The Decisive Point
If the double superiority, or as near the double as possible, at the decisive point is the ideal of strategy ... what is the decisive point?
Here we owe another debt to Clausewitz. Jomini, even after Napoleon, confuses us with three different sorts of decisive points in a theatre of war, but Clausewitz clears the air by asserting only one.
"But whatever may be the central point of the enemy's power against which we are to direct our ultimate operations, still the conquest and destruction of his army is the surest commencement and, in all cases, the most essential."[45]
Here we have it in a nutshell; wherever the enemy's main force is THERE is the decisive point, against which we must concentrate ALL our forces.
"There are," said Napoleon, "many good generals in Europe, but they see too many things at one time. As for me, I see only one thing, the enemy's chief army, and I concentrate all my efforts to destroy it."