Word: clausewitz
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...tactical possibilities in snatching gliders from the ground were enough to awe a Clausewitz: troops and material could be swiftly collected and swiftly delivered here & there in the heat of battle, in places impossible for airports. A mountain range could be filled with troops overnight. (A glider can land in a small clearing, stop almost instantly.) Since the gliders can be picked up again, commanders could accelerate emergency shipments to areas far distant from supply dumps. Mayhap tank-toting gliders will whoosh down to buttress surprise offensives...
Meckel taught them the principles of Clausewitz, which they eagerly took over, revamped, stamped Made in Japan. After a victory at Liao-Yang in the Russo-Japanese War, Field Marshal Prince Iwao Oyama cabled Meckel: "We hope you are proud of your pupils...
...Clausewitz for Autumn. His favorite author, ironically, is the great German military critic, Karl von Clausewitz. One passage which he quotes with especially affectionate comment might well have been his text last week, as he reviewed the lessons of Autumn 1941 before doing his home work for the final exams in Summer...
...commander, says Clausewitz, must guess whether, after receiving the initial blows, the core of the opponent's Army is gradually becoming condensed, tempered and strengthened, or, to the contrary, beginning to crumble into dust like a decanter made of Bologna glass whose stir-face has been cracked. The commander must figure out with precision how much the enemy state will be weakened by the loss of certain sources of supply and by the disconnection of certain arteries. He must foretell without mistake whether the enemy will collapse in pain from the wounds inflicted on him, or hurl himself forward...
...Joseph Stalin, who ought to know. Stalin finds him useful in the way Hitler finds Artillery General Alfred Jodl useful-to be always at the elbow to answer questions, to advise, to refuse, to confirm. Boris Shaposhnikov's memory for detail is astonishing; he seems to know Clausewitz's Of War by heart...