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ANYONE even casually acquainted with the history of the Second World War probably recognizes the word "blitzkrieg," or "lightning war," and associates it with a new method of fighting introduced by Nazi Germany in its attack on Poland in 1939. Typical descriptions include fifth column activity behind enemy lines, massive air strikes to disrupt the enemy's ability to fight back, armored thrusts, and the use of motorized artillery and infantry. This incorporates the strategical concept of a decisive blow to gain a quick victory as well as the tactical means to achieve it.
In recent years, historians have challenged this view, setting off a spirited debate involving the origin, nature, and exact meaning of blitzkrieg, which in turn has raised questions about the word itself.1 Beginning in the 1970s, some historians asserted that the term was neither of German origin nor in existence prior to World War II. Larry Addington was one of the first to argue that the expression did not appear in print until the 25 September 1939 issue of Time, in its feature story on the German invasion of Poland, implying that "blitzkrieg" was coined by Western journalists. Trevor N. Dupuy echoed this view in his 1978 work: "This lightninglike demonstration of military versatility, in a war totally unlike the trench warfare of World War I, led foreign correspondents to manufacture the descriptive term 'blitzkrieg' for an apparently new method of warfare."2 Similarly, John Keegan, at the beginning of "Chapter 3, The Triumph of the Blitzkrieg," in his book, The Second World War, offered the following:
Blitzkrieg-"lightning war"-is a German word but not known to the German army before 1939. A coining of Western newspapermen, it had been used to convey to their readers something of the speed and destructiveness of German ground-air operations in the three-week campaign against the ill-equipped and outnumbered Polish army.3
Not only was "blitzkrieg" considered a creation of Western journalists, but Christopher Bellamy mentioned that an American correspondent supplied Time with the word. Another source added a new twist by stating that an Italian observer first used "blitzkrieg" to describe the German attack on Poland. Matthew C. Cooper, furthermore, pointed out that German records do not employ the term "blitzkrieg" prior to the outbreak of hostilities in...