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ThePhoney War (French:Drôle de guerre;German:Sitzkrieg;Polish:Dziwna wojna) was an eight-month period at the outset ofWorld War II, during which there were virtually noAllied military land operations on theWestern Front from roughly September 1939 to May 1940. World War II began on 1 September 1939 with theinvasion ofPoland by Germany and the Soviet Union. Formal declarations of war by theUnited Kingdom andFrance followed on 3 September, marking the start of the so-called "Phoney War" period with little actual warfare occurring.
Although the Western Allies did not conduct major military actions during the Phoney War, they did implementeconomic warfare, especially anaval blockade of Germany, and they shut down Germansurface 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 ofiron ore, and imposing anembargo against theSoviet 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 GermanWehrmacht.[1]
The quiet of the Phoney War was punctuated by a few isolated Allied actions. TheFrench invasion of Germany'sSaar district on 7 September was 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 theWinter War, eliciting much debate in France and Britain about mounting an offensive to help Finland. However, the necessary forces for the offensive were not assembled until after the Winter War concluded to neither sides' advantage in March. The Allied discussions about a Scandinavian campaign triggered concern in Germany and resulted in theGerman 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 theAxis 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 carrierHMS Courageous. Aerial combat began in October 1939 when theLuftwaffe launched air raids on British warships. There were minorbombing raids andreconnaissance flights on both sides.Fascist Italy was not involved militarily in the European war at this time.
"Bore War" was the initial term used by the British. It was likely apun on theBoer War fought four decades earlier inSouth Africa. Eventually, the Americanism "Phoney War" became the favoured phrase on both sides of the Atlantic.[2] This term gained currency in the British Empire and Commonwealth in large part to avoid confusion with the South African conflict.
Credit for coining "Phoney War" is generally given to U.S. SenatorWilliam Borah who, commenting in September 1939 on the inactivity on theWestern Front, said: "There is something phoney about this war."[3] "Phoney War" customarily appears using the British spelling (with an 'e') even in North America, rather than adopting the American spelling, "Phony", although some American sources do not follow the pattern.[4] The first known recorded use of the term in print was in September 1939 in a U.S. newspaper which used the British spelling.[3] Other contemporaneous American instances used "Phony" since both spellings were acceptable. In Great Britain, the term first appeared in print in January 1940.[5]
The Phoney War was also referred to as the "Twilight War" (by Winston Churchill) and as theSitzkrieg[6] ("the sitting war": a word play onblitzkrieg created by the British press).[7][8][9] In French, it is referred to as thedrôle de guerre ("funny" or "strange" war).[a]
In March 1939, Britain and France formalised plans for how they would conduct war against Nazi Germany. Knowing their enemy would be more prepared and have land and air superiority, the Allies' strategy was to contest any specific German aggressive actions, but to essentially maintain a defensive posture. This would allow time for Britain and France to build up their own military resources and eventually attain economic and naval superiority over Germany.[10]
To this end, Britain initially committed to sending two divisions to France, and two more eleven months later.[11]The Polish Army's plan for defence,Plan West, assumed the Allies would quickly undertake a significant Western Front offensive that would provide relief to the Polish forces in the East.[12] However, the Poles' assumption was proven wrong by the passivity of the Phoney War.[13]
People of Warsaw outside the British Embassy with a banner which says "Long live England!" just after the British declaration of war with Nazi Germany
While most of theGerman army was engaged in Poland, a much smaller German force manned theSiegfried Line, which was their fortified defensive line along the French border. On 7 September, the French commenced the limitedSaar Offensive, but withdrew when their artillery could not penetrate German defences. A further assault was planned for 20 September, but on 17 September, following theUSSR's invasion of Poland, the assault was called off. TheRoyal Air Force (RAF) launched a bombing raid over theWilhelmshaven port on the 4th of September. TheLuftwaffe shot down 12 of 22Vickers Wellington bombers (Battle of the Heligoland Bight).[15]There were occasionaldogfights betweenfighter planes, and the RAF droppedpropaganda leaflets on Nazi Germany.[16]
