[QUOTE=slaphead]
Really? I thought this was one of the things that gave attacking generals the cold sweats. When attempting a breakthrough manouever, there is a big risk that the defences are denser or deeper than anticipated, and the attack just bogs down and goes nowhere. The other is that the breach is too narrow and the enemy shifts some of their forces sideways to pinch off the corridor of advance and leave the attacking spearhead stranded in enemy territory with no supply of reinforcements, munitions and so on. Either is a bit of a recipe for disaster.
And it can certainly be a strategy - the whole of Case Yellow was focused on creating and then breaking through a weak point in the allied lines, prior to launching a deep exploitation into the rear areas before the superior allied forces could reorganise.
[/QUOTE]
All true. And it’s good for generals to get the sweats. It concentrates their minds so that they don’t make half-baked, Ill-planned thrusts into enemy territory but provide diversionary feints, overwhelming force at the point of attack, and a strong follow-up movement. It it’s well done the enemy is so busy worrying about his rear and his organization is so disrupted that the counters you spoke of are made really difficult.
I didn’t mean to imply that it was easy.