Why was the Phony war named such during WW2?

Answer 1

It's the phoney war in English, Sitzkrieg in German and Drole de guerre in French. I don't know what it was in Italian, as Mussolini didn't enter until it was certain the Germans had won -- you can't really blame him for thinking that, though you can fault him for plunging the dagger into his neighbor's back, to cite Roosevelt. Anhow, five French mountain divisions held up a great part of the Italian army until the armistice.

Supposedly the UK and France declared war on 3 September to protect Poland from the German onslaught, but after their respective declarations of war they did virtually nothing except let Poland be carved up between Hitler and Stalin. It's hard to say which might have been worse for the Poles, but they got both.

Mind you, in the fall of 1939 all of Hitler's armor and most of the Luftwaffe were on the Eastern Front (there pretty much was no Western Front), and if they had had the will to fight both Hitler and the Communists among themselves, the French -- and yes, what BEF there was -- could have waltzed into the Ruhr. It must also be said that the Belgians were no help at all, as they prohibited Allied entry, and the most effective means to attack the Reich was through Belgium.

Answer 2

Because there were open declarations of war against each other, but all the opposing armies did was stare each other down. There was the so-called Saar Offensive by the French, but all it amounted to was a media event by a few formations that crossed the border, but they eventually returned to their original lines. The Maginot Line gave the allies a false sense of security, while the Germans were under-manned and under-equipped to wage full scale war in the east, at least right after the defeat of Poland.

Answer 3

Britain and France were officially at war with Germany, but neither country made any effort to fight with the Germans until the Germans attacked Belgium. So it was a fake (or phony) war.

Answer 4

Read here:

http://worldwar2database.com/html/phonywar.htm
http://home.wanadoo.nl/cclinks/abtf/thepho~1.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phony_War
http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=20000314