BLITZKRIEG WARFARE Anders was seeing the rehearsal for the German blitzkrieg or lightning war In this new style of warfare coordinated aircraft tanks and mechanized and motorized units provided rapid overwhelming firepower against the enemy's frontline forces The speed of their movement left enemy defenses confused and unable to organize counterattacks The Germans ability to strike swiftly and deeply into the heart of enemy territory meant armies could avoid the deadlock of the World War I trenches This conflict was also a total war involving civilian populations as never before Behind the rapid advance supply and communication lines were set up to enable the invading forces to continue pushing forward but the swiftly advancing armored forces would not wait At the same time propaganda campaigns attacked enemy morale The goal was to quickly eliminate the enemy's ability and will to resist The evolution of blitzkrieg was possible because of Germany's military buildup during the 1930s and its highly developed organization and coordination of its forces Blitzkrieg proved extremely effective in the early months of World War II After crushing Poland Germany turned its attention to France In the spring of 1940 Germany used blitzkrieg to seize France in a matter of weeks German leader Adolf Hitler then turned his attention to the United Kingdom But in the summer of 1940 the Stuka proved extremely vulnerable to modern British fighter planes The Stukas were withdrawn from the Battle of Britain More limitations of German blitzkrieg were revealed when Germany invaded the Soviet Union in the summer of 1941 drawing the Soviets into the
leutſches Docf in dangee Cond Itfeee Madht am Weidhselsteomd A Nazi banner reads German villages in Danzig land keep a faithful watch on the banks of the Weichsel hinting at their upcoming invasion of the town in
The initial thrusts into the vast Soviet frontier succeeded greatly However German forces most of which relied on horses were unable to maintain supply lines The new war spanned an area many times the size of earlier STUKA ACE conquests in France By winter the cold In the hands of a skilled pilot the Stuka weather stopped German advances could make a devastating difference on the When the Soviets began large scale battlefield Germany's top Stuka pilot of the war counterattacks they had established deep was Hans Ulrich Rudel In a specialized Stuka defenses that could absorb the German designed for antitank missions Rudel flew blitzkrieg style attacks combat missions against the Soviet Union of eastern front At sea he destroyed a battleship a cruiser and a destroyer But most of his flying BUILDING TOWARD WAR was done over land where he destroyed 519 By the late summer of 1939 leaders of Soviet tanks the world's great powers knew war was coming In Germany Hitler and his Nazi Party were in total control of the nation and its military Hitler had seized territory near Germany without firing a shot including Austria in 1938 and Czechoslovakia in 1939 In Africa the armed forces of Italian Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini had conquered Ethiopia by 1936 Halfway around the world the Empire of Japan was expanding its territory on mainland Asia into China The three nations known together as he Axis powers consolidated their gains built up their militaries and planned further conquests Japan and Germany prioritized modernizing their armed forces subordinating other domestic efforts International treaties signed following
Germany's loss in World War I had limited the size and capabilities of Germany's military After Hitler took power in 1933 the country began rearming openly during the 1930s It constructed modern tanks planes and other weapons Other treaties limited the size and power of Japan's navy Defying these agreements in 1936 Japan began building an enormous and powerful navy It would allow them to contest US power in the Pacific Ocean The world's other great powers included the United Kingdom France the Soviet Union and the United States They would eventually be known as the Allied powers At first these countries did little to respond to these territorial and military advances Some of's land gains had come through political Hitler agreements with the United Kingdom and France rather than conquest But after Germany's invasion of Poland the United Kingdom and France finally felt compelled to act On September 3 1939 they declared war on Germany In the summer of 1941 a German invasion of the Soviet Union led the Soviets to align themselves with the British In December of that year Japan attacked Pearl Harbor a US military base in Hawaii The United States immediately declared war on Japan As Japan s ally Germany responded by declaring war on the United States By the end of 1941 all the major world powers were involved in the conflict MAKING WAR For many people weapons defined World War II They were what made the war possible But just as important as weapons were the abilities to design build and use them The outcome of the war was ultimately determined not only by technological achievements but also by economic superiority Throughout the
