Ryan Low

Executive Summary
                                                                                                        Germany's Push Into Western Europe May 1940

    The German Blitzkrieg has become Infamous military History. We are all familiar with the "speed" of this style offensive, this essay however will go much deeper than just speed, it will involve military tactics, relations to game theory and employment of allocated troop resources. The idea of a simple international system at this point in time (pre-May 1940) is a mistake, in all of the pre-play communications the memories of WWI are present. This can be exemplified best by the French's construction of the Maginot Line, a huge undertaking that eventually was one continuous fortification along the border with Germany, with the thinking that the Germans would never dare go through the Ardene Forest. The Germans knowing this simply went through the Ardene Forest with 1,500 tanks and hundreds of thousands of infantry troops. This was a classic matching pennies game where the French thought that the Germans would invade over the Franco-Belgium border, when in fact they came through the Ardene's. This game is very much similar to the Normandy game that the allies played with the axis. Further themes that will be discussed is the use of Tank related tactics, that is, having the infantry support the tanks instead of the other way around. Finally, the German blunder of Dunkirk will be discussed that was overlooked in the German planning phases that allowed 300,000 allied troops to be evacuated to Britain. Further themes to be discussed are the relationship Germany had with Russia leading up to the Western European invasion in May 1940.