flash war
The Blitzkrieg is a military strategy that an escalation of the conflict into a total war is to prevent this and a fast operating seeks victory.
strategy
The Blitzkrieg emerged in the 20th century as a result of tactical considerations on how to overcome the positional warfare of the First World War .
The Blitzkrieg strategy aims primarily at the encirclement of larger opposing troops. Material battles and trench warfare as in World War I should be avoided. Unexpected advances should ideally not give the opponent an opportunity to organize a stable defense.
Strategically, the concept is characterized on the one hand by a rapid advance of large and motorized troops that operate largely independently and without flank protection . On the other hand, the Blitzkrieg strategy provides not to reinforce those troops that encounter great resistance, but those that are only held up to a small extent by opposing troops. The aim of this approach is to achieve a rapid encirclement of the enemy by the rapidly advancing troop units without exposing one's own soldiers to major combat operations.
Tactically, the concept is firstly characterized by the operational independence of the fighting units. This means that the commanders on site are authorized to make relatively far-reaching decisions themselves in order to ensure that action is as quick and flexible as possible. An approach which on the German side as early as World War I from the spring of 1916 as part of specialized assault battalions of infantry was used. Second, a blitzkrieg always includes the combat of combined arms , i.e. the coordinated and simultaneous deployment of several branches of the armed forces. For example, advancing armored units are supported by fighter planes that attack enemy positions from the air in real time. The armored troops are usually followed by motorized infantry units, which are supposed to fight any remaining enemy troops.
Technically, the Blitzkrieg strategy is based on a high degree of motorization of the advancing troops, since this is the only way to enable large units to advance quickly. Partial aspects of this technical side of the Blitzkrieg, such as the tanks or the attack aircraft , were also developed in the First World War .
The Blitzkrieg concept represents a radical departure from traditional military strategies. It contains numerous elements that were unthinkable in earlier strategies. It includes a temporary fragmentation of the own troops and a temporary destabilization of the own front line. This implies a high risk of losing the advancing troop units if the envisaged encirclement of the enemy does not succeed. Due to the operational independence of the advancing units, it also partially and temporarily dissolves the strict hierarchical chain of command typical of the military.
term
Time of world wars
Although the term Blitzkrieg is generally associated with World War II , the Blitzkrieg strategy is not a Nazi invention. It was partially developed towards the end of the First World War to carry out the - ultimately failed - Operation Michael and expanded further in the 1920s. The word Blitzkrieg entered other languages as Germanism , for example English , French and Italian .
With the attack on Poland in 1939, which was unexpectedly short for the global public , the term “Blitzkrieg” became a synonym for a (supposedly or actually) new form of warfare . The term was first used in 1935 in an article in the German military magazine . According to this article, countries with poor nutrition and raw materials should strive to "end a war abruptly by trying to force a decision right from the start through the ruthless use of their total combat strength". A more detailed analysis can be found in an article published in 1938 in the military weekly paper.
The term was picked up in German exile circles from the mid-1930s. On October 28, 1936 , the Paris daily published passages from the book The Big Lie under the heading “Blitzkrieg in the Mediterranean” . Hitler's conspiracy against the peace by S. Erckner. It said:
"If you follow the relevant military publications of the Hitler Reich, you come to the conclusion that France is likely to be selected as the target of the German Blitzkrieg, that all preparations point in this direction, that most of the preconditions of a military-technical nature are here for the success of a lightning attack exist that the Blitzkrieg is, in a word, the special German form of war against France. "
Two years later, in September 1938, the Blitzkrieg was declared to be " humbug " in a note in the Paris daily newspaper ("In fact, the last states of war have shown that the attacker can meet resistance that he could hardly have expected." ). The newspaper was referring to French maneuvers in Franche-Comté .
In the English-speaking world, the term may first have been used in October 1938. Back then - a few days after the Munich Agreement was signed - Dorothy Thompson wrote in a comment for the New York Herald Tribune :
“Since the experience of Spain, which may possible live in history as actually the test war to end war, we know that the 'blitzkrieg' theory of Gen. Goering - that a swift and fearful air attack can be made which will totally demoralize populations - is no longer tenable. "
“Since the experience in Spain, which will possibly survive in history as the real test run for the last war, we have known that General Göring's 'blitzkrieg' theory - according to which a quick and terrible air strike can completely wear down the population - does not is more durable. "
An evaluation of German military journalism shows that the term was already in use before. As early as 1938, for example, in an article in the military weekly paper, the Blitzkrieg was defined as a strategic attack, presented through the operational use of the tank and air force and airborne troops . Hitler declared: "Blitzkrieg, the word is a purely Italian invention, Italian phraseology, a translation from Italian".
