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Blitzkrieg (help·info) (German, literally lightning war) is a popular name for an offensive operational-level military doctrine which employed mobile forces attacking with speed and surprise to prevent an enemy from implementing a coherent defense. The doctrines resulting in the blitzkrieg effect were developed in the years after World War I as a method to help prevent trench warfare and linear warfare.
Blitzkrieg was first used on any serious scale by the German Wehrmacht in World War II. While operations in Poland were rather conventional (see detailed discussion below), later operations early in the war — particularly the invasions of France, The Netherlands and initial operations in the Soviet Union — were effective owing to surprise penetrations, general enemy unpreparedness and an inability to react swiftly enough to the superior German military doctrines. The Germans faced numerically superior forces and technically superior vehicles in the invasion of France, proving the early effectiveness of their tactics and strategies. From this peak, the Wehrmacht"s cohesion deteriorated. Heinz Guderian, an early implementor of blitzkrieg, was relieved of command on 25 December 1941, for ordering a withdrawal in contradiction of Hitler"s "standfast" order. This showed a fundamental doctrinal difference between Hitler"s view of military strategy and the Wehrmacht"s proven system. This event undermined confidence and military effectiveness from that point onwards. After this point, German offensive operations were severely limited; the last major blitzkrieg style operation in the East was at Kursk in July 1943, and the last in the west was the Ardennes Offensive in December 1944. By this period, the Allies had developed effective defensive tactics to deal with these operations (see below).
Methods of blitzkrieg operations centered on using manoeuvre rather than attrition to defeat an opponent. The blitzkrieg thus first and foremost required a combined arms concentration of mobile assets at a focal point, armour closely supported by mobile infantry, artillery and close air support assets. These tactics required the development of specialised support vehicles, new methods of communication, new tactics, and an effective decentralised command structure. Broadly speaking, blitzkrieg operations required the development of mechanised infantry, self-propelled artillery and engineering assets that could maintain the rate of advance of the tanks. German forces avoided direct combat in favour of interrupting an enemy"s communications, decision-making, logistics and of reducing morale. In combat, blitzkrieg left little choice for the slower defending forces but to clump into defensive pockets that were encircled and then destroyed by following German infantry.
Contents [hide]
1 Etymology and modern meaning
2 Interwar period
2.1 Reichswehr
2.2 Foreign influence
2.3 Guderian into the Wehrmacht
2.4 Panzertruppe and Luftwaffe
2.5 Spanish Civil War
3 Methods of operations
3.1 Schwerpunkt
3.2 Paralysis
3.3 Kesselschlacht
4 Operations in the Second World War
4.1 Poland 1939
4.2 France 1940
4.3 Soviet Union: the Eastern Front: 1941–45
4.4 Western Front, 1944–45
5 Countermeasures and limitations
5.1 Terrain
5.2 Air superiority
5.3 Counter-tactics
5.4 Logistics
6 Influence
7 Changing Interpretations of Blitzkrieg
8 See also
9 References
10 Further reading
[edit]
Etymology and modern meaning
Though "blitzkrieg" is a German word (literally "lightning war", meaning "a war as fast as a lightning"), the word did not originate from within the German military. It was first used by a journalist in the American newsmagazine TIME describing the 1939 German invasion of Poland. Published on September 25 1939, well into the campaign, the journalist"s account reads:
The battlefront disappeared, and with it the illusion that there had ever been a battlefront. For this was no war of occupation, but a war of quick penetration and obliteration—Blitzkrieg, lightning war. Swift columns of tanks and armored trucks had plunged through Poland while bombs raining from the sky heralded their coming. They had sawed off communications, destroyed stores, scattered civilians, spread terror. Working sometimes 30 miles (50 km) ahead of infantry and artillery, they had broken down the Polish defenses before they had time to organize. Then, while the infantry mopped up, they had moved on, to strike again far behind what had been called the front.[1]
Military historians have defined blitzkrieg as the employment of the concepts of manoeuvre and combined arms warfare developed in Germany during both the interwar period and the Second World War. Strategically, the ideal was to swiftly effect an adversary"s collapse through a short campaign fought by a small, professional army. Operationally, its goal was to use indirect means, such as, mobility and shock, to render an adversary"s plans irrelevant or impractical. To do this, self-propelled formations of tanks; motorised infantry, engineers, artillery; and ground-attack aircraft operated as a combined-arms team. Historians have termed it a period form of the longstanding German principle of Bewegungskrieg, or movement war.
