Dutch state liable for three Srebrenica deaths

[jmm99]

from JMA
We may be starting to talk at cross purposes.

Besides, like the embattled captain on the bridge, "I have not yet begun to talk."

Seriously, I don't see the "cross purposes" - nor, to this point, any crossed verbal swords.

I see your primary thrust as:

A good defensive position can be defended by determined troops against impossible odds. ... I am looking more at the trigger in the mind of the commander or soldier that leads to a surrender decision.

I take the following as received wisdom - from the 1989 (original) version of the USMC's basic manual, Warfighting (and retained in later editions):

Chapter 1. THE NATURE OF WAR
...
"Positions are seldom lost because they have been destroyed, but almost invariably because the leader has decided in his own mind that the position cannot be held."
-A. A. Vandegrift

Alexander Vandegrift was a military visionary. In 1909, as a 22-year old 2nd Lt., he wrote "Aviation, the Cavalry of the Future".

What am I missing ?

Regards

Mike