The Need for Organisational Resilience - Chapter 4

Tactical Resilience

This chapter looks at the tactical level of Organisational Resilience. Tactical decisions are

executed at lower levels of management:

• These decisions are related to the working of employees in an organisation

• These decisions relate to day-to-day functioning of the organisation

• They are taken according to strategic and operational circumstances.

The Story: May 10 – May 11 1940

The experience of World War I led the Allies to believe that the concentration of any German

attack would occur through a narrow corridor between Maastricht and Liège. This corridor

would provide the Germans with easy access to northern France if it was not for the river

Meuse and the Albert Canal (completed in 1939) that posed a natural defensive barrier. This

barrier was augmented by a range of forts, defining the Position Fortifiée de Liège I : a truly

formidable challenge for the Germans to overcome. At first light of 10 th May, the Germans launched a massive air assault against Belgian

and Dutch airfields. They met little resistance, and destroyed the meagre air forces on the

ground. Behind this protective curtain of air cover, airborne troops were dropped on

crossings at Rotterdam, Dordrecht and Moerdijk to seize bridges before they could be

destroyed by sappers. A dedicated battalion of airborne troops landed in the Maastricht area

to seize those bridges over the Meuse and Albert Canal. These gains, however, would be in

vain if a key position in the defence around Liège was not taken out of action: Fort d'Ében-

Émael.

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