Editing Blitzkrieg (section)

===Origin of term===
The origin of the term ''blitzkrieg'' is obscure. It was never used in the title of a military doctrine or handbook of the German Army or Air Force,{{sfn|Frieser|2005|pp=4–5}} and no "coherent doctrine" or "unifying concept of blitzkrieg" existed; German High Command mostly referred to the group of tactics as "Bewegungskrieg" (Maneuver Warfare).{{sfn|Holmes|Strachan|Bellamy|Bicheno|2001|p=135}} The term seems to have been rarely used in the German military press before 1939, and recent research at the German ''[[Military History Research Office (Germany)|Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt]]'', at [[Potsdam]], found it in only two military articles from the 1930s.{{efn|Those two examples were: von Schwichow, 'Die Ernärungswirtschaft als Wehrproblem', Deutsche Wehr XVIII (39) (2 May 1935), pp. 257–260, and Oberleutnant D. Braun, 'Der strategische Uberfall', Militär-Wochenblatt XVIII (1938), pp. 1134–1136.}} Both used the term to mean a swift strategic knockout, rather than a radically new military doctrine or approach to war.

The first article (1935) dealt primarily with supplies of food and [[materiel]] in wartime. The term ''blitzkrieg'' was used in reference to German efforts to win a quick victory in the First World War but was not associated with the use of armored, mechanized or air forces. It argued that Germany must develop self-sufficiency in food because it might again prove impossible to deal a swift knockout to its enemies, which would lead to a long war.{{sfn|Harris|1995|p=337}}

In the second article (1938), launching a swift strategic knockout was described as an attractive idea for Germany but difficult to achieve on land under modern conditions (especially against systems of [[fortification]] like the [[Maginot Line]]) unless an exceptionally high degree of surprise could be achieved. The author vaguely suggested that a massive strategic air attack might hold out better prospects, but the topic was not explored in detail.{{sfn|Harris|1995|p=337}}

A third relatively early use of the term in German occurred in ''Die Deutsche Kriegsstärke'' (German War Strength) by [[Fritz Sternberg]], a Jewish [[Marxist]] political economist and refugee from Nazi Germany, published in 1938 in Paris and in London as ''Germany and a Lightning War''. Sternberg wrote that Germany was not prepared economically for a long war but might win a quick war (''"Blitzkrieg"''). He did not go into detail about tactics or suggest that the German armed forces had evolved a radically new operational method. His book offered scant clues as to how German lightning victories might be won.{{sfn|Harris|1995|p=337}}

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1987-1210-502, Polen, Stukas.jpg|thumb|Ju 87 Bs over Poland, September–October 1939]]
In English and other languages, the term had been used since the 1920s.{{sfn|Fanning|1997|pp=283–287}} The term was first used in the publications of Ferdinand Otto Miksche, first in the magazine "Army Quarterly",{{efn|See: https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/sfz63329.html}} and in his 1941 book ''Blitzkrieg'', in which he defined the concept.{{sfn|Deist|2003|p=282}} In September 1939, ''Time'' magazine termed the German military action as a "war of quick penetration and obliteration – ''Blitzkrieg'', lightning war".{{sfn|Deist|2003|p=281}} After the invasion of Poland, the British press commonly used the term to describe German successes in that campaign. J. P. Harris called the term "a piece of journalistic [[sensationalism]] – a buzz-word with which to label the spectacular early successes of the Germans in the Second World War". The word was later applied to the bombing of Britain, particularly London, hence "[[The Blitz]]".{{sfn|Harris|1995|pp=338–339}}

The German popular press followed suit nine months later, after the Fall of France in 1940; thus, although the word had first been used in Germany, it was popularized by British journalism.{{sfn|Harris|1995|pp=337–338}}{{sfn|Frieser|2005|p=4}} [[Heinz Guderian]] referred to it as a word coined by the Allies: "as a result of the successes of our rapid campaigns our enemies&nbsp;... coined the word ''Blitzkrieg''".{{sfn|Harris|1995|pp=336–338}} After the German failure in the Soviet Union in 1941, the use of the term began to be frowned upon in Nazi Germany, and Hitler then denied ever using the term and said in a speech in November 1941, "I have never used the word ''Blitzkrieg'', because it is a very silly word".{{sfn|Frieser|2005|p=5}} In early January 1942, Hitler dismissed it as "Italian phraseology".{{sfn|Domarus|1973|p=1776}}{{sfn|Hitler|1942|p=173}}