Blitzkrieg - German for 'lightning war' literally.
A famous war tactic deployed by ze Germans to invade the Netherlands, Belgium and the French in 1940 which sparked the last real war that shall remain the greatest highlight/blemish whichever way you look at it of our era. Most WWII survivors will tell you torrid tales of how it was like a chess game, where once your piece was taken, it meant your ass. No such crap as the Guantanamo detention and such where they just lock you up, make you listen to heavy metal (which some deem torturous) and pee on you and shit. WWII survivors lost limbs, eyes, suffered from COPD. Dignity was but a luxury back then. Cannibalism and all other tactics were implemented to ensure survival. And the one i chose to rant about today would be the most effective in my humble opinion, the Blitzkrieg. Its fundamental rule is that any disorganized army is a weak army.
As my blog is entitled Sic Vis Pacem Parebellum- if you want peace, prepare for war - meaning vigilance at all times, Blitzkrieg is the exact antithesis/anecdote for it. It is a form of sabotage to put your enemy off balance. To explain it in lay men terms is to be a trapeze artist and grease the pole for your next competitor so he/she slips and the act is ruined. Herodatus once said King Leonidas didn't allow Ephialtes of Trachis to take part in defending Sparta from Xerxes and his army as Ephialtes was handicapped and his deformity caused a disarray in their formation which was their strength. The Americans were in disarray in Vietnam, falling to a series of guerilla attacks by rag tag soldiers and hence encountered huge losses and casualties. The principle of Blitzkrieg is simple, a well prepared army will win a battle if they carry the battle out as planned. Screw the plan up for them, and they will screw the battle.
The Germans created psychological shock and resultant disorganization in enemy forces through the employment of surprise, speed, and superiority in matériel or firepower. Tested by the Germans against Poland in 1939, the blitzkrieg proved to be a formidable combination of land and air action. The essence of blitzkrieg is the use of mobility, shock, and locally concentrated firepower in a skillfully coordinated attack to paralyze an adversary’s capacity to coordinate his own defenses, rather than attempting to physically overcome them, and then to exploit this paralysis by penetrating to his rear areas and disrupting his whole system of communications and administration. The tactics, as employed by the Germans, consisted of a splitting thrust on a narrow front by combat groups using tanks, dive-bombers, and motorized artillery to disrupt the main enemy battle position at the point of attack. Wide sweeps by armoured vehicles followed, creating large pockets of trapped and immobilized enemy forces. These tactics were remarkably economical of both lives and resources, primarily for the attackers but also, because of the speed and short duration of the campaign, among the victims.
A blitzkreig gone bad however is Pearl Harbour for example. A counteroffensive (counter blitzkrieg) was mounted very soon after and Hiroshima and Nagasaki were mere historical cities that disappeared from the geographical contexts.
Now my point in bringing up the issue. I recently had a friend who endured a rough break up. The other party, used the blitzkrieg to her advantage as she thought. She had him spellbound like a remote controlled Nikko Mobile. And as much as we tried to turn him back into a Tamiya (free spirited; moves with the track) he found it hard to balance both parts. So in order to hit back at him, she branded us the villains. Ah yes, love is blind. By making 2 others scapegoats in the affair, she sucked him dry of his time and resources causing him great strain on his physique as well as mental wellbeing. A man deprived of personal time. Seemingly a wild carefree person, she had all of us smiling away giving a thumbs up, only to find out she was in truth, the combination of every vice that makes up the show on TV we call Desperate Housewives. Insecure, Overbearing, Untrustworthy, Untrusting, Ill mannered, Lacking integrity, and Manipulative Spiteful Woman (synonymous with the female form of a canine)
Now how did she carry out the plan, absolute perfection. One friend, lets call him James Bond, approached my friend the victim(Mr Orange) to this knieving person (Mrs Absynthia) and informed him that she is taking control of his life. We were planning a trip back to nature in a place where serenity and oneness with nature was but for the tourists. And Kolo Mee, Cheng, Kueh Chap, Heineken, Pork Leg Rice and Laksa Sarawak would be the staple diet for the next few days. Ok i mentioned it Sarawak:).
Now being a chance of a lifetime - to a certain degree of exaggeration - one would expect Mr Orange to jump at the occasion but he was bounded by an apparent backache that affected Absynthia. It should be pointed that Backaches are the most common cause of absenteeism among blue collar workers as well as the most vague sign of illness. In other words, you wanna get an MC from a doc, go with a backache. He'll never be able to prove you wrong. So we kinda knew this was a hoax. She had laid the bait. A week later, Mr Orange gets a whiff that Mrs Absynthia has given up on Mr Orange, as they feel they dont taste good together. So in order to make the whole disengagement seem as amiable as possible, she decides to mess up James Bond's rep. She undoes his bow tie and paints him as a guilty conscience - in that miniature devil on your shoulder mold. So knieving is this person, she demands for a few items which had been entrusted to Mr Orange. And to make the exchange, she required the assistance of Bond, and an old ally, The Prince - Niccolo Machiavelli. Now the Prince realizes he is in the middle of the black and white chessboard and decides to take a cut of the offerings which she duly obliged giving the impression that she was truly sincere in the whole deal. Mr Orange on the other hand knows nothing of the deal and quickly hands over the offerings. James Bond on the other hand realizes the prince is taking a cut and asks for his share. The Prince being a man of principle chooses the item of lesser value to be taxed. They agree upon it and they leave with a light heart. The next day the prince meets Absynthia and returns her offerings after taking his cut and she firmly agrees to it. Now at this point everyone in the deal is happy except Mr Orange who is still mourning a sincere loss.
A bombshell is dropped when Absynthia makes a public statement about Bond and the prince as she claims they are senseless thieves that robbed her of her offerings and made them scapegoats for why the split from Mr Orange is inevitable. True enough she places him in a very difficult position and attempts to drive a wedge in the whole ordeal. Mr Orange to my understanding takes a neutral stand in this and she tries hard to send a phoney SOS with a wavering tale of deceit and disappointment at the confiscated offering. She claims it had sentimental value and reminded her of a City she visited and all the memories were stored in that 75 cl potion. She then rephrases and says that a village elder needed the potion to help in a bonding ceremony that cannot take place without it.
The prince on the other hand is oblivious and so attempts to question her motives and is dumbfounded by the whole debacle. When confronted he attempts to extend a hand to apologize but judging by the outburst, he has forged an alliance with Mr Bond. Now what happens in this tale depends on whether there is a counterstrike ala Pearl Harbour or another successful blitzkrieg.
To those who are lost at this point, Absynthia turned herself a victim from a predator, in order to gain the attention of the mass public that seems to be fluttering to her side as she is but a grieving widow - or so she feels - and thus branding the allegiance against her as the four horsemen of the Apocalypse (Conquest, War, Famine, Death), not realizing there are 2 of us, and Macchiavelli the prince once said “War is just when it is necessary; arms are permissible when there is no hope except in arms.....War should be the only study of a prince. He should consider peace only as a breathing-time, which gives him leisure to contrive, and furnishes as ability to execute, military plans.'
Little does she know that The Prince by Machiavelli is the most divine book of political philosophy to roam the lands today while the Nazis and their blitzkrieg tactics are buried along with the Bismarck at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.
Now all we need is a song to suite the tone of this war:)
