The gathering of a massive army in the Ardennes, staking the fate of the nation on one throw of the dice, was a dramatic play. To win this high-stakes game, the first major challenge was how to allocate roads and assembly areas.
The Wehrmacht had chosen the Ardennes as the launch point for their decisive strike precisely because of the illusions and psychological paralysis that the region's inconveniences could cause the enemy. To emerge from an "impregnable natural fortress" with an armored force was a crisis that exceeded the enemy's comprehension, causing severe psychological shock and further triggering chaos within their command system. When the enemy was at a loss, the armored troops, serving as the vanguard, would move as fast as lightning to maneuver behind the enemy's lines and launch surprise attacks. The mechanized units would then follow up to complete the encirclement—this was the essence of "Plan Yellow".
