It’s early morning. The air is still; stars shine
brightly in the sky. There is anticipation in the atmosphere as if it is waiting for a lightning
storm of metal to break the peacefulness. Suddenly, the howl of plane engines breaks the
stillness; the roar of diesel engines carries tanks across the landscape; the marching of
troops shakes the Earth. Nazi Germany has begun its invasion of Europe. In two short years, Adolf
Hitler will control most of the battle-scarred continent. How could so much destruction
happen so quickly? One word: Blitzkrieg. The Nazis were able to conquer much of Europe
in an unbelievably short amount of time. But once you realize that this was an absolute
necessity, that Hitler and his top generals had no choice and planned for this, things
become much clearer. The pain of World War I was still entrenched in the Führer’s mind,
along with the collective consciousness of the German people. When Hitler and the Nazi
Party began to plan their conquest of Europe, they knew that it needed to be done quickly
and decisively. Germany could not win a prolonged war fought on several fronts,
no matter how badly Hitler wanted it. This meant new tactics needed to be tested
and honed to ensure Nazi German would be victorious. When Adolf Hitler was appointed
chancellor of Germany on January 30, 1933, he immediately started implementing laws and
using his influence to rev up the German war machine. Huge amounts of money and resources
were dedicated to research and development in order to make sure that Germany had
the fastest tanks, deadliest aircraft, and most powerful weapons. It was the investment
in wartime technology that allowed the Germans to devise a plan to conquer their neighbors
and expand the Nazi Empire across Europe. In order to ramp up production and basically
resurrect the German military from scratch, Hitler needed more land and resources. He
couldn’t start his war without the proper equipment and weapons, so the dictator
needed to be strategic about how he acquired the territory around Germany.
Hitler didn’t want Allied nations to catch onto his plan until it was too late.
No one wanted to fight another World War, so many European powers took a non-confrontational
stance when it came to keeping Germany in check. Hitler knew this and planned on exploiting the
unwillingness of his enemies to engage in war. On March 7, 1936, German troops entered and
re-occupied the Rhineland, a demilitarized zone set up by the Treaty of Versailles. Germany was
strictly forbidden from reclaiming the Rhineland by Allied nations after World War I as they knew
it was a resource-rich region that could be used to fuel the German economy and its manufacturing
centers. Rather than standing up to Hitler, Allied nations backed down and seceded
the Rhineland to Germany without a fight. But before we go any further, we wanted
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to save 25% right now! Now back to Germany. Hitler wasn’t
done after taking Rhineland. He had his sights set on three other regions
around Germany that would bring in even more resources. Germany sent troops to Austria,
Czechoslovakia, and the Sudetenland to annex all three. Again, Allied nations condemned
Germany for its aggressive actions, but no one wanted to send their militaries in to confront
the new Nazi power rising in central Europe. For the next three years, Germany developed
more powerful weapons and state-of-the-art vehicles. While more soldiers were
being trained and wartime machinery was being constructed at factories across
Germany and its newly acquired territories, Hitler and his advisors discussed how they would
begin their war to create the Third Reich. It’s not hard to imagine Hitler, Himmler, Göring,
and Goebbels sitting around a table plotting the destruction of the world because this
is exactly what they did. Hitler’s dreams didn’t stop with the annihilation of Europe; he
wanted to bring the entire planet to its knees. As the Nazis strategized the perfect way
to conquer their enemies and cleanse the continent of anyone they saw as being impure,
wartime production was reaching its pinnacle. When the summer of 1939 came to an end, Nazi
Germany had everything it needed to launch an invasion into neighboring countries and begin
its conquest of Europe. Hitler had a plan, the best military vehicles in the region, and a
desire to conquer anyone who stood in his way. The Naizs decided they would wage war using a form
of warfare that became known as Blitzkrieg. This word translates to “lightning war.” The Blitzkrieg
tactic would ensure that the Nazis could win battles quickly and continuously move towards
their next target. There would be no trenches, and there would be no slowing down. What made
this type of warfare possible were the advances in technology that allowed Nazi tanks to be heavily
armored while also being able to travel quickly across different landscapes. Also, advances in
aviation meant that the Nazis could drop more bombs with somewhat better accuracy. On top of
all of this, radio communication had improved, allowing generals to send orders over
longer distances much quicker than before. All of these technological advances enabled
Germany to wage a Blitzkrieg-style war, which would result in the destruction of Europe. The Blitzkrieg tactic was simple yet
