1 00:00:02,247 --> 00:00:04,238 March 2003. 2 00:00:04,367 --> 00:00:07,837 American mechanised forces slice through lraq, 3 00:00:07,967 --> 00:00:13,758 racing over 300 miles in 15 days to topple the regime of Saddam Hussein. 4 00:00:14,927 --> 00:00:20,365 May 1940. Hitler unleashes his Panzers in a similar Blitzkrieg 5 00:00:20,487 --> 00:00:23,206 against the Allies in Western Europe. 6 00:00:25,967 --> 00:00:29,243 Blitzkrieg is German for ''lightning war''. 7 00:00:29,367 --> 00:00:32,882 ln Operation lraqi Freedom US forces went further, 8 00:00:33,007 --> 00:00:36,795 faster and more effectively than ever before. 9 00:00:36,927 --> 00:00:39,646 The battleplan is Blitzkrieg. 10 00:01:03,127 --> 00:01:05,322 March 2003. 11 00:01:05,447 --> 00:01:08,917 American tanks race up the western flank of lraq. 12 00:01:09,047 --> 00:01:15,156 The move is totally unexpected. The lraqis think the main attack is to the east. 13 00:01:16,287 --> 00:01:20,565 Just a week before, this campaign was merely a plan on paper. 14 00:01:20,687 --> 00:01:25,602 But the Coalition battleplanners had little doubt about its outcome 15 00:01:25,727 --> 00:01:29,322 and none whatever about how it would be conducted. 16 00:01:30,127 --> 00:01:34,245 This will be a campaign unlike any other in history. 17 00:01:35,567 --> 00:01:38,718 A campaign characterised by shock, 18 00:01:38,847 --> 00:01:43,523 by surprise, by flexibility... 19 00:01:43,647 --> 00:01:48,926 by the employment of precise munitions on a scale never before seen 20 00:01:49,047 --> 00:01:52,722 and by the application of overwhelming force. 21 00:01:52,847 --> 00:01:55,805 General Tommy Franks is Supreme Commander 22 00:01:55,927 --> 00:01:58,725 of the Coalition forces in lraqi Freedom. 23 00:01:58,847 --> 00:02:03,204 His battleplan incorporates the most modern military thinking, 24 00:02:03,327 --> 00:02:08,355 but it is based on methods pioneered by men like Germany's Heinz Guderian 25 00:02:08,487 --> 00:02:10,478 almost 60 years earlier. 26 00:02:10,607 --> 00:02:15,556 Not surprisingly, because both men faced very similar challenges. 27 00:02:16,527 --> 00:02:19,997 ln 1940, the Germans are poised to invade France. 28 00:02:20,127 --> 00:02:25,201 But their battleplanners have a problem - their forces are outnumbered. 29 00:02:25,327 --> 00:02:28,478 British and French forces are positioned in northern France 30 00:02:28,607 --> 00:02:30,962 along the Belgian border. 31 00:02:31,087 --> 00:02:35,126 The Maginot Line to the south is impenetrable. 32 00:02:35,247 --> 00:02:38,922 The Ardennes between is considered impassable. 33 00:02:39,047 --> 00:02:44,041 How can they break through to Paris and knock the Allies out of the war? 34 00:02:45,007 --> 00:02:50,525 ln 2003, Tommy Franks and the Coalition planners are in a similar predicament. 35 00:02:50,647 --> 00:02:53,366 Their forces are vastly outnumbered. 36 00:02:53,487 --> 00:02:59,039 They are unsure of the strength, position and loyalty of Saddam Hussein's army. 37 00:02:59,967 --> 00:03:05,405 How can they push 350 miles north through lraq and seize Baghdad? 38 00:03:06,407 --> 00:03:09,080 ln both cases, the solution is the same. 39 00:03:09,207 --> 00:03:12,802 Call it ''shock and awe'' or call it ''lightning war'', 40 00:03:12,927 --> 00:03:15,077 the battleplan is Blitzkrieg. 41 00:03:15,887 --> 00:03:18,355 Even though they are 60 years apart, 42 00:03:18,487 --> 00:03:23,959 the two battleplans for Blitzkrieg are based on the same essential formula. 43 00:03:25,287 --> 00:03:29,280 Deceive the enemy - by attacking where he least expects. 44 00:03:31,407 --> 00:03:36,037 Control the air - so that you can move freely while the enemy cannot. 45 00:03:41,167 --> 00:03:46,321 Break through - by concentrating overwhelming force on narrow sectors. 46 00:03:49,447 --> 00:03:53,725 Strike deep - with fast-moving units which move around enemy strongpoints 47 00:03:53,847 --> 00:03:55,997 and throw his forces off balance. 48 00:03:59,887 --> 00:04:01,878 Follow up - with a mass army 49 00:04:02,007 --> 00:04:06,125 to eliminate the strongpoints and establish control. 50 00:04:07,087 --> 00:04:13,196 The mind of the attacking commander must be as fast-moving as his forces. 51 00:04:13,327 --> 00:04:16,922 On the other hand, it helps greatly 52 00:04:17,047 --> 00:04:22,804 if the defending forces are confused and mesmerised 53 00:04:22,927 --> 00:04:26,158 by the speed with which the attackers attack. 54 00:04:27,087 --> 00:04:30,523 Yet the very speed of the Blitzkrieg battleplan 55 00:04:30,647 --> 00:04:33,525 means that it has two major weaknesses. 56 00:04:33,647 --> 00:04:37,799 Counterattack - the main attack force is moving so rapidly 57 00:04:37,927 --> 00:04:40,725 that it becomes vulnerable to an enemy counterattack 58 00:04:40,847 --> 00:04:43,680 which would cut it off from its back-up. 59 00:04:43,807 --> 00:04:48,119 Logistics - its resupply column has difficulty keeping up 60 00:04:48,247 --> 00:04:53,605 and becomes dangerously stretched and vulnerable to attack. 61 00:04:53,727 --> 00:04:58,517 To maintain its speed, the main attack force may bypass local opposition, 62 00:04:58,647 --> 00:05:03,038 so these points threaten resupply and communications systems. 63 00:05:03,167 --> 00:05:07,479 The weaknesses of Blitzkrieg really come from its strengths. 64 00:05:07,607 --> 00:05:12,727 lf you're moving fast and far, you're going to find that your flanks are open 65 00:05:12,847 --> 00:05:17,159 and also that you may very possibly overextend yourself. 66 00:05:17,287 --> 00:05:21,121 ln both France in 1940 and lraq in 2003, 67 00:05:21,247 --> 00:05:24,000 the commanders had one overriding aim - 68 00:05:24,127 --> 00:05:28,723 to defeat the enemy with the least amount of face-to-face combat. 69 00:05:30,047 --> 00:05:32,515 Blitzkrieg is an art of fighting war 70 00:05:32,647 --> 00:05:36,560 in which the aim is to do as little fighting as possible. 71 00:05:36,687 --> 00:05:39,645 lt's to overwhelm, to psych out the enemy. 72 00:05:39,767 --> 00:05:43,919 This has been a fundamental in Blitzkrieg throughout the centuries. 73 00:05:44,047 --> 00:05:48,359 Every great commander is an avid student of history. 74 00:05:48,487 --> 00:05:54,084 Heinz Guderian and Tommy Franks both know that unleashing fast-moving forces 75 00:05:54,207 --> 00:05:58,359 into the enemy heartland is as old as warfare itself. 76 00:05:59,487 --> 00:06:01,478 You can see the beginnings of Blitzkrieg 77 00:06:01,607 --> 00:06:05,680 in the campaigns of Genghis Khan and Napoleon 78 00:06:05,807 --> 00:06:09,720 and in the closing campaigns of the American Civil War. 79 00:06:09,847 --> 00:06:13,886 The essential thing is having a mobility advantage over your enemy, 80 00:06:14,007 --> 00:06:18,205 even when your forces are moving by muscle power, 81 00:06:18,327 --> 00:06:21,444 by means of horses and of men on foot. 82 00:06:22,527 --> 00:06:24,722 But by the early 20th century, 83 00:06:24,847 --> 00:06:26,997 the speed needed to achieve lightning war 84 00:06:27,127 --> 00:06:30,676 has run up against formidable obstacles. 85 00:06:31,687 --> 00:06:34,201 Railways mean that the defender's forces 86 00:06:34,327 --> 00:06:37,125 can now move faster than the attacker's 87 00:06:37,247 --> 00:06:42,685 and machine-guns and rapid-fire artillery slaughter troops caught in the open. 88 00:06:43,927 --> 00:06:48,318 During World War One this leads to the stalemate in the trenches. 