BT,TY'Ztr{TITTiG
B
[irzhrieg is the Gerrnan word
Iighlning war and
fo r
ir is used ro
describe the highly mobile merhod of
warlare adopted by- rhe German
Army, in the early yes rs of World
War II.
In the 1930s a group of Brirish
rnilitar)' thinkers, including Caprain
Basil Liddell Harr, workcd on ideas
o[ tank rvarfare. The German Army
used the same tacrics of curting ofl
the enemy from supplies and communic'ations. In the firsr phase
aircraft \r'ere used to solten up and
tcrrorize the enerny. Then (anks
\verc rushed in to envelop the enerny
I Bombers, ruch
2 Junlon Ju 87
e: the Junler: Ju
88, were seot in to
aneck Unes of
communieatiou
rnd slrategic
tergets.
3 Paratroops were
rcot in to sei:e
key poriLions,
sucb zr r fort or
a
snd florce it to surrender. Surprise
and fear were major elcments of
ht.
t
t
b lttzRneg.
In
'1939 the tacric was used wirh
great success in rhe Polish campaign.
The land was very flar and ideally
suited
4
to tank warfare.
Tents, kno.ra
-ss
Ptazer,
[-heo
rusbed in to
encirclera tie
eDemy ltr r pmccr
moYement with
two force I
converging.
Srul<:
divcbomberi
smrsbcd e path.
$ff {$p$r
$ir'
' ./-
,e-/
Blitzkrieg!
In 1939, Germany invaded Poland using a new military tactic called
"blitzkri€8", whieh means 'olightning war". A blitzkrieg attack used
fast- moving tanks to spearhead theberman advance. i{ext,
the enemy
forces were surrounded, cut off and wiped out. Airplanes
;;;;;il];
dive-bomb enemy soldiers as weII as to terrorize the general
populruoo.
The AIIied generals who still believed that
"trench,'iarfare would be
the way in which war would be fought, were quickly
beaten.
)\a
*
lr L' .1' J \r,ril'7-,;rar
\J ,e^r-L.rT',r), 'fi' C ?
-h^12\I(
(- Jffrc c'E
rG
Hitler swiftly overpowered Poland and in lg11rinvaded France. The
"lightning war" defeated the combined French and British forces in
eight short weeks and all of Europe (except Britain) was under
German
control. In addition to the soldieis fighting on both sides - the general
population, the cities in which they lived and the places where
they
worked became targets. The term ,,total wrr, was born.