The opinion that the word 'Blitzkrieg' only came into being in 1939/1940 in the wake of the surprisingly quick (and great) successes of the Wehrmacht is obviously wrong.
The term is not used in military terminology. The Nazi propaganda , on the other hand, used it inflationarily after the Western campaign . Karl-Heinz Frieser has shown that the "Blitzkrieg" is not a military but a propaganda catchphrase.
One can distinguish two meanings: Blitzkrieg operationally as a military phenomenon or Blitzkrieg strategically in the context of an overall warfare. According to this, Blitzkrieg could be defined as the concentrated use of tank weapons and air force in order to shock and paralyze the opponent through speed and surprise and to encompass him after large-scale advances . In the 1980s, the military historian Bernhard R. Kroener defined Blitzkrieg strategy in the modern understanding as the "optimal combination of military leadership principles with the corresponding economic and social factors that are necessary in order to achieve the desired overall strategic goal with a time-frame calculated in advance."
The nimbus of the word 'Blitzkrieg' began largely with the rapid successes at the beginning of the Western campaign in World War II (" sickle cut "), which had led to the seated war that had previously been carried out without fighting since France declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939 (also Witzkrieg, French. drôle de guerre ) and was decided after a few days by the operational breakthrough at Sedan . This breakthrough (achieved in the same place as in 1870) contributed in particular to the formation of the Blitzkrieg legend.
Hitler distanced himself from the term in November 1941 (when a positional war had started on the Eastern Front): he had "never used the word Blitzkrieg because it is a very stupid word."
post war period
In the post-war period , the content of the discussion moved away from an operational and tactical understanding of the term.
According to today's understanding, the focus is no longer only on the quick decision to go to war. Of essential importance is the optimal combination of military leadership principles with the corresponding economic and social factors that are necessary in order to achieve an overall strategic goal with a time limit calculated in advance .
Blitzkrieg also stands for mobile warfare, i.e. the rapid advance and occupation by means of armored spearheads instead of front and trench battles (for example the Battle of Verdun in the First World War). This term was first known to a broader section of the population through the attack by the German Wehrmacht on Poland in September 1939 and the associated rapid, temporary territorial gains.
The excellent training, especially of the tank crews, and the communication (radio available in every tank) enabled the commander to coordinate effectively and thus to work together among the units under his command. The clout in all three types of combat was thereby decisively increased. Since 1945, many variants of Blitzkrieg concepts have emerged, also under the influence of many developments in weapon technology .
In France one spoke and still speaks of 'guerre éclair'; in Spanish from 'guerra relámpago'; in Italian from 'guerra lampo'. An analogy evidently promoted this: the air strikes , with which the attacks usually began, suddenly and unexpectedly broke across areas or people like a 'bolt from the blue'.
Examples
Franco-German War
The Franco-Prussian War of 1870/1871 could also be described as a blitzkrieg: the German mobilization occurred much faster than the French; the French were outmaneuvered by the more flexible German leadership (coordinated by the Prussian General Staff under von Moltke the Elder ). The French army lost the battles at Weißenburg (August 4, 1870), at Wörth (August 6) and at Spichern (August 6) in quick succession .
Alfred Krupp's steel breech- loading guns ( artillery ) had a range of over four kilometers, more than twice the range of the French artillery. The newest of these guns at the time was called the C / 64/67 ; it had numerous advantages.
The French armies were mostly encompassed and forced to withdraw, some of them precipitous, or surrender. After the victory in the Mars-la-Tour (August 16), Prussia prevented the French Army of the Rhine from retreating to Verdun , took them to the battle of Gravelotte (August 18, 1870) and defeated them. It was followed by the siege of Metz (from August 20) and on September 1, 1870 the battle of Sedan . There it was shown, in particular, that a high rate of fire (up to ten rounds per minute) together with a long range with good hit performance produced a devastating effect. The 8 cm caliber could shoot a maximum of 3,450 m. This battle led to the political collapse of the French Empire.
First World War
The Twelfth Battle of Isonzo (also known as the Battle of Good Freit) in October 1917 is sometimes referred to as the first successful Blitzkrieg today .
Second World War
The initiator of the Blitzkrieg tactics on the German side during World War II was Lieutenant General Erich von Manstein (later General Field Marshal and Commander of Army Group South ), who revised the planned outdated attack plans on France and planned a rapid advance of heavy tank divisions through the Ardennes (later referred to as the sickle section plan and included in the framework practiced during the western campaign in May 1940).
Not atypical of the Blitzkrieg in World War II was that attacked troops came into such distress that they either quickly capitulated or fled, leaving their heavy weapons behind. So the Wehrmacht fell into the hands of large quantities of looted weapons and undestroyed armaments factories.
