A Wing And A Prayer Trivia Quiz

Allied forces in Europe were dependent upon raw materials and supplies from North America. These were transported in merchant ships across the Atlantic. To provide a form of defense against German submarines, the ships were grouped into convoys which were led by Allied warships. The first convoy set sail in September of 1939 just as war was declared.

By 1940, Germany had occupied French ports and increased their production of submarines. This increased the likelihood of German attacks of subs (or U-boats) that traveled in groups called 'wolf packs'. Convoys of merchant ships formed multiple columns of up to sixty ships while warships helped gun down sighted U-boats. While in range, Allied aircraft also helped sink German submarines.

The 'wolf packs' used complex signals which were hard to decipher and the U-boats were a deadly threat for years. It was not until spring of 1943 that more modern radar equipment, new aircraft carriers, and longer range aircraft helped destroy much of the German U-boat fleet.

The ultimate cost of the Battle of the Atlantic was a loss of 3,500 Allied merchant ships and 175 warships between 1939 and 1945. This accounted for over 14 million gross tons of product. Sadly, over 72,000 Allied seaman lost their lives during this lengthy battle.

On May 10, 1940, Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Belgium in a blitzkrieg attack. Those countries fell quickly and the German forces invaded France through the Ardennes Forest and pushed toward the English Channel. They cut off communication and transport to the retreating Allied forces and pushed them into a small area of the French coast in Dunkirk.

By May 19, the Allies began considering evacuation to save any troops at all. Winston Churchill and his team began coordinating plans to do that operation. At the same time, Adolf Hitler was worried about a potential counterattack and against recommendations, slowed the push to Dunkirk. By May 26, Hitler agreed to the continued push but time had been given the Allies to form Operation Dynamo (the plan to evacuate).

On May 27, Royal Navy vessels began to arrive and evacuate the soldiers. However, relentless bombing from the German airplanes and shallow waters for the large vessels prevented rapid movement. The first day 7,500 men got out of Dunkirk and the next day, May 28, around 10,000 more evacuated.

The Allies put out a call for smaller ships to help get to the shallow beach and carry troops either out to large ships or back to England. An unbelievable amount of almost 1,200 leisure and fishing boats arrived to help. This armada called "Little Ships" worked for two days to aid the effort.

Churchill and England had originally hoped that perhaps 45,000 soldiers could be rescued. Instead, by the time evacuation ended, there were 338,000 men who were able to get off the beaches at Dunkirk. Some forces were left behind until German troops occupied Dunkirk on June 4.

Pearl Harbor was a naval base in the state of Hawaii which is roughly 4,000 miles from Japan. American military leaders were not expecting any kind of attack close to home and the base was fairly undefended in late 1941.

On December 7 of that year, Japan launched an attack they had planned for months. At 8AM, Japanese planes appeared and sent bombs and bullets to the ships moored below. The "USS Arizona" was hit with a bomb, exploded, and sank with more than 1,000 men inside. The "USS Oklahoma" was also hit with 400 men onboard.

After two hours, the attack ended and every battleship in Pearl Harbor had at least been damaged, if not sunk. Three hundred airplanes were destroyed and more than 2,400 people (civilians and military) were killed. But the Japanese had thought to destroy the whole Pacific Fleet. What they didn't count on was that the giant carriers were away from the base that day and the oil facilities had not been hit.

On December 8, President Franklin Roosevelt called the attack "a day that will live in infamy", and the United States entered World War II.

The Battle of Midway was an air and sea battle that took place June 3-6 of 1942.

Japanese Admiral Yamamoto, who led the Japanese Navy, wanted to follow the success of Pearl Harbor with an attack at an Allied base in Midway Island in the Pacific Ocean. The attack would utilize aircraft, invasion forces on land, and a bombardment of naval ships.

What Yamamoto did not know was that U.S. Navy personnel had broken Japanese communication codes and highly suspected the attack on Midway. On June 3, a group of U.S. Flying Fortress bombers flew form Midway and attacked a small Japanese invasion force they assumed was the main fleet. This started the battle.

