The period of the “fake war” of England and France against Germany ended, the period when the war was declared, the troops were concentrated, but no active hostilities were carried out. Despite this, the British and French did nothing: Great Britain had only limited troops; France wanted to avoid a new war on its territory. Although the great powers of Europe have declared war on each other, neither side has yet pledged to launch a major attack, and there has been little fighting.
In fact, the period from the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, to the invasion of Denmark, Norway, and France in the spring of 1940 is called the fake war or Sitskrieg. Hitler invaded Poland in September 1939, Britain and France declared war on Nazi Germany, and the Second World War officially began. On May 10, 1940, eight months after Britain and France declared war on Germany, German troops entered Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, marking the end of the fake war and the beginning of the French campaign.
Italy, hoping to gain territory after France’s defeat, entered the war on June 10, 1940, although the 32 Italian divisions that crossed the border into France had little success against France’s five defensive divisions. At the same time, the French divisions were ordered to retreat to the barracks along the Maginot Line to start a fake war.
Before World War II broke out in full swing, there was a short period of silence on the Western Front, known as the mock war, in which the Germans took full advantage of this. Before World War II turned into the deadliest war in history, the soldier was bewildered by a short period of inactivity in the months leading up to 1940, which became known as the mock war. The Fake War was a phase at the start of World War II that was characterized by the absence of major military operations by the Western Allies (Great Britain and France) against the German Reich. The phase spanned the months following the declaration of war by Britain and France on Germany (shortly after the invasion of Poland) in September 1939, and until the Battle of France in May 1940.
The phase spanned the months after the declaration of war by Britain and France on Germany in September 1939 and until the Battle of France in May 1940. During this seven-month hiatus, most of the fighting took place in secondary theaters of war, as demanded by both sides. to avoid a general confrontation on the Western Front and the possibility of trench warfare in the style of the First World War. The war began to recover soon after these naval attacks, in April 1940, especially after the German invasions of Norway and Denmark. As neutral in the Winter War, Germany feared that if the Allied forces were allowed to pass through Norway and Sweden, they would capture Narvik and the iron ore deposits.
In the early 1940s, both Britain and Germany began to develop plans to occupy Norway. Neutral at the start of the war, Norway became one of the main battlefields of the phony war. Fake War For seven months after Poland’s defeat, there was little aggressive military action on Germany’s western front. The Fake War was an eight-month period at the start of World War II during which there was only a limited ground military operation on the Western Front when French forces invaded the German Saarland district.
Fake war, or in the words of Winston Churchill, the Battle of Twilight is a stage of the Second World War marked by no military operations on the European continent after the collapse of Poland. This fake war usually lasted until May 10, 1940, when Nazi Germany attacked the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. But most of the time between the outbreak of World War II in September 1939 and the German invasion of France and the Netherlands. May 1940 was called a fake war. In Poland, which felt betrayed by Western allies, the term dziwna wojna (“strange war”) was used to refer to the period after all offensive operations on the Western Front ceased on September 12, 1939.
In France, the period from the official declaration of war on Germany on September 3 to the German invasion of the Benelux countries and France is known as the drole de guerre (“funny war”). The original term used by the British for this period was “Haste War”; later Americanism of the Phony War was used on both sides of the Atlantic. This period of time was called a “fake war” by US Senator William Bora, who so slyly pointed out that “there is something fake about this war” because although war has been declared, nothing has happened yet. At the time, this sense of unreality came with little actual fighting, which is why it was nicknamed the False War at the time.
Indeed, there was an eight-month period during which there was almost no violence or fighting. Despite the relative calm on land, the war on the high seas was quite real. A few hours after Britain’s declaration of war, a German submarine sank the passenger ship Athenia, presumably mistaking it for a cruiser. The Allied Air Force also showed some activity during this time, carrying out several small bombing raids on German factories and naval bases.
As France withdrew from the war, Churchill began to consolidate Britain’s position and ensured that the captured French equipment, namely French naval ships, could not be used against the Allies. Decided to stop all offensive actions immediately, because the French decided to launch a defensive war, forcing the Germans to come to them. General Siegfried Westphal stated that if France launched an armed attack in September 1939, the German army “can only hold on for a week or two.”
The Saar Offensive was a French offensive in the area, which was defended by the German 1st Army at the beginning of World War II. The French offensive in the Rhine Valley (Saar Offensive) began on September 7, four days after France declared war on Germany. On June 25, France surrendered and the Germans demanded that they sign these documents in Compiègne. Germany was forced to sign an armistice agreement to end the First World War in the same carriage. The German army occupied most of the northern and western parts of France, and under the leadership of Marshal Philippe Petain, an independent pro-German country (Vichy France) was established in the southeast. Before the war, France promised that if the Germans invaded Poland, they would invade Germany to ease the pressure on the Poles.
In November, the Soviets attacked Finland during the Winter War, sparking widespread debate in France and Britain over an advance to aid Finland, but the forces finally mustered for this campaign were delayed until the end of March. Britain, tempted by Churchill and France, wanted to send large numbers of volunteers to support Finland, even considering declaring war on the Soviet Union. At the time, they had no troops in the area and had yet to muster the political will or military capabilities to begin sending them. Hitler gave them what they wanted: an attempt to limit the scope of the war.