The word "Blitzkrieg" is German meaning “lightning war”, a swift, sudden, and overwhelming military offensive used by Germany in World War II (1939-1945).The Mongol leader Genghis Khan used overwhelming force in sudden attacks against smaller enemy forces to defeat his enemy piecemeal. The Germans used the same idea in their blitzkrieg (war conducted with speed and force) in World War II (1939-1945).

The concept:

Blitzkrieg, an operational-level military doctrine which employs mobile forces attacking with speed and surprise to prevent an enemy from organizing a coherent defense. Originally conceived in the years after the First World War, it was a new tactic developing from existing techniques of maneuver warfare and combined arms warfare. It was first used by the German Wehrmacht during the WW2.

Methods of blitzkrieg operations centered on using maneuver rather than attrition to defeat an opponent. The blitzkrieg thus first and foremost required a concentration of armored assets at a focal point, closely supported by mobile infantry, artillery and close air support assets. This required the development of specialized support vehicles, new methods of communication, new tactics, and the presence of a decentralized command structure.

German forces ( in WW2) avoided direct combat in favor of interrupting an enemy's communications, decision making, logistics, and morale. In combat, blitzkrieg forced slower defending forces into defensive pockets that were encircled and then destroyed by following German infantry.

The Theorists:

British theorists J.F.C. Fuller and B. H. Liddell Hart have often been associated with blitzkrieg's development, though this is a matter of controversy. 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 a land attack."

1. Terrain:
Blitzkrieg was largely dependent upon terrain and weather conditions; Terrain would ideally be flat, firm, unobstructed by natural barriers or fortifications, and interspersed with roads and railways. If it was instead hilly, wooded, marshy, or urban, panzers would be vulnerable to infantry in close-quarters combat and unable to breakout at full speed.

2. Air superiority:
Allied air superiority became a critical hindrance to German operations during the later years of the war. Early German successes enjoyed air superiority with unharassed movement of ground forces, close air support, and aerial reconnaissance. 

3. Logistics:
 Blitzkrieg strategy has a constant danger of the attacking force overextending its supply lines, and the strategy as a whole can be defeated by a determined foe who is willing to sacrifice territory for time in which to regroup and rearm, which is exactly what Soviets did on the Eastern Front of WW2.

1. Blitzkrieg and Anti-blitz- A presentation made by Shahid Saleem

2. Drawings and illustrations collected by Shahid Saleem

This research project of mine is available here with historical perspective, basic theory and my original presentation . For much details, any comments and queries go to FEEDBACK or contact sections of this website!!!!!  Your FEEDBACK on this topic