highly effective. Before an attack, the German Luftwaffe would conduct a series of
bombing runs behind enemy lines to slow down reinforcements and supplies. Reconnaissance would
be conducted on the location and the strength of enemy forces was determined by spies and
scouting units. The intel gathered would be used to identify weak points in the enemy line,
which would be exploited. It was these locations where tank divisions struck and signaled the
beginning of the end for Germany’s enemies. When the time was right, the order would
be given for heavily armored Panzer tanks to advance. They would crash into the enemy line
supported by troops and artillery. At this point, the goal was not to defeat the enemy, or even to
win the battle. Instead, the Nazi forces would focus their efforts on a specific spot until they
could break through and move past enemy forces. Once the line was breached, the tanks would flood
through the opening, followed by infantry and heavily armed vehicles. The tanks would continue
to push forward as the rest of the military forces secured key points along the corridor that
the tanks had created through enemy territory. This corridor would then be used to flood more
troops into enemy-controlled territory. They would be followed by convoys full of supplies
to make sure that Nazi forces had the munitions and resources they needed to continue their
advance forward. This same tactic would be carried out at numerous weak spots along the
enemy line, creating multiple points where Nazi forces could enter and advance deeper into
enemy territory. While all this was happening, the Luftwaffe would be called once again
to conduct bombing runs on airbases, supply depots, and convoys. This kept the
enemy from resupplying their front lines as the Nazi ground forces slowly
started to encircle their armies. By driving a hole through the enemy line, it
caused mass disorganization among their foes. As the enemy tried to regroup, they would find
that the Nazis had set up blockades all along the corridor that they had created and were
using to advance further into the region. This meant that enemy forces were isolated from one
another and could not regroup. The Nazis would then send troops to open the breach wider to
allow for more maneuverability. These soldiers, accompanied by artillery, would ensure
the gap was heavily fortified to keep enemy forces from refilling it. If the enemy
was ever allowed to close their lines before the Panzers could encircle them, it could
lead to devastating losses for the Nazis. However, it was rare that once the Germans
broke an enemy line and started sending troops and supplies through the gap,
they would ever be outmaneuvered. The speed at which the tanks moved and the
constant bombardment by German aircraft and artillery almost guaranteed a victory in
the early years of the war. The forces that were now behind enemy lines would circle
back around and trap any forces that did not retreat fast enough. These soldiers would
either be forced to surrender or slaughtered. This form of warfare was the go-to tactic for
the Nazis, and it worked better than anyone could have ever imagined. The Blitzkrieg
style of warfare is what allowed the Nazis to destroy practically every army they came
up against. Using their superior vehicles, weapons, and tactics, the Germans were able
to invade and capture country after country. A wave of destruction swept through Europe,
and it all started on September 1, 1939. It was 4:45 in the morning as the
Schleswig-Holstein battleship bobbed up and down in the black waters of the Baltic
Sea. The captain of the vessel was given the order to fire on a military transit depot located
in Westerplatte, Poland. At the same time, Nazi forces were already crossing the Polish border in
a Blitzkrieg fashion. As German troops advanced, Luftwaffe aircraft flew overhead to carry
out bombing runs on key military bases and supply centers. The initial days of the
invasion of Poland would show the world just how deadly the Nazi military could
be. Even more terrifying was how quickly German forces were able to plow through
Polish forces and capture the country. The Nazis found weak points along the
border and exploited them. They drove a wedge through entire army groups, encircled
them, and forced a surrender. Polish leaders pleaded with France and Britain for help as
they had agreed to protect the integrity of the Polish borders only five months earlier.
Their cries for help were met with silence. Nazi troops continued to flood across
the Polish border, and although France and Britain eventually declared war on
Germany, it was too late. Poland had been completely captured and occupied in just
over a month. This showed the terrifying speed at which Germany could attack,
dismantle, and conquer an entire nation. To be fair, the Nazis did have a little help
with the invasion of Poland from East Prussia and the Soviet Union. However, in the battles
to come, Germany would not need or want help as their Blitzkrieg would rip through enemy lines
and allow them to capture thousands of Allied soldiers, decimate entire armored divisions, and
systematically destroy specific parts of Europe. After the dust had settled in Poland,
the rest of Europe looked on in horror at what Adolf Hitler and his forces had done.
