Research in original documentation at the German Federal Military Archives and elsewhere showed Frieser that Germany's 1940 campaign in Western Europe happened differently from the conventional assessment as an action planned from the very beginning to be a so-called blitzkrieg. First published in 1995 as the official German history of the 1940 campaign, Frieser's analysis (translated by American historian John Greenwood) finds that the German victory was not inevitable. He shows that the campaign was neither seamlessly executed nor widely agreed on at different levels of command. Frieser, a colonel in the German army, heads the Department of World Wars I and II at the Military History Research Institute of the Bundeswehr in Potsdam. .

The Blitzkrieg: word and concept -- Blitzkrieger without the Blitzkrieg concept: the background of the campaign in the west -- The struggle over the sickle cut plan -- The 1940 Ardennes Offensive -- The decisive battle: the breakthrough of Panzer Corps Guderian at Sedan -- The collapse of the Meuse Front -- The push to the Channel Coast and the problem of the exposed flank -- The "Miracle of Dunkirk" -- The end of the campaign in the west -- Causes of victory and defeat -- Summary and epilogue.