The rise of the ‘leadership first’ strike — and why it’s so important in warfare

Imagine if Allied intelligence had located Adolf Hitler in late May 1944 and killed him before the Normandy invasion. Imagine that in the same hour, strikes eliminated Hitler’s designated successor, the head of the German Armed Forces High Command, the chief operational planner of the war effort, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, responsible for defending Western Europe, and the rest of Germany’s field marshals and senior commanders. 

Imagine that the officers publicly announced to be replaced were struck within hours as well.

Before a single Allied soldier stepped onto the beaches of Normandy, the brain directing Germany’s war effort would have been destroyed.

The Wehrmacht would still have possessed tanks, aircraft, and divisions. But it would have been operating without its central nervous system.

Leadership decapitation has existed throughout history. What is new today is the ability to do it simultaneously, precisely, and at the opening of war.

That scenario was impossible in 1944. More importantly, it remained largely unimaginable even 25 years ago.