Panacea.

This is coolbert:

"pan·a·ce·a - - noun 1. a remedy for all disease or ills; cure-all.  

2. an answer or solution for all problems or difficulties"

Here with  my own listing of panacea targets. That name "panacea" as attributed to Sir Arthur "Bomber" Harris of the Royal Air Force [RAF]. A panacea target being an objective the destruction of which would either curtail or severely inhibit the war-making ability of a nation! Curtail or severely inhibit "war-making" to such an extent that the adversary would cry "uncle" and ask for negotiations or terms!

"un·cle  Idiom 7. Informal . to concede defeat"

This listing not of course considered to be totally inclusive by any means. Merely scratching the surface.

From the Great War [WW1]:

* Scandinavian pit prop timbers.

Interdiction of Scandinavian pit prop timbers being a major mission for the German submarine force, if and when unrestricted submarine warfare had been declared and authorized. NO pit prop timbers for shoring the coal mines, NO steam coal for the British navy, the Grand Fleet rendered inactive and idle, English acquiescence to German authority and demands guaranteed.

From the Second World War [WW2]:

* The ball bearing factories of Schweinfurt.

* The Ploesti oil fields.

* The hydro-electric dams of the Italian Tyrol.

* The two main electric-generating power plants of the western Soviet Union.

Comments:

* These panacea targets even when struck the "bother" perhaps not even worth the effort? Within a short time, production for the most part restored, the enemy alerted, able to disperse production facilities in a manner ameliorating further attack.

* The German during the Second World War [WW2] was VERY GOOD at restoring capability even when targets extensively damaged? Those railroad marshaling yards at Dresden within a period of two days back up and in working order nearly 100 % restored.

* Those "hydro-electric dams of the Italian Tyrol" proposed as a target for the First Special Service Force ["Devil's Brigade"].

* A modified Fw-190 "Mistrel" glide-bomb carrying the LARGEST SHAPED CHARGE EVER DEVISED proposed for an attack on the two Soviet power plants supplying 75 % of the electricity to the war munitions plants of the western Soviet Union!

* Considerations regarding Ploesti meriting an entire blog entry unto itself!

Devoted and knowledgeable readers to the blog can suggest more panacea targets? From any conflict and any point in time. Please let me hear from you!

coolbert