A small gust of air washes over you with the faint whispers of winter’s chill
as fall always brings. Surveying the countryside of Eastern Poland
from your dug in fighting position all seems quiet and normal on the brisk September day.
Out among the rolling hills a low rumbling begins to intensify from every direction. Fear begins to
grip you.. while you scan the ridgeline across the valley from your unit’s trench line; you
see what appears to be dozens of dark gray tanks moving at incredible speed straight towards you.
All of which are flying an unmistakable flag- a white circle on a red field with a black geometric
design made of right angles - the flag of Nazi Germany. Within minutes the armored hulks have cut
swaths through the tall brown Fall grass and are within range of your dugout. Weapons begin firing
and to your horror none of the shots seem to find any weakness in the armor to slow the onslaught of
the behemoths. As sure as your fate is sealed so is the nature of warfare from this moment forward.
How did this happen? Who was the progenitor of such change in human conflict?
Today on Nutty History we intend to find out how the German Blitzkrieg changed the scope of war!
WWI was the first major conflict utilizing “modern arms” ; this includes aircraft,
fully automatic machine guns, submarines, precise artillery, chemical weapons and of course the
tank. Even though these modern era weapons were used by all sides in the conflict, the tactics
used more often closely resembled those utilized during the American Civil War. Calvary and bayonet
charges were the most common methods of taking ground from the opposing force despite modern
equipment being available, the methods used to field these technologies effectively were in their
infancy - the battlefield doctrine of the Generals had not caught up to the technological advances of
the inventors. It was in this environment that a young German officer named Heinz Guderian started
his military career – a career that ultimately would alter the course of armed conflict.
Heinz Guderian was born in 1888 in Eastern Prussia – which would later become part
of Germany and now modern Poland- near the river Vistula. His father was an officer in
the Prussian military and early on decided that Heinz would follow in his footsteps of military
service. Heinz was sent to military secondary schools where he learned French and English,
this allowed him to study the tactical doctrines of other European countries.
Guderian also was trained in the Germanic doctrine of war. This focused on meticulous analyzation
of previous contemporary engagements, precise planning and execution of strategy that homed
in along a “Schwerpunkt” which means focal point or center of gravity. This focal point
would be the main line on which an attack or focus of a battle would fall along, with every
part of the highly detailed battle plan working together in unison to achieve this singular goal.
It was with these lessons that Guderian would step into the quagmire of the first world war.
At the outbreak of WWI Heinz Guderian was serving as a second lieutenant in the 10th Hanover light
infantry battalion, his role was that of a communications officer in charge of battalion
level radio communication- radio communication being a relatively new concept in military
technology. It was here that Guderian began to realize the importance of effective communications
on the battlefield. Previously communications between commanders in the field as well as the
higher command personnel was done through a variety of means including soldiers running
physical dispatches and communiques back and forth, they also used carrier pigeons, and flags.
With the advent of the telegraph communications improved but with the wireless capability
of the radio this gave commanders real time battlefield data for the first time in history.
This capability and how it changed the battlefield was not lost on Guderian.
As a whole WWI showed the world that the face of war indeed was changing – Alfred Von Schlieffen
said in 1909 “Not a horseman will be seen. The cavalry will have to accomplish its tasks
out of range of the artillery. Breech-loaders and machine guns will have obliterated the cavalryman
quite mercilessly from the battlefield.” Even such an astute tactician as Von Schlieffen
could not influence the whole of the high command to embrace new methods of war,
this was something that Guderian would face as well in the wake of the great war.
After the decimation of WWI and the ensuing political and financial upheaval in Europe,
Germany was left shackled by sanctions written into the Treaty of Versailles. Just a few of
these restrictions included a limit of Germany’s standing army to 100,000 troops, no submarines,
no tanks and equally heavily armored vehicles. This meant that Germany was technologically
hobbled compared to other countries. Most in the German high command went along,
albeit begrudgingly with these terms. It was not until 1922 that Guderian would have a chance to
bring Germany into the modern era of warfare. Serving in the “Truppenamt”, the Troop Office,
which is what the German High Command became under the treaty of Versailles -essentially forced
Germany to dissolve their ‘pentagon’. Guderian was tasked by General Tschischwitz to conduct research
into the feasibility of transporting infantry via motorized means to carry out their combat roles.
