Blitzkrieg—Lightning War

In May 1940, the British army was in ruins at the beach of Dunkirk. Hundreds of thousands of men scrambling to escape the German bombers swirling overhead. It was a picture of complete chaos. The Allied forces on the brink of catastrophe.

The German forces had invaded France and advanced at terrifying speeds. Covering over 120 miles in just five days, which as per the calculations of the Allied forces should have taken them weeks.

Thus, a new war doctrine was introduced—Blitzkrieg. Lightning war.

The idea behind this warfare was to create psychological shock and disorientation by employing surprise and speed. And win without actually fighting. How do you do this? You identify the weak points of the enemy, you quickly break through their ranks and you disrupt the enemy within their ranks. Before the enemy even realizes what is happening, you are on to your next assault. You defeat by dislocation and not by destruction.

It has been widely accepted that the principles of Blitzkrieg can be applied to business. While there are several dimensions to it, the two most important factors are:

Speed of movement

The idea is to keep moving and don't stop. Don't get entangled in battles of attrition. It will only deplete your resources and make you lose momentum.

Speed of decision making

It is imperative to act quickly, flexibly, and adapt wherever required. This is where delegation of authority comes in. Junior German commanders were empowered to make big decisions, which enabled the German forces to alter their plans wherever needed. German forces were making decisions in minutes, where French forces were taking days.

Despite being outnumbered and ill-equipped, German forces were able to outfight the Allied forces and cause a total collapse of the Allied resistance. They achieved within weeks what they were not able to achieve through four years of desperate fighting during World War I.