- For the first time, the Wehrmacht operated with this new form of warfare during the attack on Poland (September 1 to October 6, 1939) .
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Operation Weser Exercise - the Wehrmacht invasion of Norway and Denmark on April 9, 1940
- Denmark was completely occupied on the evening of April 9; 17 Danish and 203 German soldiers died
- in Norway too there was only brief and local resistance.
- the western campaign (Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and France; May and June 1940). During the Battle of Dunkirk , the British were able to evacuate over 330,000 soldiers ( Operation Dynamo ); But they had to leave the heavy equipment behind. They destroyed some of them themselves shortly before.
- the Balkan campaign (1941) : on April 6, the Wehrmacht attacked Yugoslavia and Greece.
- Yugoslavia capitulated on April 17th
- Greece: On April 21, the Allied Commander-in-Chief in the Mediterranean and Middle East Archibald Wavell ordered the evacuation of the remaining Allied forces to Crete and Egypt ( Operation Demon ). By April 30, the Royal Navy was able to evacuate around 50,000 men via ports in Attica and the Peloponnese , but without heavy weapons or equipment.
Important military leaders in connection with a blitzkrieg were Generals Heinz Guderian and Erwin Rommel on the German side and George S. Patton on the American side .
Whenever possible, attacks were carried out as surprisingly as possible. Often in advance, intelligence services and special units dressed in civilian clothes or in the uniform of the defender were smuggled in, which had important tactical tasks during the invasion, such as taking important positions or bridges and supporting the rapidly advancing armored units. During the invasion itself, the tanks advanced in a concentrated manner at several points on the front, bypassing enemy main positions and breaking through weak ones, while strategic bombing by the Luftwaffe took place far behind enemy lines. If necessary, airborne troops were deployed at strategically important points in order to take them, together with special units, behind the enemy and to limit the maneuverability or the ability of the enemy to hide behind fortified positions (example: the battle of Fort Eben-Emael ). The tactical air forces primarily supported armored units that split enemy troops into vulnerable positions, banded together behind their backs and formed pockets. Part of the armored forces with motorized artillery had to hold these breakthroughs for the advancing heavy infantry, while the destruction of the encircled troops was left to the latter, as most of the armored units continued to advance to form further pockets.
This procedure was repeated until the opposing forces were incapacitated. This is primarily aimed at by paralyzing the enemy command structure and less by physically destroying the enemy force. If this succeeds, it leads to high prison numbers, as at the beginning of the war. If this fails, the attacker can suffer high losses, since he attacks ruthlessly at the center of gravity and the troops that have broken through can be isolated and destroyed by the defender.
During the Blitzkrieg, the weapon systems of tanks, tactical air strikes and airborne troops, which were further developed between the world wars, were used in a coordinated manner for the first time (see also Combined Arms Combat ). Thus the infantry lost its importance as the main instrument of the military doctrine then prevailing . Because of the inadequate armament of the German war economy, the Wehrmacht was forced to wage war quickly as a compensation and was then briefly successful thanks to the sufficient armament of the war ( see also: Economy in the National Socialist German Reich ).
During the attack on Poland in 1939 and the western campaign in 1940, the Germans only worked with a rough concept of time, i.e. no approximate end point of the operations was given as the target. In the planning and implementation of the war against the Soviet Union , however, this was of crucial importance. The failure of scheduling had a serious impact on the Barbarossa company . In particular, the so-called AA line east of Moscow was not reached by early autumn 1941. In the case of companies with limited strength (e.g. Norway , Balkans and Africa campaigns ), precise time planning could still be disregarded.
The quick victory of the German army in Poland, France, the Netherlands and Belgium came as a surprise to the German army command and Hitler. After the Wehrmacht's victory at Sedan on May 19, 1940, Hitler exclaimed : “It is a miracle!” Decisive for the failure of the Blitzkrieg tactic against the Red Army was the non-existence of a comprehensive campaign plan with which the majority of the Soviet armed forces were to be eliminated to enforce a peace. All further wrong operational decisions were subordinated to this failure, such as the attack on Stalingrad , without giving up the conquest of Moscow.
