A fascinating study of the devastating new form of warfare that redrew the map of Europe in the opening year of World War II, bringing about the military collapse of three modern industrialized armies. 
 
 On 1 September 1939, Nazi Germany launched the invasion of Poland, employing a new type of offensive
 
 warfare: Blitzkrieg. So named by Allied observers because of the shock and rapidity of its effects, this new
 
 approach was based on speed, manoeuvrability and concentration of firepower. The strategy saw startling
 
 success as the panzer divisions, supported by Stuka dive-bombers, spread terror and mayhem, reaching
 
 Warsaw in just one week. Aided by the intervention of the Soviet Union in the east, the campaign was over
 
 in a mere 36 days.
 
 This astonishing feat was followed by Operation Weser'bung, the invasion of Denmark and then Norway in
 
 1940, the first joint air-sea-land campaign in the history of warfare. Even more striking an achievement was
 
 the swift and conclusive defeat of France during May'June 1940. Refusing to let its forces dash themselves
 
 against the fortifications of the Maginot Line, Germany instead sent its divisions through neutral Belgium
 
 and northern France in Fall Gelb ('Case Yellow'), destroying Allied resistance and pursuing the remnant of
 
 the British and French forces to Dunkirk in an audacious and devastatingly effective assault. During the
 
 course of Fall Rot ('Case Red') over the following 20 days, German forces pressed the attack and by 25 June
 
 had forced France's leaders into a humiliating capitulation.
 
 Illustrated throughout with detailed maps, artwork and contemporary photographs, Blitzkrieg: The
 
 Invasion of Poland to the Fall of France tells the story of these first breakneck attacks, examining the armed
 
 forces, leaders, technology, planning and execution in each campaign as well as the challenges faced by the
 
 Germans in the pursuit of this new and deadly form of warfare.