Blitzkrieg Essay

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Blitzkrieg In World War II, the German military used a tactic known Blitzkrieg. Blitzkrieg means simply “lightning war” in German. Blitzkrieg was developed in World War II because of the way war was fought in World War I. World War I was a long, stationary war. Trenches were used in the war and artillery and machine guns made mobile ground warfare almost impossible, and suicidal, for both sides. The element of fire, from the machine guns and artillery, totally neutralized the element of maneuver, at least for the vulnerable infantry and Cavalry, (2world). Blitzkrieg tactics required the concentration of offensive weapons (such as tanks, planes, and artillery) along a narrow front. These forces would drive a breach in enemy defenses, permitting armored tank divisions to penetrate rapidly and roam freely behind enemy lines, causing shock and disorganization among the enemy defenses. German air power prevented the enemy from adequately resupplying or redeploying forces and thereby from sending reinforcements to seal breaches in the front. German forces could in turn encircle opposing troops and force surrender, (Holocaust). In 1939 Blitzkrieg defeated the Polish army, which had obsolete Cavalry instead of tanks and an obsolete Air Force. In 1940 it defeated the French army, which had the necessary weapons (tanks, aircraft, radio), but of lesser quality. In 1941 it defeated the Yugoslav and Greek armies, but did not have the needed weapons for mobile warfare. In 1941 it also defeated the huge Russian army all the way to Moscow, but because of the logistic neglect it was defeated by Russia's endless size and extreme weather, (2world). This demonstrates the strength of the German military mainly through the fact that the Germans were the first to use this effective style of warfare. It validates how the Germans could hit hard, and fast making the use of
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