Phoney War

The French called it the drôle de guerre and the British the Phoney War; the British press also coined Sitzkrieg, ‘sitting war’, as the opposite of the German Blitzkrieg. Large armies faced each other along the Franco-German border, but apart from a brief, limited French offensive in the Saar in September 1939 there was no serious fighting. The war went on at sea, and aircraft over Germany dropped mainly leaflets.

For Poles the Phoney War is a symbol of broken alliance pledges: in May 1939 France had promised to launch an offensive with its main forces no later than the fifteenth day of mobilisation, yet the September Campaign was over before the Allies acted. Some writers date the end of the Phoney War to the German attack on Denmark and Norway in April 1940.