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The Phoney War refers to the relatively quiet eight-month period at the start of World War II between the declaration of war by the Western Allies (United Kingdom and France) against Nazi Germany on just after the Invasion of Poland and the German Blitzkrieg in May 1940, that was marked by a lack of major military land operations by the Allies on Germany's Western Front. Even though Poland was overrun in about five weeks in the German and Soviet Invasion of Poland beginning on , the Western Allies did nothing: this was the start of the Phoney War (at least as far as the United Kingdom and France were concerned). War had been declared by each side, but no Western power committed to launching a significant land offensive, notwithstanding the terms of the Anglo-Polish and Franco-Polish military alliances which obliged the United Kingdom and France to assist Poland. The quiet of the Phoney War was punctuated by a few actions by the Allies. In the Saar Offensive in September, the French attacked Germany with the intention of assisting Poland, but this fizzled within days and they withdrew. In November, the Soviets attacked Finland in the Winter War, resulting in much debate in France and Britain about an offensive to help Finland, but the forces finally assembled for this campaign were delayed until the Winter War ended in March. The Allied discussions about a Scandinavian campaign caused concern in Germany and resulted in the German invasion of Denmark and Norway in April, and the Allied troops previously assembled for Finland were redirected to Norway instead. Fighting there continued until June when the Allies evacuated, ceding Norway to Germany in response to the German invasion of France. On the other side, the Germans launched attacks at sea in the fall and winter against several British aircraft carriers and destroyers, sinking several including the carrier with the loss of 518 lives. Action in the air began on when the Luftwaffe launched air raids on British warships. There were various minor bombing raids and reconnaissance flights on both sides. ==Terminology== The term Phoney War customarily appears using the British spelling even in North America, rather than the American ''phony'', although some American sources do not follow the trend. The first known recorded use of the term in print was in September 1939 in a U.S. newspaper which used the British spelling〔 although other contemporary American reports sometimes used "phony" as both spellings were in use at the time in the U.S. The term appeared in Great Britain by January 1940〔 cited in 〕 as "phoney", the only acceptable spelling there. The Phoney War was also referred to as the "Twilight War" (by Winston Churchill) and as the ドイツ語:''Sitzkrieg''〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The Phoney War )〕 ("the sitting war": a word play on ドイツ語:''blitzkrieg'' created by the British press). In French it is referred to as the フランス語:''drôle de guerre'' ("funny" or "strange" war).〔Perhaps due to the mishearing or mistranslation by French journalist Roland Dorgelès or French sources he relied upon of English "phony" as "funny". See :fr:Drôle de guerre (in French).〕 In Polish, it is referred to as the ''Dziwna Wojna'' ("strange war"). The term "Phoney War" was probably coined by US Senator William Borah who commented in September 1939 on the inactivity on the Western Front, "There is something phoney about this war." 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Phoney War」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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