Certain to Win: The Strategy of John Boyd, Applied to Business

by Chet Richards

That the Germans would attack surprised no one. Both Britain and France had declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939, two days after the German attack on Poland, and so had eight months to get ready. Likewise, it cannot be said that the German tactics were a surprise. They were a refinement of tactics the Germans had used in their last major offensive in the earlier war and had been studied by both French and British strategists between the wars. As for terrain, the French could read a map and knew about conditions in the Ardennes Forest and the network of narrow roads that traversed it. The French had even surmised that the Germans might try an attack in that area. To guard against this possibility, the French Second and Ninth Armies took up positions in Sedan and along the Meuse River. Although these formations were staffed with second-rate troops and lacked modern tanks and transport, calculations had shown that the Germans would need nine or ten days to move enough men and artillery through the limited road network in the Ardennes to force a crossing. This would allow French commanders plenty of time to bring up more heavily armed and better trained reinforcements.