Monday, April 18, 2011

Heinz Guderian: “French Leadership...Could Not Grasp the Significance of the Tank in Mobile Warfare”

Main Idea: Guderian criticizes French war tactics and hesitance to invest in armored vehicles, and proposes that Germany capitalize on their armored advantage.


The true importance of tanks was proved by the fact that the Versailles Treaty forbade Germany the possession of construction of armored vehicles implying that they were a dangerous weapon


Despite their access to tanks during WWI the allies were too preoccupied with positional warfare


in 1940, France decides to use its defense budget to build the Maginot Line rather than build up its mobile forces


French soldiers were trained is such a way that careful movement and planned measures for attack or for defense could be based on definite, pre-arranged circumstances


This mania for planned control reduced the effectiveness of tank warfare


Guderian disagrees with these French tactics


He estimates that the French could not conceive of Germany approaching the war in any other way than the old Schlieffen Plan


Guderian could tell by French confidence in defense that they were not excited about a war


Guderian believed that Germany should lead an attack with strong armored forces through Sedan and Amiens with the Atlantic coast as its objective

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