Influenced by the trench warfare of the First World War, German military planners of the 1930s drew up a new concept designed to bring rapid mobility to the battlefield. This lightning war, or Blitzkrieg, called for particularly close co-operation between air and armoured forces with aircraft primarily employed in the close support role, disrupting the enemy's back area - especially com­munications - and paving the way for deep armoured penetrations by denying him the ability to organise resistance or counter-attack. Should the occasion arise the air force could also support the step-by-step advance of the army by attacking targets directly in the line of advance.

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