There was a mobilization of every able-bodied man in the countries to the west of Germany.
No one wanted to believe it, but deep down, they knew it was only a matter of time before
the full might of the Nazi military would advance across their borders. Hitler claimed that Poland
had attacked Germany first and that he was just rescuing the Polish people who were ethnically
German. This clearly wasn’t true, but the Allies didn’t want to be thrown into another catastrophic
war so soon after World War I had ended. And since Poland had been completely captured, there
was no longer an ally to save in the region. This was messed up as the Polish people were
now forced to serve Hitler and the Nazis while the Allies turned a blind eye. They hesitated to
take decisive action and instead slowly prepared to defend themselves. No one thought that Germany
would attack again so soon after their invasion of Poland since the fighting of the previous
World War was relatively slow and tedious.
It wasn’t until Hitler’s next move that the
Allies realized just how greatly they had underestimated the Führer’s thirst for blood.
They would not be engaging in trench warfare like in World War I. The German Blitzkrieg was
an entirely different animal that the Allies would need to adjust for. Unfortunately,
the very nature of the Nazi tactic meant there would be no time to plan or set up
defenses to counteract Hitler’s Lightning War. Six months after Poland fell and
as Allied governments were still trying to figure out what to do about Adolf Hitler
and his new regime, the unthinkable happened. On April 9, 1940, Germany
invaded Denmark. Once again, the Luftwaffe was sent in on bombing runs
to decimate supply depots and military bases. The Nazis also deployed paratroopers
behind the enemy’s lines, which sped up the encirclement of their forces. The Blitzkrieg
tactic used in Poland was still in effect, but there were new components that Nazi
military leaders had implemented. Denmark knew there was no way they would be able to stop
the Nazi forces surging across their borders. German tanks pushed further north as
ships carrying Nazi troops landed at major ports throughout the country. However, the invasion of Denmark was only the beginning
of Hitler's plans. It took one day for the Natzi Blitzkrieg to conquer the country before
they headed to their next target, Norway. However, something incredible happened in
the middle of all this chaos. When word got out that the Nazis were rounding up
Jews and deporting them from the country, the Danish people came together as a sort of
underground network. Non-Jewish households would hide Jews until they could secure safe
passage to Sweden. Thousands of Jews living in Denmark were saved this way. They were hidden
aboard fishing vessels that would then sail into the Baltic. At the time, there wasn’t a
significant Nazi naval presence in the region, and what was there couldn’t be bothered with
searching every fishing boat leaving the docks. Once in Sweden, the Jewish people found asylum
as the country remained remain neutral throughout the war and would be spared from the
onslaught of Nazi forces due to its location and a little bit of luck. Later in
the war, the Nazis did pass through Sweden, but Germany would never occupy the country.
However, the nation next to Sweeden wouldn’t be so lucky as the Nazi plague went through
Denmark and into Norway the following day. Norway posed a slight problem for the Nazi tactic
used thus far. The country was long and narrow, and the terrain was mountainous and heavily
forested. This was not ideal for deploying tanks and using them to bash through enemy
lines. Therefore, the Nazis had to use their Navy to drop heavy weapons and vehicles on
Norway’s shores and then maneuver them into position. Paratroopers were airdropped in, but
unlike Denmark, conquering Norway wasn’t as easy. The Norwegians put up a fight and
managed to sink several Nazi ships, which stalled their invasion force. It took a
couple of months, but Germany finally defeated Norway and began using its heavy water facilities
to conduct experiments that could lead to the development of the atomic bomb. Thankfully,
Norwegian resistance forces sabotaged these facilities before the Nazis could complete their
research, saving Europe from a nuclear holocaust. Once Germany secured the countries to its
north, it was time to move west. In May of 1940, Adolf Hitler launched his offensive
across Europe. This would prove to be the most destructive and successful campaign for the
Germans during World War II. In the coming weeks, the Nazis would use Blitzkrieg tactics to
decimate entire armies all the way into France. After this offensive, the Nazi Empire
would extend across the European continent. On May 10, 1940, Germany invaded Belgium, the
Netherlands, Luxembourg, and France. In Belgium, the Nazis launched a series of air raids.
