Germany under the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler invaded Poland in September 1939, and France and Great Britain declared war in response. (Hear Britain's declaration of war announced.) What followed for several months was the so-called "Phoney War" in Western Europe (sometimes spelled "Phony War," especially in the United States).
On the part of Germany and the nations allied against her, this tense period saw propaganda efforts, small-scale military operations only, and home front war-readiness programs--especially in France and Britain--such as the building of bomb shelters and the distribution of gas masks to civilian populations. (Image: a Women's Voluntary Services poster calls on volunteers to assist with the evacuation of British children to the countryside.) Armies and governments attempted to gauge the strengths and intentions of foes and potential allies. Dread at the prospect of major war in the West of Europe seized not only the French and British populations who recalled the mind-numbingly massive scale of death their armes suffered in the First Word War, but the German generals too. They were concerned about the preparedness and strength of their forces in the wake of surprisingly heavy losses during the successful invasion of Poland.
So, along the old West Front, French soldiers and British troops simply waited and worried through one of the coldest winters in many years. It was not in this region that the Phoney War would begin to turn into a real one, but in Scandinavia.
(Click on an image to enlarge it.)
The Nazi war machine depended on mineral resources from Sweden that were shipped via Norway. During the Phoney War, Britain mined Norwegian waters in an attempt to disrupt German shipping. The Norwegian government protested, desperate to remain neutral and fearful that Hitler might be provoked to invade. Next, Britain and France asked for permission to bring troops across Norway to bolster the defense of Finland, which had been invaded on November 30, 1940 by the Soviet Union. At the time, Germany ostensibly recognized the Soviet Union as ally. But Hitler had every intention to destroy her as soon as practicable--a goal relative to which he saw Germany's looming conflict with France and Britain as an ill-timed distraction and delay. Nonetheless, he also saw a war with France and Britain as an opportunity to avenge Germany's capitulation to France and Britain in the First World War, as well as a means to secure his Western front before attacking eastward against Russia. (Photo: Finnish soldiers fighting against the Soviet army during the Winter War.)
The Phoney War's end began on April 9th, 1940, when Hitler finally decided to invade Norway, a campaign that necessitated the capture of Denmark as well. German forces attacked by land, air, and sea. Denmark capitulated within four hours, suffering 13 dead and 23 wounded. (By April 20, the Germans officially demobilized Denmark's army.)
Also on April 9th, 1940, about 10,000 German soldiers hiding on merchant ships came ashore at five Norwegian ports, and paratroopers seized airfields. The Soviet Foreign Minister told Germany's ambassador in Moscow, "We wish Germany complete success in her defensive measures." King Haakon VII with most of the cabinet, parliament, and the nation's gold reserves fled Oslo by train to Hamar, 70 miles north. (Photo: German troops on bicycles during the invasion of Norway.)
On April 10th, British and German naval vessels battled in the First Battle of Narvik; each side lost two destroyers. British Air Fleet Arm pilots in Blackburn Skuas sank the German cruiser Königsberg. (Photo: a British Blackburn Skua.)
On April 11th, British, Polish, and French soldiers landed near Narvik and a few days later additional British troops and French Foreign Legionnaires invaded separately in different areas of Norway.
On May 28th, Narvik was recaptured from the Germans--by which time Hitler's forces had invaded the Netherlands, Belgium, and France, and leaving no doubt that the Phoney War was well and truly over. Attention turned to the French arena. The allies abandoned Narvik by June 9th in Operation Alphabet, and Norway's High Command ordered its army to end resistance.
In the Norwegian campaign, Germany suffered 1,317 killed, 1,604 wounded, and 2,375 missing or lost at sea. Allied deaths were 4,400 British, 1,335 Norwegian, and 530 French and Polish.
(Photo: an English Heritage blue plaque at the London Residence of the Norwegian Ambassador commemorating King Haakon VII and his government-in-exile there during the Second World War. "By 1945, 25,000 Norwegians were fighting on behalf of the Allies and Norway's merchant navy provided an invaluable service carrying supplies to Britain, especially during the Battle of the Atlantic.")
(Casualty figures come from Robert Goralski's out-of-print World War II Almanac: 1931-1945, Bonanza Books, 1981; also a general source for much information in the above post.)
As the number of destination-worthy food trucks continues to grow, grazing your way through them has become increasingly demanding (especially if you’re Twitter illiterate). The organizers of the Hell’s Kitchen Flea Market (W 39th St at Ninth Ave, hellskitchenfleamarket.com) have made things easier this weekend by gathering ten vehicles for its first Gourmet Food Truck Bazaar on Sun 2—a convoy of nouveau mobile foods from Manhattan, Brooklyn and New Jersey. Read on for a cheat sheet to help you navigate.
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