German Blitzkrieg American Appropriation

American appropriation of the German blitzkrieg

Introduction

When thinking about military operations that shaped tactics in the present day, it is hard to understand specific tactics that were used, or where they came from. What tactic comes to mind is one so brutally efficient that it makes conquering other countries child's play. The military tactic in question is the German Blitzkrieg. The German Blitzkrieg was used and implemented during operation Desert Storm. The blitzkrieg contemporarily known as the AirLand battle got its chance to implement the use of superior armaments to secure the speedy capture of Kuwait in a cost-effective victory. Because of the effectiveness of the blitzkrieg, the United States appropriated the tactics

Between soldiers such as Hans Von Seeckt, and Heinz Guderian, who saw the potential usefulness of these technologies and laid the groundwork for the blitzkrieg tactic. The implementation of this tactic was through large formations of German troops and armaments being transported by both cars and train and being directed through commands sent over the radio. The results were effective at the time because it created utter chaos at enemy lines by disintegrating the organization of both ear and front lines. This state of disarray would disarm enemy forces causing them to be disoriented and lack the structure to form a counterattack on the German offensive. The fear that the blitzkrieg inspired was the used to advance the mobilization of German forces and gave them the ability focus their attention and firepower on a specific target. This tactic proved extremely efficient during the blitzkrieg operation. Because the operations were short this conserved the number of soldier casualties and the amount of the artillery that was being used. The first time that the Germans implemented this tactic was in Poland in 1939 which showed how

Patton saw the effects that the German mechanized warfare in 1939 and saw the American capacity to do it better because of the industrial capacity of the United States. With this tactic, General Patton headed military training exercises in Louisiana and California that stressed the extremely quick movements of the troupes and the coordinating both tanks and aerial support working in conjunction. Because of the necessity of speed, some of the United States calvaries even switched to light armored tanks and armored vehicles. (in a note of irony patron almost what it seems like mimicking Hitler began to use his slogan from Frederick the great, which was "L'audace, L'audace, Toujour L'audace" which translated over to Audacity Audacity, always Audacity. This saying mirrored the spirit of the tactic of lightning warfare. ) Patton broke down the basics of blitzkrieg warfare to its key parts the first step which was the attack of the front line, the second part that was the penetration of the enemy forces and the third and final part was that of encircling the enemy to pick them off. General Patton got his chance to demonstrate these tactics in August of 1944 where he unleashed the American version of a faster and more lethal blitzkrieg upon its German creators. His success was too astounding that the German's view of general Patton was that he was to be feared because