Page "Blitzkrieg" Paragraph 7

institute at Freiburg has found only two military articles from the 1930s in which it is employed.

Neither article advocates any radically new military doctrine or approach to war.

Both use the term simply to mean a swift strategic knockout.

The first, published in 1935, deals primarily with food ( and to a lesser extent with raw material ) supplies in wartime.

The term blitzkrieg is here employed with reference to Germany ’ s efforts to win a quick victory in the First World War and is not associated with the use of armoured or mechanised forces or with airpower.

The argument is that Germany must develop self-sufficiency in food supplies because it might again prove impossible to deal a swift knockout to her enemies and a protracted total war might prove unavoidable.

The second article, published in 1938, states that launching a swift strategic knockout has great attractions for Germany but appears to accept that such a knockout will be very difficult to achieve by land attack under modern conditions ( especially in view of the existence of systems of fortification like the Maginot Line ) unless an exceptionally high degree of surprise is achieved.

The author vaguely suggests that a massive strategic air attack might hold out better prospects, but that topic is not explored in any detail.