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Deighton, author of SS-GB and other thrillers, turns to history again with this companion piece to his own, more dramatic Fighter (1977). Paralleling that chronicle of the Battle of Britain, Blitzkrieg works its way from Germany's defeat in 1918 to the application of ""lightning war"" strategy in the opening rounds of World War II. At first glance, there seems to be little new here, almost nothing that couldn't be gleaned from reading William Shirer. One possibility, however, is to take this as a warning: the debacle on the Continent in May 1940 resulted more from the psychological unpreparedness of the Allies than from the genius of Hitler's Blitzkrieg specialist, Heinz Guderian. Deighton repeats what we already know--that the Allies were actually stronger in terms of armor than the Germans, but had been trained for slow-motion, set-piece battles. This ""Maginot Line complex"" prevented the French and English from concentrating forces rapidly enough to blunt German thrusts in the Ardennes and, later, at Sedan. Deighton writes that Guderian, ""whose knowledge of mechanized warfare exceeded that of any man in the world,"" had welded the Wehrmacht into a highly mobile force that could advance as fast as its combat engineers could replace demolished bridges; that the ""Creator of the Blitzkrieg"" trained his men in forced route marches and then used only his most seasoned troops against the Western Allies; finally, that the Luftwaffe (under the command of Goering) provided a constant air umbrella for the swift-moving panzer columns. ""The defeat of the Allies on the Continent in 1940 was a failure of communication and command,"" the author concludes. Irony of ironies, Guderian's opening rounds could have ended the fight for England, but Hitler threw away the fruits of this incredible upset win by letting the 300,000-man British Expeditionary Force escape at Dunkirk. There is little evidence of original research here, and less of the Deighton snap than usual; but the conjunction of his name and today's crises probably won't make an audience hard to scare up.
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Subjects
Campaigns, World War, 1939-1945, History, World War (1939-1945) fast (OCoLC)fst01180924, Lightning war, World war, 1939-1945, germany, Hitler, adolf, 1889-1945, Germany, history, 1933-1945, World war, 1939-1945, aerial operations, germanPeople
Adolf Hitler (1889-1945)Places
GermanyTimes
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Blitzkrieg: From the Rise of Hitler to the Fall of Dunkirk
February 27, 2007, Pimlico
Paperback
in English
- New Ed edition
1844139352 9781844139354
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02
Blitzkrieg: From the Rise of Hitler to the Fall of Dunkirk
May 2000, Book Sales
Hardcover
in English
- New Ed edition
0785812075 9780785812074
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03
Blitzkrieg: from the rise of Hitler to the fall of Dunkirk
1996, Pimlico
in English
0712674284 9780712674287
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04
Blitzkrieg: From the Rise of Hitler to the Fall of Dunkirk
September 1994, Harpercollins (Mm)
in English
0061008036 9780061008030
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05
Blitzkrieg: From the Rise of Hitler to the Fall of Dunkirk
September 1994, Harpercollins (Mm)
Paperback
in English
0061008036 9780061008030
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06
BLITZKRIEG: FROM THE RISE OF HITLER TO THE FALL OF DUNKIRK
1993, JONATHAN CAPE
in English
0224037781 9780224037785
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07
Blitzkrieg: from the rise of Hitler to the fall of Dunkirk
1990, Grafton
in English
0586210938 9780586210932
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08
Blitzkrieg: from the rise of Hitler to the fall of Dunkirk.
1987, Grafton Books
in English
- Silver Jubilee ed.
0586074112 9780586074114
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10
Blitzkrieg: From the Rise of Hitler to the Fall of Dunkirk
1982, Ballantine Books
in English
- 1st Ballantine Books ed.
0345294262 9780345294265
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11
Blitzkrieg: From the Rise of Hitler to the Fall of Dunkirk
1981, Grafton
Paperback
0586052070 9780586052075
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12
Blitzkrieg: from the rise of Hitler to the fall of Dunkirk
1980, Knopf : distributed by Random House
in English
- 1st American ed.
0394510208 9780394510200
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Book Details
Edition Notes
Includes index.
Bibliography: p. [277]-284.
The Physical Object
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