WW2 People Trivia

1. Why did the US Army have segregation in WWII?

From Quiz African Americans in WWII

Answer: it was the law of the land

Despite seeing Negro units perform well in WWI, Jim Crow (segregation) was the law of the land. It did not help that as a whole, White officers had no confidence in Blacks as soldiers or as equals.

From Quiz The Old Breed: US Marine Corps In WWII

Answer: anyone who had service prior to Pearl Harbor

The Old Breed were Marines with 5-10 years service in the Marine Corps prior to Pearl Harbor. Most of them were NCOs and tended to drink too much, smoke too much, and swear too much; and some even had funny nicknames.

From Quiz What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?

Answer: Tony Curtis

The surrender took place on the Battleship Missouri. Curtis was on the USS Proteus (AS-19) about a mile away. He was also wounded at Guam.

From Quiz Celebrities at War

Answer: Mel Brooks

During the battle, Brooks responded to a German call to surrender by doing his version of Al Jolson's Toot Toot Tootsie.

From Quiz Semper Fi, Mac: Part 2

Answer: a cigarette

A 'coffin nail' was a cigarette. Aptly named! Although smoking was recognized as a nasty habit, it was widely accepted.

From Quiz US Marines Who Received 'The Medal'

Answer: the Black Sheep

Major Boyington's squadron was known as the Black Sheep Squadron. It consisted of rejects, misfits, and malcontents who were given the Corsair fighter, a plane the Navy really did not want or trust. Major Boyington personally downed 22 Japanese planes flying the Corsair and was awarded the CMH after 19 months of captivity in a Japanese POW camp.

From Quiz Women of the SOE

Answer: Cecily Lefort

Born in Ireland in 1903, Cecily Lefort was living in France at the time of the German invasion. She and her husband fled to Britain, leaving their house in Brittany available for the resistance to use as part of an escape line, and she joined the SOE, being parachuted back into France in June 1943 to join the Jockey network led by Francis Cammaerts. Cammaerts was running a network of small resistance groups, and Cecily worked as a network courier. In September 1943 she was arrested whilst meeting with a contact. After being in the hands of the Gestapo for some months she was eventually sent to Ravensbruck, where she was executed in February 1945.

From Quiz Nicknames from World War 2

Answer: Erwin Rommel & Rommel

Arriving in Tunisia with one armored division, Rommel turned around the situation in North Africa, creating the highly trained and effective Afrika- Korps, and pushing the British to the limits in Egypt and mercilessly testing the fresh American troops in Algeria and Tunisia. His strategies and character earned him the nickname "Desert Fox" from the Allies. Later, when Allied numerical and production superiority surpassed that of the Germans, Rommel could only minimize losses in the retreat. He was given command of the Atlantic Wall along with Gerd von Rundstedt. Rommel accurately predicted the location of the Allied landings, but disagreements in strategy with von Rundstedt allowed Overlord and its following campaigns to succeed. Rommel committed suicide rather than be tried by Hitler for participating in his assassination attempt.

From Quiz Obscure WW2 Allied Commanders

Answer: Maxime Weygand

Maxime Weygand (1867-1965) Nationality: French Charles de Gaulle was a famous French armored tactics visionary who later became the most famous French general and leader. Maurice Gamelin was the Supreme Commander of Allied Forces before Weygand. Paul Reynaud was the Prime Minister of France at the time of its fall in 1940.

From Quiz WWII Fighting Unit Nicknames

Answer: The All America

The 82nd saw action in Sicily, Naples, Normandy, the Ardennes, the Rhineland and central Europe.

From Quiz Who's Who? - World War II

Answer: Draza Mihailovic

The resistance war in Yugoslavia was ugly in the extreme. The Cetniks not only fought against the Germans, but also against rival resistance organizations and non-Serbian ethnic groups. The various resistance organizations hoped to control Yugoslavia after the war and tried to weaken or eliminate rival groups.

From Quiz The Black Baron

Answer: Sturmgeschütz III

When Germany invaded Russia in July 1941, Wittmann commanded a Sturmgesscgutz III (Stug). This assault gun had a fixed gun, but this did afford it a low profile making it a deadly ambush tank. The assault guns were primarily used as infantry support and so operated typically in ones or twos as opposed to en masse which was the role of the tanks. In an early encounter Wittmann's Stug faced 18 Russian tanks alone. He succeeded in knocking out six before the remainder decided that discretion was the better part of valour and withdrew. As a result of this action Wittmann was awarded the Iron Cross, Second Class.

From Quiz American & British Generals of World War II

Answer: General Omar Bradley

General Omar Bradley was the last of the five star generals - the last man to hold the rank of General of the Army.

