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Phoney War
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Phoney War
The Phoney War (French: Drôle de guerre; German: Sitzkrieg; Polish: Dziwna wojna) 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 from roughly September 1939 to May 1940. World War II began on 1 September 1939 with the invasion of Poland by Germany and the Soviet Union. Formal declarations of war by the United Kingdom and France 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 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.
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 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 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 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, the ascension of Winston Churchill as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on the same day, and the massive Dunkirk evacuation commencing sixteen days later on 26 May, the Phoney War ended and the real war began.
"Bore War" was the initial term used by the British. It was likely a pun on the Boer War fought four decades earlier in South Africa. Eventually, the Americanism "Phoney War" became the favoured phrase on both sides of the Atlantic. 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. Senator William Borah who, commenting in September 1939 on the inactivity on the Western Front, said: "There is something phoney about this war." "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. The first known recorded use of the term in print was in September 1939 in a U.S. newspaper which used the British spelling. Other contemporaneous American instances used "Phony" since both spellings were acceptable. In Great Britain, the term first appeared in print in January 1940.
The Phoney War was also referred to as the "Twilight War" (by Winston Churchill) and as the Sitzkrieg ("the sitting war": a word play on blitzkrieg created by the British press). In French, it is referred to as the drôle de guerre ("funny" or "strange" war).
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Phoney War
The Phoney War (French: Drôle de guerre; German: Sitzkrieg; Polish: Dziwna wojna) 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 from roughly September 1939 to May 1940. World War II began on 1 September 1939 with the invasion of Poland by Germany and the Soviet Union. Formal declarations of war by the United Kingdom and France 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 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.
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 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 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 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, the ascension of Winston Churchill as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on the same day, and the massive Dunkirk evacuation commencing sixteen days later on 26 May, the Phoney War ended and the real war began.
"Bore War" was the initial term used by the British. It was likely a pun on the Boer War fought four decades earlier in South Africa. Eventually, the Americanism "Phoney War" became the favoured phrase on both sides of the Atlantic. 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. Senator William Borah who, commenting in September 1939 on the inactivity on the Western Front, said: "There is something phoney about this war." "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. The first known recorded use of the term in print was in September 1939 in a U.S. newspaper which used the British spelling. Other contemporaneous American instances used "Phony" since both spellings were acceptable. In Great Britain, the term first appeared in print in January 1940.
The Phoney War was also referred to as the "Twilight War" (by Winston Churchill) and as the Sitzkrieg ("the sitting war": a word play on blitzkrieg created by the British press). In French, it is referred to as the drôle de guerre ("funny" or "strange" war).
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