Phoney War (3 Sept 1939 Jahr – 26 Mai 1940 Jahr)

Beschreibung:

The Phoney War 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 September 1st, 1939 with the invasion of Poland by Germany. Formal declarations of war by the United Kingdom and France followed on September 3rd, 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 September 7th 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 May 10th, 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 May 26th, the Phoney War ended and the real war began.

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