89 00:06:48,447 --> 00:06:51,325 Millions of men die in futile attacks 90 00:06:51,447 --> 00:06:56,646 while their commanders try to work out how to break through the enemy's line. 91 00:06:57,767 --> 00:07:03,558 The solution is the tank, which is first used by the British in autumn 1916. 92 00:07:04,407 --> 00:07:07,001 But early tanks are too slow and unreliable 93 00:07:07,127 --> 00:07:09,880 to exploit the gaps they can create. 94 00:07:12,647 --> 00:07:16,401 By the end of World War One, the tank had made it possible 95 00:07:16,527 --> 00:07:19,963 for Allied forces to create gaps in the enemy line, 96 00:07:20,087 --> 00:07:22,760 but it couldn't exploit those gaps yet. 97 00:07:24,287 --> 00:07:29,645 During the 1920s, much faster tanks are developed by the British and Americans 98 00:07:29,767 --> 00:07:33,919 and military theorists begin to plan how these might be used 99 00:07:34,047 --> 00:07:36,845 for a Blitzkrieg-style battleplan. 100 00:07:40,447 --> 00:07:45,362 During the 1930s, the German Army in particular takes up these ideas. 101 00:07:45,487 --> 00:07:50,800 Commanders like Heinz Guderian begin experimenting with ways in which tanks, 102 00:07:50,927 --> 00:07:56,399 supported by aircraft and directed by radio, could win a lightning war. 103 00:07:58,687 --> 00:08:03,920 ln a speech in 1935, Hitler makes the first open reference to Blitzkrieg. 104 00:08:04,727 --> 00:08:08,163 ''l wouldn't make lengthy preparations,'' he says. 105 00:08:08,287 --> 00:08:14,157 ''But suddenly, like a bolt of lightning in the night, hurl myself against the enemy.'' 106 00:08:16,447 --> 00:08:20,565 This battleplan is first tested in September 1939 107 00:08:20,687 --> 00:08:23,360 during the Nazi invasion of Poland. 108 00:08:24,647 --> 00:08:26,842 Against a much weaker opponent 109 00:08:26,967 --> 00:08:30,562 who could only throw cavalry against their Panzers, 110 00:08:30,687 --> 00:08:33,679 the Germans were triumphantly successful. 111 00:08:36,567 --> 00:08:41,163 ln spite of their vast technological and strategic advantages, 112 00:08:41,287 --> 00:08:43,562 there were still problems. 113 00:08:43,687 --> 00:08:47,839 They found that some of their tanks broke down quite quickly. 114 00:08:47,967 --> 00:08:51,164 Fuel consumption far outstripped that that they were expecting. 115 00:08:51,287 --> 00:08:54,882 The Luftwaffe weren't properly supporting 116 00:08:55,007 --> 00:08:58,317 the armoured spearheads moving quickly. 117 00:08:58,447 --> 00:09:03,316 They needed to get those things right, to learn the lessons very quickly 118 00:09:03,447 --> 00:09:07,599 before they took on the French and British in France in 1940. 119 00:09:08,727 --> 00:09:11,560 More than 60 years later, Coalition troops 120 00:09:11,687 --> 00:09:14,724 would confront many similar setbacks, 121 00:09:14,847 --> 00:09:19,238 due once again to the challenges inherent in the Blitzkrieg battleplan. 122 00:09:22,127 --> 00:09:26,484 Spring 1940. The Germans are preparing to strike in the west. 123 00:09:26,607 --> 00:09:31,965 Their aim is to knock France out of the war by capturing her capital, Paris. 124 00:09:33,007 --> 00:09:38,286 But Paris is over 200 miles away and Allied forces outnumber them. 125 00:09:38,407 --> 00:09:42,639 149 divisions against 136 126 00:09:42,767 --> 00:09:47,557 and 3,500 tanks against 2,570. 127 00:09:48,247 --> 00:09:51,762 Only in the air do they have overwhelming force - 128 00:09:51,887 --> 00:09:56,597 over 1,700 bombers against less than 400 129 00:09:56,727 --> 00:10:00,083 and 1,000 fighters against 830. 130 00:10:00,207 --> 00:10:05,327 But the Germans are confident that using the new Blitzkrieg battleplan, 131 00:10:05,447 --> 00:10:07,438 they can solve this. 132 00:10:08,527 --> 00:10:13,965 The first requirement of the battleplan for Blitzkrieg is to deceive the enemy. 133 00:10:15,247 --> 00:10:20,446 At first, the German planners envisage a rerun of their attack in 1914 - 134 00:10:20,567 --> 00:10:22,797 a massive right hook through Belgium 135 00:10:22,927 --> 00:10:26,124 to outflank the Allied defences. 136 00:10:26,247 --> 00:10:28,397 The Allies expect this too 137 00:10:28,527 --> 00:10:30,404 and plan to swing forward into Belgium 138 00:10:30,527 --> 00:10:33,564 as soon as the Germans strike. 139 00:10:33,687 --> 00:10:36,759 On May 10th, they do. 140 00:10:39,567 --> 00:10:42,320 Germans troops cross the Dutch border. 141 00:10:44,327 --> 00:10:49,640 Elite glider-borne troops neutralise the key Belgian fort of Eben-Emael. 142 00:10:55,287 --> 00:11:00,077 Hitler's Army Group B ignores Belgian neutrality, as it did in 1914, 143 00:11:00,207 --> 00:11:02,880 and sweeps into the Low Countries. 144 00:11:04,887 --> 00:11:10,484 The British and French immediately start their planned move forward into Belgium. 145 00:11:10,607 --> 00:11:15,044 But the assault they are racing to meet is not Blitzkrieg. 146 00:11:15,167 --> 00:11:17,806 lt is an attack, but also a deception. 147 00:11:17,927 --> 00:11:21,078 The Germans have revised their battleplan. 148 00:11:21,207 --> 00:11:24,199 The real attack, Blitzkrieg, will be here - 149 00:11:24,327 --> 00:11:26,557 the seemingly impassable hills and forests 150 00:11:26,687 --> 00:11:30,123 of the virtually unguarded Ardennes. 151 00:11:30,247 --> 00:11:34,604 70% of Germany's Panzers are here with Army Group A. 152 00:11:34,727 --> 00:11:38,163 Only 30% are further north with Army Group B 153 00:11:38,287 --> 00:11:41,484 where the Allies think the main thrust will be. 154 00:11:41,607 --> 00:11:45,520 Over 60 years later, Tommy Franks and his planners 155 00:11:45,647 --> 00:11:49,435 face an apparently even more challenging situation. 156 00:11:49,567 --> 00:11:51,717 The first problem is distance. 157 00:11:51,847 --> 00:11:57,240 Baghdad lies 350 miles north of Kuwait, the start point for lraqi Freedom. 158 00:11:58,087 --> 00:12:00,078 The second is topography. 159 00:12:00,207 --> 00:12:02,880 lraq is dominated by two major rivers, 160 00:12:03,007 --> 00:12:06,716 the Euphrates to the west and the Tigris to the east. 161 00:12:06,847 --> 00:12:09,725 Where these come together about 100 miles from the sea, 162 00:12:09,847 --> 00:12:14,602 there is an area of marshland which is impassable to tanks. 163 00:12:14,727 --> 00:12:19,517 This topography and the road system creates ''choke points'', 164 00:12:19,647 --> 00:12:21,842 places like river crossings, 165 00:12:21,967 --> 00:12:25,482 towards which advancing forces are inevitably funnelled 166 00:12:25,607 --> 00:12:29,600 and where they can be attacked from prepared positions. 167 00:12:29,727 --> 00:12:32,958 The Americans know this, but so do the lraqis. 168 00:12:33,087 --> 00:12:37,080 And on paper at least, the figures seem to be on their side. 169 00:12:39,207 --> 00:12:42,677 Despite more than a decade of UN sanctions, 170 00:12:42,807 --> 00:12:47,597 lraq still has an apparently formidable army of 375,000 men 171 00:12:47,727 --> 00:12:49,922 with more than 2,000 tanks. 