ABSTRACT
The initial thrust, as Hitler envisaged it early on, would be to violate an enemy politically, using propaganda and sabotage to undermine morale before launching swift, overwhelming surprise attacks by forces headed by 'highly qualified special formations'.228 Warfare, in this context, was a series of coups de main, in which the Nazi leader could use the revolutionary principles and tactics to which he was suited. In particular, there was the absolute centrality of deception in every phase of Blitzkrieg in order to keep the enemy command in a state of uncertainty beyond the outbreak of hostilities. During the breakthrough attacks on selected narrow sections of the front, deception operations ranging from feints to demonstrations were necessary to prevent the majority of the enemy forces along the unattacked frontage from moving towards the intended axes of these attacks. During penetration, it was the speed and directional unpredictability that created the 'noise' of multiple sightings which in turn prevented the tactical vulnerability of the racing mobile columns from becoming an operational one as well. Finally, as exploitation proceeded and disoriented masses of the enemy were encircled by German forces often inferior in numbers, as in the 1941 Ukraine campaign, it was only the deception caused by the psychological disruption of Blitzkrieg that could prevent breakouts by the numerically superior encircled forces.229
