The German invasion of France during WW2 was seen very much like a swift, unexpected strike
against Germany's main Continental opponent.
However, this strike west didn't occur until over nine months into the war, a time were
limited action occurred on this front, and many assumed that the war would be over, before
major fighting occurred.
This period of time was given a name, and it's a vital piece of WW2 history, that tends
to be forgotten, but not today, in this video.
We will be looking at, The so-called, Phony War.
Before talking about the war itself, we need a little bit of background info to get us
up to speed.
During the late 1930's Germany started to re-militarize, in preparation of war against
the European powers once again.
A string of notable events occurred, such as the 1936 re-occupation of the Rhineland,
the 38 annexation of Austria and the 39 annexation of Czechoslovakia, these events pitted the
Western powers and Germany, closer and closer to war, as the policy of appeasement that
the Western powers held, was being eroded away.
After the annexation of Czechoslovakia, Germany demanded the Danzig corridor from Poland,
a stretch of land that housed the port of Danzig, and separated mainland Germany, from
the east Prussian region.
Poland asserted that it would fight against Germany, viewing and hoping, that the Treaty
of alliance between their nation and France, would be honored.
The western powers saw that the only way to be able to win against Germany should fighting
erupt, was for a two-front war to be opened up, with a viable, strong, power to the east,
much like in WW1.
The little entente, which was a loose alliance between Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and Romania,
was meant to act as this strong power, but it apart due to a variety of factors by the
mid 30's.
So Poland, who the French had already established an Alliance with, was left as the only viable
option, as the Soviet Union had yet to ally itself with the Western powers.
German demands and pressure against Poland increased throughout 1939, more so after the
Germans sent an ultimatum to Lithuania, demanding them to return the Memel region to East Prussia,
a region that was lost following WW1.
The Western powers now, largely forwent the path of appeasement, even though the British
primeir Neville Chamberlain, still viewed appeasement as the main path forward.
France and Britain, stood stead-fast in their support for Poland, all while trying to coherse
the Soviet Union, to join in an alliance against Germany.
Instead of an alliance against them however, the soviets and Germans, signed a non-aggression
pact on August 23, 1939, dubbed the Molotov Ribbentrop pact.
The pact, edged out spheres of influence in Eastern Europe between Germany and the Soviet
Union, and acted as a guarantee, that Germany wouldn't be thrown into the two-front war
situation that so harmed the nation 25 years previous.
On September the first of 1939, Germany invaded Poland, in response, France and Britain declared
war against Germany, thus starting World War 2, and it was expected, that a major French
offensive from the west, would force the Germans to send its army away from Poland to meet
this threat, however, the French action proved to be extremely lack-luster.
On September the 7th, the French launch the Saar offensive with roughly 40 divisions,
including 400 tanks and 4,700 guns.
Facing them, was 23 under-strengthed divisions of the German army, who only had around 100
guns at their disposal.
The French mobilization that started on August the 26th was met with horrible delays, largely
suffering from the in-effective mobilization structure that the French had yet to correct
from WW1.
The French invasion of Germany started on September the 7th, along a 20 mile line from
the southern Luxembourgian border.
The Eleven French divisions advanced roughly five miles into German territory to minimal
resistance, capturing a dozen or so towns and villages up to the Warndt Forrest.
Small gains were made on the 12th, and following the complete occupation of the Warndt forest,
all French advances halted, just a short distance from the German Siegfried Line.
The Siegfried line was a defensive network, similar to the French Maginot line or the
Finnish Mannerheim Line.
Meant to act as a network, to prevent French advance.
With the fall of Poland on the 21st of September, the French troops were ordered back to the
Maginot line, as the bulk of German troops would now be coming to the west.
Many of the generals on the field protested this move, as they saw the lose of life as
utterly wasted, and a quick defeat possible, if they were just allowed to go forward.
French covering forces held the territory until late October, when the German army,
reinforced by the men from the Polish campaign, pushed them out with light casualties.
In the end, the Saar offensive cost the Germans some 600 casualties, while the French suffered
over 2,200.
The next major action didn't occur in the west, but instead, in the frozen north.
Russia, the almighty bear, lashed out against one of its old territories.
The Russian revolution at the tail end of WW1, saw many nations fracture and separate
from the empire.
While many of these were re-absorbed, the Baltic nations, Poland, and Finland retained
their independence.
This, the Soviets aimed to correct, Eastern Poland was occupied in late September, the
Baltic nations in October and November, and all that remained, was the lightly populated
Finland.
On Paper, it would have been an extremely easy task for the Soviets, as the Finns were
out-manned over ten to one, out-equipped, out-supplied, and outside of the Scandinavian
nations, had no hope for allies.
With this, they were confident in waging what would be titled the Winter War, which will
get it's own video or two in the future, the result was a very Pyrrhic victory for the
Russians, and their goal of annexation of the Finnish nation, went up in a blaze of
gunfire and national embarrassment.
But this war had worried the western allies, and in early 1940, they pledged upwards of
50,000 men to assist the Finnish army against the Soviets.
This offer wasn't so much in an attempt to help the Finns, but use the on-going conflict
as a way to block a critical component for the German war machine, Swedish Iron Ore.
The Germans for the whole war, were largely dependent on the high-grade Swedish Iron Ore,
and the Norwegian port of Narvik, was the only location for many months of the year
that the ore was shipped from, if the Allies could take control of Narvik and the Iron
Ore mines in Sweden before the Germans could mount an effective defense.
It'd heavily cripple war making production.
By late February of 1940, the question wouldn't be if Scandinavian neutrality would be broken,
but instead, when.
On April the 9th, Germany launched operation Weserbung, invading Denmark and Norway.
The allies managed to land in Norway by the 14th but by then, the whole southern section
of the nation was under occupation, and fighting over Narvik would continue until June, as
on May the 10th, Germany launched their full out attack on France, Belgium, the Netherlands,
and Luxembourg.
Officially ending the Phoney war, and ending the possibility of
a quick war.