Here at the six month anniversary of the start of the war against Germany it is striking to me just how profoundly phony the Phony War was. Since the end of November the primary fixation in the papers have been on the Russian war against the Finns. And rightfully so being that it is the only front where anything is happening.
At the start of the war we got to see reports on France’s great march into German territory only to see the story trail off within a few weeks. At the end of the first month Poland was almost an afterthought having fallen so fast. Now all we see is an occasional report of artillery exchanges across the border and the naval action which ebbs and flows as naval warfare does.
With the scarceness of daily action and the overshadowing of the Winter War it is real easy to forget that Britain and France are at war with Germany. It always struck me as odd that there was this 6 month lull between the fall of Poland and the action in Denmark and Norway. Actually following it on a daily basis has only made it more so. A strange event indeed.
Cougar
You ought to read Ernest May’s “Strange Victory,” which recounts the Phoney War, the casting of Allied “war strategy” as well as the casting and re-casting of “Case Yellow” by the Germans.
The Allies were absolutely convinced that they only had to maintain a blockade of Germany and Germany would collapse internally without a shot being fired. Since France was carrying the weight of the “land campaign” it’s pretty evident from May’s book that the French political and military leadership just didn’t have any stomach for real fighting. They came up with all sorts of grandiose plans, including, as bizarre as it sounds, a military expedition against the USSR oil resources in the Caspian area to deprive Germany of economic resources! Yes, it was being seriously discussed that the way to beat Germany was not to fight her, but to take on the USSR instead! Fortunately for the Allies, they weren’t really serious about fighting the USSR either.
One plan that did emerge from the Winter War was the decision to occupy Norway and restrict German iron ore imports from Sweden (in warm weather, the ore ships could ply the Gulf of Bothnia, but in winter they had to be shipped down the Norwegian coast from Narvik). Those plans were well advanced. One of Homer’s posts shows the Royal Navy is re-deploying the battle fleet due to requirements of the situation in Norway. And, the British and French had allocated troops for their Norwegian Expeditionary Force, which explains why they were able to land it so quickly at Narvik in April.
It was either a case of the Germans beating the Allies to the punch, or, as with all the other Allied plans, there is some reason to believe they would not have actually carried it out. When it came right down to it, the Allies were reluctant to do anything but sit, so there is good reason to believe the French would have invented reasons to not invade Norway. And without the French, the British would not have landed troops. The British, though, were going to use the Royal Navy to mine Norwegian waters.