Blitzkrieg

Lore & Background

The term blitzkrieg appeared in 1935 in the German military periodical Deutsche Wehr in connection to quick or lightning warfare. During the invasion of Poland, Western journalists adopted the term to describe that form of armored warfare. German maneuver operations were successful during the campaigns of 1939–1941, involving the invasions of Belgium, the Netherlands, and France, and by 1940 the term was being extensively used in Western media. Blitzkrieg operations capitalized on surprise penetrations, such as that in the Ardennes forest, the Allies' general lack of preparedness, and their inability to match the pace of the German attack. Despite being common in German and English-language journalism during World War II, the word Blitzkrieg was never used as an official military term by the Wehrmacht, except for propaganda, and it was never officially adopted as a concept or doctrine. According to David Reynolds, 'Hitler himself called the term Blitzkrieg "a completely idiotic word" (ein ganz blödsinniges Wort).' Some senior German officers, including Kurt Student, Franz Halder, and Johann Adolf von Kielmansegg, even disputed the idea that it was a military concept. Kielmansegg asserted that what many regarded as blitzkrieg was nothing more than 'ad hoc solutions that simply popped out of the prevailing situation.' Kurt Student described it as ideas that 'naturally emerged from the existing circumstances' as a response to operational challenges.

Reader's Guide

In 2005, the historian Karl-Heinz Frieser summarized blitzkrieg as the result of German commanders using the latest technology in the most advantageous way, according to traditional military principles, and employing 'the right units in the right place at the right time.' Modern historians now understand blitzkrieg as the combination of traditional German military principles, methods and doctrines of the 19th century with the military technology of the interwar period. Modern historians use the term casually as a generic description for the style of maneuver warfare practiced by Germany during the early part of World War II, rather than as an explanation. According to Frieser, in the context of the thinking of Heinz Guderian on mobile combined arms formations, blitzkrieg can be used as a synonym for modern maneuver warfare on the operational level. The term was never used in the title of a military doctrine or handbook of the German Army or Air Force, and no 'coherent doctrine' or 'unifying concept of blitzkrieg' existed; German High Command mostly referred to the group of tactics as 'Bewegungskrieg' (Maneuver Warfare). The term seems to have been rarely used in the German military press before 1939, and recent research at the German Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt found it in only two military articles from the 1930s. Both used the term to mean a swift strategic knockout, rather than a radically new military doctrine or approach to war.

Did You Know?

• The term blitzkrieg first appeared in 1935 in the German military periodical Deutsche Wehr, in connection to quick or lightning warfare.
• Hitler himself called the term Blitzkrieg 'a completely idiotic word' (ein ganz blödsinniges Wort).
• The word was never used as an official military term by the Wehrmacht, except for propaganda.
• Senior German officers such as Kurt Student and Franz Halder disputed that blitzkrieg was a military concept, calling it ad hoc solutions that emerged from circumstances.