ABSTRACT
A nation with a non-provocative defense is one that is thought incapable of seizing and holding the territory of other nations or of inflicting serious damage on their people or resources when they remain upon their own national territory. Formal military defense has traditionally occurred either statically on a line or dynamically in an area. The dynamical or maneuver defense consists of concentrated defense forces maneuvering over an area so as to catch the aggressor forces at a disadvantage and thus destroy them. The chapter shows that most of the existing and proposed strategies for the conventional defense of Central Europe do not rate very highly if non-provocativeness is an important measure. A more realistic defense is one in which the military resources are divided between maneuver forces and frontier forces occupying light fortresses, tank traps, minefields, etc.
