BLITZKRIEG LIGHTNING WAR

摘要

It is easy to imagine the sense of trepidation in British homes as British Prime Minister Winston Churchill made his famous 'finest hour' speech on June 18, 1940. Germany had just achieved in a matter of weeks what it had failed to accomplish in years of fierce fighting in the previous war. The enemy's success had come largely as a result of its strategy - a method popularly known as 'Blitzkrieg' (it translates literally as 'lightning war'). Though more the result of ad hoc 'in the field' solutions than a consistent tactical doctrine, Blitzkrieg involved massive co-ordinated attacks at specific points involving heavy armour divisions and aircraft. Such incursions through Belgium, the Netherlands and France proved devastating to Allied resistance.