"Blitzkrieg" has since expanded into multiple meanings in more popular usage. From its original military definition, "blitzkrieg" may be applied to any military operation emphasising the surprise, speed, or concentration stressed in accounts of the Polish September Campaign. During the war, the Luftwaffe terror bombings of London came to be known as The Blitz. Similarly, blitz has come to describe the "blitz" (rush) tactic of American football, and the blitz form of chess in which players are allotted very little time. Blitz or blitzkrieg is used in many other non-military contexts.
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Interwar period
[edit]
Reichswehr
Blitzkrieg"s immediate development began with Germany"s defeat in the First World War. Shortly after the war, the new Reichswehr created committees of veteran officers to evaluate 57 issues of the war.[2] The reports of these committees formed doctrinal and training publications which were the standards in the Second World War. The Reichswehr was influenced by its analysis of pre-war German military thought, in particular its infiltration tactics of the war, and the manoeuvre warfare which dominated the Eastern Front.
German military history had been influenced heavilly by Carl von Clausewitz, Alfred von Schlieffen and von Moltke the Elder, who were proponents of manoeuvre, mass, and envelopment. Their concepts were employed in the successful Franco-Prussian War and attempted "knock-out blow" of the Schlieffen Plan. Following the war, these concepts were modified by the Reichswehr. Its Chief of Staff, Hans von Seeckt, moved doctrine away from what he argued was an excessive focus on encirclement towards one based on speed. Speed gives surprise, surprise allows exploitation if decisions can be reached quickly and mobility gives flexibility and speed. Von Seeckt advocated effecting breakthroughs against the enemy"s centre when it was more profitable than encirclement or where encirclement was not practical. Under his command a modern update of the doctrinal system called "Bewegungskrieg" and its associated tactical system called "Auftragstaktik" was developed which resulted in the popularly known blitzkrieg effect. He additionally rejected the notion of mass which von Schlieffen and von Moltke had advocated. While reserves had comprised up to four-tenths of German forces in pre-war campaigns, von Seeckt sought the creation of a small, professional (volunteer) military backed by a defence-oriented militia. In modern warfare, he argued, such a force was more capable of offensive action, faster to ready, and less expensive to equip with more modern weapons. The Reichswehr was forced to adopt a small and professional army quite aside from any German plans, for the Treaty of Versailles limited it to 100,000 men.
Bewegungskrieg required a new command hierarchy that allowed military decisions to be made closer to the unit level. This allowed units to react and make effective decisions faster, which is a critical advantage and a major reason for the success of Blitzkrieg.
German leadership had also been criticised for failing to understand the technical advances of the First World War, having given tank production the lowest priority and having conducted no studies of the machine gun prior to that war.[3] In response, German officers attended technical schools during this period of rebuilding after the war.
Infiltration tactics invented by the German Army during the First World War became the basis for later tactics. German infantry had advanced in small, decentralised groups which bypassed resistance in favour of advancing at weak points and attacking rear-area communications. This was aided by co-ordinated artillery and air bombardments, and followed by larger infantry forces with heavy guns, which destroyed centres of resistance. These concepts formed the basis of the Wehrmacht"s tactics during the Second World War.
On the war"s Eastern Front, combat did not bog down into trench warfare. German and Russian armies fought a war of manoeuvre over thousands of miles, giving the German leadership unique experience which the trench-bound Western Allies did not have.[4] Studies of operations in the East led to the conclusion that small and coordinated forces possessed more combat worth than large, uncoordinated forces.
[edit]
Foreign influence
During this period, all the war"s major combatants developed mechanised force theories. Theories of the Western Allies differed substantially from the Reichswehr"s. British, French, and American doctrines broadly favoured a more set-piece battle, less combined arms focus, and less focus on concentration. Early Reichswehr periodicals contained many translated works, though they were often not adopted. Technical advances in foreign countries were, however, observed and used in-part by the Weapons Office. Foreign doctrines are widely considered to have had little serious influence.[5]
Col. Charles de Gaulle, in France, was a known advocate of concentration of armour and aeroplanes — views that little endeared him to the French high command, but are claimed by some to have influenced Heinz Guderian. [6]
British theorists J.F.C. Fuller and B. H. Liddell Hart have often been associated with blitzkrieg"s development, though this is a matter of controversy. It is argued that Guderian, a critical figure in blitzkrieg"s conception, drew some of his inspiration from Hart. This was based on a paragraph in the English edition of Guderian"s autobiography in which he credits Hart. In opposition, it is argued that Hart, as editor of the autobiography"s English edition, wrote that paragraph himself or, more broadly, that his influence on Guderian was not as significant as held. Fuller"s influence is less clear. During the war, he developed plans for massive, independent tank operations and was subsequently studied by the German leadership. It is variously argued that Fuller"s wartime plans and post-war writings were an inspiration, or that his readership was low and German experiences during the war received more attention.