The next day, June 4, wave after wave of Allied airplanes, launched from both Midway and various aircraft carriers, performed dogfights in the air against the Japanese planes. Although the U.S. lost many planes, including unescorted torpedo bombers, the Allied dive-bombers ended up setting fire to three Japanese aircraft carriers and putting all four out of commission.

Small attacks occurred for the next two days until Yamamoto retreated on June 6. Japan had lost 3,000 men, 200 very experienced pilots, 300 aircraft, and their four huge carriers. The U.S. had lost a carrier, a destroyer, 145 planes, and around 350 men. As an outcome of this Battle of Midway, Japan ceased its plan to expand out into the Pacific and began a more defensive strategy.

The Battle of Stalingrad, from August 1942 through February of 1943, was a long and bloody fight with almost two million people dead or injured.

In the spring of 1942, Hitler and his generals planned an offensive strike against the southern Russian city of Stalingrad, which was an industrial and communication hub of the country. Hitler vowed that all the city's males would be killed and the women deported. Meanwhile, Stalin (whom the city was named for) ordered everyone who was physically able to defend the area. On August 23, 1942, the German Army began the assault.

The German Luftwaffe air force conducted dozens of air strikes on the city every day and sunk many ships on the rivers. During the ensuing weeks, tens of thousands of Russian citizens were killed or captured and sent to slave labor camps in Germany. Despite their desperation, Stalin insisted the citizens and military take "Not A Step Back".

By late November of 1942, Russian forces had launched a counterattack and formed a defensive ring around the city, trapping many German troops. These trapped soldiers had to spend a long and brutal winter fighting starvation and the Russians. Hitler refused to surrender even as he got reports of his troops' miserable conditions.

In February of 1943, the Russians retook the city of Stalingrad and captured almost 100,000 German soldiers. This ended the long and very bloody battle and was the first time a failure was recognized by Hitler.

By 1943, the fighting between Germany and Russia had created a large salient (protruding part of the battle line) in western Russia and the city of Kursk lay right in the middle. Hitler, angry at previous losses to Russia, wanted that tactical city and to show the world that Germany could still be powerful.

In the spring of 1943, Germany amassed half a million men and thousands of guns, tanks, and aircraft and prepared to move on Kursk. Russia, seeing the buildup, also created an arsenal of weapons and dug in to defend the area.

Hitler postponed a planned blitzkrieg attack in order to wait for new Panther and Tiger tanks, which had never been field tested. Meanwhile, Russia military and Kursk civilians continued to built fortifications and a huge network of trenches extending for 2,500 miles.

On July 5, 1943, the Germans were planning on launching their campaign. However, at that same time, Soviets began a huge bombardment of the German lines. Artillery and infantry strikes on both sides caused heavy casualties. German tanks were lost as they tried to cross the trenches and mine fields. Across the salient, the Russian Army suffered huge losses but continued to hold off the German units.

By July 24th, with German tanks moving toward Italy in aid of battles there, the Soviets had launched a counteroffensive and drove the Germans back past even their starting point in the battle.

The Soviets won the Battle of Kursk and ended Hitler's vision of a conquered Russia. The losses on both sides were staggering. Russia lost up to 800,000 people and Germany around 200,000. Germany now found themselves fighting the war on multiple fronts, and not having much luck anywhere.

The Normandy Landings have been considered the beginning of the end of war in Europe. Codenamed Operation Overlord, it began on June 6, 1944, when American, British, and Canadian forces landed on five beaches in the Normandy region of France.

In January of 1944, General Dwight Eisenhower was given command of the operation. Months prior to the onset, the Allies carried on deceptive maneuvers which were designed to make the Germans think the target was Pas-de-Calais rather than Normandy.

