[1] As part of the Nazi economy and the German re-armament efforts, the authorities ordered the construction of the Opelwerk Brandenburg facilities in 1935, and through 1944 more than 130,000 Blitz trucks and chassis were produced.

[2] Following General Motors' takeover of Opel in 1929, the production tools for the Marquette engine were exported to Germany as this Buick sub-brand was made defunct.

From 1939, the Blitz 3.6 three-tonne version was used in large numbers by the German armed forces (Wehrmacht) throughout World War II.

To cope with the bad road conditions and the rasputitsa mud seasons on the Eastern Front, a half-tracked Maultier ("mule") Sd.Kfz.

Until the end of the war, about 2,500 Blitz 3.6 trucks were built by order of Minister of Armaments Albert Speer at the Mannheim plant of the rival Daimler-Benz company, while production of its own Mercedes-Benz L3000 model had to be discontinued.

After the war, the facilities in Brandenburg were completely dismantled at the behest of the Soviet Military Administration, while Daimler-Benz in Mannheim resumed building the Blitz 3.6 under the designation L 701 until 1949.

The first postwar Blitz was completed on 15 July 1946 in the presence of United States Army General Geoffrey Keyes and other local leaders and press reporters.

Opel remained the market leader for light trucks despite strong competition especially by the newly designed 1955 Mercedes-Benz L 319 model and the Ford FK series, as well as Hanomag and Borgward vans.

This model (later dubbed Opel Blitz A) was distinguished by a cab forward design and a revised six-cylinder engine, leading to less overall length and more cargo space.

Under pressure from strong competition of the popular Mercedes-Benz T2 model, in 1968, Opel finally offered a 2,100 cc Indenor XDP 4.90 diesel engine (most famously used in the Peugeot 504) - but too late to regain lost market shares.