Germany did not launch the expected full-scale air bombardment of British cities. London hospitals prepared for 300,000 casualties in the first week of the war.[17] The U.S. foreign correspondentWilliam Shirer was assigned to Berlin at the onset of World War II. In his diary entries on 9 and 10 September 1939, he wrote about the puzzlement felt by many:
Apparently the war in Poland is all but over. Most of the correspondents a bit depressed. Britain and France have done nothing on the western front to relieve the tremendous pressure on Poland.… One week after the Anglo-French declaration of a state of war the average German is beginning to wonder if it's a world war after all. He sees it this way. England and France, it is true, are formally fulfilling their obligations to Poland. For a week they have been formally at war with Germany. But has it been war? they ask. The British, it is true, sent over twenty-five planes to bomb Wilhelmshaven. But if it is war, why only twenty-five? And if it is war, why only a few leaflets over theRhineland? The industrial heart of Germany lies along theRhine close to France. From there come most of the munitions that are blowing up Poland with such deadly effect. Yet not a bomb has fallen on a Rhineland factory. Is that war? they ask.[18]
Britain and France did not know that Nazi Germany used 90% of its frontline aircraft in the Polish invasion. During the invasion, theNazi regime still hoped to persuade Britain to agree to peace. Both sides found that their early attacks on military targets, such as the British attack onKiel, led to high losses of aircraft. They both feared massive retaliation for attacking civilian targets. German pilots who bombed Scottish naval bases said they would have been court-martialed and executed if they bombed civilians.[17]
In contrast to the lack of hostilities on land between the Allies and Germany, the fighting on the seas was real. On 3 September, the British linerSS Athenia was torpedoed off theHebrides with the loss of 112 lives in what was to be the start of the lengthyBattle of the Atlantic. On 4 September, the Allies announced ablockade of Germany to prevent her importing food and raw materials to sustain her war effort; the Germans immediately declared a counter-blockade, whilethe Soviet Union helped Germany with supplies bypassing the blockade.[16]
After World War II, it was discovered thatNazi Germany's armed forces were vulnerable throughout the September Campaign. They had not yet reached full fighting strength and might have succumbed to a determined opponent, or at least suffered serious damage. At theNuremberg trials, German military commanderAlfred Jodl said that "if we did not collapse already in the year 1939 that was due only to the fact that during thePolish campaign, the approximately 110 French and Britishdivisions in the West were held completely inactive against the 23 German divisions."[19] GeneralWilhelm Keitel stated: "We soldiers had always expected an attack by France during the Polish campaign, and were very surprised that nothing happened.... A French attack would have encountered only a German military screen, not a real defence."[20] According to GeneralSiegfried Westphal, if the French had attacked in force in September 1939, the German army "could only have held out for one or two weeks."[21]
French Armed Forces began the Saar Offensive („Opération Sarre“) on 7 September 1939. It was their only action during the Phoney War. They crossed theFrance–Germany border.
In accordance with orders given byHitler,Wehrmacht troops (German1st Army) did not put up any significant resistance (Nazi Germany wanted to avoid a two-front war). Fighting broke out in the section betweenSaarbrücken and thePalatinate Forest, where the offensive was concentrated.[22]
On 12 September, the troops were up to eight kilometres inside German territory, occupying twelve German villages along the evacuated border zone in the Saar region in front of theSiegfried Line. The limited offensive was only intended to assess the strength of the Siegfried Line's defences.[23]On 21 September, GeneralMaurice Gamelin ordered the troops towithdraw to their starting positions on theMaginot Line. On 17 October, the last French troops left German territory. Some French generals, such asHenri Giraud, disagreed with the retreat and saw it as a missed opportunity.
