[Homer_J_Simpson]

[In honor of Liddell Hart’s new book, reviewed today, here is my first excerpt from his 1970 classic. – Homer]

‘The Phoney War’ was a phrase coined by the American Press. Like so many vivid Americanisms it soon came to be adopted on both sides of the Atlantic. It has become firmly established as a name for the period of the war from the collapse of Poland in September, 1939, until the opening of Hitler’s Western offensive in the following spring.

Those who coined the phrase meant to convey that the war was spurious – because no great battles were being fought between the Franco-British and German forces. In reality, it was a period of ominous activity – behind the curtain. In the midst of it all a strange accident befell a German staff officer. The incident gave Hitler a fright, and in the following weeks the German military plan was completely changed. The old one would have had nothing like the same chance of success as the new one attained.

But all this was unknown to the world. The people everywhere could only see that the battlefronts remained quiet, and concluded that Mars had fallen into a slumber.

B.H. Liddell Hart, History of the Second World War

[Homer_J_Simpson]

British Save Ships – 2-4
Incidents in European Conflict – 4
Nazi Patrol Boat Hits Mine, 71 Lost – 5
Scapa Flow Mine Fields Mapped From Air for U-Boats, Experts Say – 6
Finns Send Reply To Soviet’s Term – 7
Big Sicilian Development Begun by Fascist Chiefs – 7
Map of Major Bombing Objectives (From “News of the Week in Review” – 8
Letters to the Editor of the Times on Issues of Current Interest – 9-14
Liddell Hart Expounds His Theory of Modern War (NYT Book Review) – 15-17

[GeronL]

I like the story of the Tramp Steamer that got the better of a U-boat. Is it true though? Do we know which U-Boat it was?