3. 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
4. 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)
5. 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
6. First-Hand Account of Blitzkrieg
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.
TIME Vol. XXXIV No. 13, 25 September 1939
7. Steps in a Blitzkrieg Action
1. 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
9. 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.
10. 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
11. 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
14. 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.
15. 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.
16.
17. 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.
18. 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
19. 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.
20. 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.
21. 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)
22. 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”
25. 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.
26. 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….
27. Allied Defeat in the North: Retreat to Dunkirk,
Battle of France, May 25-31,1940
28. 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
29. 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.
34. Glossary
Manstein Plan - an attack through
southern Belgium that avoided the
Maginot Line.
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