The Phony War
That someone called a war by this name I found intriguing, so I researched it and thought it might be an interesting blog. In preparing it, all articles I researched stressed the fact that “The Phony War” or, as Churchill referred to it, “The Twilight War,” was evidently the calm before the storm. It was what occurred thereafter that took the allies by shock. Most of the battles during this “quiet” period, after the German invasion of Poland in 1939, were at sea and officially ended when the Germans invaded France in May of 1940. This rapid and overwhelming German offensive shattered the illusion of a prolonged quiet period.
(Poster, Public Domain)
British Army and French Air Force personnel outside a dugout named ‘Downing Street’ on the edge of an airfield, Nov. 28, 1939. (Public Domain)
This “illusion” ended and so did the complacency of the European peoples. Some countries — France, for example — hoped war could be prevented. But by now, many were preparing anyway. In England, during this prolonged period of time, when nothing major appeared to be happening, some individuals stopped carrying around with them their gas masks, and some parents were sorry they sent their children off to families in Canada. They wanted them home again. What? Did they believe the battles that were occurring at sea during this time were sufficiently far away from their homelands that they felt secure? Apparently, though, those battles that were occurring in the Atlantic led to Britain’s declaration of war. Germany had their U-boats attacking merchant shipping cutting off vital British supply lines. On October 14, 1939, the HMS Royal Oak was sunk by U-47 in the secure anchorage of Scapa Flow. The loss was astounding to England with over 830 British sailors drowned. The commander of the U-boat, Günther Prien, who became the first German submarine officer to be awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross, was awarded in Germany by Hitler himself.
Incidentally, you divers out there, you are prohibited from swimming near the wreck of the Royal Oak. Even though it’s been designated a war grave and lies almost upside down in 100 feet of water in place of its attack, it is protected under the Military Remains Act of 1986. The Scapa Flow dock, previously believed to be impregnable at the time of its destruction, was immediately corrected.
Hitler and his generals watching 8th army parading in the Poland campaign (Public Domain)
Over 220 Allied ships were sunk from September to December of 1939 in this Phony War. One major breakthrough did occur, though, by the British. They captured a German naval Enigma machine and codebooks from the U-33 in February of 1940. And the British codebreakers deciphered German naval communications.
I cannot believe this was all a fake – I mean Phony War preceding the real — Great War. Can you? I mean, there were newspapers. All they had to do was look out to sea and realize these battles involved their country. It was just like the morning of a very long day. Churchill was correct, it was Twilight, indeed.
All in all, the Phony War has been seen by some historians as preparation for the Great War which immediately followed. It gave both sides time to prepare for the coming Great War. It gave Britain time to create protection by setting up some 400 million sandbags around their homes, shops and public buildings, plus handing out over 38 million gas masks, and making many other war preparations. Even the London Zoo destroyed their poisonous snakes to prevent their escape during a bombing raid. Marriages were pushed up. Germany, amongst many other preparations, began to reinforce its border (i.e., at the Siegfried Line) with France in preparation for the future battles in which it would participate.
It was during this “quiet time” – this “phony war” time that Winston Churchill replaced Neville Chamberlain as the British Prime Minister, and this quiet period of war wasn’t quiet at all “after all.” Europe would not rest again, though, until September of 1945 when World War II finally ended.
See: Phoney War – Wikipedia, allthatsinteresting.com,
The Phoney War: Prelude to Catastrophe in World War 2 – History Tools