8 THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT BLITZ KRIEG

During September 1939 to June 1940 the German armed forces (Wehrmacht) achieved three decisive Blitzkrieg (‘lightning war’) successes. First, in just 36 days during September to October 1939 the Germans, aided by the Soviets, conquered Poland. Second, during 60 days’ combat in April-June 1940, German forces conquered Denmark and Norway, while also repelling an Anglo-French intervention. Finally, in just 47 days of fighting during May to June 1940 the Wehrmacht astonishingly conquered France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, while also driving the British Expeditionary Force back onto English soil. But here are some things you likely didn’t know about Blitzkrieg and why it succeeded.

BLITZKRIEG:

The Invasion Of PolanD To The Fall Of France edited by Dr Stephen Hart and Dr Russell Hart is available now from Osprey Publishing

1 THERE WAS NO SUCH THING AS ‘BLITZKRIEG’ WARFARE

Western journalists first coined the phrase Blitzkrieg during autumn 1939 to describe the fast-paced German mechanised operations seen in the Polish campaign, but it was not a term used in German military thought. Throughout World War II the key German doctrinal work remained The Command of Troops (1936). Later, as the Western Allies tried to comprehend these early German triumphs in the war, they became fixated with what they viewed as the revolutionary German military doctrine of Blitzkrieg, seemingly built around massed armour and Stuka dive-bombers.

But what did the term Blitzkrieg actually identify? It described an operational method