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Position:Home>History> How is Blitzkrieg executed?Question: How is Blitzkrieg executed!? Blitzkrieg, or "lightning war" was popularized by Germans during their invasion of Europe in the earlier stages of WWII!. What is this doctrine all about, how is it carried out in tactical and strategic level, and what made it so revolutionary or radical at that time!?Www@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Blitzkrieg was executed by panzers (armored divisions) punching holes into the enemy defences where their defenses are weakest!. Mobilized infantry would then rush in to fill the gaps while the panzers would continue advancing, some in a straight line while others performing complicated maneuvers like the "pincer movement"!. This movement is basically a double envelopment type movement which was developed hundreds of years ago by Hannibal except with the use of tanks!. Using these movements, they would surround huge pockets of enemies and destroy them!. Its hard to describe without illustrations but imagine tanks in the north and south turning in a semi-circle maneuver and eventually linking up in the middle, thus trapping the enemies!. While this was happening on the ground, the Luftwaffe (German air force) would simultaneously destroy enemy air fields to take control of the air and then attack command centers or communication centers to spread confusion among the enemy ranks!. This was done SIMULTANEOUSLY with the tank assaults, not before!. Right now, most armies prefer to bombard the enemy using air force for a while before launching the ground assault!. (Kinda like Gaza) While the blitzkrieg was very effective, it had certain weaknesses!. If the tanks advanced too far without infantry backup, defeating the panzer divisions would be easy!. Sometimes, they advanced too far for their supply lines to hold!. EDIT Some of the people above are mistaken!. Shock and awe is the strategy I mentioned above where air force is used for about a week, two weeks or for how long BEFORE the tanks move in!. Blitzkrieg as I mentioned involved simultaneous attacks involving air and ground!. And there was a blitzkrieg against the Soviet Union!. It's just that they survived the blitzkrieg because of their size!. But the techniques the Germans used against the Soviets followed the same blitzkrieg principles they used against other countries!.Www@QuestionHome@Com The doctrine of Blitzkrieg is "lightning attack" and was implemented by the Nazis!. It is basically a surprise attack on your enemy!. The German invasion of Poland was the first use of blitzkrieg!. During that event, the Nazis were fully mechanized, while the Poles still had horse-drawn artillery!. So the doctrine was more rhetoric than reality, given the gross imbalance of forces!. There was no blitzkrieg in the Nazi offensive against the Soviet Union!. The Germans had the tactical advantage in superior battlefield armaments!. But the on the Russian Front, the Germans had a very long campaign that took the wind out of their doctrine of "lightning attack"!. The Soviet Red Army had a superior battlefield strategy which was based in the principle of retreat!. The Soviet army absorbed line after line of retreating forces, thereby adding strength to each successful line while the Germans advanced into an eventual trap!. In the Battle for Stalingrad, the Nazis were defeated and slaughtered in the streets!. There was nothing revolutionary about blitzkrieg; it deceived the Germans into believing in their air and artillery support, and they thought military supremacy alone was enuf to win wars!.Www@QuestionHome@Com Germany used blitzkrieg throughout the war against everyone!. But the allies learned and used it against them!. In simpler terms!. The armies would be fighting each other forming front lines!. The air force and artillery would weaken areas in the front lines!. The Germans would mass tanks with mobilized infantry to support them and punch through weak areas in the front line like a spear thrust!. The air force would support them!. Another German army would blitzkrieg in another area in the frontlines and both German armies would meet behind the allied army and surround it!.Www@QuestionHome@Com Blitzkrieg is carried out quite simply, by our future look on history since WWII!. It has been carried ojt many times!. Blitzkrieg is a mass rush of armor, airplanes and motorized infantry!. One simply rushes in the tanks with heavy air cover, quickly bringing up soldiers to suport the breakthrough!. The idea was like that of stormtroopers from WWI, just this time with motors!. Example; France 1940!. The French, of course were expecting another attack in Alscae - Lorraine!. The Germans quickly 'blitzed' that is rushed in the tanks overpowering resistance and then reinforcing the breakthrough with infantry which is brought up by armored trucks!. The tanks are supported by a air force which bombs any who stand up to the tanks!. A rush of massive power by land and air!. Why was this so succesful!? Tanks had never been truly used in combat!. While the germans did test out some early Panzer's in the Spanish Civil War, and their air force had great succes, it was anything amazing!. In WWI when they were invented in 1916, it wasn't until 1917 in the great Allied breakthrough's that many realized their potential!. Even then tanks were used as moving cover because of their slow speed and unrelabilty!. Over the 20 years which filled in the time tanks evolved into lethal killing machines!. I am sure you know what I mean!. By 1940 no one knew the importance of tanks; only air force!. When the Germans combined a brilliant air force with the best tanks in the world in a rush tactic like blitzkrieg, it was amazingly succesful!. It was from then the war turned towards tanks!. The war in North Africa was basiclly a tank showdown!. Rommel relied on his tanks, and the one with the best or most won!. If you want more information on the actual Blitzkrieg method here is a site explaining it in thorough detail: http://en!.wikipedia!.org/wiki/BlitzkriegWww@QuestionHome@Com The experience of trench warfare, and the consequent experience of war of attrition, in World War 1 lead several military strategists to hit upon "blitzkrieg" as an alternative!. Its most renowned advocate was a German, Heinz Guderian, who best developed the concept, oversaw the development of the weapons, and demonstrated the proper use of Panzer forces!. The key idea is to assemble a strike force of armor (both tanks and mobile guns), mechanized infantry, and close air support (in lieu of artillery) and use this force at a weak point in the enemy's formation to pierce the defense, thereafter to wreck havoc in the rear, roll up the flanks of the opposing army, and by this rapid advance and destruction, envelop and destroy the enemy!. It's a battle tactic as much as an armored force, mechanized army concept!. It depends upon flexibility and local initiative by troops and officers to create and exploit opportunities to destroy and confuse the enemy!. It is an idea much further developed and used by US armed forces in the "combined arms" model of combat involving electronic/air surveillance/command-control-communicati!.!.!. methods!.Www@QuestionHome@Com Blitzkrieg is carried out by fast moving amoured divisions striking deep into enemy territory cutting them in half then infantry and more armour encircle areas cut in half whilst this is happening the Air Force would bomb all major Air bases Air fields and supply routes that could be used by the enemy it was revolutionary at the time because the first modern war (WWI) was trench warfare and everyone expected the second World War to be the sameWww@QuestionHome@Com There certainly was a blitzkrieg against the Soviets!. Poland is a good example!. They attack fortified positions with attack aircraft and follow it up with massed armor assaults to the enemies rear areas!.Www@QuestionHome@Com It's all about shock and awe!.!.!.a new term for an old strategy!.Www@QuestionHome@Com |