blitzkrieg

A fast military advance, from the German "lightning war". Utilizing the frightening weight and speed of the Panzer divisions, the German forces would penetrate enemy lines and head for objectives in the rear. Thus shattering supply lines and causing both physical and psychological damage to the enemy. German general Heinz Guderian organized the self-contained Panzer Divisions that carried out these maneuvers. They were often supported by the deadly Junkers 87 Stuka dive bombers.

Also a short lived 80s heavy metal band, whose eponymous anthem was covered by Metallica on their album Garage Inc.

Blitzkrieg, or lightning war, was designed to utilize German tanks (panzers) to spearhead attacks. It used the mobility and flexibilty of armor to rush through enemy lines. Before each attack, the German air force (Luftwaffe) would strafe and bomb enemy positions, then the panzer divisions would quickly rush the positions, leaving the enemy battered and confused. The mobilized infantry and accompanying artillery then would mop up the opposition. By using a continuously moving battle front, the Germans managed to surprise the enemy with the speed and firepower of the attack, hence "lightning war". By striking deep they isolated enemy divisions on the front and left them seperated, hence easily mopped up by the infantry following along. France and the Low Countries fell to Germany in quick fashion, unable to defend against the mobility of the German army.

German army divisions were specially tailored for this type of offensive manuever. Each panzer division leading the attack had its companion mobilized infantry and artillery, equipped with bridge-building equipment to raid deep into enemy territories to cut supply lines. The failure of Operation Barbarossa was due to the slowing of the panzers, defeating the concept of blitzkrieg, by the heavy Russian winter and the overextension of the German's own supply lines. Moscow would have fallen if the operation was launched two or three weeks earlier.

One of CMW's primary products had been the Hollander, a 'Mech disliked by many members of the Lyran Alliance Armed Forces. Critics cited its lack of secondary weapons, poor speed, light armor, and inherent instability as weaknesses that, though minor when considered individually, combined to make the Hollander ineffective when facing Clan forces head-on. The critics were vindicated by the weak performance of the Hollanders defending the plant against Clan Jade Falcon attackers during the Battle of Coventry.

Salvage claimed from that battle provided the spark for a new design based on the Hollander. Among the salvage pulled from wrecked Clan 'Mechs were a number of intact Clan autocannons, including an Ultra-20 class weapon in perfect condition. This rare item, combined with recent technological exchanges with the Free Worlds League, allowed scientists at Defiance Industries to develop a working Ultra-20 autocannon for full-scale production. First used on the upgraded Demolisher heavy tank, the weapon would soon see use in a radical new BattleMech, the Blitzkrieg.

The BTZ-3F Blitzkrieg addresses almost every pilot complaint about the Hollander. First and foremost, a massive 350 XL engine drives the 'Mech's 50-ton frame at speeds of more than 100 kph, allowing the 'Mech to outflank all but the fastest opponents. This speed is vital, because the Defiance Thunder Ultra-20 Autocannon - the Blitzkrieg's only weapon - has only half the effective range of the Hollander's Gauss rifle. However, with a potential damage curve more than twice that of the Gauss rifle, the autocannon can slice target 'Mechs in half in a matter of seconds, especially if the Blitzkrieg circles behind its target to hit the rear armor.

The Blitzkrieg is also tougher than its predecessor, with a stronger chassis and almost twice the armor protection. Combined with its high speed, this makes the newer 'Mech much more likely to survive contact with the enemy. Designers were also careful about the placement of the huge cannon on the 'Mech's frame. By placing counterweights and ammo feeds to the right of the weapon, designers ensured proper balance on uneven terrain.

Despite these improvements, the Blitzkrieg has only a single weapon system. and when it runs out of ammunition (which it tends to do very quickly), it must retreat behind friendly lines for resupply. Given its other design advances, however, the need to resupply is a minor weakness in an otherwise devastating fast-strike 'Mech.

Because of cost overruns and other delays, the Blitzkrieg is still not in full-scale production. A lance of the new 'Mechs has been shipped to the Twenty-fourth Arcturan Guards on Barcelona for field testing. Full-scale production is due to begin in 3061. The Free Worlds League will have the option of purchasing up to 25 percent of all Blitzkriegs manufactured on Coventry.

