What was the British army doing for the first eight months of WWll besides sitting around France scratching their balls? Wouldn't that qualify as "showing up late"?

 The first eight months of WW2 would be between September 1939 and April 1940 the period referred to as Phoney War, Drôle de guerre, or Sitzkrieg. The Battle of France or Fall Gelb (Case Yellow) started on the 10th of May i.e., German Army Group A invaded the Ardennes and invaded the Low Countries by gun group B.

Britain’s Expeditionary Force (BEF) is no doubt in no way in France at the time of the declaration of war. The first troop convoys left the United Kingdom on 9 September sailing from Cherbourg on 10 September en-route to mass in the Franco-Belgian frontier.

During October 3-19, the regular divisions of BEF were assuming the lines of their sector of the front lines. Bear in mind that even more than two weeks was to pass before the BEF was in its intended position after the Polish collapse.

Therefore, no, that that doesn’t count that as being late to show up because the armies didn’t appear out of thin air; the armies had to be organized and that requires time.

Every single one of Britain’s five regular infantry divisions was in France by October 1939. The division consisting of the first three, 48th (South midland), 50th (Northumbrian) and the 51st (Highland) arrived in February 1940. In April 1940 they were joined by the 42nd (East Lancashire) Division, 44th (Home Counties) Division, 12th (Eastern) Division, 23rd (2nd Northumbrian) Division, and 46th (North Midland) Division.

However, the 12th, 23rd and 46th were new, untrained 2nd line TA divisions which were sent out after losing most if their transport and equipment as ’digging’ divisions to only be used in infrastructure work.

Matilda II, in France only 23 heavy tanks were available to the BEF.

Therefore, as regards the force available for deployment, by October 1939, the British had five divisions at their disposal for operations, eight of them in February 1940, and finally ten of them in April 1940.

The French, however, had eighty-two, the Belgians twenty-two, the dutch ten and the Germans one hundred and ten divisions.

I wonder what the military genius posing the question believes that the British Army should have been doing at this time. In a solo assault of five to eight divisions on the hundred and ten German ones on the western front maybe??