172 00:12:52,487 --> 00:12:57,561 And Saddam Hussein can also call on a substantial number of irregulars, 173 00:12:57,687 --> 00:13:01,839 both dedicated followers of his Ba'ath Party and the Fedayeen, 174 00:13:01,967 --> 00:13:07,166 Muslim fanatics from all over the Arab world who have flocked to lraq 175 00:13:07,287 --> 00:13:09,517 to fight the infidel Crusaders. 176 00:13:10,447 --> 00:13:12,563 To get around this, Tommy Franks, 177 00:13:12,687 --> 00:13:15,724 just like the German planners 60 years before, 178 00:13:15,847 --> 00:13:20,841 allows his enemy and many Western journalists and military commentators 179 00:13:20,967 --> 00:13:25,040 to think that he is going for a completely different plan. 180 00:13:25,967 --> 00:13:29,357 Fresh in their minds is Operation Desert Storm, 181 00:13:29,487 --> 00:13:34,800 the war mounted just a decade earlier against Saddam's invasion of Kuwait. 182 00:13:34,927 --> 00:13:39,637 After an air campaign of six weeks and a land campaign of just four days, 183 00:13:39,767 --> 00:13:43,396 Saddam's forces were pushed out of Kuwait. 184 00:13:45,727 --> 00:13:49,561 Because of the distance to the main objective - Baghdad, 185 00:13:49,687 --> 00:13:53,282 lraqi planners and many Western military pundits 186 00:13:53,407 --> 00:13:58,242 expect Franks to follow the same battleplan as Desert Storm - 187 00:13:58,367 --> 00:14:02,724 a prolonged aerial campaign before a land assault. 188 00:14:04,967 --> 00:14:08,960 And his staff do everything to encourage this. 189 00:14:09,087 --> 00:14:15,117 ln time-honoured fashion, prior to the launching of Operation lraqi Freedom, 190 00:14:15,247 --> 00:14:19,206 certain information, certain parts of the plan was actually leaked 191 00:14:19,327 --> 00:14:24,117 to certain individuals and organisations in the hope and expectation 192 00:14:24,247 --> 00:14:27,557 that it would get back to the lraqi High Command 193 00:14:27,687 --> 00:14:33,523 and they would plan on the pretext of that false information that they had received. 194 00:14:35,327 --> 00:14:39,639 Also, Franks had originally intended to mount a second assault 195 00:14:39,767 --> 00:14:42,281 into northern lraq from Turkey. 196 00:14:42,407 --> 00:14:47,197 The US 4th Mechanised lnfantry Division had been sent there by sea. 197 00:14:48,687 --> 00:14:51,918 But local opposition forces Turkey's government 198 00:14:52,047 --> 00:14:56,245 to refuse permission for the 4th lnfantry to cross the country. 199 00:14:57,167 --> 00:15:02,321 The US ships are reloaded and set sail for the Suez Canal and Kuwait. 200 00:15:04,567 --> 00:15:09,243 Although deception plans have to be very carefully planned and programmed, 201 00:15:09,367 --> 00:15:15,203 there is of course always the opportunity to use events as they unfold 202 00:15:15,327 --> 00:15:17,318 to bamboozle the enemy. 203 00:15:17,447 --> 00:15:22,441 A very good example of that is the Coalition trying to move through Turkey. 204 00:15:22,567 --> 00:15:27,004 Most commentators, and almost certainly the lraqi planners, 205 00:15:27,127 --> 00:15:32,121 expect Franks to wait for the 4th lnfantry to arrive before he attacks. 206 00:15:32,247 --> 00:15:35,478 This is exactly what he wants them to believe, 207 00:15:35,607 --> 00:15:37,757 but it isn't what he plans to do. 208 00:15:37,887 --> 00:15:42,597 This is a good example of how armies can use an unexpected opportunity 209 00:15:42,727 --> 00:15:44,718 to deceive the enemy 210 00:15:44,847 --> 00:15:50,365 because whilst the lraqis are thinking that the Americans will have to come south 211 00:15:50,487 --> 00:15:56,119 and reorganise themselves prior to the attack taking place in the south, 212 00:15:56,247 --> 00:16:00,684 all the time the Allies are moving lighter troops 213 00:16:00,807 --> 00:16:04,322 to try and give them the edge they need to launch an attack 214 00:16:04,447 --> 00:16:07,962 before the lraqis can possibly think that they are ready. 215 00:16:08,087 --> 00:16:10,043 So, on the brink of battle, 216 00:16:10,167 --> 00:16:13,557 both groups of battleplanners have fulfilled 217 00:16:13,687 --> 00:16:16,759 the first requirement of Blitzkrieg - 218 00:16:16,887 --> 00:16:19,959 to deceive the enemy as to their intentions. 219 00:16:22,367 --> 00:16:25,916 ln May 1940, the Allies are totally expecting 220 00:16:26,047 --> 00:16:28,038 an attack into the Low Countries 221 00:16:28,167 --> 00:16:30,920 and have based all their battleplans on this. 222 00:16:31,047 --> 00:16:33,720 They do not even consider the possibility of an attack 223 00:16:33,847 --> 00:16:35,838 through the Ardennes. 224 00:16:39,087 --> 00:16:43,763 ln March 2003, the lraqis, and many Western commentators, 225 00:16:43,887 --> 00:16:49,723 are expecting a lengthy air campaign while Coalition forces are built up steadily 226 00:16:49,847 --> 00:16:54,477 to achieve overwhelming numerical superiority over the lraqis. 227 00:16:57,287 --> 00:17:00,438 Then a massive invasion was anticipated, 228 00:17:00,567 --> 00:17:02,717 not a surgical strike. 229 00:17:04,167 --> 00:17:07,557 The second requirement for a successful Blitzkrieg battleplan 230 00:17:07,687 --> 00:17:09,917 is to control the air. 231 00:17:10,047 --> 00:17:14,563 ln 1940 and 2003, both the German and American battleplanners 232 00:17:14,687 --> 00:17:18,236 have a clear advantage - they dominate the skies. 233 00:17:18,367 --> 00:17:23,122 ln May 1940, the German Luftwaffe was a formidable force 234 00:17:23,247 --> 00:17:27,286 with more than 1,700 bombers against less than 400 235 00:17:27,407 --> 00:17:33,164 and 1,000 modern fighters against just over 800 for the French and British. 236 00:17:37,127 --> 00:17:41,678 The Luftwaffe had been built up from scratch in less than five years 237 00:17:41,807 --> 00:17:43,957 and no expense had been spared. 238 00:17:44,087 --> 00:17:46,123 All its equipment was new, 239 00:17:46,247 --> 00:17:48,238 its pilots elite. 240 00:17:48,367 --> 00:17:53,760 lt had been designed specifically to support the sort of Blitzkrieg battleplan 241 00:17:53,887 --> 00:17:56,959 which Germany's leaders intended to fight. 242 00:17:57,087 --> 00:18:00,159 Both the French and British air forces 243 00:18:00,287 --> 00:18:03,040 had been starved of funds until the mid-1930s 244 00:18:03,167 --> 00:18:06,318 and were in the middle of rapid expansion programmes 245 00:18:06,447 --> 00:18:08,756 which were far from complete. 246 00:18:08,887 --> 00:18:14,325 Almost all the Luftwaffe's fighters were the Messerschmitt Bf-109 - 247 00:18:14,447 --> 00:18:19,157 one of the most advanced and formidable fighting machines of the time. 248 00:18:19,287 --> 00:18:22,165 Almost 1,000 were already in service. 249 00:18:22,287 --> 00:18:28,317 lt could only be rivalled by one Allied fighter - the British Supermarine Spitfire. 250 00:18:28,447 --> 00:18:32,804 And in spring 1940, less than 100 of these were available. 251 00:18:35,367 --> 00:18:39,246 The German air force also had 342 252 00:18:39,367 --> 00:18:43,565 of the terrifying Junkers Ju-87 Stuka dive-bomber, 253 00:18:43,687 --> 00:18:47,919 which had been specifically designed for pinpoint attacks 254 00:18:48,047 --> 00:18:50,925 in support of a Blitzkrieg battleplan. 255 00:18:51,047 --> 00:18:55,040 The Allies had no comparable ground attack aircraft. 256 00:18:56,847 --> 00:19:01,204 ln March 2003, the Coalition also completely outnumbered 257 00:19:01,327 --> 00:19:03,841 and outclassed the lraqi air force. 