Phoney War

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The Phoney War (French: Drôle de guerre; German: Sitzkrieg) was an eight-month period at the outset of World War II during which there were virtually no Allied military land operations on the Western Front. WWII began on 1 September 1939 with Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland. Two days later, the "Phoney" period began with declarations of war by the United Kingdom and France against Germany, but with little actual warfare occurring.

Although the Western Allies did not conduct major military actions during the Phoney War, they did implement economic warfare, especially a naval blockade of Germany, and they shut down German surface raiders. They meanwhile formulated elaborate plans for large-scale operations designed to cripple the German war effort. The plans included opening an Anglo-French front in the Balkans, invading Norway to seize control of Germany's main source of iron ore, and imposing an embargo against the Soviet Union which was Germany's primary oil supplier. By April 1940, the execution of the Norway plan was considered, by itself, inadequate to stop the German Wehrmacht.^[1]

The quiet of the Phoney War was punctuated by a few isolated Allied actions. The French invasion of Germany's Saar district on 7 September was allegedly intended to assist Poland by diverting German troops from the Polish Front. But the half-hearted Saar operation fizzled out within days and France withdrew. In November 1939, the Soviets attacked Finland in the Winter War, eliciting much debate in France and Britain about mounting an offensive to help Finland. However, the necessary forces for the offensive weren't assembled until after the Winter War concluded in March. The Allied discussions about a Scandinavian campaign triggered concern in Germany and resulted in the German invasion of Denmark and Norway in April 1940. This caused the Allied troops previously earmarked for Finland to be redirected to Norway. Fighting there continued until June, when the Allies evacuated, ceding Norway to Germany in response to the German invasion of France.

On the Axis side during the Phoney period, Nazi Germany initiated attacks at sea in the autumn of 1939 and winter of 1940 against British aircraft carriers and destroyers, sinking several, including the carrier HMS Courageous. Aerial combat began in October 1939 when the Luftwaffe launched air raids on British warships. There were minor bombing raids and reconnaissance flights on both sides. Fascist Italy was not involved militarily in the European war at this time.

With the German invasion of France and the Low Countries on 10 May 1940, and the ascension of Winston Churchill to British Prime Minister in that same month along with the massive Dunkirk evacuation, the Phoney War ended and the real war began.