A Psychological ‘Hinge’ in National Defence

Abstract

JUST as German strategy concentrated on a weak hinge in the military defences of France, so in its general technique of invasion the German Command thrusts at what may be called a psychological hinge in the national defences: the weak point where military discipline ends and civil organization begins. Invasion by parachute troops co-operating with secret agents is the most dramatic form of the attack on this weak hinge. Its success in the neutral countries depended on military operations being carried out in an area which was still organized for civil life and looking to civil authority for direction. Military attack at that point in the national structure caused panic and confusion.