On June 6 of 1944 5,000 ships and landing vehicles carried troops and supplies and left England for a trip across the Channel to France. More than 10,000 aircraft were engaged for aerial cover. The invasions began at 6:30 AM, hours after paratroopers were already behind German lines. There was light opposition on some beaches but areas like Omaha Beach involved thousands of casualties. By the end of the day, over 150,000 Allied troops were on the French beaches.

Hitler did not act as quickly as he could have due to the fact he thought, at first, it was a ruse. Then his troops were hampered by blown bridges, thanks to the bombing from Allied planes.

This successful invasion, although costly in terms of Allied lives, was the start of Allies moving through France and towards their eventual goal of Germany.

The Battle of the Bulge was Hitler's last big offensive in the war against the Allies and began in December of 1944. He was hoping to split them in their eventual drive to Germany. The battle lasted six weeks and was also named the Battle of the Ardennes as it took place near the Ardennes Forest, part of Belgium and France.

When the German army drove into the Ardennes, the Allied line defense took on the picture of a bulge and gave its name to the battle. It was a surprise attack, from the Germans, in a brutal winter and was one of the bloodiest of the war. Over 100,000 casualties happened to the U.S., which included "cold injuries" such as frostbite.

This was also a battle that saw the Nazis use psychological warfare in the act of having paratroopers fall into U.S. lines and pretend they were American soldiers. Extra precautions were taken to avoid letting secrets fall into enemy hands. Finally, on Christmas Day of 1944, the weather cleared and tanks and aircraft could come to the aid of the Allies.

On December 26, General Patton's troops broke through German lines and rescued troops with victory being claimed a few weeks later. Over one million Allied troops fought in this battle, with many killed, wounded, or missing. About 100,000 Germans were also casualties. It is said this is the battle that "broke the back" of the Nazis.

Starting in February of 1945, U.S. Marines began an amphibious landing on Iwo Jima. This island is located 750 miles off of the coast of Japan and had three airfields that could be used for a potential invasion of that country.

By this point in the war, Japan had lost many warplanes and navy ships. It made it vulnerable to defend islands like Iwo Jima. The Allies did not know that Japan had already infiltrated the island and set up a variety of tunnel structures and artillery positions. Just prior to the landing, Americans dropped many bombs on the island and rained gunfire from naval ships off the coast.

On the morning of February 19, U.S. Marines began the landing and were met were several problems including the beaches made of ash rather than sand. As they struggled through the quagmire, the Japanese opened fire. After significant losses, the Marines were able to seize one of the airfields.

Over days, 70,000 Marines landed on the island and suffered more than 25,000 casualties while the Japanese also suffered losses, including low supplies and starvation. After four days of intense fighting, U.S. Marines hoisted a flag on Mt. Suribachi and that image was captured in a memorable photograph.

For four weeks the attacks continued until just a few hundred Japanese remained after being captured or chased out of foxholes. Sadly, in the end, the U.S. was not able to use the island as a staging area but the battle sparked an initiative in America to end the war once and for all.

In April of 1945, the Allied Expeditionary Force under Eisenhower was on the western side of Berlin and the Russian Army was on the eastern side. Both armies wanted the capital city to fall into their hands. But Eisenhower, against Churchill's wishes, decided it was too costly a venture. Stalin, however, forged ahead and on April 16 he ordered the attack of Berlin.

Roosevelt died two weeks later and Eisenhower stuck to his decision to let the Russians have the city. He decided the tremendous loss of lives (expectations over 100,000 more soldiers) was not worth the effort of keeping Communism out of that part of the country.

Hitler had fortified Berlin to the best of his ability and it took a full nine days of Russian troops firing a barrage of a million artillery shells into the area to break the defensive line. Stalin had been urging two of his leaders to beat each other to the prize of Berlin and both units extracted heavy damage and casualties to the city, the military, and the citizens. At this point, elderly and young boys constituted a large percentage of the German military in Berlin.

On April 30, seeing the city was falling, Hitler committed suicide. The Battle of Berlin was the final major battle in Europe in WWII and saw the end of Nazi Germany leadership.