Blitzkrieg: In Their Own Words, First-Hand Accounts from German Soldiers, 1939-1940

by Heinz Guderian (Foreword)

The German campaigns in Poland and France in 1939 and 1940 ushered in a new era in warfare. The theory of blitzkrieg, lightning war, developed by Guderian and other German generals was put into devastating practice. Blitzkrieg is an oral history of those successful early Wehrmacht campaigns. The accounts of these soldiers give a unique, inside look at the workings of the Nazi war machine at the height of its success. The original book Panzers in Action was published in Germany during the war and has never before been translated into English. Until now.

Genres: History, World War II, Military Fiction, Nonfiction, Military History, European History, War

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1942

About the author

Military theorist and innovative General of the German Army during the Second World War.

Guderian is considered to be the brain behind the Blitzkrieg strategy and one of the leading tank warfare tacticians.

After the war, the allies failed to find any war crimes committed by Guderian.

Reviews

[Gary · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very unusual book. It is a compilation of short accounts from combat soldiers on the front line during campaigns in 1939 and 1940 – campaigns when the Wehrmacht (Nazi Germany’s armed forces) invaded Poland and then Luxembourg, France, The Netherlands (Holland) and Belgium. The book was published in 1942 – in the middle of the war at a time when Germany was still winning. The foreword was written by General Heinz Guderian, the ‘father’ of the panzers and modern blitzkrieg warfare. In case you don’t know, blitzkrieg means ‘lightning war’.

At that time in Germany, books will have been censored and/or selected for publication based on their content being acceptable to the ruling Nazi Party so, as you can imagine, the soldiers chosen to contribute are full of praise for Hitler, a ‘Greater Germany’ and the expansion of the Reich. They revel in their overwhelming of ‘the enemy’ (i.e. their neighbours), and gloat in their victories over forces unprepared and unable to resist, despite in many cases putting up a valiant and heroic fight to stop the overrunning of their countries. Naturally the attitudes come across as shocking to modern eyes and also put the lie to the claim after Germany had lost WWII that the soldiers were only following orders and didn’t believe in ‘Hitler’s war’. Having said that, I am sure some of them ‘bigged it up for the book’ and were not perhaps quite such raving Nazis as they suggest here.

So what we have here is a record from the inside of the early campaigns of WWII – and highly successful they were – what they did, how they did it, and the excellent cooperation between the infantry, artillery, tank forces and air force, which is really what made them win so decisively. Most of the chapters are short and describe a local action in detail, as well as how their officers were thinking and the orders they issued. It would have been useful, I think, if the British had had a few copies in 1940 because they would have learned a lot.

The book also has a selection of photographs of the Wehrmacht in action which add to the writing because some of them are particular to one of the accounts. This is a fascinating book, for historians, military enthusiasts and tacticians.

[Patrick Belair · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a book I stumbled upon during my searches of small stores that I frequent. It was interesting to read the accounts of front line soldiers talking about the thrill of war but also the horrors involved. That these soldiers think that the purpose is just shows the reader that this was a propaganda tool which it was, but I must admit that I found it refreshing to read about the respect that these soldiers had for the French troops that they incounter and to a small extent the Polish troops also. I've read many memoirs from the war and I found this very good.

[James Mace · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book mainly as research material for one of my next books, which will be about the Battle of Wizna, which took place in September 1939. Since I am writing about the Polish last stand against Nazi Germany, I felt it only right to tell it from both perspectives. I figured what better way than to read the first-hand accounts of the soldiers who fought in this campaign. Mind you, this was first published in 1942 and was used largely as a propoganda tool. Even so, I find that a number of the Wehrmacht soldiers are very candid about what happened during the first year of WWII, to include some of their own setbacks and losses.

I hope this will help me get into the mind of the Wehrmacht soldier and I would also like to find some first-hand accounts from Polish soldiers during the Defensive Campaign of 1939.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

As mentioned in my progress notes, this is an artifact of the times. Published in 1942 (one could assume before the Stalingrad debacle), this is part propaganda and part memoir. Some of it is battle detail, which may have meant more to civilians able to follow the action via their newspapers and better maps than the three in the bo0k. The most valuable material is not the recounting of battle details but rather the memoir material that explains what the troops experienced and endured during their lightning strike through France in May of 1940. The material is presented in chronological order -- Poland first, then the attack through Belgium and the drive to the English channel, and finally the drive behind the Maginot Line south to the Swiss border. Each document sounds like it did in fact come from a real soldier or medic. Some are only two or three pages; some are perhaps 12 pages long.

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good accounts at the unit level. Very little personal perspective, and the celebratory tone is to be expected of these early days. It does make you wonder how the views changed later in the war.