According to theFranco-Polish Alliance, theFrench Army was to start preparations for a major offensive three days after the beginning ofmobilization. The preliminary mobilization had occurred in France on 26 August. By 1 September, full mobilization was declared. The French forces were to gain control over the area between the French border and the German lines, and then to probe the German defences. On the 15th day of the mobilization, the French Army was to start an all-out assault on Germany.
The offensive in theRhine river valley area began on 7 September. Since theWehrmacht was occupied in the attack on Poland, the French soldiers enjoyed a decisive numerical advantage along their border with Germany. Eleven French divisions advanced along a 32 km (20 miles) line nearSaarbrücken against weak German opposition.[24] The assault was to have been carried out by roughly 40 divisions, including onearmoured, three mechanised divisions, 78 artilleryregiments and 40 tankbattalions. The French Army had advanced to a depth of 8 km (5.0 miles) and captured about 20 villages evacuated by the German army, without any resistance[25] but the half-hearted offensive was halted after France seized the Warndt Forest, 7.8 km2 (3.0 sq mi) of heavily mined German territory. The Saar Offensive did not result in the diversion of any German troops from the Polish Front.[26]
On 12 September, theAnglo-French Supreme War Council gathered for the first time atAbbeville. It decided all offensive actions were to be halted immediately as the French opted to fight a defensive war, forcing the Germans to come to them. GeneralMaurice Gamelin ordered his troops to stop no closer than 1 km (0.62 miles) from German positions along the Siegfried Line.[27] Poland was not notified of this decision. Instead, Gamelin incorrectly informedMarshalEdward Rydz-Śmigły that half of his divisions were in contact with the enemy and that French advances had forced theWehrmacht to withdraw at least six divisions from Poland. The following day, the commander of the French Military Mission to Poland, GeneralLouis Faury, told the PolishChief of Staff—GeneralWacław Stachiewicz—that the major offensive on the Western Front planned from 17 to 20 September had to be postponed. At the same time, French divisions were ordered to withdraw to their barracks along the Maginot Line.[28] This quick cessation of fighting by the French contributed to the "Phoney War" characterization.
In the war's early months, antagonism between the British and German populations was not as bitter as it would later become. British pilots mapped the Siegfried Line while German troops waved at them.[17] On 30 April 1940 when a GermanHeinkel He 111 bomber crashed atClacton-on-Sea inEssex—killing its crew and injuring 160 people on the ground—the German crew members were laid to rest in the local cemetery with RAF support. Wreaths with messages of sympathy were displayed on the coffins.[29][30][31]
British Army and French Air Force personnel outside a dugout in France in 1939
When BritishMember of Parliament (MP)Leopold Amery suggested toKingsley Wood, theSecretary of State for Air, that theBlack Forest should be bombed with incendiaries to burn its ammunition dumps, Wood amazed the MP by responding that the forest was "private property" and could not be bombed; neither could weapons factories, as the Germans might do the same to England.[32] In 1939, some officers of theBritish Expeditionary Force who were stationed in France tried to set up recreational hunting to pass the time. They imported packs of foxhounds and beagles, but were thwarted by French authorities who refused to make the countryside available.[33]
TheWinter War started with theSoviet Union's assault onFinland on 30 November 1939. Public opinion, particularly in France and Britain, quickly sided with Finland and demanded action from their governments in support of "the brave Finns" against the much larger Soviet aggressors. The public believed that effective defence of the Finns was more achievable than what had been provided for the Poles in the September Campaign.[34]
As a consequence of its attack on Finland, the Soviet Union was expelled from theLeague of Nations, and aproposed Franco-British expedition to northernScandinavia was debated.[35] However, the British forces that were assembled to aid Finland were not dispatched in time before the Winter War ended.[36] Instead, they were sent toNorway to help in its campaign against Germany. On 20 March, shortly after theMoscow Peace Treaty concluded the Winter War,Édouard Daladier resigned as Prime Minister of France, in part due to his failure to come to Finland's defence.
