Adolf Hitler wanted to begin the German Western offensive as soon as possible,

but the winter weather of 1939 kept getting in his way.

Then, a copy of the battle plan fell into the hands of the Belgians.

Welcome to the history of the 20th century.

Music Episode 318, The Calm Before the Storm.

Last week, I told you about the winter war between Finland and the Soviet Union.

Today, I want to return to the main event, as it were, the war between Germany

on the one hand and France and Britain on the other, the war that some are already calling

World War II. There are a couple of things I mentioned in last week's episode that you need

to keep in mind for today.

One is that the reason the Winter War attracted as much international attention as it did was that the rest of the world was primed for another great war, but once Poland was subdued,

the war went quiet. When war was declared, Time magazine in the United States reported on a shortage of maps of Europe and map pins.

I wonder how many people besides me remember map pins. I still have a box or two of them in my attic.

These were small pins like thumbtacks, but with round plastic

tops that came in an assortment of colors, and one of their main uses was to represent the positions

of military units on a wall map. Today, they exist only in virtual form in applications such as

Google Maps, but apparently back then, a lot of people were preparing to follow the war news day by day

on maps in their homes.

Except there was no news to follow.

The French military made a brief incursion into the Zarland, which the Germans did not oppose, then the French

got nervous and pulled back.

The second thing I'm calling your attention to is the fact that the winter of 1939 to

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