Blitzkrieg

Blitzkrieg (German, literally "lightning war") is a popular name for an 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.

Related Topics:
German - Operational-level - Military doctrine - Defense - World War I - Trench warfare

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Blitzkrieg was first used on any serious scale by the German Wehrmacht in World War II. Operations early in the war—the invasions of Poland, France, and the Soviet Union—were highly effective, owing to surprise penetrations, enemy unpreparedness for massive exploitation 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 the blitzkrieg was used poorly, and soon the Germans were on the defensive, where blitzkreig is harder to use. From 1943 on, German blitzkrieg operations were generally defensive counter-attacks and a handful of mostly failed offensives.

Related Topics:
German - Wehrmacht - World War II - Poland - France - Soviet Union - Heinz Guderian - 25 December - 1941 - Counter-attack

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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.

Related Topics:
Manoeuvre - Attrition - Tactics - Command structure - Mechanised infantry - Self-propelled artillery - Communications - Decision-making - Logistics - Morale - Encircled - Infantry

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