Blitzkrieg

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In military history, Blitzkrieg, from the German for "lightning war", describes a military tactic used by the German army at the beginning of World War II, where concentration and coordination of forces penetrated or bypassed static defensive lines, and the subsequent rapid and unrestricted movement of troops allowed no time for the opposition to set up new defensive lines.

Blitzkrieg was a fast and open style of warfare, heavily reliant on new technologies. First aircraft were used as long-range artillery to destroy enemy strongholds, attack troop concentrations, and spread panic. Then combined arms forces of tanks and motorized infantry coordinated by two-way radio destroyed tactical targets before moving on, deep into enemy territory. A key difference to previous tactical models was the devolution of command. Fairly junior officers in the field were encouraged to use their own initiative, rather than rely on a centralised command structure.

The strategy was developed as a reaction to the static attrition of trench warfare during World War I and became practical in the early 1930s, due to the increasing power and reliability of the internal combustion engine, and the invention of the portable radio which allowed for coordination of attacks. A number of military figures in several nations realized that static warfare was an outmoded concept and could be defeated by concentrating forces on a narrow point in a fast thrust.

The key to Blitzkrieg was to organize the troops into mobile forces with excellent communications and command, able to keep the momentum up while the battle unfolded. The basic concept was to concentrate all available forces at a single spot in front of the enemy lines, and then break a hole in it with artillery and infantry, easy enough to do even in World War I. Once the hole was opened, tanks could rush through and strike hundreds of miles to the rear. This allowed the attacking force to fight against lightly armed logistics units, starving the enemy of information and supplies. In this way even a small force could destroy a much larger one through confusion, avoiding direct combat as much as possible.

Table of contents

1 Precursors

2 Use in World War II

3 Problems with Blitzkrieg

4 Successors

5 Further reading

1 The Blitz against Britain
2 Blitz in German
3 In chess

Precursors

Although trumpeted as a truly modern style of war, Blitzkrieg's theoretical basis was almost as old as war itself. Similar strategies were employed by Alexander the Great in classical times; Napoleon was a master of them; and they were used on a smaller scale by both sides in the closing stages of World War I. Germany itself had a long tradition of using deep penetration tactics: in the Franco-Prussian War the Prussian army, knowing that the French could field larger forces, devised a war plan that relied on speed. If, on declaration of war, they could mobilise, invade and seize Paris fast enough, then they would be victorious before the vast French army could form and retaliate. This tactic was used to devastating effect in 1871, and was developed into the Schlieffen Plan, which was used at the start of World War I and very nearly succeeded. (See trench warfare and Battle of the Marne.)

Use in World War II

In the early part of World War II, Blitzkrieg was put into practice only by Germany. By the late 1930s they had re-organized their Army to include a number of elite Panzergruppen, divisions consisting almost entirely of tanks, infantry in half-tracks (precursors to modern armored personal carriers) and trucks to supply them. To this they had added a new weapon, the dive bomber (in particular the Junkers Ju 87, also called Stuka) to complement artillery and allow for "breakthrough" attacks even far behind the lines.

The theory was first put to use by Guderian's XIX Army Corps against Poland, where it proved effective although mechanization of the troops at the time was limited. It demonstrated its true worth in 1940 against France, when a small force of panzers broke through the defensive lines and rushed to the coast before the defending forces could organize any sort of counterattack. Blitzkrieg was crucial for both sides on the Eastern Front. Both the German successes in Russia from 1941-2 and the subsequent Russian victory depended on the application of increasingly sophisticated combined arms units.

The term Blitzkrieg is mainly used to describe German tactics in the first part of the European war, however the general tactic was certainly not unique to them, and was used whenever the opportunity presented itself, notably by the forces under the command of General Patton in the exploitation of the breakout from Normandy during Operation Cobra, and (in modified form) by the Japanese in their rapid advance during 1941 and 1942 (where sea transport, light artillery, and hard marching largely substituted for the tank and the truck).

