Blitzkrieg: Behind the Scenes

Who came up with Blitzkrieg?
The idea of Lightning War was actually originally put forth by an English colonel who felt that tanks were not used effectively in World War I. In "Reformation of War", a book by Colonel John Fuller,  he discusses the idea of intense tank offensives, backed by strong air support. Even as head of the British Tank Division, his ideas were mostly ignored in England and France. In Germany, however, they sparked interest. Due to the Versailles treaty, Germany did not have the army for the WWI-style mass trench warfare battles. Instead, the army was broken up into a small number of divisions designed to surprise the enemy. Tanks were built and tested under the League of Nation's assumption that they were "tractors", and fast planes created and flown in "flying clubs". In 1928, General Hans Von Seeckt  of Germany outlined his ideas for a small army, built upon values of quality over quantity. He thought the future of warfare was in "mobile armies", quick units that could overrun slow, undertrained opponents. These ideas were later supported by Hitler, who knew that he would have to be different if he was to take over Europe with a smaller army. The combined military genius and support of these men gave birth to a new era of destructive tactics that proved almost decisive of the war.

Alan Turing: Cracking the Enigma code

The Enigma code was the result of the Nazi-used Enigma machine, a complex rotary device that scrambled various numbers and letters to create unpredictable, random codes, much like a primitive form of encryption. These machines were present in every Nazi sub, boat, and base and allowed the Nazis to communicate for a long time without having their plans intercepted. Early on in the war, the Polish Cipher group was able to decrypt some of the messages. However, the Germans modified and complicated their codes so much that the Polish could not keep up, and asked for the help of the Americans and the British. At the forefront of the British Code-Breakers was Alan Turing, a brilliant mathematician who is considered the father of modern computer science, mainly due to his work on the Enigma code. He was able, with a team, to build the first machine capable of running algorithms, or repeated lines of code or instruction. This machine was able to reduce the number of potential codes significantly, such that the Allies could figure out the rest of the more manageable code. This allowed countless messages to be intercepted and decrypted, boosting the Allied war effort. At the end of World War II, Winston Churchill, the prime minister, said of the codebreaking effort (nicknamed Ultra), “It was thanks to Ultra that we won the war”. Unfortunately, Alan Turing was prosecuted for homosexuality, and given chemicals designed to cure it that led to his young death. He was given a posthumous pardon by the Queen of England last October.

Tiger

It is safe to say that in World War II,  one of the most feared noises for any Allied infantryman to hear was the roaring engine of the 40-ton Anzerkampfwagen, or Tiger tank. This monstrous creation was the combined effort of the leading engineers of Germany in 1940 and 1941, and the beginning of production was Hitler’s birthday present in 1942. He also received a pony. The tank, protected by 4.5 inches of steel, was completely unaffected by the British Sherman tanks, and 75mm shells would bounce off from distances as close as 50 meters. The Tiger was also equipped with an 88mm gun, enough to destroy the T-34 (the most common Russian tank) in one shot. While it did not sacrifice speed, it did use immense amounts of gasoline and was fared poorly in mud and ice. Only about 1300 were ever produced, but each one made its mark. For example, on October 18th, 1943, one Tiger tank, commanded by Sepp Rannel, managed to destroy 18 Russian T-34 tanks. As the Allies advanced in France, four Tigers managed to repel a British offensive in Northern France. Unfortunately for the Germans, the tanks cost oil that they could not afford to spare, and were abandoned in 1944. However, the damage inflicted by these big cats of armored combat was the turning point in many a battle, and the dreaded roar is still in the minds of those who lived to hear anything else.