From Quiz The Old Breed: US Marine Corps In WWII

Answer: a boot

The Old Breed typically called the bright eyed clean shaven recruits 'boots', or worse. Salty Marines today still use that moniker when refering to privates fresh out of boot camp.

From Quiz What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?

Answer: John Ford

He was filming a documentary as part of the military cinematography unit at the time and got more than he bargained for. Ironically, he was rejected by the navy in WW1 because of poor eyesight.

From Quiz Celebrities at War

Answer: Modeled for recruiting posters

Ironicaly, both Banner and Werner Klemperer, who played Colonel Klink on "Hogan's Heroes", were Jews who escaped to America before the war.

From Quiz Semper Fi, Mac: Part 2

Answer: candy

Before WWII, Marines in China were issued candy bars as part of a basic ration. The Chinese word for prostitute is roughly translated 'pogey'. Marines would exchange the candy for 'favors'. Thus candy became 'pogey bait'.

From Quiz US Marines Who Received 'The Medal'

Answer: the Wildcat

Captain Joe Foss flew in the Grumman F4 Wildcat. He was awarded The Medal for his exploits.

From Quiz Women of the SOE

Answer: Odette

Odette was born in France in 1913. She married an Englishman and they moved to Britain 1931. She enlisted in the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry, but was asked to join the SOE, which she did, returning to occupied France in 1942. Her Supervisor was Peter Churchill and from 1942 until April 1943 she acted as his courier. Their network was betrayed and they were both arrested and tortured by the Gestapo. Odette was condemned to death and transferred to Ravensbruck, but she survived the war and was able to testify against the prison guards at a subsequent war crimes tribunal. During her imprisonment her husband died, and she subsequently married Peter Churchill. She is the only woman to have received the George Cross while still alive.

From Quiz Nicknames from World War 2

Answer: Screaming Mimi

The sound of the stationary rocket launcher was one of the strangest sounds heard by many soldiers, and they nicknamed is "Screaming Mimi". THe Nebelwerfers were quite accurate for a rocket artillery piece of that time, and were quite terrorizing to Allied troops.

From Quiz WWII Fighting Unit Nicknames

Answer: Texas

Troops of the Texas Division under Maj. Gen. Fred L. Walker became the first American division to invade mainland Europe (at Salerno in Italy).

From Quiz US World War Two Generals

Answer: Clarence R. Huebner;

Huebners association with "The Big Red One" dated back to the WW I when he served with the divisions 18th Infantry Regiment from Luneville to the Meuse-Argonne offensive. He took over the divisions command in 1943 while the division was still engaged in the Sicilian campaign.

From Quiz The Black Baron

Answer: SS Leibstandarte

The SS Leibstandarte originally started life as Hitler's bodyguard and was considered elite even by SS standards. They were, however, implicated in many atrocities, including the massacre of US prisoners at Malmedy during the Battle of the Bulge. Wittmann joined the German army in 1934 and then the SS as a junior officer in 1937. He eventually rose to the rank of SS-Hauptsturmfuhrer (captain).

From Quiz American & British Generals of World War II

Answer: Field Marshal Bernard L Montgomery

'Monty' was not Ike's first choice.

From Quiz African Americans in WWII

Answer: by quota

African Americans were drafted by quotas. Since they were not allowed to serve in combat in the same proportion as Whites, fewer were drafted.

From Quiz The Old Breed: US Marine Corps In WWII

Answer: shavetail

Newly commissioned second lieutenants were typically called shavetails, or worse. Oddly, this term has its origin in the US Army Quartermaster Corps.

From Quiz What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?

Answer: Gene Roddenberry

He crashed his bomber on landing on an island in the Pacific. He was also involved in a crash in the Libyan desert as a civilian pilot after the war. He was working as a police officer in LA when he started "Star Trek".

From Quiz Celebrities at War

Answer: John Wooden

Wooden, later of UCLA basketball fame, was to have served on the U.S.S. Franklin, an aircraft carrier that suffered extensive casualties at the battle of Leyte.

From Quiz Semper Fi, Mac: Part 2

Answer: your weapon

Your 'piece' was always your weapon or your rifle. God help the boot who refered to it as his gun.

From Quiz US Marines Who Received 'The Medal'

Answer: Tarawa

Lt. Hawkins was awarded a CMH while leading a Scout Sniper Platoon during the invasion of Tarawa. He was critically wounded by mortar fire during an assualt on a heavily defended pillbox. He was awarded the CMH posthumously.

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Last Updated Dec 21 2024 5:54 AM

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