The Need for Organisational Resilience - Chapter 2

they could not recover; to punch through the Allied front at the centre of attack and encircle

and destroy large parts of the northern Allied Forces. War gaming gave the OKH confidence

that an alternative attack through the thickly forested Ardennes, crossing the rivers Semois

and Meuse, was a doable undertaking. By 24 th February, a new directive was issued by Hitler, concentrating forces at a point

perceived to be weakest, in the centre at Sedan. This plan, often referred to as the Manstein

Plan – the Sichelschnitt (‘cut of the sickle’) – was backed by Hitler and subsequently

operationalised.

Map 2.2: German campaigns 1914 and 1940 (Johnson 2005, 7)

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