The Need for Organisational Resilience Chapter 5

of his own ideas. Success comes most readily to the commander whose ideas have not been

canalised into any one fixed channel, but can develop freely from the conditions around him.

d) The commander must have contact with his men. He must be capable of feeling and thinking

with them. The soldier must have confidence in him. There is one cardinal principle which

must always be remembered: one mist never make a show of false emotions to one’s men.

The ordinary soldier has a surprisingly good nose for what is true and what false. (Liddell Hart

1953, 226)

[TEXT BOX ENDS]

The French relied very much on their generalship to direct, and their staff to ‘obediently’

support the decision making. Whereas on the German side, conflict in options were

encouraged and at times fiercely contested, Allied leadership is defined by rank and status.

Hence, administrative capabilities were reinforced, with often little or no mindful intervention

by members of staff.

Commitment. The degree of commitment to confront a life and death situation was

exceptional. As much as ideology plays a role, it was one of leadership on both sides; a

deep-seated feeling to the immediate commander in charge. In case of the battle for Stonne,

the Germans and their French foe knew about the importance of losing this battle, and

attacks followed counterattacks, until the French were simply exhausted in men and

material. In a true Clausewitz’s manner, purposeful boldness was shown that did not require

obedience, but a true loyalty in purpose and immediate leadership.

[Text Box starts] Von Clausewitz: Boldness

The higher the rank the more necessary it is that boldness should be accompanied by a reflective

mind, that it may not be a mere blind outburst of passion to no purpose; for with increase of rank it

becomes always less a matter of self-sacrifice and more a matter of the preservation of others, and

the good of the whole. Where regulations of the service, as a kind of second nature, prescribe for the

masses, reflection must be the guide of the General, and in his case individual boldness in action may

easily become a fault. Still, at the same time, it is a fine failing, and must not be looked at in the same

light as any other. Happy the Army in which an untimely boldness frequently manifests itself; it is a

exuberant growth which shows a rich soil. Even foolhardiness, that is boldness without an object, is

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