258 00:19:04,687 --> 00:19:09,238 The full might of the US Air Force and Marine Corps and Navy aviation 259 00:19:09,367 --> 00:19:14,157 with more than 3,000 ultra-modern fighters and fighter-bombers 260 00:19:14,287 --> 00:19:18,883 and 1,500 bombers and specialised ground attack aircraft 261 00:19:19,007 --> 00:19:21,919 faced a handful of former Soviet fighters 262 00:19:22,047 --> 00:19:27,599 which had not received any spare parts for ten years and were barely able to fly. 263 00:19:29,327 --> 00:19:32,239 The lraqis had some ex-Soviet anti-aircraft missile units 264 00:19:32,367 --> 00:19:34,358 and gun batteries, 265 00:19:34,487 --> 00:19:36,842 but ten years of US and British aircraft 266 00:19:36,967 --> 00:19:40,357 imposing the United Nations no-fly zones 267 00:19:40,487 --> 00:19:45,197 had destroyed most of the radar systems on which these depended. 268 00:19:45,327 --> 00:19:50,879 On paper at least, ''control the air'' was the only Blitzkrieg requirement 269 00:19:51,007 --> 00:19:56,764 in which the German battleplanners of 1940 or the US battleplanners of 2003 270 00:19:56,887 --> 00:19:59,560 seemed to have a clear advantage. 271 00:20:00,807 --> 00:20:06,484 As far as being able to break through by achieving overwhelming force, 272 00:20:06,607 --> 00:20:11,362 both the Germans and the Americans seemed totally outnumbered. 273 00:20:13,647 --> 00:20:19,324 ln both May 1940 and March 2003, appearances were deceptive. 274 00:20:21,247 --> 00:20:24,842 Next, the third vital requirement of Blitzkrieg - 275 00:20:24,967 --> 00:20:28,960 to break through by concentrating overwhelming force. 276 00:20:29,087 --> 00:20:31,203 Here both teams of Blitzkrieg battleplanners 277 00:20:31,327 --> 00:20:33,318 did have a clear advantage, 278 00:20:33,447 --> 00:20:37,599 but an advantage which was only clear after the event. 279 00:20:37,727 --> 00:20:39,524 ln May 1940, 280 00:20:39,647 --> 00:20:43,686 not only were the Germans outnumbered in every area except the air, 281 00:20:43,807 --> 00:20:46,844 but their tanks had thinner armour and less powerful guns 282 00:20:46,967 --> 00:20:49,720 than those of the Allies. 283 00:20:49,847 --> 00:20:53,522 The vast majority were light tanks, Panzer Mark 1s, 284 00:20:53,647 --> 00:20:58,437 originally intended for training and carrying only two machine-guns, 285 00:20:58,567 --> 00:21:01,718 or Mark 2s designed as a reconnaissance vehicle 286 00:21:01,847 --> 00:21:04,156 armed with a 20mm cannon. 287 00:21:06,047 --> 00:21:10,677 Both should be easy meat for the many Allied tanks armed with 37 mm 288 00:21:10,807 --> 00:21:15,164 and 40mm weapons capable of slicing through their thin armour. 289 00:21:16,487 --> 00:21:19,718 The few medium tanks in the Panzer divisions - 290 00:21:19,847 --> 00:21:24,796 Mark 3s with a 37 mm gun and Mark 4s with a short-barrelled 75 291 00:21:24,927 --> 00:21:28,681 were also outclassed by many Allied tanks, 292 00:21:28,807 --> 00:21:32,766 particularly the mighty French Char B, 293 00:21:32,887 --> 00:21:36,357 which carried both a 47 mm and a 75mm gun. 294 00:21:40,047 --> 00:21:43,642 But the German battleplanners could concentrate the majority 295 00:21:43,767 --> 00:21:45,758 of their crucial Panzer divisions 296 00:21:45,887 --> 00:21:47,878 opposite the one sector of the front 297 00:21:48,007 --> 00:21:52,842 the Allies thought hardly worth covering - the Ardennes. 298 00:21:52,967 --> 00:21:56,562 These Panzer divisions had been specially designed 299 00:21:56,687 --> 00:21:59,326 as fast-moving mechanised formations 300 00:21:59,447 --> 00:22:03,360 with a balance of tanks and motorised artillery and infantry 301 00:22:03,487 --> 00:22:07,799 and trained to exploit an initial breakthrough ruthlessly. 302 00:22:09,927 --> 00:22:13,886 The German deception plan meant that the best Allied divisions 303 00:22:14,007 --> 00:22:16,077 had moved forward into Belgium, 304 00:22:16,207 --> 00:22:19,244 leaving the vital sector opposite the Ardennes 305 00:22:19,367 --> 00:22:24,122 defended by a few divisions of over-age reservists. 306 00:22:24,247 --> 00:22:28,240 ln the area where their battleplan required overwhelming force 307 00:22:28,367 --> 00:22:32,440 to break through the enemy line, the Germans had more than achieved it. 308 00:22:32,567 --> 00:22:36,401 ln contrast, in March 2003, 309 00:22:36,527 --> 00:22:39,724 Tommy Franks never intended to achieve numerical superiority 310 00:22:39,847 --> 00:22:41,838 on the ground. 311 00:22:43,167 --> 00:22:46,523 Ten years earlier in Operation Desert Storm, 312 00:22:46,647 --> 00:22:52,005 the Allies had fielded 750,000 men and over 2,000 tanks. 313 00:22:52,807 --> 00:22:57,801 As March 2003 began, the Coalition had barely 120,000 men 314 00:22:57,927 --> 00:23:03,524 against the theoretical lraqi strength of 375,000 315 00:23:03,647 --> 00:23:07,242 and barely 500 tanks against 2,000. 316 00:23:08,127 --> 00:23:12,882 But Franks had learned a vital lesson from Operation Desert Storm. 317 00:23:13,007 --> 00:23:17,398 When the Allied attack in 1991halted after liberating Kuwait 318 00:23:17,527 --> 00:23:20,087 and left Saddam still in power in lraq, 319 00:23:20,207 --> 00:23:24,723 many commentators suggested that it was a political decision. 320 00:23:24,847 --> 00:23:28,886 Others disagree, blaming one of the inherent weak spots 321 00:23:29,007 --> 00:23:32,079 in the Blitzkrieg battleplan - logistics. 322 00:23:36,047 --> 00:23:41,121 The reason that the Coalition attack stopped was quite simply logistics, 323 00:23:41,247 --> 00:23:43,477 that the tanks had run out of fuel 324 00:23:43,607 --> 00:23:47,839 and the air forces had run out of precision-guided munitions. 325 00:23:47,967 --> 00:23:51,482 Whether the decision to stop during Desert Storm 326 00:23:51,607 --> 00:23:54,758 was due to politics or logistics, or both, 327 00:23:54,887 --> 00:23:57,037 an important lesson in armoured warfare 328 00:23:57,167 --> 00:24:00,045 was learned by the US battleplanners. 329 00:24:00,167 --> 00:24:03,398 Modern main battle tanks, like the M1and the Challenger, 330 00:24:03,527 --> 00:24:06,087 have such a voracious appetite for fuel 331 00:24:06,207 --> 00:24:10,962 that you can't use that many of them and still move quickly. 332 00:24:11,087 --> 00:24:14,841 The old marriage of armour and operational mobility 333 00:24:14,967 --> 00:24:18,039 that we saw during World War Two has ended 334 00:24:18,167 --> 00:24:20,442 and we now have to make trade-offs 335 00:24:20,567 --> 00:24:24,606 between combat power, the ability to fight, 336 00:24:24,727 --> 00:24:29,960 and operational mobility, the ability to move large distances overland. 337 00:24:31,087 --> 00:24:33,317 To get around the logistic problem, 338 00:24:33,447 --> 00:24:36,883 Franks' version of the Blitzkrieg battleplan 339 00:24:37,007 --> 00:24:41,876 was based deliberately on using a far smaller force than in Desert Storm, 340 00:24:42,007 --> 00:24:44,726 but much more swiftly and aggressively. 