Graehame
Banned
It is disturbing to see that contributors to this site predominantly consider to be orthodox the views (1) that Guderian was not primarily responsible for the creation of the German armoured force in WW2, & (2) that Guderian was a liar who fabricated many of his recollections of the war.
When I google the name "Guderian", leaving out sites that don't address the issues or simply duplicate one another's information, the top 5 sites that I get are en.wikipedia.org, historylearningsite.co.uk, euronet.nl, carpenoctem.tv, & au.af.mil (an official site of the US Air Force).
wikipedia says of Guderian : "Fluent in both English and French, he gathered ideas by the British maneuver warfare theorists JFC Fuller &, debatably, BH Liddell Hart, as well as the writings...of the then-unknown Charles de Gaulle. Their works were translated into German by Guderian. ...he had written many papers on motorised warfare which were seen as authoritative... The panzer force he created would become the core of the German Army's power. To this day, his contributions...are studied throughout military schools... Guderian was the first who fully developed & advocated the strategy of blitzkrieg & put it into its final shape."
historylearningsite says : "...Guderian is considered to be the father of Blitzkrieg... Guderian’s mode of fighting had a devastating impact on Poland & in the west of Europe leading up to the Allies withdrawal... From July 1934, Guderian was given the task by Hitler of perfecting the fighting techniques of the Panzers..."
euronet says : "...Guderian was the leading theorist of armored warfare in Germany... The tank could not simply overrun all opponents...nor should it be just a tool to help the infantry. Instead, it should operate as part of a 'combined arms team' supported by large numbers of motorized infantry, artillery, & engineers. This middle position was...upsetting... If either of the extreme views was correct, all the Army had to do...was train a few isolated tank units; when war came, these would simply be told which infantry unit to support, or be turned loose on the helpless enemy... Guderian, however, was calling for large parts of the Army to be reorganized into divisions built around armor, upsetting the routines of a lot of people..."
carpenoctem.tv calls : "...Guderian, the German leader in tank operations & implementer of 'blitzkrieg'-type warfare... not until Hitler...saw an impressive series of small demonstrations of armoured operations did Guderian receive permission in 1934 to form his first tank battalion."
au.af.mil says of him : "...was the mastermind behind the successful blitz operations in Poland, France, & the Soviet Union." (The Air Force site also lists 23 books & professional papers which overwhelmingly endorse Guderian's claims to have been primarily responsible for the creation of the German armoured force in WW2.)
One site whose absence particularly struck me was that of the US Army's Command & General Staff School at Ft. Leavenworth.
cgsc.edu calls Guderian "The creator of the blitzkrieg", & says of him : "At the end of the first World War two German generals, Eimannsberger & Guderian, devoted themselves to developing the theory of the tank."
In short, the fact that Guderian was one of those who were primarily responsible for the creation of the German armoured force, as well as the presumption that his recollections are for the most part authoritative, are well-established, & are taught as such in military academies & college-level military science courses across the world. Opinions to the contrary represent a definite minority view.
When I google the name "Guderian", leaving out sites that don't address the issues or simply duplicate one another's information, the top 5 sites that I get are en.wikipedia.org, historylearningsite.co.uk, euronet.nl, carpenoctem.tv, & au.af.mil (an official site of the US Air Force).
wikipedia says of Guderian : "Fluent in both English and French, he gathered ideas by the British maneuver warfare theorists JFC Fuller &, debatably, BH Liddell Hart, as well as the writings...of the then-unknown Charles de Gaulle. Their works were translated into German by Guderian. ...he had written many papers on motorised warfare which were seen as authoritative... The panzer force he created would become the core of the German Army's power. To this day, his contributions...are studied throughout military schools... Guderian was the first who fully developed & advocated the strategy of blitzkrieg & put it into its final shape."
historylearningsite says : "...Guderian is considered to be the father of Blitzkrieg... Guderian’s mode of fighting had a devastating impact on Poland & in the west of Europe leading up to the Allies withdrawal... From July 1934, Guderian was given the task by Hitler of perfecting the fighting techniques of the Panzers..."
euronet says : "...Guderian was the leading theorist of armored warfare in Germany... The tank could not simply overrun all opponents...nor should it be just a tool to help the infantry. Instead, it should operate as part of a 'combined arms team' supported by large numbers of motorized infantry, artillery, & engineers. This middle position was...upsetting... If either of the extreme views was correct, all the Army had to do...was train a few isolated tank units; when war came, these would simply be told which infantry unit to support, or be turned loose on the helpless enemy... Guderian, however, was calling for large parts of the Army to be reorganized into divisions built around armor, upsetting the routines of a lot of people..."
carpenoctem.tv calls : "...Guderian, the German leader in tank operations & implementer of 'blitzkrieg'-type warfare... not until Hitler...saw an impressive series of small demonstrations of armoured operations did Guderian receive permission in 1934 to form his first tank battalion."
au.af.mil says of him : "...was the mastermind behind the successful blitz operations in Poland, France, & the Soviet Union." (The Air Force site also lists 23 books & professional papers which overwhelmingly endorse Guderian's claims to have been primarily responsible for the creation of the German armoured force in WW2.)
One site whose absence particularly struck me was that of the US Army's Command & General Staff School at Ft. Leavenworth.
cgsc.edu calls Guderian "The creator of the blitzkrieg", & says of him : "At the end of the first World War two German generals, Eimannsberger & Guderian, devoted themselves to developing the theory of the tank."
In short, the fact that Guderian was one of those who were primarily responsible for the creation of the German armoured force, as well as the presumption that his recollections are for the most part authoritative, are well-established, & are taught as such in military academies & college-level military science courses across the world. Opinions to the contrary represent a definite minority view.