November and December 1939, Hitler appears to have been conceiving his armament programme, not around a brilliant vision of Blitzkrieg, but in relation to the army’s first draft plan for the invasion of France. As we have seen, this foresaw not a sweeping war of manoeuvre, but a bludgeoning drive to the Channel, followed by an aerial bombardment of Britain. If there was to be a lightning blow, it would be delivered by the Luftwaffe against the British home front, not on the battlefields of Flanders.
