Heinz Guderian, (17 June 1888–14 May 1954) a military theorist and innovative General of the German Army during the Second World War.
Using the Blitzkrieg, Guderian, Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist and other field commanders such as Rommel broke the hiatus of the Phoney War in a manner almost outside the comprehension of the Allied — and, indeed, the German — High Command.
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Guderian had planned for two main tanks, the Panzer III was in production but the second support tank with a 75 mm gun was not.
In the latter hypothesis, promoted by Robert Allan Doughty and Karl-Heinz Frieser, the Manstein Plan is instead a return to the classic principles of the 19th century Bewegungskrieg but now radically adapted to the full potential of modern technology by a sudden and unexpected departure from established German doctrine through the Blitzkrieg elements provided and executed by Guderian.