary devices.
According to an article published in the South African magazine Chimurenga, and republished by the Italian magazine Internazionale:
The structure of Blood of the Lions is organized according to the following table of contents: