<sod>  Blitzkrieg is not without its disadvantages; there is a real danger of the attacking force overextending its [[supply line]]s, and the strategy as a whole can be defeated by a determined foe who is willing to sacrifice territory for time in which to regroup and rearm.  In addition, the defending army can maintain strong points which the attacking army must either eliminate thereby disrupting its momentum or bypass which creates the possiblity that the defender will use them to encircle the attacker.  Once the attack loses momentum,
 the war becomes one of [[attrition]] in  which the mobility and surprise involved with blitzkrieg are no longer useful.
 
The limits of blitzkrieg were seen in [[Operation Barbarossa]] in [[1942]].
 Although the [[German]] attack took huge areas of [[Russia]], the overall strategic effect was more limited and the [[Red Army]] was able to regroup far to the rear, and eventually defeat the German forces, for the first time in the [[Battle of Moscow]]. In the following summer of 1942, when Germany launched another Blitzkrieg offensive in southern Russia against [[Stalingrad]] and the [[Caucasus]], the Soviets let the Germans conquer vast territories in the steppes, just to counter-attack them again when they would be exhausted, their frontlines and supply lines overstretched. The last Blitzkrieg offensive in the war against the Soviet Union, now on a more modest scale, was carried out by the Germans during the [[Battle of Kursk]] in [[1943]], which resulted in a German failure. From then on, the Germans had neither the element of surprise, nor sufficient manpower or resources to launch another successful Blitzkrieg, let alone to wear the Soviet Union down in attrition warfare. The last major Blitzkrieg-style offensive was launched against the Western Allies in the Ardennes ([[Battle of the Bulge]]) in 1944. Again, the Germans lacked the resources to sustain their initial territorial gains.
 
 ==Sucessors==
 <eod> <sod> Blitzkrieg is not without its disadvantages; there is a real danger of the attacking force overextending its [[supply line]]s, and the strategy as a whole can be defeated by a determined foe who is willing to sacrifice territory for time in which to regroup and rearm.  In addition, the defending army can maintain strong points which the attacking army must either eliminate thereby disrupting its momentum or bypass which creates the possiblity that the defender will use them to encircle the attacker.  Once the attack loses momentum,
 the war becomes one of [[attrition]] in  which the mobility and surprise involved with blitzkrieg are no longer useful.
 
The limits of blitzkrieg were seen in [[Operation Barbarossa]] in [[1941]].
 Although the [[German]] attack took huge areas of [[Russia]], the overall strategic effect was more limited and the [[Red Army]] was able to regroup far to the rear, and eventually defeat the German forces, for the first time in the [[Battle of Moscow]]. In the following summer of 1942, when Germany launched another Blitzkrieg offensive in southern Russia against [[Stalingrad]] and the [[Caucasus]], the Soviets let the Germans conquer vast territories in the steppes, just to counter-attack them again when they would be exhausted, their frontlines and supply lines overstretched. The last Blitzkrieg offensive in the war against the Soviet Union, now on a more modest scale, was carried out by the Germans during the [[Battle of Kursk]] in [[1943]], which resulted in a German failure. From then on, the Germans had neither the element of surprise, nor sufficient manpower or resources to launch another successful Blitzkrieg, let alone to wear the Soviet Union down in attrition warfare. The last major Blitzkrieg-style offensive was launched against the Western Allies in the Ardennes ([[Battle of the Bulge]]) in 1944. Again, the Germans lacked the resources to sustain their initial territorial gains.
 
 ==Sucessors==
 <eod>