What is Blitzkrieg? Blitzkrieg is a German name for a strategic attack used on many countries during World War 2. I.E. Poland, Norway, Netherlands and Belgium. In German this means lightning war. Poland was attacked on the 1st of September by the Nazis using Blitzkrieg and were completely caught by surprise. This devastating type of warfare that caused terror and confusion could wipe out an entire army in a matter of months.
Polish men go to fight the German forces.
Soviet Invasion from the East
Before the war started, Adolf Hitler made a secret pact with Soviet Union leader Josef Stalin to agree not to attack each other. Gullibly, Stalin agreed but he hadn't realised that it was just a blatant lie. When Nazi Germany invaded Poland from the west in 1939, Stalin ordered his soldiers to aid the Germans campaign, to get his fair share of Poland, by coming in from the east therefore squashing the remaining Polish troops. Havoc spread through the lines of the Poles as they started to realise that they were never going to come near the winning side.
This video is showing the effects of the blitzkrieg attack on Poland from the Nazi view, Russian view and Polish view.
What was used in Blitzkrieg? The Germans used Panzer tanks and Junker 87 Stuckas which were dive-bombers. The Stucka had a terrifying siren that struck terror into opposing soldiers hearts. When attacking Poland, the Germans had 11 tank divisions to the Polish 1 tank division. The Germans had 40 infantry divisions to the 3o of Poland. The Poles had no motorised divisions to the four German divisions. Although the Polish had 11 cavalry divisions to the 1 of Germany.