In February 1940, Norway became a focus of attention as evidenced by theAltmark incident.[37] The Allies openly discussed a possible expedition to northern Scandinavia (even though they had not received a request or consent from the neutral Scandinavian countries) and the occupation of Norway. These developments alarmed theKriegsmarine and the Nazi government. Such an expedition would threaten theiriron ore supplies and gave a strong argument for Germany to secure the Norwegian coast.
The debacle of theAllied campaign in Norway, which was actually an offshoot of the never-realised plans to aid Finland, forceda heated debate in theHouse of Commons during which Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was under constant attack. A nominalvote of confidence in hisgovernment was won by 281 to 200, but many of Chamberlain's supporters had voted against him while others had abstained. Chamberlain found it impossible to continue to lead aNational Government or to form a newcoalition government with himself as the leader. So on 10 May, Chamberlain resigned the premiership but retained the leadership of the Conservative Party.Winston Churchill, who had been a consistent opponent of Chamberlain's policy ofappeasement, became Chamberlain's successor. Churchill formed a new coalition government that included members of theConservatives,Labour and theLiberal Party, as well as several ministers from a non-political background.[39]
Throughout the Phoney War, most of the military clashes, such as theBattle of the Atlantic, occurred at sea. Among the notable incidents were:
On 3 September 1939, a German submarine sank the shipSSAthenia, killing 117 civilian passengers and crew.
On 4 September 1939, British bombs killed eleven German sailors on the cruiserEmden in port Wilhelmshaven.[40] On that same date, RAF daylight bombing raids onKriegsmarine warships in theHeligoland Bight proved a costly failure. Seven of theBristol Blenheim andVickers Wellington bombers were shot down without any ships being hit.[41] Further ineffective anti-shipping raids—such as theair battle over theWilhelmshaven naval base on 18 December 1939 which resulted in the loss of 12 out of 22 Wellingtons—led to the abandonment of daylight operations by RAF heavy bombers.[42][43]
On 17 September 1939, the British aircraft carrierHMS Courageous was sunk byU-29, the first British warship to be lost in the war. She went down in 15 minutes with the loss of 519 of her crew, including her captain.
On 14 October 1939, the British battleshipHMS Royal Oak was sunk in the British fleet base atScapa Flow,Orkney (north of mainlandScotland) byU-47. A total of 833 men were lost, including Rear-AdmiralHenry Blagrove, commander of the 2nd Battleship Division.
On 16 October 1939,Luftwaffe air raids on England began whenJunkers Ju 88s attacked British warships atRosyth on theFirth of Forth.Spitfires of602 and603 Squadrons succeeded in shooting down two Ju 88s and aHeinkel He 111 over the firth. In a raid on Scapa Flow the next day, one Ju 88 was hit byanti-aircraft fire, crashing on the island ofHoy. The firstLuftwaffe plane to be shot down on the British mainland was a He 111 atHaddington,East Lothian, on 28 October, with both 602 and 603 Squadrons claiming this victory.[44][45] 602 Squadron'sArchie McKellar was a principal pilot in both the destruction of the first German attacker over water and over British soil. McKellar (KIA 1 Nov. 1940) went on to be credited with 20 kills during theBattle of Britain, as well as "ace in a day" status by shooting down five Bf 109s; a feat accomplished by only 24 RAF pilots during the entire war.
On 19 February 1940, aKriegsmarine destroyer flotilla embarked onOperation Wikinger, a sortie into the North Sea to disrupt British fishing and submarine activity around theDogger Bank. En route, two destroyers were lost due to mines and friendly fire from theLuftwaffe; nearly 600 German sailors were killed and the mission was then aborted without ever encountering Allied forces.