What is clear is the practical implementation of this doctrine in a wide and successful range of scenarios by Guderian and other Germans during the war. From early combined-arms river crossings and penetration exploitations during the advance in France in 1940 to massive sweeping advances in Russia in 1942, Guderian showed a mastery and innovation that inspired many others. This leadership was supported and fostered by the Reichswehr General Staff system, which worked the Army to greater and greater levels of capability through massive and systematic Movement warfare war games in the 1930s.
The Reichswehr and Red Army collaborated in wargames and tests in Kazan and Lipetsk beginning in 1926. Set within the Soviet Union, these two centres were used to field test aircraft and armoured vehicles up to the battalion level, as well as housing aerial and armoured warfare schools through which officers were rotated. This was done in the Soviet Union, in secret, to evade the Treaty of Versailles"s occupational agent, the Inter-Allied Commission.[7]
[edit]
Guderian into the Wehrmacht
- LocCloud
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Blitzkrieg means "lightening war". Blitzkrieg was a German tactic used in World War Two based on speed and surprise and needed a military force to be based around light tank units supported by planes and infantry (foot soldiers). The tactic was developed in Germany by an army officer called Hans Guderian. He had written a military pamphlet called "Achtung Panzer" which got into the hands of Hitler. As a tactic it was used to devastating effect in the first years of World War Two and resulted in the British and French armies being pushed back in just a few weeks to the beaches of Dunkirk and the Russian army being devastated in the attack on Russia in June 1941.
A British view on Blitzkrieg
Hitler had spent four years in World War One fighting a static war with neither side moving far for months on end. He was enthralled by Guderian"s plan that was based purely on speed and movement. When Guderian told Hitler that he could reach the French coast in weeks if an attack on France was ordered, fellow officers laughed openly at him. The German High Command told Hitler that his "boast" was impossible. General Busch said to Guderian, "Well, I don"t think that you"ll cross the River Meuse in the first place." The Meuse was considered France"s first major line of defence and it was thought of as being impossible to cross in a war situation.
Blitzkrieg was based on speed, co-ordination and movement. It was designed to hit hard and move on instantly. Its aim was to create panic amongst the civilian population. A civil population on the move can be absolute havoc for a defending army trying to get its forces to the war front. Doubt, confusion and rumour were sure to paralyse both the government and the defending military.
"Speed, and still more speed, and always speed was the secret……..and that demanded audacity, more audacity and always audacity."
Major General Fuller
Once a strategic target had been selected, Stuka dive bombers were sent in to ‘soften" up the enemy, destroy all rail lines, communication centres and major rail links. This was done as the German tanks were approaching and the planes withdrew only at the last minute so that the enemy did not have time to recover their senses when the tanks attacked supported by infantry.
Most troops were moved by half-track vehicles so there was no real need for roads though these were repaired so that they could be used by the Germans at a later date. Once a target had been taken, the Germans did not stop to celebrate victory; they moved on to the next target. Retreating civilians hindered any work done by the army being attacked. Those civilians fleeing the fighting were also attacked to create further mayhem.
How effective was Blitzkrieg?
In 1941, a diary kept by an unknown French soldier was found. In it are some interesting comments that help us understand why this tactic was so successful :
"When the dive-bombers come down, they (the French) stood it for two hours and then ran with their hands over their ears."
"Sedan fell as a result of a bombardment……….it was a superb example of military surprise."
"The pace is too fast……it"s the co-operation between the dive-bombers and the tanks that is winning the war for Germany."
"News that the Germans are in Amiens………this is like some ridiculous nightmare."
All the above were written in a period of just 5 days : May 15th 1940 to May 19th 1940.
Why were the armies of Europe caught so badly prepared by this tactic?
Hitler had given his full backing to Guderian. Ironically, he had got his idea for Blitzkrieg from two officers - one from France and one from Britain and he had copied and broadened what they had put on paper. In Britain and France, the cavalry regiments ruled supreme and they were adamant that the tanks would not get any influence in their armies. The High Commands of both countries were dominated by the old traditional cavalry regiments and their political pull was great. These were the type of officers despised by Hitler and he took to his Panzer officer, Guderian, over the old officers that were in the German Army (the Wehrmacht).
In 1940, Britain and France still had a World War One mentality. What tanks we had were poor compared to the German Panzers. Our tactics were poor and we still in Britain had the mentality that as an island we were safe as our navy would protect us. Germany, with a smaller though new navy, had to develop a new military tactic…………Blitzkrieg.
