The Blitzkrieg was one of the most powerful weapons in World War II. Hitler used it to quickly defeat whole countries in a matter of weeks, before any defenses could even be thought of, much less deployed. Poland, Norway, and Belgium all fell before Britain had time to defend them. Later on, after D-Day, when the allies had massed great amounts of troops and combat weapons in France, the allies started there own blitzkrieg which quickly pushed the Germans back to the Rhine River at a rate of 40 miles per day. The blitzkrieg at the beginning of the war doomed Hitler at the end. Blitzkrieg tactics gave Hitler an overwhelming amount of confidence that made him send troops out ill prepared for long battles, and it cost him greatly. Also, with blitzkrieg, Hitler gained territory too fast in the beginning to set up ample defenses, which left huge, undefended gaps in his territory ultimately leading to his defeat.Blitzkrieg, or Lightning Warfare, was perfected by the Germans between World War I and World War II. Blitzkrieg used tanks and combat vehicles, along with air support, to quickly over run countries before defenses could be set up, completely eliminating trench warfare. Hitler first started his Blitzkrieg warfare on August 31, 1939 when he attacked Poland. The sudden unexpected attack left Poland struggling to put up a defense, but they were overran before they could get their army mobilized, and before Britain or France had a chance to send troops for a counter attack. Poland had fallen in less than four weeks. Next on Hitler's list was Denmark and Norway. Using blitzkrieg tactics along with a new never before seen weapon, paratroopers, Denmark and Norway fell in only a few weeks. The paratroopers took over airfields while the stunned Denmark and Norwegian troops stood awestruck putting up little to no resistance. The paratroopers then held the airfields until cargo planes of infantry could land and make the airfield t...
