ABSTRACT
General von Fritsch, the former army commander-in-chief, and General Beck, the erstwhile chief of staff of the Army High Command, had developed the concept of combined arms, which was crucial to the success of the German Blitzkrieg. In stark contrast to the horror of the Blitzkrieg in Poland, Western Europe remained strangely quiet during the first eight months of the war. This inactivity prompted observers to conclude that the conflict was really a fraud. Americans called it the phony war. To the French it was the drle de guerre, and to the Germans the Sitzkrieg, that is 'sitting war'. The French fully expected the Germans to attack, and Britain's military leaders agreed that Germany would strike, but Chamberlain did not expect Adolf Hitler to launch a major offensive and felt that time was on the Allies side.
