On both sides of the border, troops dug in, preparing more defenses. Once Poland fell, the Germans moved troops west, many of them now experienced combat veterans. Any chance the Allies had of delivering a quick blow against the enemy was gone. But for the most part, the soldiers spent their time training and waiting. With Poland secured, Hitler talked about peace. His overtures were roundly rejected by the British and French.
Having finally been stirred into action, they were not willing to stand down until Europe was safe from further German aggression. Without significant German action to show a change of direction, there could be no talk of peace. This suited Hitler. The real audience for his peace initiative had been his generals, who were worried by his aggressiveness and feared that, while they were busy in the east, Germany might be vulnerable in the west.
Hitler had given them what they wanted — an attempt to limit the scale of the war. Now that they felt he had listened, they were more willing to follow his plans. Belgium and the Netherlands were both rightly worried about becoming caught up in a war between more powerful states. They too tried to negotiate peace between the great powers. Though he tried to take a tougher tone now, he was struggling both with politics and with self-doubt.
However, in Western Europe very little of military importance did take place. In fact, so little occurred that many of the children who had been evacuated at the start of the war, had returned to their families. To many, war had been declared by Neville Chamberlain, but nothing was actually happening. In fact, things were happening but the public in Britain were not aware of them — or very few were.
At Of the 1, passengers and crew, died. In fact, U-boat commanders had been ordered not to attack passenger liners and Hitler himself issued an order that no further attacks should be made on passenger liners unless it was obvious that they were travelling in convoy. Millions of leaflets were dropped over Germany. Chamberlain found it impossible to continue to lead a National Government or to form a government of national unity in Britain often called a "coalition government", to distinguish it from Chamberlain's existing national government , around himself.
On 10 May Chamberlain resigned the premiership whilst retaining the leadership of the Conservative Party. Most other major actions during the Phoney War were at sea, including the Second Battle of the Atlantic fought throughout the Phoney War. Other notable events among these were:. The warring air forces also showed some activity during this period, running reconnaissance flights and several minor bombing raids.
The Royal Air Force also conducted a large number of combined reconnaissance and propaganda leaflet flights over Germany. These operations were jokingly termed "Pamphlet raids" or "Confetti War" in the British press. On 10 May , eight months after Britain and France had declared war on Germany, German troops marched into Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, marking the end of the Phoney War.
Military Wiki Explore. Popular pages. Project maintenance. Register Don't have an account? Phoney War. Edit source History Talk 0. Campaigns of World War II. Western Front. Main article: Saar Offensive.
Main article: Winter War. Main article: Norwegian Campaign. Main article: Norway Debate. History Learning Site. The Pittsburgh Press. September 19, Pillar of Fire: Dunkirk Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited. ISBN 1 3.
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