341 00:24:44,847 --> 00:24:49,079 Yet the press and military pundits not only expressed concern 342 00:24:49,207 --> 00:24:52,324 that the number of troops deployed for lraqi Freedom 343 00:24:52,447 --> 00:24:54,438 was much smaller than in Desert Storm, 344 00:24:54,567 --> 00:24:56,558 but that the weapons available, 345 00:24:56,687 --> 00:25:00,396 apparently in fewer numbers, looked much the same. 346 00:25:00,527 --> 00:25:06,045 The M1A Abrams tank, the Bradley infantry fighting vehicle, 347 00:25:06,167 --> 00:25:09,523 the Paladin self-propelled gun. 348 00:25:11,367 --> 00:25:14,439 But few laymen appreciated the quantum leap 349 00:25:14,567 --> 00:25:18,640 in technological sophistication over the previous decade. 350 00:25:18,767 --> 00:25:21,361 GPS, the Global Positioning System, 351 00:25:21,487 --> 00:25:25,605 was now an integral part of most aerial weapon systems. 352 00:25:25,727 --> 00:25:30,801 During Desert Storm, only 10% of the weaponry had been precision-guided, 353 00:25:30,927 --> 00:25:33,077 largely by laser designators. 354 00:25:33,207 --> 00:25:35,277 Now at least half was. 355 00:25:38,847 --> 00:25:43,443 And unmanned aerial vehicles and aerial command posts 356 00:25:43,567 --> 00:25:48,595 speeded up the gathering of information and its presentation to commanders. 357 00:25:48,727 --> 00:25:54,279 The US battleplanners had also studied their much larger opponent. 358 00:25:54,407 --> 00:25:58,685 To an inexperienced eye it still seemed a formidable force. 359 00:25:58,807 --> 00:26:03,927 But in reality, it was a pale shadow of even its 1992 strength. 360 00:26:05,887 --> 00:26:09,004 After studying intelligence reports on their opponent, 361 00:26:09,127 --> 00:26:13,086 Franks' planners believe their technological superiority 362 00:26:13,207 --> 00:26:17,598 will give them the overwhelming force that their plan requires. 363 00:26:17,727 --> 00:26:21,242 There are few lraqi units close to the Kuwait border 364 00:26:21,367 --> 00:26:23,676 where their initial breakthrough will occur. 365 00:26:23,807 --> 00:26:28,437 The lraqi battleplan seems to be to allow the Americans deep into their country 366 00:26:28,567 --> 00:26:30,956 and then try to bog them down. 367 00:26:32,887 --> 00:26:37,756 So the Blitzkrieg battleplan which Franks and his team come up with 368 00:26:37,887 --> 00:26:40,276 relies on unprecedented speed. 369 00:26:42,487 --> 00:26:45,206 The US 3rd Mechanized lnfantry Division, 370 00:26:45,327 --> 00:26:48,683 with 270 Abrams main battle tanks, 371 00:26:48,807 --> 00:26:51,526 will head up to the west of the Euphrates, 372 00:26:51,647 --> 00:26:56,357 moving as fast as possible and bypassing the major towns, 373 00:26:56,487 --> 00:27:01,197 aiming at the gap around Karbala between the Euphrates and Lake Bahr, 374 00:27:01,327 --> 00:27:03,761 less than 40 miles from Baghdad. 375 00:27:03,887 --> 00:27:06,560 From here it will attack from the west. 376 00:27:07,407 --> 00:27:11,400 Behind it, a massive supply column will be guarded by units 377 00:27:11,527 --> 00:27:14,564 from the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions. 378 00:27:14,687 --> 00:27:19,636 These will also eliminate opposition left behind by the main thrust. 379 00:27:19,767 --> 00:27:25,364 The 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, the MEF, with 120 Abrams, 380 00:27:25,487 --> 00:27:30,163 will cross the Euphrates at the first possible place, Nasiriyah, 381 00:27:30,287 --> 00:27:33,643 which is also the first potential choke point. 382 00:27:33,767 --> 00:27:38,716 lt will then advance in two columns towards Diwaniyah and Kut, 383 00:27:38,847 --> 00:27:40,838 so as to keep the lraqis guessing 384 00:27:40,967 --> 00:27:43,435 as to whether the other main thrust towards Baghdad 385 00:27:43,567 --> 00:27:47,526 will come from the south or east. 386 00:27:47,647 --> 00:27:51,606 Task Force Tarawa will follow up the MEF 387 00:27:51,727 --> 00:27:55,117 to guard its supply routes and eliminate opposition. 388 00:27:55,247 --> 00:28:00,924 The British will deal with lraq's second city, Basra, in the south. 389 00:28:01,047 --> 00:28:05,484 The success of the battleplan depends on one crucial principle - 390 00:28:05,607 --> 00:28:08,519 reach Baghdad as fast as possible. 391 00:28:08,647 --> 00:28:11,923 No successful military plan is ever made in a vacuum. 392 00:28:12,047 --> 00:28:17,360 Tommy Franks is a great student of military history and developed a plan 393 00:28:17,487 --> 00:28:21,162 that great military commanders in history would have understood - 394 00:28:21,287 --> 00:28:24,962 Hannibal, Julius Caesar, whomever. 395 00:28:25,087 --> 00:28:27,920 lt was a plan that Tommy Franks said 396 00:28:28,047 --> 00:28:31,005 was ''Blitzkrieg with hi-tech knobs on''. 397 00:28:31,127 --> 00:28:35,405 The movement, the speed, the psychological impact, was something 398 00:28:35,527 --> 00:28:38,519 that throughout history commanders had tried to achieve. 399 00:28:38,647 --> 00:28:43,323 They may not have understood the accuracy, the speed, 400 00:28:43,447 --> 00:28:47,599 the precision of everything the commanders could do by 2003, 401 00:28:47,727 --> 00:28:50,241 but the basic plan was as old as time. 402 00:28:51,407 --> 00:28:54,877 Now the time has come for both ''break through'' plans 403 00:28:55,007 --> 00:28:56,998 to be put to the test. 404 00:28:59,807 --> 00:29:03,004 For both the Germans and the Coalition forces, 405 00:29:03,127 --> 00:29:07,598 the theoretical part of the battleplanning is at an end. 406 00:29:10,047 --> 00:29:12,845 The reality of the ''break through'' stage, 407 00:29:12,967 --> 00:29:16,642 the first direct contact with the enemy is upon them. 408 00:29:17,687 --> 00:29:23,239 May 10th, 1940. The Germans execute their battleplan for Blitzkrieg. 409 00:29:23,367 --> 00:29:25,676 Army Group B thrusts into Holland 410 00:29:25,807 --> 00:29:27,604 and northern Belgium, 411 00:29:27,727 --> 00:29:29,524 luring the Allies forward. 412 00:29:31,727 --> 00:29:34,719 Further south and almost unnoticed at first, 413 00:29:34,847 --> 00:29:40,205 the infantry, artillery and combat engineers of Army Group A 414 00:29:40,327 --> 00:29:45,606 begin to punch through weak Allied forces screening the Ardennes. 415 00:29:45,727 --> 00:29:47,718 Behind them come the Panzers. 416 00:29:49,247 --> 00:29:54,480 Supported by Stukas, they get through the hills and woods of the Ardennes, 417 00:29:54,607 --> 00:29:59,442 cross the French border and reach the River Meuse in just three days. 418 00:30:02,647 --> 00:30:05,036 Here the French must stop them. 419 00:30:05,167 --> 00:30:10,605 lt is the last natural defence line before the wide open plains of northern France 420 00:30:10,727 --> 00:30:14,083 which reach all the way to the English Channel. 421 00:30:14,647 --> 00:30:19,038 But the Allied generals are focused on the threat further north. 422 00:30:19,167 --> 00:30:22,955 The low-grade troops defending the Meuse are given little support 423 00:30:23,087 --> 00:30:25,601 and swiftly the German assault engineers 424 00:30:25,727 --> 00:30:29,515 get across to establish three bridgeheads. 425 00:30:31,767 --> 00:30:34,201 Soon the Panzers are crossing. 426 00:30:39,687 --> 00:30:42,963 The Germans have achieved their breakthrough. 427 00:30:43,087 --> 00:30:45,237 They are now behind the main Allied armies 428 00:30:45,367 --> 00:30:48,677 with almost a clear run to the coast. 429 00:30:59,247 --> 00:31:02,319 March 20th, 2003. 430 00:31:02,447 --> 00:31:07,805 Coalition ground and air elements unleash their modern Blitzkrieg. 