Russian Blitzkrieg

[Zhukov]

Reading up on my history, I learned that the Japanese Imperial Army planed to invade the Soviet Siberian region of Amur. Major cities in the region include Vladivostok and Nakhodka. But before the Japanese could invade, the Red Army led by Georgi Zhukov crossed the border and whipped the s**t out of the Japanese army in tactics identical to the German Blitzkrieg. After 2 weeks of such skirmishes, the Japanese pleaded for a ceasefire. The interesting thing about the short little war is that it took place 1 month before the German invasion of Poland, when the Germans supposedly unveiled Blitzkrieg "Lightning War." How could the Germans be the originators of the tactics when Zhukov was the first to use them?

[Comie-Kazie]

thats very interesting...

[ww2enthusiast]

Zhukov might have een the first to use them,but the idea of mass strike operations came from Tukachevsky before he was purged..

[PavelFromMoscow]

About that war you mentioned: Are you talking about the battle near Khalhin-Gol? But thats completely different story: the Japanese launched an offensive against the People`s Republic of Mongolia - soviet ally - and Zhukov, according to the terms of the treaty, came to help and soviet troops, stationed in Mongolia, attacked the japanese army. You see, thats very different from the german invasion because that was a defensive operation not an aggresive one. As far as I know, Soviet troops didn`t invade Japan, they only kicked japanese butt in Mongolia, but achieved nothing more than that unlike germans who conquered Poland.
About the invention of Blitzkrieg: if my memory serves me right, German tactician Shliffen(sp?),head of the german military in 1891-1905 and his follower Moltke jr. were the first ones to come up with such an idea, not Tukhachevsky. That was before WWI (not WWII). Germans planned to defeat french army quickly, like they did in WWII during a blitzkrieg, so that they would be able to move their divisions on the eastern front.

[grapeape]

Howdy guys from Texas!

I am happy to contribute here. The German form of Blitzkrieg was started by a gentleman named Hienz Gudarian. This is the name of his tactics specifically and is often mistaken for other forms of mobile warfare. I will attempt to summarize them here.

Gudarian was of all things a signals officer before WWII. Most people think that members from different sections of the army came up with this concept but it is not true. He realized that one could move tanks around the battlefield to put as much firepower in one place as possible. He realized that the concentration of fire power in key points is what won battles. Not the traditional method of saturation over wide areas. Many strategists over the centuries realized to concentrate firepower but not the way he did. He also used several new weapons in mass. He integrated dive bombing widely. He insisted that the infantry be motorized. He also advocated the use of paratroopers that were newly developed by the Russians.

He combined the new weapons into one cohesive tactical doctrine. He first started by identifying the fixed parts of the battle field like bunkers and pill boxes. These would be targeted for the first artillery and dive bombers. These two waves would go in and knock them out completely. While he was doing this he would move his tanks with the help of the new radio and the motorized troops would follow behind. These would be followed by the rest of the army who would secure the area.

The world was stunned by this development but not Zhukov or the Americans. They both realized that if you kept your Artillery mobile and kept plenty of planes in the air that the Germans were too close together when attacking and were venerable. That is why artillery played such a huge part both countries doctrine. But that is another thread.

[leprechaun]

The tactic of fast and massive atack whas around for centuries, it was just the scale of German invasion that made it so famous