Blitzkrieg
Blitzkrieg is a German word that means “lightning war” and refers to the high speed of a lightning bolt.
In blitzkrieg, the attacking motorized infantry armies move quickly and are helped by tanks and aircraft. Slower-moving enemy units are overrun or surrounded and often captured with little fighting. The slower units often become disorganized and are not ready to fight when they are captured.
The combined arms tactics of blitzkrieg were developed in the 1920s and 1930s, especially in the German Wehrmacht. They seldom used this word, however.
This method worked well early in World War II during the invasions of Poland and France and was mostly successful during Operation Barbarossa. Later in the war, the Allies learned to defeat German blitzkrieg attacks by defence in depth and by attacking the flanks of the attackers with reserve forces.
The Blitz refers to the German bombing of Britain, particularly London, during World War II. It destroyed over a million homes, killed over 40,000 people and was supposed to destroy industry and morale quickly to make the British pressure their government to end the war. The Blitz started in September 1940, in response to the British bombing of German cities by the Royal Air Force and continued until May 1941.
Written for younger readers
Blitzkrieg, in simpler words
This version comes from Wikijunior, a set of books written for children aged 8 to 11. It is shorter and uses plainer language than the article above.
From Wikijunior: World War II
In German, blitzkrieg means “lightning war”. It was a new way of fighting a war. In World War I every attack started with a heavy bombardment by large guns that went on for hours. This smashed up the ground, turning it into mud, and often didn’t hurt the defenders much as they hid in bunkers. Then infantry (soldiers fighting on foot) would attack at walking pace.
With blitzkrieg, if there was an opening bombardment it was very short. Instead the Germans attacked with surprise at high speed using tanks and armoured lorries and halftracks carrying soldiers. The idea was to break the enemy line then circle behind them, cutting them off from support. Once cut off, they could be rounded up and captured easily. Or in other words, the Germans cared all about the speed.
The war began in Europe when Germany attacked Poland on 1 September 1939. The United Kingdom told Germany that it would fight if they did not let Poland go. Germany did not reply, so Britain, Australia and New Zealand declared war on Germany two days later. Later that day, France also declared war. Soon, South Africa, Canada and Nepal had also joined the war on Germany.
France and the UK did not want to launch a full invasion of Germany. Neither country sent enough troops to stop the German offensive before Warsaw fell. Then the Soviet Union attacked Poland from the east. Poland was overwhelmed and the last Polish units surrendered after a month of fighting. The surviving soldiers integrated into the other Allied countries’ armies, and fought Germany until the end of the war.
After Poland fell, Germany waited during the winter while the British and French prepared to defend their countries. In April Germany invaded Denmark and Norway. Denmark fell after a few hours, but Norway held off into June. Public outrage over the fall of Norway caused Britain’s Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain to resign. He was replaced by Winston Churchill.
Then, the Germans invaded France, the Netherlands and Belgium May 10, 1940. The British Forces and the French Army took up position behind the Maginot line. The Maginot line was a fortified series of concrete walls, trenches, and gun positions along the German border to the south. In the north they were prepared to fight a mobile war. They did not expect the Germans to come through the dense Ardennes forest. But that is what Germany did. This split the Allied forces in two. On May 15 the Dutch surrendered, The Belgians followed on May 28. The forces in the North were encircled and cut off from supplies. They had to be evacuated. The British forces were evacuated from a small city on the coast of France called Dunkerque, or Dunkirk. They had to leave most of their heavy weapons and vehicles behind.
Italy also invaded France. France was completely overwhelmed by the blitzkrieg or “lightning war. It was forced to sign an armistice with Germany. The Germans took over Paris and two-thirds of France. They also made a new government of France that would do whatever Germany told it to do, in other words, a puppet/satellite state. It was called Vichy France, after the town of Vichy in Southern France where it was based. Italy received some territory in south-eastern France. But the real French government continued on in Africa, but called themselves “Free France” in the meantime.
Where this page comes from
The article above is adapted from “Blitzkrieg” on Simple English Wikipedia, by its contributors. We removed reference markers, navigation boxes and tables, expanded measurement templates into readable numbers, and kept the prose otherwise intact. The simpler version is adapted from Wikijunior on Wikibooks.
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