Överraskning och chock, en väg till framgång? En fallstudie av det tyska anfallet mot fort Eben Emael 1940

Sammanfattning: The question of how to use your forces to successfully defeat your enemy is as old as warfare itself. Today maneuver warfare is the leading theory in the west, but it can´t explain the human experience of combat and how it effects the outcome of battle. The purpose of this essay is to analyze the human perspective of combat to see if it can explain the outcome of battle on the tactical level, where a smaller force successfully defeats a larger one.  This essay will apply Jim Storr´s theory of tactical success to the successful assault on Fort Eben Emael by German forces in the spring of 1940 in the form of a case study, to test whether it can explain this problem. Surprise was a vital success factor for the Germans, facing larger, well-fortified Belgian defenders. Storr highlights the human perspective of combat, and that surprise and shock can lead to collapse of the organization and the will to fight at the tactical level. The results indicate that Storr´s theory can explain the outcome of a battle thru the human perspective where surprise and shock lead to organizational collapse.