This was done to demolish bases and weaken the Allied air force in the region. It
was vital for the German Blitzkrieg that they maintained air superiority so that bombs
could be dropped behind enemy lines to disrupt resupply routes. After the Luftwaffe completed
its bombing runs, tanks, armored vehicles, and infantry rushed toward the Belgian
lines. They almost immediately broke through and began creating a Nazi corridor
deeper and deeper into Allied territory. This same tactic worked
again and again. By May 28th, all of Belgium was under Nazi control. Their
troops had either surrendered, fled to France, or were dead on the battlefield. Everywhere
the Nazi war machine went, it left destruction in its wake. Entire cities were reduced to
rubble, and towns were wiped off the map. The invasion of the Netherlands started at the
same time as Belgium, but the Luftwaffe used a slightly different tactic. The planes
flew over the Netherlands and into the North Sea. This suggested they were headed to
England to carry out air raids there. However, this was decoy. When the Dutch let their
guard down, the bombers turned around and destroyed numerous military installations
along with the city of Rotterdam. Now that the Dutch airfields were obliterated, the Nazis
began to drop paratroopers into the country. On the front lines, Panzer tank divisions
slammed into the entrenched Dutch forces, breaking their defenses, and with the help
of the paratroopers already in the country, encircled the Allied forces. Four days later,
the Netherlands was under Nazi occupation. It was the fear that other cities would be bombed
to oblivion like Rotterdam had been and the speed at which the Nazi military swept through the
country that prompted such a quick surrender. There was also a surprisingly unique group
of Nazi soldiers fighting in the Netherlands. German forces were spread out across the borders
of several countries, meaning that every soldier counted. When the Blitzkrieg broke the Dutch
line of defense, the 1st Kavalleriedivision shot through the gap to start the encirclement
process. What is unique about this unit is that it was a cavalry division. It may seem strange
that the Nazis brought horses to a tank fight, but the cavalry could get behind the enemy
and capture Dutch soldiers efficiently. It makes sense that the Nazis would still use cavalry
during World War II, as horses could cross rough terrain much quicker than vehicles could. And
in Blitzkrieg warfare, timing was everything. Luxembourg succumbed to the Lightning
warfare of the Nazis in just one day. Few Allied soldiers were stationed in the country, so the Panzer divisions rolled across the
border mostly unopposed. Nazi troops captured strategic points as they brought up the rear
to ensure the front lines could be resupplied. The Nazis now needed to find a way into France.
The Allied forces had set up a formidable line of defense using the Maginot Line, a series of
fortifications built to protect France from another repeat of what happened in World War I.
And now that Germany was once again knocking on their door, the French were glad to have it.
There was only one problem. The fortifications did not extend across the entire French border.
The Maginot Line had been completed on the French-German border but not along the border of
Belgium. The French thought that the countries to its North East would act as a buffer to
stop a German invasion. They were wrong. The Nazis realized that by passing
through the Ardennes Forest in Belgium, they could reach France and breach the Allied
defenses. General Paul Ludwig von Kleist ordered his Panzers through the dense Ardennes. They
came out of the forest near the French border, where they met little resistance. Simultaneously,
German forces defeated the Allies in the Somme valley. Both of these Nazi advances cut off groups
of soldiers from the rest of their comrades. The Nazis pushed further and further into
France, making sure to continuously create corridors that their troops and supplies
could pass through while also cutting off and encircling as many Allied units as possible.
