An offensive warfare method designed to be quick, relatively easy and mobile, along a narrow front. The mobile aspect of this method means it utilises air support, tanks, motorised artillery and dive bombers. 

This was employed by the Germans in WW2 in 1939 with the aim of avoiding a long war

By the 29th Poland had been partitioned by the Soviet Union and Germany. 

At Alamein, he commanded over 190,000 men from across the British Empire, Greece, Poland and France. They were equipped with over 1,000 tanks, 900 artillery pieces and 1,400 anti-tank guns.

The raids had a limited impact on the morale of the German population as Nazi propaganda tended to downplay their destruction and the number of deaths. The raids boosted German morale. However, the citizens of Germany developed a hatred towards the Nazi regime.

Wake’s resistance had begun in 1933. While working as a freelancer for a Parisian newspaper, the Australian expatriate was asked to travel to Vienna to interview the new German Chancellor – a man named Adolf Hitler. In Vienna, Wake witnessed firsthand the horrific treatment of Jewish men and women at the hands of devoted Hitler followers. 

In 1940, the Nazis invaded Belgium, the Netherlands, and France. Rather than leave her home, Wake remained in Paris and joined the French Resistance with her husband, Henri Fiocca. For two years they worked as couriers for the resistance, later becoming part of an escape network to get downed Allied soldiers back to safety. The Gestapo knew of the resistance occurring and were working tirelessly to stop it, searching Wake’s mail and staking out her home.

Eventually, it became too dangerous for Nancy Wake to continue her work from inside France’s borders. Leaving Fiocca behind to continue their work from Paris, she planned to travel to Britain. Shortly after she departed, her husband was captured and tortured for information on her whereabouts, but he kept her secret – which eventually cost him his life. Wake didn’t learn of Fiocca’s death until after the war was over.

On her way to Britain, Wake earned her nickname of the White Mouse as she evaded capture by SS guards and Gestapo officers several times. She would later remark on her tactics, which usually consisted of flirting or talking her way out of precarious situations.

“A little powder and a little drink on the way, and I’d pass their (German) posts and wink and say, ‘Do you want to search me?'” 

When she was caught on a train outside of Toulouse, she claimed she had to be let go because she was the mistress of one of the guards and that she had to conceal her identity from her husband. The German guards let her go, and she eventually escaped through the Pyrenees into Spain, and later into Britain.

Once in Britain, Nancy Wake joined the Special Operatives Executives and was trained in several combat and intelligence programs.

Before long she was a high ranking officer for the SOE in charge of organizing and allocating arms to 7,500 men. She herself led several attacks on the Gestapo in Montluçon and at one point offered to personally execute a German spy that her men were too scared to kill themselves.

Throughout the war, Nancy Wake saved thousands of lives, most notably those of her Maquis comrades. She was awarded the Medal of Freedom by the United States, The Medaille de la Resistance and the Croix de Guerre from France, and countless other honors from European nations.

Her fellow Resistance officer Henri Tardivat said:
“She is the most feminine woman I know, until the fighting starts. Then, she is like five men.”

·       Seventeen panzer divisions, formed into four Panzer Groups, formed the vanguard with 3,400 tanks. They were supported by 2,700 aircraft of the Luftwaffe. It was the largest invasion force to date.

·       The Germans quickly established air superiority. On the first day alone 1,800 Soviet aircraft were destroyed, most of them on the ground.

·       Russian forces in this sector were thinly spread and the panzers covered 500 miles in three weeks. By mid-July they were only 60 miles from their objective of taking Moscow.

·        Despite being so close, Hitler decided to halt the advance on Moscow and reinforce Army Groups North and South, against the will of his generals. The panzers were only 220 miles from Moscow. But Hitler regarded the resource-rich Ukraine as more important. On 21 August he ordered that the conquest of the Crimea and the Donets Basin be given priority.

·       By the end of September, Kiev had fallen and over 650,000 Russian troops killed or captured. Another German success. 

·       Hitler now decided to resume the battle for Moscow. On 2 October he unleashed Operation 'Typhoon'. He believed the Russians had been fatally weakened and lacked the strength to defend their capital

·    The initial assault was a success. The panzer divisions stormed ahead and over 600,000 Russian soldiers were captured in two more huge encirclements near the cities of Bryansk and Vyazma. The Russians were down to about 90,000 men. But as they reached the approaches to Moscow, the German formations slowed down.

·       In mid-November, the Nazis tried one more push. The northern German pincer was the most successful and got within 12 miles of the city.

·       On 5 December the Soviets launched a surprise counter-offensive. The Germans were forced into a retreat despite Hitler's orders.

·       Reasons for failure included: Russian tank superiority, German intelligence failures, impact of Hitlers involvement and the successful Soviet resistance