British war planning had called for a "knockout blow" bystrategic bombing of German industry with the RAF's substantialBomber Command. However, there was considerable apprehension about German retaliation, and when PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt proposed a ban on bombing raids which might endanger civilians, Britain and France agreed at once, and Germany agreed two weeks later.[46] The RAF therefore conducted a large number of combined reconnaissance and propaganda leaflet flights over Germany.[47] These operations were jokingly termed "pamphlet raids" or "Confetti War" in the British press.[48]
On 10 May 1940, eight months after the outbreak of war, German troops marched intoBelgium, theNetherlands andLuxembourg, marking the end of the Phoney War and the beginning of theBattle of France.[49]
Fascist Italy, hoping for territorial gains when France was defeated, entered the European war on 10 June 1940, although the thirty-two Italian divisions which crossed the border with France enjoyed little success against five defending French divisions.[50]
^Perhaps because of mishearing or a mistranslation, French journalistRoland Dorgelès or other French sources read the English "phoney" as "funny." Seefr:Drôle de guerre(in French).
^Imlay, Talbot Charles (2004). "A reassessment of Anglo-French strategy during the Phoney War, 1939–1940".English Historical Review.119 (481):333–372.doi:10.1093/EHR/119.481.333.
^abMcNaughton, Frank (19 September 1939). Edward T. Leech (ed.)."Roosevelt Deplores German Bombings".Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh Press Company.United Press. p. 8.ISSN1068-624X.Archived from the original on 17 March 2022. Retrieved9 September 2015."There is something phoney about this war," [Senator William E. Borah (R. Idaho) in an interview] told questioners yesterday, explaining that he meant the comparative inactivity on the Western Front. "You would think," he continued, "that Britain and France would do what they are going to do now while Germany and Russia are still busy in the East, instead of waiting until they have cleaned up the eastern business." He did not expect an early end to hostilities.
^"The Phoney War". History Learning Site.Archived from the original on 2 April 2013. Retrieved3 May 2008.
^Dunstan, Simon (20 November 2012).Fort Eben Emael: The key to Hitler's victory in the west.Osprey Publishing. p. 33.ISBN978-1-78200-692-3.OCLC57638821.Accordingly, the Allies first devised Plan E whereby they would advance into Belgium as far as the Scheldt River, but after months of inactivity that the British press termed "sitzkrieg," a bolder Plan D emerged that called for an advance as far as the Dyle River, a few miles east of Brussels.
^Patricia S. Daniels; Stephen Garrison Hyslop; Douglas Brinkley (2006).National Geographic Almanac of World History. National Geographic Society. p. 297.ISBN978-0-7922-5911-4. Retrieved10 September 2015.The invasion of France brought France and Britain into the war. For more than six months, the two sides sat idle — the British press called itSitzkrieg — as Germany sought to avoid war with Britain without ceding Poland. With war unavoidable, the Germans attacked France on May 10, 1940.
^Bert Whyte; Larry Hannant (2011).Champagne and Meatballs: Adventures of a Canadian Communist. Edmonton: Athabasca University Press. p. 17.ISBN978-1-926836-08-9.OCLC691744583. Retrieved10 September 2015.When, on September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland, which Britain had pledged to defend, Britain declared war. But it did nothing to help Poland; for eight months, the conflict remained strictly the "Phoney War." In May 1940, in what the British press had taken to calling the "sitzkrieg" became a German blitzkrieg throughout Western Europe, Hitler-colluder-with-Chamberlain was replaced by Hitler-antagonist-of-Winston Churchill.
^Shirer, William L (1971). "La Drôle de Guerre".The Collapse of the Third Republic: An Inquiry into the Fall of France in 1940. Pocket Books. p. 511.ISBN0671785095.
^Denis RichardsRAF Bomber Command in the Second World War (1995) chap. 3
^"1939 – Into Action".The Spitfire – An Operational History. DeltaWeb International. Archived fromthe original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved3 May 2007.
^Clark, Alan (3 August 2016)."Junkers Ju88 4D+EK". Peak District Air Accident Research.Archived from the original on 19 February 2012. Retrieved9 April 2012.
