''For other uses of the word, see:
Blitzkrieg (disambiguation)
teams.]]
Blitzkrieg (German, "lightning war"; ) is an anglicized word
Academic study
The origins of the term blitzkrieg are obscure. It was never used in the title of a military doctrine or handbook of the German army or air force.
Overy states that blitzkrieg as a "coherent military and economic concept has proven a difficult strategy to defend in light of the evidence".
Corum continues; General Walther Wever compiled a doctrine known as The Conduct of the Aerial War. This document, which the Luftwaffe adopted, rejected Giulio Douhet's theory of terror bombing. Terror bombing was deemed to be "counter-productive", increasing rather than destroying the enemies will to resist.
J.P. Harris states that most Luftwaffe leaders from Goering through the general staff believed as did their counterparts in Britain and the United States that strategic bombing was the chief mission of the air force and that given such a role, the Luftwaffe would win the next war and that:
The Luftwaffe did end up with an air force consisting mainly of relatively short-range aircraft, but this does not prove that the German air force was solely interested in ’tactical’ bombing. It happened because the German aircraft industry lacked the experience to build a long-range bomber fleet quickly, and because Hitler was insistent on the very rapid creation of a numerically large force. It is also significant that Germany’s position in the centre of Europe to a large extent obviated the need to make a clear distinction between bombers suitable only for ’tactical’ and those necessary for strategic purposes in the early stages of a likely future war. Blitzkrieg itself is not an official doctrine and historians in recent times have come to the conclusion it did not exist as such:
It was the opposite of a doctrine. Blitzkrieg consisted of an avalanche of actions that were sorted out less by design and more by success. In hindsight—and with some help from Liddell Hart—this torrent of action was squeezed into something it never was: an operational design. The early 1950s literature transformed blitzkrieg into a historical military doctrine, which carried the signature of Liddell Hart and Heinz Guderian. The main evidence of Liddell Hart's deceit and "tendentious" report of history can be found in his letters to the German Generals Erich von Manstein and Heinz Guderian, as well as relatives and associates of Erwin Rommel. Liddell Hart, in letters to Guderian, "imposed his own fabricated version of blitzkrieg on the latter and compelled him to proclaim it as original formula".
Guderian's leadership was supported, fostered and institutionalized by his supporters in 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 1930s.
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 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 motorized, 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." Guderian additionally required that tactical radios be widely used to facilitate co-ordination and command by having one installed in all tanks.
See also
AirLand Battle, blitzkrieg-like doctrine of US Army in 1980s
Armored warfare
Rush (computer and video games), an RTS strategy influenced by the blitzkrieg method
Shock and Awe, the 21st century American military doctrine
Vernichtungsgedanken, or 'annihilation thoughts', one of the blitzkrieg's predecessors
Mission-type tactics, tactical battle doctrine of delegation and initiative stimulation
Deep Battle, Soviet Red Army Military Doctrine from the 1930s often confused with blitzkrieg.
Battleplan (documentary TV series)
References
Footnotes
Bibliography
External links
House, Jonathan M. (1985) Toward Combined Arms Warfare: A Survey of 20th-Century Tactics, Doctrine, and Organization. Fort Leavenworth/Washington: U.S. Army Command and General Staff College.
Sinesi, Michael Patrick (2001) Modern Bewegungskrieg: German Battle Doctrine, 1920–1940. Thesis submitted to The Faculty of Columbian School of Arts and Sciences of The George Washington University in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts; directed by Andrew Zimmerman, Assistant Professor of History. (Microsoft Word document).
Category:Nazi Germany
Category:Nazi terminology
Category:German loanwords
Category:Military strategy
Category:Strategy
Category:Armoured warfare
![The M10 tank destroyer, formally 3-inch Gun Motor Carriage, M10 was a United States tank destroyer of World War II. US troops also called them TDs (a nickname for any tank destroyer). The M10 was christened the Wolverine by the British, although unlike other vehicle names such as the M4 Sherman, the name was not used by American soldiers.[1][2]](http://web.archive.org./web/20110408165829im_/http://cdn.wn.com/pd/0f/77/fde51c7600f26bc351ce159dd979_grande.jpg "The M10 tank destroyer, formally 3-inch Gun Motor Carriage, M10 was a United States tank destroyer of World War II. US troops also called them TDs (a nickname for any tank destroyer). The M10 was christened the Wolverine by the British, although unlike other vehicle names such as the M4 Sherman, the name was not used by American soldiers.[1][2]")
![The M10 tank destroyer, formally 3-inch Gun Motor Carriage, M10 was a United States tank destroyer of World War II. US troops also called them TDs (a nickname for any tank destroyer). The M10 was christened the Wolverine by the British, although unlike other vehicle names such as the M4 Sherman, the name was not used by American soldiers.[1][2]](http://web.archive.org./web/20110408165829im_/http://cdn.wn.com/pd/0f/77/fde51c7600f26bc351ce159dd979_thumb.jpg "The M10 tank destroyer, formally 3-inch Gun Motor Carriage, M10 was a United States tank destroyer of World War II. US troops also called them TDs (a nickname for any tank destroyer). The M10 was christened the Wolverine by the British, although unlike other vehicle names such as the M4 Sherman, the name was not used by American soldiers.[1][2]")
