Reason Magazine had an interesting take on D-Day back in 1999.
There is no more dramatic example of F.A. Hayek’s seminal discovery: the importance of dispersed information–“knowledge of time and place.” Hayek, who was to win the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science in 1974, published his memorable essay, “The Use of Knowledge in Society,” in the American Economic Review just the year after D-Day. It explained the motive force driving Adam Smith’s “invisible hand” by noting that great efficiencies resulted when millions of dispersed individuals, motivated by market incentives, utilized the information uniquely available to them to make decisions. It’s why a decentralized competitive system beats a top-down bureaucracy, even when the planners are “experts.”
And this detail about the war struck me:
Perhaps the classic demonstration was the landing on Utah Beach at 6:30 a.m.–the first wave. Due to unexpectedly strong tides, landing craft deposited units over 1,000 meters from their pre-arranged positions. Heavy machine gun fire pinned down those who managed to survive long enough to reach the beach. Crouching for cover, U.S. infantrymen assembled and spread out their maps. They had no radio contact, and most of their commanders could not be located. What the hell to do? Should they get down the beach to where they were supposed to be, or attack the German artillery directly in front of them?
The ranking officer quickly made a decision: “Let’s start the war from here.” With that, brave Americans charged Nazi fortifications straight ahead, knocked out guns, scaled the bluff, and circled around to capture the ground they had originally been assigned to take.
While no lowly soldier in the Wehrmacht had the authority to revamp official orders, the Allied invasion consisted of little besides ad hoc heroism. Decentralized information stormed the beaches on June 6, 1944, and irreparably breached the Atlantic Wall by dusk. Pretty good theory for one day’s work. Pretty good work for one day’s theory.
I take that attitude with all my decisions. I have to start from where I am. I don’t have the option of starting from some ideal place. What can I do towards my goal with the resources at hand? What can I do to increase my resource flow?