It depends how many battles in total you have set up for.
But the Polish campaign and France are set up for slow progress - so you actually get 2 or 3 Polish and or France 40 battles in a GE WW2 LC. (Otherwise that brief time slot would probably not register and you would likely be off to the desert right off).
If you do not want the early period - then adjust your long campaign's start date on the set-up screen.