Problems with Blitzkrieg

Blitzkrieg is not without its disadvantages; there is a danger of the attacking force overextending its supply lines, and the strategy as a whole can be defeated by a determined foe who is willing to sacrifice territory for time in which to regroup and rearm. In addition, the defending army can maintain strong points which the attacking army must either eliminate thereby disrupting its momentum or bypass which creates the possiblity that the defender will use them to encircle the attacker. Once the attack loses momentum, the war becomes one of attrition in which the mobility and surprise involved with blitzkrieg are no longer useful.

The limits of blitzkrieg were seen in Operation Barbarossa in 1941. Although the German attack took huge areas of Russia, the overall strategic effect was more limited and the Red Army was able to regroup far to the rear, and eventually defeat the German forces, for the first time in the Battle of Moscow. In the following summer of 1942, when Germany launched another Blitzkrieg offensive in southern Russia against Stalingrad and the Caucasus, the Soviets let the Germans conquer vast territories in the steppes, just to counter-attack them again when they would be exhausted, their frontlines and supply lines overstretched. The last Blitzkrieg offensive in the war against the Soviet Union, now on a more modest scale, was carried out by the Germans during the Battle of Kursk in 1943, which resulted in a German failure. From then on, the Germans had neither the element of surprise, nor sufficient manpower or resources to launch another successful Blitzkrieg, let alone to wear the Soviet Union down in attrition warfare. The last major Blitzkrieg-style offensive was launched against the Western Allies in the Ardennes (Battle of the Bulge) in 1944. Again, the Germans lacked the resources to sustain their initial territorial gains for very long.

The ultimate demise of the Nazis came when the Allied powers began using elements of blitzkrieg on their own in military offensives against Germany. The Allies began launching invasions against German-held territory, most notably in Operation Overlord in northern France and Operation Bagration by the Soviet Union, both in June 1944.

Successors

The possibility of a massive Soviet tank attack on Western Europe using blitzkrieg tactics was the focus of NATO planning in the Cold War. The difficulty was that the standard tactic of trading space for time would have lead to Western Europe being overrun. The solution in the 1950s was a rapid escalation to nuclear war. In the 1960s, the existence of Mutual Assured Destruction made this untenable, and the focus of defense was changed to air land doctrine.

The military doctrine of Rapid Dominance or shock and awe is considered by some a modern successor to blitzkrieg. Like blitzkrieg, rapid dominance emphasizes high amounts of communication and rapid strikes using combined arms to create confusion in the enemy. Unlike blitzkrieg, rapid dominance relies heavily on air power, large amounts of central coordination, and focuses on destroying the enemy's command and control structures rather than its supply lines.

The Blitz against Britain

The term "the Blitz" (abbreviated from blitzkrieg) is used to refer to the bombing campaign conducted against London and other cities in Britain during the early part of World War II. However, the Blitz was an example of trying to destroy population centers and terrify the British people into surrender, rather than Blitzkrieg. The "Blitz" was partially in revenge for a bombing raid the RAF carried out on Berlin because a German bomber had accidentally dropped a bomb on London.

Blitz in German

The term "Blitz" (literal translation: lightning) is used in the German language for "extraordinary": like "blitzschnell" for extraordinarily fast, "blitzsauber" for extraordinarily clean, "blitzgescheit" for extraordinarily smart. Today these words have started sounding a bit outdated. Another common use is "wie ein Blitz einschlagen" striking like a lightning/bolt, a phrase for something material or non-material reaching the people unexpectedly, quickly and surprisingly like a new product with extraordinary success or totally unexpected news. Blitz also refers to the old god Thor and Germanic mythology gained some importance during Third Reich. In English, 'blitz' is also used as a verb, meaning to attack something rapidly, usually in a bathetic sense, as with 'nuke' or 'exterminate', i.e. one might 'blitz' housework, lunch, or ants. For political reasons, military commanders avoid the terms 'blitz' and 'blitzkrieg' when referring to actual military operations.

In chess

In chess, a blitz or blitzkrieg game is one played with a very short time control. Generally, each side has between three and fifteen minutes to make all of their moves. It is quite popular on many Internet chess services.

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Categories: World War II European theatre | Nazi Germany | Warfare