It was used to devastating effect in Poland, western Europe where the Allies were pushed back to the beaches of Dunkirk and in the attack on Russia - Operation Barbarossa
- LuckySXyd
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At 4:45 on September 1, 1939, Nazi Germany 1.5 million force with the speed of lightning blitzkrieg of Poland, launched the Second World War.
War strength : German division into 44, which seven armored divisions, four light armored divisions, four motorized divisions, 1,939 aircraft, 2,800 tanks, with a total strength of 886,000. Polish Army with seven armies, four battle clusters, 870 tanks and armored vehicles, 400 aircraft, a total of 30 infantry divisions and 11 cavalry brigades, two motorized brigades with a total strength of 100 million people.
September 1, 1939 at dawn, a large number of troops dispatched aircraft for the bombing wave important military objectives;Ground forces from the West, South and North all offensive launched three directions, thousands of artillery pieces to the border line bombardment.
Powerful attack in German, Polish troops quickly defeat. September 28, Warsaw 300,000 120,000 persons to surrender. October 6, the Bosnian Army army was totally annihilated, German war. With a population of 34 million, over 100 million national army, so that in the short month period dashed.
Poland speed defeated, and an important reason is the concept behind its military. At the outbreak of World War II, rapid-fire machine guns, tanks, submarines, aircraft carriers, a large number of new weapons, such as radio equipment competing in succession, and the beginning of the history of mechanized war era. But the wave of military operations and of mechanized warfare theory almost nothing.
During the war, Poland cavalry tanks apparently did not understand the performance of their armoured but some think tanks in camouflage tin panels made from. So Poland cavalry No, the saber and lances in their hands to launch military tanks stormed into. Polish cavalry troops very brave, as they wind swept in horse"s hoof sound, a piece of artillery pieces. However, the German tank guns might far exceed cavalry. Cavalry have fallen to near the little closer to the tanks. Poles is heroic, the fallen front, behind and fill possible, the crew feel that this is not the German battlefield, but even Ranges slaughterhouse. Poles did not intend to surrender to see, not even retreat, German happily one after another, a row to take a row Qusha.
During the war, Poland cavalry tanks apparently did not understand the performance of their armoured but some think tanks in camouflage tin panels made from. So Poland cavalry No, the saber and lances in their hands to launch military tanks stormed into. Polish cavalry troops very brave, as they wind swept in horse"s hoof sound, a piece of artillery pieces. However, the German tank guns might far exceed cavalry. Cavalry have fallen to near the little closer to the tanks.Poles is heroic, the fallen front, behind and fill possible, the crew feel that this is not the German battlefield, but even Ranges slaughterhouse. Poles did not intend to surrender to see, not even retreat, German happily one after another, a row to take a row Qusha.
This is the horses with the warm bodies of the steel tanks are collisions, is a backward and advanced, ignorance and civilization imbalance impact. When the cavalry regiment of Polish cavalry were pressed into one by the German tanks Rouni, ancient cold war weapons -- the favored one cavalry gradually left the arena of war. German invasion of Poland, Britain, and France declared war on Germany, the official opening of the Second World War curtain
- 余辉
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At 4:45 on September 1, 1939, Nazi Germany 1.5 million force with the speed of lightning blitzkrieg of Poland, launched the Second World War.
War strength : German division into 44, which seven armored divisions, four light armored divisions, four motorized divisions, 1,939 aircraft, 2,800 tanks, with a total strength of 886,000. Polish Army with seven armies, four battle clusters, 870 tanks and armored vehicles, 400 aircraft, a total of 30 infantry divisions and 11 cavalry brigades, two motorized brigades with a total strength of 100 million people.
September 1, 1939 at dawn, a large number of troops dispatched aircraft for the bombing wave important military objectives;Ground forces from the West, South and North all offensive launched three directions, thousands of artillery pieces to the border line bombardment.
Powerful attack in German, Polish troops quickly defeat. September 28, Warsaw 300,000 120,000 persons to surrender. October 6, the Bosnian Army army was totally annihilated, German war. With a population of 34 million, over 100 million national army, so that in the short month period dashed.
Poland speed defeated, and an important reason is the concept behind its military. At the outbreak of World War II, rapid-fire machine guns, tanks, submarines, aircraft carriers, a large number of new weapons, such as radio equipment competing in succession, and the beginning of the history of mechanized war era. But the wave of military operations and of mechanized warfare theory almost nothing.