431 00:31:07,927 --> 00:31:10,361 Air strikes go into Baghdad. 432 00:31:12,647 --> 00:31:15,798 Apache helicopters cross the Kuwait/lraq border 433 00:31:15,927 --> 00:31:18,395 to destroy lraqi observation posts. 434 00:31:20,287 --> 00:31:23,085 Then artillery systems open up. 435 00:31:26,487 --> 00:31:30,719 By daybreak, the lead units of Franks' Blitzkrieg battleplan 436 00:31:30,847 --> 00:31:35,523 have crossed the lraqi border and begun their race for Baghdad. 437 00:31:41,807 --> 00:31:46,722 The tanks of 3rd lnfantry head north-west of the Euphrates. 438 00:31:46,847 --> 00:31:48,997 One brigade swings north 439 00:31:49,127 --> 00:31:52,756 to seize a crossing over the Euphrates west of Nasiriyah - 440 00:31:52,887 --> 00:31:56,038 the first potential choke point. 441 00:31:56,167 --> 00:31:59,079 The other two race north along dirt tracks 442 00:31:59,207 --> 00:32:02,643 and through the desert towards Samawah and Najaf, 443 00:32:02,767 --> 00:32:04,758 aiming for the Karbala Gap - 444 00:32:04,887 --> 00:32:07,526 the final choke point before Baghdad. 445 00:32:07,647 --> 00:32:11,117 The 1st Marine Division starts by striking north 446 00:32:11,247 --> 00:32:13,636 alongside the British 7th Armoured Brigade 447 00:32:13,767 --> 00:32:16,918 towards the vital oilfields at Rumaila. 448 00:32:17,047 --> 00:32:22,326 These are swiftly captured with only seven out of 1,000 sabotaged. 449 00:32:22,447 --> 00:32:26,122 The lraqi 51st Division collapses and surrenders. 450 00:32:26,247 --> 00:32:31,002 The ''break through'' phase of the Coalition Blitzkrieg battleplan 451 00:32:31,127 --> 00:32:33,322 is an immediate success. 452 00:32:33,447 --> 00:32:36,678 The few lraqi forces anywhere near the border 453 00:32:36,807 --> 00:32:39,640 are swiftly brushed aside or disappear. 454 00:32:39,767 --> 00:32:44,477 The Marines turn north towards the crossing point west of Nasiriyah, 455 00:32:44,607 --> 00:32:47,883 while the British continue on to capture Basra. 456 00:32:48,007 --> 00:32:51,204 Within hours the Coalition forces have achieved 457 00:32:51,327 --> 00:32:54,399 what the Germans accomplished in three days - 458 00:32:54,527 --> 00:33:00,284 a breakthrough with wide open spaces ahead of them towards their main goal. 459 00:33:00,407 --> 00:33:04,639 For both armies, the next phase of the Blitzkrieg battleplan, 460 00:33:04,767 --> 00:33:07,122 strike deep, is crucial. 461 00:33:07,247 --> 00:33:10,922 lt is now that they will be at their most vulnerable. 462 00:33:11,727 --> 00:33:14,366 France, May 1940. 463 00:33:14,487 --> 00:33:19,038 The Allied commanders cannot understand what is happening to them. 464 00:33:19,167 --> 00:33:22,603 But they are not the only ones taken by surprise. 465 00:33:23,607 --> 00:33:25,837 The Germans are also surprised 466 00:33:25,967 --> 00:33:29,960 by the initial success of their Blitzkrieg battleplan, 467 00:33:30,087 --> 00:33:33,523 but rather than either sitting on their laurels 468 00:33:33,647 --> 00:33:38,482 or trying to figure out what was going on, they simply pushed forward. 469 00:33:38,607 --> 00:33:41,679 They had this bias for action, 470 00:33:41,807 --> 00:33:45,516 this desire to push forward whenever they could, 471 00:33:45,647 --> 00:33:49,162 and so they decided to finish the job 472 00:33:49,287 --> 00:33:54,361 and then at leisure figure out what had gone wrong and what had gone right. 473 00:33:55,367 --> 00:33:57,676 Once they were across the Meuse, 474 00:33:57,807 --> 00:34:03,006 German Panzer commanders, like Heinz Guderian, allowed nothing to stop them - 475 00:34:03,127 --> 00:34:05,163 not even Hitler. 476 00:34:05,287 --> 00:34:07,482 Within eight more days 477 00:34:07,607 --> 00:34:10,758 they had reached the coast of the English Channel, 478 00:34:10,887 --> 00:34:13,276 having travelled over 200 miles. 479 00:34:14,287 --> 00:34:18,121 With the Panzers of Army Group A rampaging behind them 480 00:34:18,247 --> 00:34:21,603 and German Army Group B pushing from the north, 481 00:34:21,727 --> 00:34:26,357 the Allies fall back, caught by a pincer movement, to Dunkirk. 482 00:34:27,407 --> 00:34:31,798 But the ''deep strike'' phase was not totally straightforward. 483 00:34:31,927 --> 00:34:37,923 The Germans had trained a wild animal that they eventually let off the leash 484 00:34:38,047 --> 00:34:41,676 through the Ardennes in the spring of 1940. 485 00:34:41,807 --> 00:34:45,117 The difficulty was that the owner lost control 486 00:34:45,247 --> 00:34:47,238 as soon as they let that dog off the leash. 487 00:34:47,367 --> 00:34:50,325 lf you have a commander that will be bold, 488 00:34:50,447 --> 00:34:53,644 courageous and exploit opportunities, 489 00:34:53,767 --> 00:34:57,362 one day he will scare that owner, his headquarters. 490 00:34:58,647 --> 00:35:01,161 So what did scare the owner? 491 00:35:03,727 --> 00:35:08,801 The first danger in the Blitzkrieg battleplan is that of counterattack. 492 00:35:08,927 --> 00:35:12,442 The longer and thinner the German line of advance became, 493 00:35:12,567 --> 00:35:14,876 the greater the exposure to counterattack, 494 00:35:15,007 --> 00:35:18,522 especially on weak flanks. 495 00:35:18,647 --> 00:35:23,118 ln their drive west, the Panzers came under two counterattacks 496 00:35:23,247 --> 00:35:26,842 which might have changed the course of the battle. 497 00:35:26,967 --> 00:35:31,040 Three days after the break-out from the Meuse bridgeheads, 498 00:35:31,167 --> 00:35:35,160 a French armoured division attacked the dangerously exposed south flank. 499 00:35:37,687 --> 00:35:42,203 The attack was not properly supported and soon ground to a halt. 500 00:35:42,327 --> 00:35:46,081 But it so frightened Hitler and the German High Command 501 00:35:46,207 --> 00:35:50,644 that the Panzer thrust was ordered to stop and wait for the infantry. 502 00:35:50,767 --> 00:35:52,758 The Panzers did not stop. 503 00:35:52,887 --> 00:35:56,721 Heinz Guderian wanted to move as quickly as possible, 504 00:35:56,847 --> 00:36:01,363 snapping at the back side of the retreating French and British. 505 00:36:01,487 --> 00:36:07,517 Hitler, back at headquarters, wanted to haul him back in, but he wasn't listening. 506 00:36:08,887 --> 00:36:11,481 Then, two days later near Arras, 507 00:36:11,607 --> 00:36:15,885 a British tank brigade tried to cut through the right flank. 508 00:36:17,447 --> 00:36:23,636 For a short time, it seemed the right-flank Panzer Division might be halted. 509 00:36:23,767 --> 00:36:28,921 But German artillery was rushed up and this threw the British tanks back. 510 00:36:29,047 --> 00:36:31,038 The Germans raced on. 511 00:36:31,847 --> 00:36:37,399 March 24th, 2003 - three days into the ''strike deep'' phase 512 00:36:37,527 --> 00:36:42,760 of the US Blitzkrieg battleplan and Operation lraqi Freedom is on target. 513 00:36:42,887 --> 00:36:48,086 The regular lraqi army has been brushed aside and effectively disappears. 514 00:36:48,207 --> 00:36:51,085 The bridgehead west of Nasiriyah is seized. 515 00:36:51,207 --> 00:36:54,882 The 1st Marine Division has now arrived and is crossing, 516 00:36:55,007 --> 00:36:59,478 while the tanks of the 3rd lnfantry have advanced over 250 miles 517 00:36:59,607 --> 00:37:02,201 and isolated both Samawah and Najaf. 