The success of the german blitzkrieg relied heavily on the country to be invaded, and the weather situation. To be short: The Polish blitzkrieg was successfull because Poland had at the time dry roads, dry weather and a completely unprepared and obsolete military. The invasion took about 20 - 30 days. The french blitkrieg relied on the fairly good french roads and the aboundance of petrolstations. Yes, petrolstations. German tanks were a masterpiece of logistics as they ran on regular petrol. It meant that the german tanks could be resupplied at nearly every point during the invasion. The french tanks however, needed the more conventional airfuel to run. In effect, many of the french tanks ran out of fuel before they reached the front. The invasion was over in about 40 days.

The Russian blitzkrieg failed much because the roads were wet and soon became a hopeless mire the tanks could not hope to traverse. In addition the german troops were ill prepared for the Russian winters and many died from the chill. The invasion finally ended after about 1000 days.

German, "lightning war". A strategy based on an attack or attacks on a narrow front (the Schwerpunkt) using armoured and mechanized forces with strong tactical air aupport, with the intention of breaking through deep into the enemy's rear, bypassing defensive strongpoints and major troop concentrations (to be isolated and mopped up later by slower moving second-line forces) and disrupting communications for outflanked elements of the defending forces.

Although the desirability of breaching the enemy's front line and exploiting to their rear is as old as warfare itself, and the idea was certainly not discouraged by the initial success of the Ludendorff Offensive, the German's last successes in 1918, the doctrine of blitzkrieg, proprement dit, was a relatively short-lived one, depending as it did on the near-invulnerability of tanks facing infantry without heavy weapons; this came to an end with the development of portable anti-tank weapons such as the Panzerfaust and the bazooka in 1942 or so. It can really only be applied to three major campaigns by German forces: the invasion of Poland in 1939, the invasion of France and the Low Countries in 1940, and Operation Barbarossa in 1941. The other campaigns of the same period, in Norway and the Balkans, where the terrain was less tank-friendly, were rather more traditional infantry-based affairs.

The material requirements for a successful blitzkrieg attack were

• Local superiority - in both quantity and quality - in armoured and motorized forces. That doesn't just mean bigger and more heavily armed tanks (the Germans only moved onto that later in the war) - mechanical reliability and rapid availability of spares was also vital
• Operational flexibility - the ability to reorganise units and improvise to deal with situations as they happened. This was a strong traditional cultural feature of the German army.
• Air superiority. This was a vital aspect not merely for direct air support for attacks, but as a way of disrupting enemy communications - supplies and strategic movement - but also in order to protect the attackers' own fast-extending supply lines against attack. The Germans had invested considerably in mobile anti-aircraft guns and were able to protect vital supply routes as soon as they had been captured.
• A bad reputation amongst civilian populations. People fleeing the advancing Germans caused logistical problems for the defenders, blocking roads along which badly placed defenders might redeploy and, for the neutral countries which were invaded, making rapid mobilisation of reserves still more difficult.
• Weak, disorganised or badly handled opposition. The badly equipped Polish army was simply outclassed; the neutral status of Belgium and Holland meant that the French and the BEF were unable to deploy into those countries before the German attack, resulting in lack of coordination between the four armies, ending up with forces overcommitted towards the northern end of the front (where they in fact fought with reasonable success against the northern prong of the Panzer offensive before being outflanked and cut off). The Russian army, although large, had been hamstrung by Stalin's systematic purging of the officer class in the late 1930s.
• Fine weather - advances on a narrow front could not afford to become bogged down by sticky roads or blocked by swollen rivers, while good visibility was vital for air operations.
• Luck.

Although the German attack on France and the Low Countries in May 1940 seem like genius in retrospect, this was not universally held at the time, even among the participants. The drive through the Ardennes to the sea was conducted to the sound of desperate pleas from the commanders of the Panzer units to stop and regroup, allow the fuel and ammunition to catch up with them and, most of all, to secure the extremely exposed flanks of a 200 kilometer long salient, which nearly succumbed to a fairly weak British counterattack at Arras even as the Panzers were in sight of the sea; had the British and French managed to coordinate something a little more substantial, or had the Germans not had the foresight to equip their 88 mm flak guns with ammunition for ground use, the careers of Rommel and Guderian might well have ended up running out of fuel and ammunition in a pocket at Dunkirk, rather than forcing the Allies into the sea there.

The term was abbreviated to "blitz" which entered English both to refer to the aerial bombardment of London in 1940-41 - actually a static bombardment, quite different - and as a verb for any sudden overwhelming attack.

A chess match with extremely short time limits on the players, so that moves have to be made almost immediately.