Word: took
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Dates: during 1930-1939
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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...
...those who were willing to back Hitler in a bluff and those who counseled delay. Brauchitsch kept mum, but when the purge came and Blomberg and Fritsch lost their jobs,* his good friend Reichenau recommended him to Hitler as the man to lead the Army. In February 1938, he took over its command, with the rank of Colonel General, and became a member of the Secret Cabinet Council created to advise Hitler on foreign policy...
...kind of warfare that 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...
...minutes. Destroyers nearby raced for the triumphant U-boat, "heavily attacked" it, believed they sank it. Rescue ships, including a U. S. freighter and a Dutch vessel, picked up perhaps half of the Courageous' company who were found singing and cheering in the water. The Admiralty took wry satisfaction from the fact that the carrier had aboard less than her full complement of 48 planes...