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.
And without Blitzkrieg, Germany would not have initially succeeded. They surprised many of their enemies with these techniques, and it was a huge change in the style of warfare. Without any of these techniques, would they have won even a single battle?
ReplyDeleteI believe it would have been extremely hard for them to win a battle in any other fashion besides Blitzkrieg. The trench warfare used in World War I would have been too slow and the allies would have been able to take down Germany faster than they would have been able to put up a defensive front. The quick advancing methods that Blitzkrieg offered were what put the Germans ahead of everyone else. Since this type of fighting had never before been seen in a large scale war, it was hard for other countries to know what to expect.
ReplyDeleteI would actually argue that it was not the brilliance of the tactic itself (although that was obviously very clever), but rather the element of surprise and the fact that the Allies took so long to catch on to the tactic. Time after time, battle after battle, Germany crushed the Allies with the same pincer moves and tanks. It wasn't until much later that the Allies finally realized that they needed to change their strategies if they wanted to have any chance in succeeding.
DeleteI think that Blitzkrieg is without a doubt the reason Germany succeeded at first. The reason this is the case is because if they would have used any of the other types of war fare that had been already used, they would have been predictable and would not have won as quickly and easily.
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