518 00:37:03,007 --> 00:37:08,001 Behind them, a convoy of 2,700 resupply vehicles, 519 00:37:08,127 --> 00:37:12,245 escorted by Apache helicopters of the 101st Airborne, 520 00:37:12,367 --> 00:37:16,804 has advanced almost 200 miles and established a FARP - 521 00:37:16,927 --> 00:37:20,636 a forward area refuelling position - for 3rd lnfantry, 522 00:37:20,767 --> 00:37:23,406 and troops are leap-frogging by helicopter 523 00:37:23,527 --> 00:37:27,361 to establish FARPs even further on. 524 00:37:28,607 --> 00:37:32,236 As you know, our forces have been moving rapidly. 525 00:37:32,367 --> 00:37:35,723 We've intentionally bypassed enemy formations 526 00:37:35,847 --> 00:37:38,725 to include paramilitary and the Fedayeen. 527 00:37:40,127 --> 00:37:45,326 But Tommy Franks has put his finger on the fact that his deep-striking forces 528 00:37:45,447 --> 00:37:49,440 are just as vulnerable as the Germans were in 1940. 529 00:37:52,167 --> 00:37:55,159 March 24th, 2003. 530 00:37:55,287 --> 00:37:58,359 At Nasiriyah, identified as a choke point, 531 00:37:58,487 --> 00:38:03,038 the Marines move in to seize more bridges in the town. 532 00:38:03,167 --> 00:38:06,842 They intend to roll around potential strongpoints. 533 00:38:06,967 --> 00:38:11,961 But the lead units take a wrong turn and become involved in confused fighting 534 00:38:12,087 --> 00:38:14,647 with the Fedayeen and Ba'ath Party fanatics. 535 00:38:14,767 --> 00:38:18,760 The Marines are forced to go down ''Ambush Alley'' 536 00:38:18,887 --> 00:38:21,003 and lose several vehicles. 537 00:38:22,967 --> 00:38:27,279 Eventually, the bridges are seized for the Marines to cross, 538 00:38:27,407 --> 00:38:31,446 but it takes the troops of Task Force Tarawa more than a week 539 00:38:31,567 --> 00:38:36,641 to secure the town so that supply columns can use the bridges unhindered. 540 00:38:38,247 --> 00:38:42,240 No one came into here thinking it was gonna be a cakewalk. 541 00:38:42,367 --> 00:38:47,725 We knew about the Republican Guard, but didn't know when we'd run into them. 542 00:38:49,527 --> 00:38:51,722 Elsewhere on the long road to Baghdad, 543 00:38:51,847 --> 00:38:55,760 Operation lraqi Freedom could not avoid the other inherent problem 544 00:38:55,887 --> 00:38:58,879 of lightning war - logistics. 545 00:39:01,127 --> 00:39:05,962 The Coalition supply columns snake north in seemingly unending lines. 546 00:39:06,087 --> 00:39:08,885 The attack units in front are armoured. 547 00:39:09,007 --> 00:39:12,317 The supply vehicles are soft-skinned and vulnerable. 548 00:39:12,447 --> 00:39:15,439 The lraqis could have exploited this 549 00:39:15,567 --> 00:39:19,719 by using what might be called ''the savage rabbit defence''. 550 00:39:19,847 --> 00:39:24,762 lf the lraqi forces had waited for the Coalition forces to bypass them 551 00:39:24,887 --> 00:39:30,200 and then emerged from their holes, as it were, to attack the supply units, 552 00:39:30,327 --> 00:39:33,125 the maintenance units, logistics units, 553 00:39:33,247 --> 00:39:36,444 they could have inflicted quite a bit of damage 554 00:39:36,567 --> 00:39:40,480 and forced the Coalition forces to stop or even turn around. 555 00:39:42,127 --> 00:39:44,880 The Fedayeen and other paramilitaries 556 00:39:45,007 --> 00:39:48,124 do launch sporadic attacks on supply columns, 557 00:39:48,247 --> 00:39:50,602 but it is never a consistent plan. 558 00:39:50,727 --> 00:39:56,723 There have been some harassing attacks on our supply lines and they continue, 559 00:39:56,847 --> 00:40:01,443 but they have not stopped the movement of our logistic support forward 560 00:40:01,567 --> 00:40:04,240 to each of our fielded forces. 561 00:40:04,367 --> 00:40:07,916 We continue to provide self-protection to those. 562 00:40:08,047 --> 00:40:11,596 Those attacks have become fewer with fewer forces 563 00:40:11,727 --> 00:40:17,404 and they have all been defeated with relatively minimal cost to our forces. 564 00:40:18,607 --> 00:40:23,123 But in the fog of war, with troops exhausted, accidents happen. 565 00:40:23,247 --> 00:40:26,603 Near Nasiriyah, one resupply unit becomes lost 566 00:40:26,727 --> 00:40:28,718 and ends up in a firefight 567 00:40:28,847 --> 00:40:32,078 with some of its members killed and others captured, 568 00:40:32,207 --> 00:40:34,846 including Private Jessica Lynch. 569 00:40:36,007 --> 00:40:39,522 The logistics problem also caught up with the German battleplan 570 00:40:39,647 --> 00:40:41,444 in World War Two. 571 00:40:41,567 --> 00:40:45,446 On May 25th, two weeks after launching their Blitzkrieg, 572 00:40:45,567 --> 00:40:49,480 they had the British and French armies trapped at Dunkirk. 573 00:40:49,607 --> 00:40:54,203 The tanks might have swept on to take the trapped men, but they stopped 574 00:40:54,327 --> 00:40:57,478 and over 350,000 British and French troops 575 00:40:57,607 --> 00:40:59,962 were able to escape from the beaches. 576 00:41:02,167 --> 00:41:07,605 lnterestingly, historically it seems to be that around the 250-mile mark, 577 00:41:07,727 --> 00:41:09,922 armies tend to run out of steam. 578 00:41:10,047 --> 00:41:15,041 The distance from the start of the German attack through the Ardennes, 579 00:41:15,167 --> 00:41:20,605 through the route that they took to the Dunkirk perimeter, is roughly 250 miles. 580 00:41:22,127 --> 00:41:26,757 The German advance was so fast that it outran its back-up. 581 00:41:27,567 --> 00:41:32,482 This was largely because, despite propaganda film of tanks and trucks, 582 00:41:32,607 --> 00:41:34,802 more than 90% of the German army 583 00:41:34,927 --> 00:41:39,239 was still reliant on its foot soldiers and horses. 584 00:41:39,367 --> 00:41:42,200 Over 60 years later, on March 25th, 585 00:41:42,327 --> 00:41:45,922 the US commanders, like their German counterparts, 586 00:41:46,047 --> 00:41:48,880 decide that a halt must be made to regroup 587 00:41:49,007 --> 00:41:53,603 before completing their campaign with the assault on Baghdad. 588 00:41:55,367 --> 00:42:00,566 As they do so, another sort of ''fog of war'' strikes their advance - 589 00:42:00,687 --> 00:42:03,599 the shamal, blinding sandstorms. 590 00:42:04,727 --> 00:42:07,002 Franks' 3rd Division halts. 591 00:42:07,127 --> 00:42:12,042 The lighter-armoured Marines stop their advance, so as not to get too far ahead. 592 00:42:15,047 --> 00:42:18,483 The decision is misinterpreted by many journalists. 593 00:42:18,607 --> 00:42:21,679 The media assumes that the advance has stalled 594 00:42:21,807 --> 00:42:25,641 and that the American military face another Vietnam. 595 00:42:29,087 --> 00:42:34,445 ln fact, the Americans are resting and, more importantly, resupplying. 596 00:42:36,087 --> 00:42:41,320 To the uninitiated, some of the things that happened during lraqi Freedom 597 00:42:41,447 --> 00:42:43,642 looked as though Blitzkrieg was failing, 598 00:42:43,767 --> 00:42:47,476 but these were common problems the Americans were trying to overcome. 599 00:42:49,087 --> 00:42:53,558 Then on April 2nd, the race to Baghdad is unleashed again. 600 00:42:57,167 --> 00:43:01,843 West of the Euphrates, Apache gunships of the 101st Airborne 601 00:43:01,967 --> 00:43:06,597 attack the lraqi Republican Guard Medina Division near Karbala. 