What the Allies Gave and Why They Were Important

Each member of the big three, the United States, Russia, and Britain contributed important resources that make a victory in Word War II possible.  Although each contribution was different, all were necessary to stop the German power in Europe from expanding.  The Soviet Union pumped millions of soldiers to push the Germans back on the western front in their attempt to take Russia.  They also lost millions of citizens to the cruelty of German soldiers as they stormed Russia in operation Barbarossa.  With an estimated death toll of 29,000,000 people total, the Russians can be said to have given the blood necessary to win the war.  The Americans also contributed a large amount to the war effort, but in money instead of soldiers.  While they remained neutral at the start of World War II, the United States still used things like the Lend-Lease Act to give billions of dollars in food, weapons, and other supplies to their allies in the west.  Even after they entered the war America still provided the technology and donations that gave the allies an upper hand in the later stages of World War II.  Without new tanks supplied by factories in America, victory would have been more challenging.  The most important contribution given by Great Britain was keeping the war alive before its allies began to fight.  When Great Britain first entered the war after the invasion of Poland its allies were no where near ready to come to their aid.  The United State's neutrality and Russia's Anti-Aggression Pact with Hitler left Britain to face the Germans with little support.  And despite their circumstances Great Britain was able to hold off an invasion of their homeland and win the Battle of Britain all before the allies intervened.  Without this big military loss for Hitler, the Germans may have succeeded in conquering all of Europe preventing the other allies from stopping them and making success unreachable.      

Why Germany failed

Germany was on a roll throughout World War 2 and they had not been slowed down by anyone.  Their army was unstoppable and no one could stand up to them.  Despite their success, Germany was becoming overconfident.  They had started expanding their land but they were doing too fast. They wouldn't slow down, and the problem was that their weapon and fuel production couldn't catch up. Germany's supplies were lessening and their speed was increasing.  Germany could not catch up which made them retreat from some fights. The second reason why Germany failed was because they were outnumbered and did not have the man power to defeat the allies. They lost Italy and France and Germany was outnumbered in every single type of warfare.  By the end, the Germans lost many men while being surrounded by all the allies, which had cost them the war.

Costs of Success

Out of all of The Allies, there was one country that was a true power-house: the U.S.S.R. At the peak of the war, the Soviets had roughly seven million soldiers (four-hundred-ninety-one divisions). This massive amount of troops made it one of the strongest of The Allies, and enabled the Soviets to gain back land using sheer brute-force. Not only did it gain back all of their land, but also Poland, and parts of Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. Not to mention, towards the end of the war, the U.S.S.R managed to push Germany back to its own borders. Meanwhile, the other allies didn't recover near as much land. However, so much success comes at a cost. By the end of WWII, the U.S.S.R lost and estimate of seventeen million civilians and twelve million soldiers, for a not-so-grand total of twenty nine million casualties. This is roughly five times more than the country with the second-most casualties: Germany (about five-and-a-half million). Which is ironic, considering Germany was on the losing side. Which brings us to the cliché, and yet all important, question: Was it really worth the cost? I would say not, seeing as they lost more than the losing side did.

Why Germany Failed to Conquer Russia

When Germany first started invading Russia, they were unstoppable. They had better equipment, better trained soldiers, and better commanders. In fact, the only thing they didn't have the upper hand in was men. Russia had a seemingly endless supply of manpower, all willing and ready to die for the Motherland. Germany tore across Russia at first, gaining victory after victory after victory. Russia threw everything they had into the war, but they just could not gain a foothold against the invaders. But then mother nature stepped into the picture. The Russian winter decimated the German Army, leaving them with much less manpower. They also were forced to leave a lot of their tanks and other supplies behind. As they drew closer to the city of Stalingrad, things begin to go in favor of the Russians. At one point, the Red Army cut off a division of the German Army called the 6th Army. Surrounded, outnumbered, outgunned, and overwhelmed the 6th Army surrendered. Germany then started it's retreat, and that was the end of Germany's conquest of Russia.

Why was Hitler Sucessful between 39-42- A new war tactic

 Hitler and the Nazi party was very successful in their campaign in Europe during 1939-42.

 Some reasons were the new war tactic of blitzkrieg or '"Lighting war". This new tactic was aimed to defeat its opponents very shortly. This tactic required the concentration of offensive weapons such as tanks and infantry, airpower was also a key part of this tactic. The goal was too drive forces through enemy defense with tanks and roam freely behind enemy lines causing the defense to be very confused. German air power prevented the enemy from resupplying their troops. The troops would now be encircled by enemy troops and forced to surrender or left to die. This war tactic was very effective during Germans campaign because many troops were ordered not to retreat, enabling the encirclement to be easier.