Ultimately, this form of military resource use was not successful and ended in the unconditional surrender of the Wehrmacht in May 1945 because the German Reich had too many industrially highly developed opponents. The Blitzkrieg owes its temporary effectiveness to the local superiority of the forces based on mobility (“focus formation”) and ultimately to the coincidence of various incalculable, for the German side “happy circumstances”. In the Nuremberg trial of the main war criminals , the chief of the Wehrmacht command staff, Alfred Jodl , stated frankly: “The fact that we did not fail in 1939 was only due to the fact that during the Polish campaign the estimated 110 French and British divisions in the West were completely inactive against the German 23 divisions were held. "
Further examples
Ariel Sharon used lightning war tactics in the Yom Kippur War (1973) and Norman Schwarzkopf in the Second Gulf War (1991, USA against Iraq).
literature
(chronologically)
- Gerhard Förster: Total War and Blitzkrieg. The theory of total war and the Blitzkrieg in the military doctrine of fascist Germany on the eve of World War II . German Military Publishing House, Berlin (East) 1967.
- Charles Messenger: Blitzkrieg, A strategy makes history. Bastei Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1980, ISBN 3-404-65028-X .
- Bernhard R. Kroener : The human resources of the Third Reich in the field of tension between the Wehrmacht, bureaucracy and the war economy 1939–1942 . In: Bernhard R. Kroener, Rolf-Dieter Müller , Hans Umbreit: The German Reich and the Second World War . Volume 5, 1: Organization and mobilization of the German sphere of influence . Volume 1: War Administration, Economics and Human Resources 1939 to 1941 . Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1988, ISBN 3-421-06232-3 , p. 693 ff.
- George Raudzens: Blitzkrieg Ambiguities. Doubtful Usage of a Famous Word . In: War and Society . 7, 1989, ISSN 0729-2473 , pp. 77-94.
- Daniel J. Hughes: Blitzkrieg . In: Trevor N. Dupuy (Ed.): International and Military Encyclopedia . Volume 1: A - B . Brassey's, Washington DC 1993, ISBN 0-02-881061-9 , pp. 377-381.
- William J. Fanning, Jr .: The Origin of the Term "Blitzkrieg". Another view. In: The Journal of Military History . 61, no. 2, (April) 1997, ISSN 0899-3718 , pp. 283-302. Article at jstor .
- Robert M. Citino : Quest for Decisive Victory: From Stalemate to Blitzkrieg in Europe, 1899-1940. Modern War Studies, University Press of Kansas 2002. ISBN 978-0700611768 .
- Karl-Heinz Frieser : Blitzkrieg legend. The western campaign in 1940 . Oldenbourg, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-486-56124-3 ( Operations of the Second World War 2), (3rd edition, ibid 2005, ISBN 3-486-57824-3 ), (Also published in French and English).
- Ariane Slater: military language. The language practice of the Bundeswehr and its historical development. Freiburg i.Br., Berlin, Vienna: Rombach Verlag, 2015 (individual publications on military history, 49). ISBN 978-3-7930-9817-1 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c Karl-Heinz Frieser : Blitzkrieg legend. The western campaign in 1940 . Oldenbourg, Munich 1995, p. 5.
- ↑ 'p. Erckner 'was a pseudonym; the author was called Staschek Scymoncyk and was an Austrian communist.
- ↑ " The Blitzkrieg - A Humbug ". ( Memento of January 30, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) In: Pariser Tageszeitung , Volume 3, 1938, No. 780 (September 3, 1938), p. 3.
- ^ Dorothy Thompson: Defenselessness of Democracy . In: New York Herald Tribune . Quoted from: On the Record. Outstanding Commentators on Current Events at Home and Abroad . In: Washington Post , October 5, 1938, p. 9.
- ↑ Michael Sontheimer: Hitler's Blitzkriege Der Spiegel , February 5, 2005
- ↑ Berthold Seewald: The Blitzkrieg was just a sleight of hand Die Welt , May 12, 2020
- ^ The German Reich and the Second World War , Volume 5. Bernhard R. Kroener, Rolf-Dieter Müller, Hans Umbreit: Organization and Mobilization of the German Sphere of Power , Part 1: War Administration, Economy and Human Resources 1939 to 1941 . Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1988, ISBN 978-3-421-06232-1 , p. 695 ( online on Google Books )
- ↑ Stefanie Maeck: Western Front 1939-1940: Sitzkrieg with Schnaps Der Spiegel , September 29, 2014
- ↑ Drôle de guerre Study Group on German Resistance 1933–1945 , accessed on February 24, 2020.
- ^ In a speech on November 8, 1941 to the Old Guard in Munich. In: German Institute for Foreign Policy Research (Ed.): Europe. Handbook of the political, economic and cultural development of the new Europe . Leipzig 1943.
- ^ Berthold Seewald: The "Blitzkrieg" was invented against France Die Welt , May 11, 2015
- ↑ Wolf-Dieter Dorn: The operational failure of the "Operation Barbarossa" in the summer of 1941 as a result of the previous German warfare and foreign policy January 20, 2013
- ^ Berthold Seewald: The "Blitzkrieg" was invented against France Die Welt , May 11, 2015
