"Strange War" is ... "Strange War" of 1939-1940. On the Western Front

The Second World War is divided into many periods. At the very beginning of the conflict, despite the fact that Britain and France declared war on Germany, full-scale armed actions were never deployed. First in the western, and later in the national historiography, this episode began to be called a "strange war".

Appearance of the term

The term "strange war" is a free translation of the American journalistic cliche Phoney War. The phrase appeared in the US press in the early days of the European conflict. The literal translation of the phrase is a false, or fake war.

After Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany, he began the policy of uniting the lands where the German-speaking majority resided. In 1938, the Third Reich united with Austria. A few months later the Sudetenland was occupied in Czechoslovakia.

The aggressive actions of Hitler frightened his neighbors. Next under attack was Poland. Following the First World War, it received former German provinces, which allowed the country to reach the Baltic Sea. The Führer demanded the return of these lands. The Polish government refused to make concessions to a neighbor. For greater security, the Warsaw authorities concluded an alliance with France and England. According to the new document, these countries were supposed to come to the aid of Poland in case of Germany's aggression.

Wait for the war did not last long. On September 1, 1939 , Germany attacked Poland. Two days later, France and Great Britain declared war on the Third Reich in accordance with their agreements with Warsaw. In Poland, they hoped that the help of the Western allies would divert as many German divisions as possible. In fact, everything turned out quite the opposite.

The Siegfried Line

Polish diplomats in London and Paris urged the Allies to launch an immediate general offensive in order not to allow the Germans to seize the strategic initiative. It soon became clear that the UK and France had not even prepared a plan of action for a large-scale conflict. "Strange war" it showed in the most unattractive light.

The Allied generals decided in early September that mobilization would be effected for another two weeks, after which the French would launch an offensive on the Siegfried line. This was the name of the large-scale fortification system that was built in the western part of Germany. 630 kilometers of defense lines were necessary in order to protect the country from the French offensive. There were fortifications from concrete, as well as structures needed to protect against tanks and infantry.

Maginot Line

France also had its own defense line, built in the event of a war with Germany. It was called the Maginot Line. It was on these lines that the troops stood, while the "strange war" was conducted. This went against the promises of the Poles for active help in the fight against the Germans.

The German command relocated to its western borders 43 divisions. They had to defend themselves until Poland surrendered. In Germany, it was justly decided that a two-front war would be too heavy for the country.

Thus, for France, the only way to help Poland was to launch an offensive on a narrow section of the border with the Third Reich. In Paris, they could not give orders to the troops to move through Belgium and the Netherlands, because in that case it violated their declared neutrality. Therefore, the Germans located their main forces on a 144-kilometer stretch from the Moselle River to the Rhine. Siegfried's line here was surrounded by minefields. It was practically impregnable.

Inaction of the Allies

Until September 17, "strange war" - this is local battles between the two countries in limited areas. They arose almost spontaneously and had no effect on the general state of affairs at the front. The mobilization of France was delayed due to the general obsolescence of the draft system. The recruits did not even have time to pass the initial courses of the fighter, necessary in order to survive in battle. Another reason to delay the offensive for Paris was the inability of Britain to quickly move troops to the continent. "Strange war" continued, while Poland was renting the city out of town. On September 17, the invasion of the USSR also began, after which the republic finally fell, sandwiched between the two aggressors. During this time, the "strange war" on the Western Front did not bring any problems to Germany: The Third Reich methodically dealt with the conquest of defenseless neighbors. After the occupation of Poland operations began against Denmark and Norway.

Saar offensive

Meanwhile the French finally launched an offensive, which became known in historiography as the Saar. This was part of the campaign, which was a "strange war". The definition of the plan for the operation lay on the shoulders of Gustave Gamelin. French troops in the first week advanced only 20-30 kilometers.

The full-scale offensive of the French was to begin on September 20. However, on the 17th, it was decided to postpone it because of the hopeless position of Poland. In fact, the Western allies capitulated, and without starting a serious war against the Reich, untied the hands of Hitler, who could calmly bring his affairs to other regions to the logical end. This was the result, which led to the "strange war". The determination of this indecisive Allied campaign was given in the USA, where the press was indignant at the passivity of France and Britain.

The Gelb Plan

The Germans launched the first counter-offensive on October 16. During this operation, the French left all the few occupied positions and again found themselves on the line of the Maginot line. Time passed, but still the same "strange war" continued. What it is, many historians tried to answer already in peacetime. All of them came to the conclusion that the situation at the front had changed when the Wehrmacht began to implement the "Gelb" plan. It was an operation for a large-scale invasion of Belgium, the Netherlands and France. On the day of the Germans' offensive (May 10, 1940), a "strange war" ended. This definition was fixed for several months of inaction by the Allies. During this time, Germany was able to seize several European countries and secure its rear in order to begin decisive military operations against France, which ended on June 22, 1940, with the signing of the Compiègne Armistice. According to this document, France was occupied.