In Hawking, men would catch a wild bird and then have to tame it. To do this, they would sew the bird s eyes with a needle and thread and put the thread over the bird s head so the man could open and close the hawk s eyes at will. This way the trainer could train the hawk to hunt other birds.
blitzkrieg. German term meaning lightning war, used to describe Germany's novel military tactics in World War II, which involved the rapid movement of infantry, tanks, and airpower over large areas.
During the interwar period, aircraft and tank technologies matured and were combined with systematic application of the German tactics of infiltration and bypassing of enemy strong points. When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, Western journalists adopted the term blitzkrieg to describe this form of armoured warfare. Blitzkrieg operations were very effective during the campaigns of 1939â1941. These operations were dependent on surprise penetrations (e.g. the penetration of the Ardennes forest region), general enemy unpreparedness and an inability to react swiftly enough to the attacker's offensive operations.