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.

Interwar period

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.{{ref|1}} 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.

Related Topics:
Reichswehr - Officers - Infiltration tactics - Eastern Front

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German military history had been influenced heavilly by Carl von Clausewitz, Alfred von Schlieffen and von Moltke the Elder. 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.

Related Topics:
Carl von Clausewitz - Alfred von Schlieffen - Von Moltke the Elder - Franco-Prussian War - Schlieffen Plan - Hans von Seeckt - Encirclement - Militia - Treaty of Versailles

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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 Blitzkreig.

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German leadership had also 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.{{ref|2}} In response, German officers attended technical schools during this period of rebuilding after the war.

Related Topics:
Tank production - Machine gun - Technical school

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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.

Related Topics:
Infiltration tactics - Wehrmacht

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On the war's Eastern Front, combat did not bog down into trench warfare. German and Russian armies fought a war of manoeuvre over hundreds of miles, giving the German leadership unique experience which the trench-bound Western Allies did not have.{{ref|3}} Studies of operations in the East led to the conclusion that small and coordinated forces possessed more combat worth than large, uncoordinated forces.

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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.{{ref|14}}

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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. http://www.charles-de-gaulle.org/article_print.php?id_article=20

Related Topics:
Charles de Gaulle - France - Heinz Guderian

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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.

Related Topics:
J.F.C. Fuller - B. H. Liddell Hart - Guderian

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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 1930's.

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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.{{ref|4}}

Related Topics:
Wargame - Kazan - Lipetsk - Inter-Allied Commission

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Guderian into the Wehrmacht

Following Germany's military reforms of the 1920s, Heinz Guderian emerged as a strong proponent of mechanised forces. Within the Inspectorate of Transport Troops, Guderian and colleagues performed theoretical and field exercise work. There was opposition from many officers who gave primacy to the infantry or simply doubted the usefulness of the tank. Among them was Chief of the General Staff Ludwig Beck (1935–38), who was sceptical that armoured forces could be decisive. Nonetheless, the panzer divisions were established during his tenure.

Related Topics:
Heinz Guderian - Ludwig Beck

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Guderian argued that the tank was the decisive weapon of war. "If the tanks succeed, then victory follows", he wrote. In an article addressed to critics of tank warfare, he wrote "until our critics can produce some new and better method of making a successful land attack other than self-massacre, we shall continue to maintain our beliefs that tanks—properly employed, needless to say—are today the best means available for a land attack." Addressing the faster rate at which defenders could reinforce an area than attackers could penetrate it during the First World War, Guderian wrote that "since reserve forces will now be motorised, the building up of new defensive fronts is easier than it used to be; the chances of an offensive based on the timetable of artillery and infantry co-operation are, as a result, even slighter today than they were in the last war." He continued, "We believe that by attacking with tanks we can achieve a higher rate of movement than has been hitherto obtainable, and—what is perhaps even more important—that we can keep moving once a breakthrough has been made."{{ref|5}} Guderian additionally required that tactical radios be widely used to facilitate co-ordination and command.

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Panzertruppe and Luftwaffe

Blitzkrieg would not have been possible without modifying Germany's current military. Under the Treaty of Versailles its military was limited to 100,000 men, its air force disbanded, and tank development forbidden. After becoming head of state in 1933, Adolf Hitler ignored these provisions. A command for armoured troops was created within the German Heer—the Panzertruppe, as it came to be known later. The Luftwaffe, or air force, was re-established, and development begun on ground-attack aircraft and doctrines. Hitler was a strong supporter of this new strategy. He observed panzer field exercises and read Guderian's book Achtung! Panzer!{{ref|6}} Upon seeing exercises at Kummersdorf, he remarked "That is what I want—and that is what I will have."{{ref|7}}

Related Topics:
Treaty of Versailles - 1933 - Adolf Hitler - Heer - Panzertruppe - Luftwaffe - Kummersdorf

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Spanish Civil War

German volunteers tested aspects of blitzkrieg tactics during the Spanish Civil War of 1936. Panzer commitments consisted of Panzer Battalion 88, a force built around three companies of PzKpfw I's that functioned as a training cadre for Nationalists. The Luftwaffe deployed squadrons of fighters, dive-bombers, and transports as the Condor Legion.{{ref|8}} Guderian called the panzer employment "on too small a scale to allow accurate assessments to be made."{{ref|9}} More was gained by the Luftwaffe, which developed both tactics and aircraft in combat; it was here that the Stuka first saw combat. Eighteen thousand Luftwaffe troops also gained combat experience.

Related Topics:
Spanish Civil War - PzKpfw I - Fighters - Dive-bombers - Transports - Condor Legion - Stuka

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