John Robb: “In 1932, JFC Fuller, a lone British military strategist wrote an innovative book on a new strategy of warfare that fueled the development of Blitzkrieg (without BlitzKrieg Germany's war machine would have stalled in France ala WWI).  Heinz Guderian read Fuller's book and got the funding to implement its lessons into an advanced armored unit he commanded (much of his training was done with cardboard tanks).  During the invasion of France, despite pressure by his military superiors (who were not schooled in the new way of warfare) to halt his advance, Guderian drove his tank unit across the low countries to the sea.  This rapid action trapped the British expeditionary force in Dunkirk (which almost resulted in their utter anhilation) and set the stage for the rapid occupation of France. 

“Luckily for us, no military strategist has written the book that provides the basis for the new type of asymetrical warfare we now find ourselves in. Although I have to admit, I almost did write that book a decade ago but felt that it would be immoral to do so since it was certainly to provide more help to an attacker than a defender (us).  Bin Laden is certainly implementing some of the concepts I planned to write about, but he clearly lacks the theoretical basis for effective follow up.  This gives me hope that we can develop effective counter-measures in time to prevent real destruction.  I am still glad I didn't write the book.” [John Robb's Radio Weblog