Germany's strategy of warfare in the beginning of World War II

Germany's strategy of warfare in the beginning of World War II

The purpose of this paper is to show that during World War II German leaders did not modify their strategy when the success of the Allied air offensive became manifest, and that their failure to change strategy was a major reason Germany was totally defeated.

First, this paper will describe the two main legs of the over-all German World War II strategy. The two main components were to fight on one front at a time and to fight quick, but intensive offensive campaigns. Then, the paper will demonstrate the German war strategy was consciously changed after it proved ineffective on the Russian front. Third, the paper will explain that the Allied air offensive became the Second Front against Germany long before the 1944 Allied invasion of France. At that point, the paper will show that German leader's failure to anticipate the impact of the Allied air offensive and failure to modify German strategy were major reasons why Germany was finally defeated.

The German Strategy

The overall German strategy in World War II sprang from their autocratic leader, Adolf Hitler, who made all major German decisions.1 Of course, Germany, led by Hitler, was the aggressor. Hitler took the initiative in the beginning of the war, and in the first years of World War II in Europe, he picked the time and the place of the attacks.

Hitler was careful to avoid conflicts on more than one front at a time as he wanted to reduce the amount of resistance his forces would face. Before the war, in his book Mein Kampf, Hitler wrote that Germany should not make the mistake of “making an enemy of the whole world” but that Germany must “recognize the most dangerous enemy” and then “hit him hard with her full concentrated power…” Hitler told his generals several times that the main mistake Germany made in World War One was allowing “the development of a two-front war” and he promised them he would not make that mistake.

Hitler was careful to avoid a potential conflict on two fronts even before his invasion of Poland. For example, in the early 1930's Hitler calculated that Russia comprised a strong potential foe to Poland and therefore Poland would not attack Germany. Nonetheless, in 1934, for added insurance, he negotiated a ten year peace treaty with Poland.6 With little to fear from an attack from the east, the next year he turned his attention westward. He abrogated the military limitations on Germany and in 1936 he occupied the Rhineland. In August, 1939, Germany and Russia signed a non-aggression pact which insulated Germany, to some extent, from the likelihood of an immediate attack from Russia. Concurrently with this, Hitler reinforced the Siegried line of fortifications along the western border of Germany.

Germany had little reason to fear significant military action on its western borders as both France and Britain had clearly demonstrated in the 1930s they ...