@ Skybird - opposite of Blitzkrieg

Heibges · 07-03-07, 03:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skybird

Quote:

Originally Posted by Heibges

Hi Skybird,

I'm trying to remember the German phrase for the opposite of Blitzkrieg.

If I remember blitzkrieg is "rapid manuever for the purpose of seizing key terrain".

But I can't remember the German phrase for "rapid maneuver for the purpose of destroying troops."

Any ideas?

Sorry, no idea. Can't remember that we have a special phrase for that kind of warfare you are describing. I would have listed both your categories under "Blitzkrieg".

Only seek&destroy comes to my mind. But obviously, that is not German, and means something slightly different.

A separate phrase I know is "Grabenkrieg", which translates into "trench warfare".

The German word for "war" is "Krieg", which in ancient German (Althochdeutsch) was "Chreg", and that meant "obstinacy" (Hartnäckigkeit).

Is there an English word for what you mean?

No, it's impossible to express as a single word in English. I remember it in terms of the Battle of Kiev.

I think in German it might start out "verr....or vern...or verrn".

Anyway, basically the author's point was that the German Army was practicing "ver....." in reducing Kiev, when they should have been practicing Blitzkrieg, driving towards Moscow.

The term I am trying to think of far predates blitzkrieg, and I think may have started in the Franco-Prussian War.