David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

to attract the beast of prey.” He
predicted that the city would be so
helpless in the face of attack that
between three and four million
Londoners would flee to the countryside.
In 1937, on the eve of the war, the
British military command issued a report
with the direst prediction of all: a
sustained German bombing attack would
leave six hundred thousand dead and 1.2
million wounded and create mass panic
in the streets. People would refuse to go
to work. Industrial production would
grind to a halt. The army would be
useless against the Germans because it
would be preoccupied with keeping
order among the millions of panicked
civilians. The country’s planners briefly