This notion sprung from the plain fact that Germany could not under Versailles restrictions
muster enough troops to cover any expanse of territory. Thus, Germany’s military would need to
be as mobile and fast as possible to bring enough force to bear along the “Schwerpunkt” to repel
an attack. See that doctrine of concentrating all force and parts of a plan on a singular objective
still held sway in the German tactical meta (if you will). Guderian brought all his tactical
acumen and schooling to bear on this project, studying extensively both British (who invented
the tank) and French armored doctrines, being that he had fluent grasps of both languages
he was well suited for the job. From 1922 to roughly 1935 Guderian served in various capacities
within the “Truppenamt” -which was at this point operating like the General staff and High Command
that was forbidden by Versailles- developing mechanized warfare doctrine and instructing field
troops on its use with lightly armored trucks that were all that was permitted under Versailles.
Until in 1934 shortly after Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, General Oswald
Lutz of the Motor Brigade within the Truppenamt instructed Guderian to develop three “Panzer”
or tank brigades for Germany. Which was a part of Hitler’s plan for rearmament- in direct violation
of the Versailles’s Treaty. Just how was Germany able to arm itself before WWII – that my friends
is the topic of another video but suffice to say for now that by 1934 when Guderian
was tasked to create the first Nazi Panzer forces, there was little left to subterfuge.
As Germany rearmed in earnest, Guderian worked to play his part by creating the first modern
tank forces. In his eyes the first big factor in making these tank forces as effective as possible
was to create a real time communication network that linked the tank forces through two -way
radio technology. This was a requirement for the development of German “Panzers” (Tanks), with
two-way radio technology installed into the tank, this allowed the individual tank commander to not
only receive communication but transmit to other tanks as well as higher up command structures.
With this capability German tanks were leaps and bounds ahead of those within the other European
armies by giving field commanders real time communication with their troops- allowing them
to create an up-to-date picture of the battlefield in real time, a truly modern capability.
When it came to doctrine Guderian studied past engagements during WWI where tanks had been
employed by the British and French, this led to his doctrine of “Blitzkrieg” (lightning war). In
this doctrine Guderian took the German concept of the “Schwerpunkt” and applied it to tank warfare.
Applying maximum force on a small area instead of spreading tank forces out along a wide front
would mean that German panzer forces would be able to overwhelm enemy opposition and breakthrough
their lines- lessons directly taken from the tank battles of WWI. All these advancements
meant that Germanies armored forces were the most advanced and modern in the world at the time.
On September 1, 1939, Germany unleashed this new method of war on Poland;
some two thousand German Panzers steamrolled through any opposition the Poles could muster.
In just over a month the country fell to the Nazis with France following suit in June of 1940 with
similar rapidity. WWII had now begun; modern era weapons being utilized in modern ways led
to rapid defeats and encirclements. Allied forces now needed to play catch up to the German forces
in order to defeat them. Guderian’s doctrine and development of Germany’s armored forces
changed the face of warfare not just during WWII but moving forward through human conflict.
Maneuver warfare tactics of Guderian can be seen throughout warfare from WWII to modern conflicts.
During the first Gulf War in 1991, commonly referred to as “Desert Storm” coalition commander
U.S. General Norman Schwarzkopf utilized coalition mechanized forces to smash through Iraqi armor
and prepared positions in the same way that the German Panzer forces rolled over Polish and
French lines in early WWII, approximately three days of fighting allowed the coalition forces
to liberate Kuwait from Iraqi occupation. Modern infantry forces around the world
now are transported around the battlefield in highly mobile and armored vehicles and aircraft.
During the invasion of Iraq in March of 2003 it took American forces less than a month to roll
through Iraqi forces all the way to the capital in Baghdad, moving in armored personnel carriers and
tanks they outpaced the Iraqi opposition and fixed positions at lightning speed.
Heinz Guderian’s military success with his “Blitzkreig” shows that it is not
always possessing new technology that makes one successful but those that figure out
the most efficient way to employ those new inventions that in the end prevail.
Guderian – a communications officer figured out how to best employ weapons of the modern era
and thus changed the face of warfare forever. If you can think of another person throughout
history who hacked the new technology of their era and changed the way, we all do things let
us know in the comments below. From us at Nutty History we hope you enjoyed this video and if
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