Blitzkrieg

Lightning Attack

A British view on Blitzkrieg!

The History of Blitzkrieg blitz or blitzkrieg is used in many non-military

contexts (eg.the “blitz” on London; “blitz” in football; etc.)

original military definition, "blitzkrieg" may be applied to any military operation emphasising the surprise, speed, and concentration of military forces

developed by German army officer Hans Guderian

developed in the years after World War I as a method to help prevent trench warfare

Blitzkrieg Basics 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

first used by a journalist in the American newsmagazine TIME describing 1939 German invasion of Poland

based on speed and surprise organized around light tank units supported

by planes and infantry (foot soldiers)

Blitzkrieg Strategy to hit hard and move on

instantly to create panic amongst

the civilian population (civil population fleeing an attacking enemy will make it very difficult for a defending army to get its forces to the war front)

Result - doubt, confusion and rumour lead to paralysis of both government and the defending military

First-Hand Account of BlitzkriegThe 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.

TIME Vol. XXXIV No. 13, 25 September 1939

Steps in a Blitzkrieg Action1. Select a strategic target

2. Stuka dive bombers sent in to ‘soften’ up the enemy, destroy all rail lines, communication centres and major rail links

3. German tanks move in as the planes withdraw (at the last minute, so that the enemy did not have time to recover senses)

4. Tank attacks supported by infantry

Blitzkrieg

Principles of Blitzkrieg WarfareSurprise SpeedConcentration

Surprise

armored weight of the German attack on France struck westward in the Ardennes region, in the weakly held center of the Allied front.

Goal: penetration, then surround was an unanticipated move and led to a

serious crisis for the Allied armies.

Speed

German war doctrine emphasized:Speed (eg. troops were moved by half-track

vehicles so there was no real need for roads) exploitation of enemy weaknesses combining combat branches (mobile warfare

required armor, infantry, and artillery)leadership from the front

Concentration Two opposing armies had equal numbers of troops

Allies had more tanks Germans had more aircraft

How did the Germans achieve success under these conditions?Germans had a unified operational principle --

press forward as rapidly as possible to prevent the French from forming a new defensive line ; Allies did not

French did not launch a decisive counterattack

Infiltration

Poland, September 1939 On 1 September 1939,

German forces launched Blitzkrieg

The Germans had about 1 million men against about 600,000 Poles

The Luftwaffe had 3 planes for every Polish aircraft, all were destroyed

The Polish army was rapidly pushed back and had little hope of holding out without outside help from Britain and France.

Poland, September 1939 In just over a week, the Germans were at Warsaw

(capital city)and the following week two German army groups moving from the north trapped 170,000 Polish troops at Kutno (100 miles west of Warsaw).

On 17 September 1939, Soviet troops entered Poland from the east, carrying out the pact between Hitler and Stalin, just signed on 23 August.

Poland was crushed between the Red Army moving westward and the Wehrmacht moving east. Although completely surrounded, Warsaw held out heroically until 27 September when, out of food and ammunition, they surrendered.

Germany and the Soviet Union met the next day to set new borders dividing Poland between them.

Scandinavia, March-April 1940 On 9 April 1940, in a one day campaign, Denmark fell to

the Germans, a small country unable to resist directly. On the same day, Germany moved against Norway With surprise, speed, and daring the Germans defied

British Royal Navy patrols along the Norwegian coast, moving shiploads of troops and their supplies directly into Norwegian ports where they quickly disembarked and took up positions.

The Luftwaffe bombed targets and landed paratroopers across the nation.

Within a few hours all important points of control in Norway were in German hands and by the end of the day German troops occupied government buildings in Oslo.

A puppet government was installed.The British were stunned and surprised by these lightning moves. They attempted to respond with ill fated raids but the result was disaster. By 8 June 1940, the British had fully withdrawn from Norway. Although Norway was humiliation for the Allies, valuable lessons were learned and the danger of Hitler's Germany would no longer be underestimated.

Scandinavia, March-April 1940

Low Countries, May 1940

An assault on the Low Countries -- Holland, Belgium, and Luxemburg -- was the essential next step

Having neutralized the Soviet Union, absorbed western Poland, and secured Germany's northern flank, on 10 May 1940 the Wehrmacht rolled across the Dutch border in the now familiar Blitzkrieg fashion.

German parachutists seized strategic points, dive bombers destroyed the small Dutch air force, and the infantry followed Panzers across the flat land, eliminating any resistance.

Tiny Luxemborg fell in a few hours.

Low Countries, May 1940 Belgium was able to mount a strong

defense, although the result was the same. The Blitzkrieg tactics of simultaneous air

assault and direct attack on the ground by fast moving armored infantry made a mockery of prepared defenses and Allied plans.

The Germans pushed through the "impassable" Ardennes and opened a breach in the Allied lines.

Within seven days the Germans reached the English Channel, dividing the Allied forces.

Allied Planning Allies expected Germans to attack using

a variant of the WWI Schlieffen Plan French expected Germans to attack

through the north part of Belgium Instead German attack was based on

the Manstein Plan calling for attack further south (Germans had anticipated the French reaction)

French Defences – The Maginot Line

A line of concrete fortifications, tank obstacles, machine gun posts and other defenses which France constructed along her borders with Germany and Italy

The fortifications did not extend through the Ardennes Forest which was considered “impassable”

The Maginot Line

French and German Plans forthe Battle of France 1940

Infiltration The panzer divisions

of Heinz Guderian's 19th Panzer Corps broke through French defenses at Sedan and pressed forward as rapidly as possible to prevent the French from reforming a new defensive line.

France, 1940

German forces pressed the Allied armies trapped in the north, from south and east, into the English Channel.

Meanwhile, German infantry divisions reinforced the southern flank of the German penetration.

But….

Allied Defeat in the North: Retreat to Dunkirk, Battle of France, May 25-31,1940

Dunkirk: Halt Order Hitler halts German armor

German armor had suffered heavy losses and would be needed to conquer the rest of France

Luftwaffe called upon to finish the job Luftwaffe unable to destroy the British and

French 340,000 Allied troops were evacuated

Consolidation Once the Allied forces

in the north were eliminated, German forces regrouped and attacked southward, breaking through the Weygand Line the French had built up.

On 16 June French ask for an armistice.

Battle of Britain begins.

Sources•

http://www.national-army-museum.ac.uk/pages/Second-war/nw-europe.html

• http://www.usm.edu/armyrotc/militaryhistory/Lsn%2015-%20blitzkrieg.ppt

• http://www.olive-drab.com/od_history_ww2_ops_battles_1940blitzkrieg.php

• http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m222/ej2653/blitzkrieg.jpg• http://www.paradoxmind.com/1302/WWII_Europe/WWII_Euro1.htm

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Glossary

Manstein Plan - an attack through southern Belgium that avoided the Maginot Line.Back

Luftwaffe – Name of the German Air ForceBack