The German blitzkrieg

 The blitzkrieg

By Sol Mathews

If you have spent any time in history class or around a war buff you might have heart the term "The Blitz" or "Blitzkrieg".  The term Blitzkrieg translates to "Lightning War",  the Blitzkrieg was invented by the Nazi party at the begginging of World War 2 in 1939 when it was first used against the Polish during the invasion. The four key components for a blitzkrieg attack are Concentration of forces, Breakthrough enemy lines, Use of Air support, and Use of radio communications.

Operation Fall Weiss (Case White): The German name for the operation for invading Poland. The plan for the attack was a three pronged attack. One from the North, The attack from the North was the secondary attack from thee main Attack. One From the West, this attack comprised of the main forces of the Wehrmacht. the third direction of the attack came from allied Slovakia.

Forces: There were three main forces that comprised the attack.

Army group South; under the command of Colonial General Gerd von Rundstedt the Army group South attacked from Silesia, The Moravia border, and the Slovak border.

Army group North; Under the command of Colonial General Fedor von Bock led his forces on the attack from East Prussia.

Slovak army group Bernolak: this group attacked from Slovakia. 

Methods of attack: The German army used the Blitzkrieg for the first time in the war. This battle marking the First of World War 2. The attack was spearheaded by the Luftwaffe and Panzer divisions to break through the front lines. The storm-troopers or Jager and PanzerJager troops were heavily reliant of Methamphetamine's to allow them to fight for days without rest.

 Operation Fall Gelb (Case Yellow): The German name for the invasion of France. Case yellow was the plan for the surprise attack through the Ardens forest. The plan was to plow through the Ardens forest completely ignoring the French Maginot line to cut of and encircle the expeditionary forces at Dunkirk.

Use of Panzer divisions: The German army focused on the use of Tanks as the core of the attack. At the core of the Panzer divisions were the Panzer Tanks which were perfect for quick operations because of their speed and firepower

Sickle cut maneuver: The German army used this maneuver to cut off the British allies from France leaving them in Norway and Belgium.  Operation Fall Gelb was designed to cut off the BEF and allied forced from the rest of France and to force them to either surrender or retreat back to Brattain. this would result in the largest mass evacuation in history known as Dunkirk.

Operation Fall Rot (Case Red): The name of the operation of the final step to take France. With the BEF and other French allied pushed from Europe the Wehrmacht turned its attention to the rest of France.

Battle: With the commencement of the invasion of the rest of France came the advancement towards Paris. on June 10 the French government declared Paris an open city the German 18th army advanced towards pairs. Four days  later on June 14 Paris fell to the German army a few days later the rest of France fell.

Operation Barbarossa: The Operation to invade the Soviet union (USSR). Operation Barbarossa was and remains the largest and most costly land battle to date. The operation had approximately ten million combatants took part in the battle. by the end of the Operation nearly eight million casualties had occurred. in the years leading up to the invasion Hitler and the high command signed treaties and pacts with Stalin and the USSR high command. Hitler built the largest invasion force in history along the 1,800 mile front. this consisted of 600,000 motor vehicles and 600,000 horses for non combat use. This battle was meant to take most of Russia for more living room for native Germans and the eventual extermination of the Slavic race.