During the war, Poland cavalry tanks apparently did not understand the performance of their armoured but some think tanks in camouflage tin panels made from. So Poland cavalry No, the saber and lances in their hands to launch military tanks stormed into. Polish cavalry troops very brave, as they wind swept in horse"s hoof sound, a piece of artillery pieces. However, the German tank guns might far exceed cavalry. Cavalry have fallen to near the little closer to the tanks. Poles is heroic, the fallen front, behind and fill possible, the crew feel that this is not the German battlefield, but even Ranges slaughterhouse. Poles did not intend to surrender to see, not even retreat, German happily one after another, a row to take a row Qusha.
During the war, Poland cavalry tanks apparently did not understand the performance of their armoured but some think tanks in camouflage tin panels made from. So Poland cavalry No, the saber and lances in their hands to launch military tanks stormed into. Polish cavalry troops very brave, as they wind swept in horse"s hoof sound, a piece of artillery pieces. However, the German tank guns might far exceed cavalry. Cavalry have fallen to near the little closer to the tanks.Poles is heroic, the fallen front, behind and fill possible, the crew feel that this is not the German battlefield, but even Ranges slaughterhouse. Poles did not intend to surrender to see, not even retreat, German happily one after another, a row to take a row Qusha.
This is the horses with the warm bodies of the steel tanks are collisions, is a backward and advanced, ignorance and civilization imbalance impact. When the cavalry regiment of Polish cavalry were pressed into one by the German tanks Rouni, ancient cold war weapons -- the favored one cavalry gradually left the arena of war. German invasion of Poland, Britain, and France declared war on Germany, the official opening of the Second World War curtain 就这么多了
- 康康map
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At 4:45 on September 1, 1939, Nazi Germany 1.5 million force with the speed of lightning blitzkrieg of Poland, launched the Second World War.
War strength : German division into 44, which seven armored divisions, four light armored divisions, four motorized divisions, 1,939 aircraft, 2,800 tanks, with a total strength of 886,000. Polish Army with seven armies, four battle clusters, 870 tanks and armored vehicles, 400 aircraft, a total of 30 infantry divisions and 11 cavalry brigades, two motorized brigades with a total strength of 100 million people.
September 1, 1939 at dawn, a large number of troops dispatched aircraft for the bombing wave important military objectives;Ground forces from the West, South and North all offensive launched three directions, thousands of artillery pieces to the border line bombardment.
Powerful attack in German, Polish troops quickly defeat. September 28, Warsaw 300,000 120,000 persons to surrender. October 6, the Bosnian Army army was totally annihilated, German war. With a population of 34 million, over 100 million national army, so that in the short month period dashed.
Poland speed defeated, and an important reason is the concept behind its military. At the outbreak of World War II, rapid-fire machine guns, tanks, submarines, aircraft carriers, a large number of new weapons, such as radio equipment competing in succession, and the beginning of the history of mechanized war era. But the wave of military operations and of mechanized warfare theory almost nothing.
During the war, Poland cavalry tanks apparently did not understand the performance of their armoured but some think tanks in camouflage tin panels made from. So Poland cavalry No, the saber and lances in their hands to launch military tanks stormed into. Polish cavalry troops very brave, as they wind swept in horse"s hoof sound, a piece of artillery pieces. However, the German tank guns might far exceed cavalry. Cavalry have fallen to near the little closer to the tanks. Poles is heroic, the fallen front, behind and fill possible, the crew feel that this is not the German battlefield, but even Ranges slaughterhouse. Poles did not intend to surrender to see, not even retreat, German happily one after another, a row to take a row Qusha.
During the war, Poland cavalry tanks apparently did not understand the performance of their armoured but some think tanks in camouflage tin panels made from. So Poland cavalry No, the saber and lances in their hands to launch military tanks stormed into. Polish cavalry troops very brave, as they wind swept in horse"s hoof sound, a piece of artillery pieces. However, the German tank guns might far exceed cavalry. Cavalry have fallen to near the little closer to the tanks.Poles is heroic, the fallen front, behind and fill possible, the crew feel that this is not the German battlefield, but even Ranges slaughterhouse. Poles did not intend to surrender to see, not even retreat, German happily one after another, a row to take a row Qusha.
This is the horses with the warm bodies of the steel tanks are collisions, is a backward and advanced, ignorance and civilization imbalance impact. When the cavalry regiment of Polish cavalry were pressed into one by the German tanks Rouni, ancient cold war weapons -- the favored one cavalry gradually left the arena of war. German invasion of Poland, Britain, and France declared war on Germany, the official opening of the Second World War curtain