This week, seventy years ago, the German Army, behind the Siegfried Line, faced the French Army, behind the Maginot Line. Since the French “Saar Offensive” and retreat the previous month, the two armies had busied themselves in not inflicting any casualties on the other.  By this time France’s Ally, Great Britain, had transported nine divisions to France under the name of the British Expeditionary Force. It would be December 9 before the B.E.F suffered its first casualty.
    An American Senator, William E. Borah, from Idaho, had dubbed this state of affairs “The Phoney War.” In Great Britain, some called it “The Bore War,” which was a play on the country’s wars in South Africa at the end of the 19th century, known as “The Boer Wars.” Future Prime Minister Winston Churchill referred to it as “The Twilight War.” In France it became known as La Drôle De Guerre, or the “Joke” War.  To the Germans it was Sitzkrieg, or “Sitting War,” which was derived from Blitzkrieg.  
    During this time, by loud speaker, the Germans constantly chided the front line French troops about, “dying for Danzig, for the Poles, for the British,” and “Don’t shoot! We won’t, if you don’t!”
    The French troops would respond by hoisting a sign which said “O.K.”  Eventually, this attitude was expressed in an order from French Commanding General Maurice Gamelin, who responded to an inquiry by saying, “Open fire on the German working parties? The Germans would only respond by firing on ours!”
    The opposing air forces also contributed to this war by dropping propaganda leaflets. This came to be known as “The Confetti War.” The British called their offensives over the German Reich, “Truth Raids,” because they hoped that: (1) the German civilians would read the truth about their government; and (2) would see the vulnerability of the Reich to bombing attacks.
    Meanwhile, the gay life continued in Paris. Although the cities and towns were blacked out at night, theaters, operas, music halls and cinemas, which had closed on the first day of war, began to reopen.  By November Maurice Chevalier and Josephine Baker were back at the Casino de Paris. Phèdre was playing at the Théâtre Montparnasse, Cyrano de Bergerac and Madam Sans Gêne at the Comédie Française.  Although there was no food rationing, restaurants were required to close at 10:00 p.m. Gasoline was not rationed either.  
    However, two million Frenchmen were under arms. Most were stuck in the Maginot Line. Unlike the German soldiers, few had any experience in fighting a war.  No effort was made to engage in any  large scale exercises. French X Corps Commander, Lt.-General Claude Grandsard recalled, “Not one of my divisional commanders ever had his division assembled around him.” Colonel Charles de Gaulle urged that the troops begin to prepare for the tactics which the Germans had used in Poland, suggesting that not only would they learn how to soldier, but the activity would raise their morale as well. These suggestions were not adopted.  
    Alcoholism became a problem.  Brigadier-General Edmond-Auguste Ruby, Second Army Deputy Chief-of-Staff, noted that, “The spectacle of our men in trains and railroad stations was not always very comforting. Drunkenness had made an immediate appearance and in the larger railway stations special rooms had to be set up to cope with it, euphemistically known as Salles de Déséthylisation!” Of course, all this lulled the French Army into a total state of complacency.  
    The French leaders hoped that soon there would be a sizable British Army in the field besides them, and that bolstered by American arms, and perhaps by American troops, together with a tightening blockade, the Germans would eventually either come to their senses, or, in such a weakened state, would be easily taken.
    Then, on November 30th, the world was shocked when the Red Army attacked Finland. For the next two months the French and British discussed what was to be done. Far-right French politicians wanted to go to war with the Soviet Union! The British had more sense and did not want to add the Soviet Union to the list of enemies.  The other French politicians preferred to fight the Germans somewhere else than on their border and hoped that the Scandinavian adventure could accomplish that. Eventually the two countries agreed to send a thirty thousand man “volunteer” force to Finland. Its real objective was to secure the Norwegian Port of Narvik, and to choke off the flow of Swedish iron ore to Germany.  
    But der Führer was not stupid and was one step ahead of the Allies. By the first of the year plans were in place for the German occupation of Norway. Both sides’ plans were abruptly interrupted when Finland, on March 12, 1940, made peace with the Soviet Union.  
    However, the HMS Cossack, commanded by Captain Philip Vian, under direct orders from First Lord of the Admiralty, Sir Winston Churchill, had stopped the German ship Altamark in Norwegian waters on February 16, 1940. The Altamark was carrying 299 British POWs. They had been captured by the pocket battleship, Admiral Graf Spee, in the South Atlantic, before its inglorious demise in December 1939. Several German sailors were killed when the Altamark was boarded. This episode convinced der Führer of the military and economic necessity of occupying Norway.
    On March 14th the French Parliament voted Édouard Daladier out as Premier because he had, sensibly, refused to add the Soviet Union as an enemy, even though he defended his decision by blaming the British. In his place, French President Albert Lebrun selected Paul Reynaud as Premier. New Premier Reynaud attended a meeting with British leaders on March 28th in London and advocated action against Soviet oil production in the Black Sea area and in the Caucuses. Fortunately, for the world, the British had more sense.    
    London informed Oslo, on April 8, 1940, that it intended to stop all German ships found in Norwegian waters. It did not tell the Norwegians that it also intended to mine their coast. The day before, the German invasion force had departed the Fatherland bound for Norway. Now the “volunteer” force that the British and French were contemplating for Finland, had a real purpose in Scandanavia.
    On May 10, 1940, with the launch of the German assault on France and the Low Countries, “The Phoney War/The Bore War/The Twilight War/The Confetti War/La Drôle De Guerre/Sitzkrieg” concluded as suddenly as a summer thunderclap.
        
Mr. Wimbrow writes from Ocean City, Maryland, where he practices law representing those persons accused of criminal and traffic offenses, and those persons who have suffered a personal injury through no fault of their own.