Blitzkrieg

Historical News Reports and Speeches (1940)

Blitzkrieg is a military tactic loosely translated as "Flash war or "Lightning War which employs an offensive high-tech bombardment followed by swift ground forces in vehicles attacking with speed before an enemy can engage in defensive measures.  The Germans first wrote about this method in military Journal "Deutsche Wehr" in 1935 but it was developed as early as the end of WWI conjunction with the Soviet Union.  This war making policy depended on shocking the enemy to reduce their communications, morale, logistics and general infrastructure. 

In general, this warfare method increased civilian causalities and used to cause panic among the general population.  This modern use of warfare developed by the German Heinz Wilhelm Guderian was first used by German volunteers to assist the fascist Franco regime in the Spanish Civil war most notably in the bombing of the Spanish town of Guernica and the atrocious aftermath depicted in Pablo Picasso's Guernica painting.  Guderian once wrote that "Success must be exploited without respite and with every ounce of strength, even by night. The defeated enemy must be given no peace."

Blitzkrieg is often used synonymously in America with the German invasion of Poland in September 1939 after a Time Magazine article written on September 25, 1939 dubbed the invasion as "no war of occupation, but a war of quick penetration and obliteration—Blitzkrieg, lightning war.  This invasion occurred a week after the signing of the secret Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact which insured that both Germany and the Soviet Union would occupy the entirety of Poland.  The German forces invaded Poland from the north, south, and west forcing them to withdraw east where the Soviet Forces invaded.  The Germans utilized modern warfare machinery like aircraft in the Luftwaffe which targeted civilians, transportation, and infrastructure.

Polish soldiers and nationals fled to neutral Romania and in one month German and Soviet troops completely occupied Poland with the cost of about 150,000 Polish civilians; 680,000 Polish Prisoners of War; and 5,000 German Troops.  The invasion of Poland led to Britain and France to declare war on Germany on September 3, 1939 which commenced WWII. 

This collection includes news reports and speeches on the german invasion across Europe as the atrocities unfolded.

For more WWII radio shows, see also Adolf Hitler recordings.