Word: brauchitsch
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With the western frontier fortified, Brauchitsch could plan his attack, and the form it took was as old as warfare itself. Only the materials and the name were new. Blitzkrieg, in its simplest terms, is merely a war of movement, as opposed to a war of position, carried out with the fastest units available. Before World War I it was cavalry that flanked enemy positions, cut off communications, destroyed supplies. In both the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 and the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 the Germans won their decisive battles within six weeks after hostilities began...
Just before the Anschluss, General Brauchitsch is supposed to have told Adolf Hitler: "Mein Führer, if you want to use the Army to support a bluff by military pressure, you can depend on us. For more serious business, we are not yet ready." A few days later he had taken over command of the Austrian Army. In September 1938, he said the same thing in almost the same words-and marched into the Sudetenland at the head of the German troops. He occupied Bohemia and Moravia last spring, but still the Army was not ready. Last month...
...Germany is now waging, preparations are twofold, and the first preparation is defense. Without its Westwall, where a major battle was in progress last week (see p. 28), Germany might have been overrun almost as fast as it overran Poland. As soon as he took command of the Army, Brauchitsch began pressing for the completion of the fortifications in the West. Not until the Westwall was completed could Germany strike in the East. Hitler observed: "It will make the French Army a prisoner in France...
Douhet believed that early control of the air is essential for quick victory. This was proved in Spain, where Germany tested many theories and where Franco took two years to get control of the air, then won hands down. By 1937, when General Brauchitsch took command at Leipzig, it was already pretty clear that to deliver a lightning blow Germany needed not only a superlative air force, but plenty of motorized strength...
...Leipzig, and later as Commander in Chief, Brauchitsch concentrated on building up the armored motor divisions of the Army. In 1937 Germany had only two such divisions. By September 1 of this year she had six, each with an average strength of 13,000 men, besides a fleet of 8,000 tanks capable of going 18-20 m.p.h. It was this force that swept through Poland with such devastating fury...