World War 2: Mixture 2 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Vought F4U Corsair

The Vought F4U Corsair was an excellent fighter, with great maneuverability, compact space, and versatility in flight and armament. As much as the P51D Mustang excelled in the European Theater, the Corsair dominated the skies of the East. The well-known Japanese Zero was an excellent fighter in the early and middle years of the war, but encountered limitations due to Japan's dependence on foreign fuel.

The Zero was also quickly outclassed by Allied engineering. The SBD Dauntless was an excellent carrierborne dive-bomber, essential in the victories at Midway and onward.

The Dauntless was used until the end of the war. The Junkers Ju87 was one of the only land-based dive bombers. Produced by Germany, the Stuka produced a terror wherever its gut-wrenching siren was heard.

After a star performance in the German Blitzkrieg, it soon became outclassed by Allied fighters and fighter bombers.

Answer: MP44, STG44

The Maschinenpistole 44, or Sturmgewehr 44 was the first of its kind. It could be used as a rifle at medium or long range, as an adequate support weapon at medium range, and a fairly effective automatic in close quarter combat. All modern assault rifles are born from the MP44 concept and versatility.

The MG34, another excellent German creation, was produced in the 1930s, where its versatility earned it a place in history as the world's first real General Purpose Machine Gun. The MP40 was an excellent all steel sub-machine gun that was used by the Germans throughout the war.

The Gewehr 43 was Germany's first successful attempt at creating a semi-automatic rifle. It borrowed many features from the Soviet's superb Tokarev SVT-40 rifle.

Answer: 352nd Infantry Division

The 352nd Infantry Division (formed November 1943) manned the defenses at Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944, when the American task force struck. The 2nd SS Panzer Division mobilized quickly to defend the crossroads at Caen during the same operation, and the 6th Fallschirmjager Regiment defended the crossroads at the town of Carentan from the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions.

Answer: St. Vith

While the 101st was making fame and history holding out at Bastogne, the 82nd Airborne was fighting hard to keep the nearby crossroads town of St. Vith. The lesser known battle may have been just as important, for some historians say that if St. Vith had fallen, the Germans would have enough power to take Bastogne, which would have made the outbreak in the Ardennes an even larger defeat than it already was.

Answer: Stalin's Organ

The Katyusha was a rocket launcher mounted on a truck. This simple weapon struck fear into the Axis hearts, as it should have. The Katyusha was a terrifying barrage to live through, if it hit its target, which it wasn't very good at. The German response was the Nebelwerfer, called the Screaming Mimi by the Allies.

The Nebelwerfer was like a conventional field artillery piece, able to be towed and usually stationary. The Walking Stuka was an SdKfz 251 halftrack out-fitted with Wuhrframen 40 rockets, and the noise it made sounded like a Stuka, therefore the nickname Walking Stuka or Ground Stuka.

The nickname Steel Rain was applied half a century later to the US MRLS systems, which launched large accurate barrages of rockets over long ranges.

Answer: Ukraine

When German troops reached the outskirts of Moscow in 1941, the freedom of the world was at stake. With Russia out of the picture, the Allies would have had little chance of winning the war against Nazi Germany. However, abruptly, Hitler shifted his advance to the south, to Ukraine. Hitler's chance of winning the war was blown.

Answer: Operation Sea Lion

Hitler conquered France in a short time, ravaged the Russians all the way to Moscow, and was the closest to taking over the world as anyone since Genghis Khan. At the time, Britain seemed to be the only obstacle (though of course later Russia bounced back).

The planned invasion of Britain from the English Channel was called Operation Sea Lion. The first phase of the invasion involved the Luftwaffe winning air superiority over the Channel, so that the landing forces would not be harassed by the Royal Air Force.

After a long and complicated Battle of Britain, the Luftwaffe could not win air superiority, and the operation was continually delayed before finally being called off. Operation Bagration was a Russian counter-offensive much later in the war, and Operation Barbarossa was the first campaign the Germans held against the Russians in World War II. Operation Goodwood was the operation that involved the breakout of the Allied forces from the Normandy beach-head.

Answer: French

Although the Japanese were the first to taste American lead from surface anti-aircraft batteries at Pearl Harbor, there was no state of war existing at the time between the two nations. The Japanese then engaged Americans on the ground at the Phillippines, Wake Island, Guam Island, the Aleutians, and many lesser known battles across the Pacific.

The Germans were the next, but they found combat on the seas, with the ongoing Battle of the Atlantic. The correct answer was the French. During Operation Torch, the American invasion of North Africa, the Vichy French were occupying Morocco.

Although the French troops were generally unwilling to fight, they had orders to oppose the Allies, and so many did. Therefore, the first enemies on the ground in World War II in the ETO were the French.

The Italians came soon after, in the North African and Southern Europe campaigns.

Answer: Eben Emael

Fort Eben Emael was built on the Belgian German border, with a task to defend the border, and blow three key bridges to delay a German advance, if one ever came. In 1940, shortly after Hitler had blitzed Poland, he began planning to take Western Europe. If the operations were to go smoothly and quickly, without giving the Allies time to regroup and defend, the Germans would have to conquer key points and objectives. One such objective was the Fort Eban Emael. If the bridges were blown, the advance would seriously be bogged down. So, on May 6th, the operation commenced. 74 commandos of the 7th Flieger, or the 1st Fallschirmjager Division, landed on the roof of the fort using gliders.

They used experimental shaped charges to blow through the roof and destroy key weapon emplacements. Once the defenses were compromised, reinforcements from the 151st Infantry Regiment arrived.

The fort surrendered, along with 1200 Belgian soldiers. The garrison did manage to blow one of the bridges, but all that did was cut off their own reinforcements.

Answer: 1st Fallschirmjaeger Division

The 7th Flieger, involved in the Eban Emael operation, eventually became the 1st Fallschirmjaeger Division, which was reputedly better fighters than the American paratroopers and on par with the British Commandos. They fought in almost every major operation in 1940 and 1941, and surprised the world with a paradrop capture of the island Crete, where recently defeated British troops were stationed.

After a small role in the German invasion of Russia, the 1st Fallschirmjager was stationed in Sicily, and later Italy, where it spent the rest of the war delaying the Allied advance.

They left their mark in Italy as well, fortifying the famous Monte Cassino monastery, where they held out against a carpet bombing and a ferocious Allied attack. If the Nazis had won the war (which would have been a horrible thing for the rest of the world) the Fallschirmjaeger Divisions would have lived on in fame the same way the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions live on today.