Otherwise, the tide could not be turned and the Allied forces were in disarray.
Millions of civilians were caught up in the fighting.Īn Allied counterattack at Arras was briefly successful but failed because it had insufficient forces behind it. Unless an effective counterattack could be made, the only escape for Allied forces was by sea, through the ports of Boulogne, Calais, Dunkirk and Ostend. The pincer movement trapped Dutch, French, Belgian and British forces between the two German army groups and proceeded to squeeze them into an ever-decreasing pocket in northern France and Belgium, against the coast. With no strategic Allied reserve or counterattack of any strength to stop them, German advance forces reached the English Channel near Abbeville, at the mouth of the river Somme, just a week later. The attack punched through the defending French forces and proceeded to race across northern France, causing confusion and disarray. The close coordination of German air and ground forces, to produce maximum destructive firepower, was also significant. Superior German communications aided this style of warfare – even the smallest field units were equipped with radios that allowed them to move and react faster than the Allies. However, the Allies were so outmanoeuvred and confused that they were unable to act in unison, allowing the Germans to surround and destroy them piecemeal, or cause continuous retreat. The inherent risk was that Allied forces might cut through the extending German lines of communication. The key element of Blitzkrieg was disorientation, to stop the enemy from reorganising and counterattacking.
This was quickly followed by more attacks from fast-moving tanks, artillery, infantry and aircraft, with the aim of surrounding enemy troops in a zone or Kessel (cauldron), causing their destruction or surrender. Blitzkrieg, or ‘lightning war’, involved striking with overwhelming force in a crucial location (the Schwerpunkt, or ‘centre of gravity’). The German attack on north-west Europe used risky but well thought out tactics.
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