The British Expeditionary Force, French army, and leftover Belgian units were pushed all
the way back to Dunkirk, where Operation Dynamo was conducted to evacuate as many
soldiers as possible from France to Britain. What is incredible about this event in World War
II is that Hitler ordered his forces to halt just outside of Dunkirk. This was an odd choice since
the whole battle plan for Germany was based around the Blitzkrieg tactic. Stopping his forces instead
of continuing with this plan made no sense, and ironically, is one of the things that
cost Adolf Hitler the war. Giving the Allies time to evacuate a large part of their forces
out of France meant that they could regroup and fight later in the war. If Hitler had
stuck to his Blitzkrieg plan at Dunkirk, it’s likely that the Nazis would have
defeated and captured an enormous amount of Allied soldiers, which would have made a
Nazi victory in Europe all but inevitable. Other than what happened at Dunkirk, Nazi forces
continued to use the Blitzkrieg tactic across France to break Allied lines. After Hitler
finally took Dunkirk by once again ordering his troops forward, he ordered his Panzer
divisions to proceed deeper into France, where they captured Paris and
dismantled the French government. On June 22, 1940, the Second Armistice at
Compiègne was signed. This divided France into two halves: the German-occupied north and the
Free Zone in the south. The new Vichy government was set up and led by a fascist named Marshal
Philippe Pétain. The new French State was run by a puppet government, and even though southern
France technically wasn’t occupied by Germany, Pétain would do anything Hitler asked
of him. It was at this point in history that Hitler's empire spanned from Poland
all the way across Europe to the Atlantic Ocean. The only two unoccupied countries
on the European continent were Switzerland and Sweden. Both of these nations claimed
they would remain neutral, and therefore, Hitler saw no rush to invade them as there
were much more pressing matters at hand. It’s worth noting that less than a year after
Nazi Germany declared war by invading Poland, it controlled a massive amount of land in
Europe. Spain and Portugal were both run by fascists who were in awe of Hitler’s
strength and would be left to their own devices for the time being. The Nazi’s
Blitzkrieg had left northern Europe’s landscape scared with craters and littered
with the ruins of what were once towns. It would take some time before things could be
rebuilt, but the only thing on Hitler's mind was ramping up his concentration camp program and
procuring the rest of Europe for his Third Reich. Just under a year after conquering France,
Adolf Hitler desperately needed to secure more resources to continue fueling his
military. However, there were pressing matters to attend to in southern Europe. Italy
had been a devout ally but pretty useless when it came to capturing Northern Africa and
keeping Allied forces in the region at bay. Hitler decided he needed to send help
to keep enemy forces from attacking Germany from the south. To do this, the Nazis needed
to gain control of a couple more countries. In April of 1941, Hitler launched an
air attack of epic proportions against Yugoslavia. Nazi forces had spent the past
several months dealing with uprisings and replacing their lost men and vehicles
from the Blitzkrieg through Europe. However, ever since the massive offensive into
France, things had been pretty quiet, until now. Panzer tanks pushed their way into Yugoslavia
from the north. Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria, who were all Nazi allies launched troops into
Yugoslavia from all sides. The Blitzkrieg tactic was used once again, and 12 days after the
invasion began, it was over. The swiftness of the victory mostly came about due to the
several Panzer divisions that were deployed in the region to smash through enemy lines just as
they had done in all of their previous victories. As the Nazis forced their way through
Yugoslavia, they also invaded Greece. Again this started with a bombardment from
the skies followed by a Panzer corps wedging themselves between Allied forces. It took until
the very end of April, but by the summer of 1941, Germany and its allies controlled
almost all of continental Europe. It had been just under two years since
Hitler started World War II and Europe was now in shambles. Every single country
that Germany attacked and occupied had been ravaged by the Blitzkreig style of fighting
and the subsequent extraction of resources and manpower by the Nazis to continue their
war effort. It was the superior weapons, vehicles, and tactics that allowed
Adolf Hitler to rewrite borders, decimate nations, and force multitudes
of people into serving his Third Reich. But he got greedy. Hitler wanted more, and the
only way he could get more was by invading the Soviet Union. This decision would lead to his
demise and the collapse of the Nazi Empire he had built. If Hitler had continued to use his
Lightening Warfare to control all of Europe and left the Soviets alone, there is a very real
possibility that everyone in Europe would be speaking German and Sieg Heiling the Nazi flag.
Luckily, Adolf Hitler made several mistakes, and the war dragged on for longer
than he had anticipated. However, there is no denying that it only took him
two short years to bring most of Europe to its knees, and this was all thanks to
Germany’s Blitzkrieg style of warfare. Now watch “Hitler's Plans for the World if He Won.” Or check out “What
Happened to Hitler's Body.”
