Blitzkrieg, which is German for "Lightning War" is most commonly known as the panzer tactic used by the Germans in World War II. Heinz Wilhelm Guderian is credited as the architect.

He is mentioned in this portion of a History Channel Documentary on the subject.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpW9wXJb6ZU

Heinz Guderian is normally (but mistakenly) cited as the inventor of blitzkrieg tactics.

It was in fact developed toward the end of WW1 - as a response to the aweful static trench warfare that had developed. An often overlooked point ; that being the role played by General John Monash in that war.

There was certainly a new school of thought developing around the use of surprise and of coordinated attack. But not only was John Monash one of the earliest proponents of this thinking, but he was also the first to put it into action at the battle of Hamel (much to the horror of the orthodox European high command at the time).

Ironically, after experiencing first hand the fear that a coordinated attack can have on an enemy, the likes of Major General Heinz Guderian, a German soldier who fought against the Australians at Amien, studied the approach and incorporated it into German battle strategies. In World War II, Guderian became a crucial leader in the Monash-style blitzkrieg strategy that led to German dominance in the first half of the war. He certainly was the key player who made it so famous.

See here for further references :
http://www.convictcreations.com/history/monash.html
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Monash

Cheers,
Chris

Adolf Hitler and Heinz Guderian developed it from tank war games after WWI. This website gives a nice breakdown over those between years.

http://www.2worldwar2.com/blitzkrieg.htm
"Hitler needed the right tool for his grand war plans, something that would make his future war very different from World War 1, and will fully exploit the German advantages in military professionalism and industry. Although he was just a Corporal in World War 1, Hitler had good and creative military perception, both tactical and technical, and so when he observed a combined exercise of tanks and motorized infantry led by Guderian shortly after he came to power, he immediately understood that he found his military tool. He said "That's what I need, That's what I want to have". With Hitler's strong support, the tiny German tank and motorized forces began to rapidly expand, and tank development and production was strongly boosted. Guderian himself was rapidly promoted to be the commander of one of the new "Panzer" (armor) divisions, in 1938 he became the commander of the 1st German Panzer Corps, and later that year he became the "Chief of mobile forces", with direct access to Hitler. With his spirit and training, and with large amounts of new modern Blitzkrieg weapons, the German military was getting ready to implement Blitzkrieg in the battle field. "

Heinz Guderian is known as the father of tank warfare and the first to employ the blitzkrieg tactic successfully. There's so much information on this subject that I'm just going to link to a few articles instead of paste it all here.

Quote from Wiki:
"Although initially promoted and partially implemented by the British Army, the concepts of "blitzkrieg" were not fully developed. The German army of the First World War had worked out the complexities of breaking through a front with highly concentrated resources. This technique, however, failed the Germans in their Michael offensives of March 1918, largely because the breakthrough elements were on foot and could not sustain the impetus of the initial attack. Motorized infantry was the key to sustaining a breakthrough, and this would have to wait until the 1930s to have a chance at being realized."