602 00:43:07,767 --> 00:43:12,079 US Rangers seize the Haditha Dam on the outskirts of Karbala 603 00:43:12,207 --> 00:43:16,200 to stop the lraqis blowing it and flooding the area. 604 00:43:16,327 --> 00:43:19,319 US 3rd lnfantry pushes around the city, 605 00:43:19,447 --> 00:43:22,598 seizes the main bridge on the road to Baghdad 606 00:43:22,727 --> 00:43:25,560 and begins to probe towards the capital. 607 00:43:27,007 --> 00:43:31,876 East of the Euphrates, one Marine column reaches Diwaniyah, 608 00:43:32,007 --> 00:43:35,602 but instead of continuing direct towards Baghdad, 609 00:43:35,727 --> 00:43:39,800 swings north-east to cross the Tigris west of Kut. 610 00:43:39,927 --> 00:43:45,240 This bypasses the city, which the lraqis had been preparing to defend. 611 00:43:45,367 --> 00:43:47,927 The Marines then head for Baghdad. 612 00:43:50,247 --> 00:43:54,320 On April 3rd, an armoured company from 3rd lnfantry Division reaches 613 00:43:54,447 --> 00:43:57,484 and takes Baghdad Airport. 614 00:43:57,607 --> 00:44:00,838 The expected resistance does not take place. 615 00:44:00,967 --> 00:44:05,916 But the interlude is deceptive, due to the speed of the American advance. 616 00:44:06,047 --> 00:44:08,561 Not expecting the enemy so quickly, 617 00:44:08,687 --> 00:44:11,485 the defenders have gone underground to sleep. 618 00:44:11,607 --> 00:44:15,600 When they wake up, a fierce counterattack takes place, 619 00:44:15,727 --> 00:44:20,926 and fighting for the airport rages for more than 24 hours. 620 00:44:21,047 --> 00:44:23,402 The Marines approaching from the east 621 00:44:23,527 --> 00:44:26,166 also encounter more determined resistance, 622 00:44:26,287 --> 00:44:30,075 but by April 6th, they too are pushing into the city. 623 00:44:34,727 --> 00:44:40,165 lt takes two more days for US forces to close off Baghdad completely. 624 00:44:40,287 --> 00:44:44,917 Then a Marine engineer team helps excited lraqi civilians 625 00:44:45,047 --> 00:44:48,722 pull down the statue of Saddam Hussein in Firdos Square. 626 00:44:52,327 --> 00:44:57,879 But the capture of Baghdad Airport had marked the end of the Blitzkrieg in lraq, 627 00:44:58,007 --> 00:45:02,922 just as the halt at Dunkirk had marked the end of the German Blitzkrieg 628 00:45:03,047 --> 00:45:05,038 in northern France. 629 00:45:05,167 --> 00:45:07,556 Both armies, over 60 years apart, 630 00:45:07,687 --> 00:45:12,158 had shown how Blitzkrieg could be a triumphant success. 631 00:45:12,287 --> 00:45:15,359 But if one looks at how they each stacked up, 632 00:45:15,487 --> 00:45:21,005 both against the requirements of the Blitzkrieg battleplan and its weaknesses, 633 00:45:21,127 --> 00:45:24,722 there are interesting similarities and contrasts. 634 00:45:24,847 --> 00:45:29,523 Both commanders deceived the enemy and controlled the air. 635 00:45:29,647 --> 00:45:34,198 ln the ''break through'' and ''strike deep'' phases of the battleplan, 636 00:45:34,327 --> 00:45:40,038 the technological balance between each side and its enemy played a crucial role. 637 00:45:40,167 --> 00:45:45,639 Except in the air, the Germans had no advantage in numbers or equipment. 638 00:45:45,767 --> 00:45:49,646 They achieved overwhelming force where it was needed 639 00:45:49,767 --> 00:45:54,841 by grouping their Panzer Divisions together and using them ruthlessly. 640 00:45:54,967 --> 00:45:59,916 ln contrast, the Americans used the enormous technological superiority 641 00:46:00,047 --> 00:46:04,040 of their weapons and communications to overwhelm an enemy 642 00:46:04,167 --> 00:46:07,239 which theoretically outnumbered them. 643 00:46:07,367 --> 00:46:09,403 But there were cautionary final notes 644 00:46:09,527 --> 00:46:12,837 which showed that even a hi-tech Blitzkrieg 645 00:46:12,967 --> 00:46:14,958 is exposed to the same inherent problems 646 00:46:15,087 --> 00:46:18,477 that the Germans encountered in 1940. 647 00:46:19,567 --> 00:46:23,003 The Germans faced two attempted counterattacks, 648 00:46:23,127 --> 00:46:26,642 but both were poorly co-ordinated and ineffective. 649 00:46:26,767 --> 00:46:31,761 The psychological power of their Blitzkrieg had stunned their enemy. 650 00:46:32,567 --> 00:46:38,597 The American combat units had little problem with the regular lraqi army 651 00:46:38,727 --> 00:46:41,036 or even the Republican Guard. 652 00:46:41,167 --> 00:46:43,806 Their problems came further back. 653 00:46:45,207 --> 00:46:48,119 The skill of the American logistics units 654 00:46:48,247 --> 00:46:52,160 helped to sustain the extraordinarily rapid advance, 655 00:46:52,287 --> 00:46:57,566 but only up to the same sort of 250-mile distance that the Germans had achieved, 656 00:46:57,687 --> 00:47:02,442 then, even with trucks and helicopters rather than feet and horses, 657 00:47:02,567 --> 00:47:05,206 a halt became inevitable. 658 00:47:05,327 --> 00:47:08,876 And for the Americans this long logistics train 659 00:47:09,007 --> 00:47:12,158 turned out to be vulnerable to guerrilla action 660 00:47:12,287 --> 00:47:15,677 by relatively unsophisticated enemy troops. 661 00:47:15,807 --> 00:47:18,605 lt was a different form of counterattack 662 00:47:18,727 --> 00:47:20,718 which could have caused major problems, 663 00:47:20,847 --> 00:47:24,920 had the lraqis used it more consistently. 664 00:47:25,047 --> 00:47:27,925 The major problems that the Coalition would later face - 665 00:47:28,047 --> 00:47:30,083 the follow-up phase of Blitzkrieg - 666 00:47:30,207 --> 00:47:35,964 came only after the amazing success of the Blitzkrieg battleplan. 667 00:47:37,127 --> 00:47:39,846 But this only emphasises another lesson 668 00:47:39,967 --> 00:47:43,437 that the Germans had learned over 60 years before - 669 00:47:43,567 --> 00:47:47,446 that, ultimately, a mass army is needed on the ground to secure it 670 00:47:47,567 --> 00:47:50,639 after the first rapid victories. 671 00:47:52,167 --> 00:47:55,682 For the long-term future, there was a new factor. 672 00:47:57,207 --> 00:48:00,597 The lesson of Operation lraqi Freedom, l think, 673 00:48:00,727 --> 00:48:04,959 is that you can either have a large force that moves slowly 674 00:48:05,087 --> 00:48:07,555 or a small force that moves quickly, 675 00:48:07,687 --> 00:48:12,124 but you can't have a large force that moves rapidly. 676 00:48:12,247 --> 00:48:18,686 l think we'll see in the future a great deal of use of the Blitzkrieg battleplan, 677 00:48:18,807 --> 00:48:20,798 but on a smaller scale. 678 00:48:20,927 --> 00:48:27,366 lt's unlikely that we'll see a repetition of the large-scale Blitzkrieg attacks 679 00:48:27,487 --> 00:48:30,797 of the Second World War or even of Desert Storm 680 00:48:30,927 --> 00:48:34,966 until someone solves the problem of large battle tanks 681 00:48:35,087 --> 00:48:39,160 that require six gallons of fuel for every mile they travel. 682 00:48:41,007 --> 00:48:44,682 The wheel has come full circle in the battleplan for Blitzkrieg. 683 00:48:44,807 --> 00:48:48,117 Once again, the way commanders fight this fast-moving, 684 00:48:48,247 --> 00:48:50,238 hard-hitting type of warfare 685 00:48:50,367 --> 00:48:54,565 is being limited by the capability of the technology available. 686 00:48:56,087 --> 00:48:59,079 Blitzkrieg awaits its next revolution.