Even though millions of French troops were manning the defensive Maginot Line in early 1940, Hitler's brilliant blitzkrieg strategy caught the Allies by surprise, and Germany occupied France ...

This period is often called the ‘Phoney War’. The German tactic of Blitzkrieg, using air power, armoured tanks and a combination of brute force, speed and surprise was extremely difficult to ...

In 1939, the German army had similarly overcome Polish forces. During World War II, the European press coined “Blitzkrieg” (lightning war) for the seemingly unstoppable German advance.