Analyzing Battles of World War II Quiz

Answer: Tactical victory, strategic failure

Tactically, the battle was a clear victory. The Japanese lost 29 aircraft and 64 killed compared to many ships sunk and damaged and 2335 casualties for the US. This included four battleships sunk.

Strategically, however, the attack was a disaster. Not only did it bring Japan in a war with the USA, which it could not possibly hope to win due to the enormous industrial capacity of the latter, the damage inflicted, tragic as the loss of life may be, was almost meaningless. Battleships played almost no part in the Pacific war other than being essentially glorified gunboats for shore bombardments preceding an island invasion, and the fuel and harbor facilities of Pearl were relatively undamaged. Crucially, the really important surface vessels, the US aircraft carriers, where not at port and thus escaped unscathed.

Answer: Starting the operation earlier

Early in September, the Allies captured Antwerp and the German army was retreating in disarray. But the Allies halted due to logistical issues. This gave the German army about a week of time to recuperate. By this time in the war, that was all they needed. They established a defensive line based on the Albert Canal, using ad-hoc units and some parachute regiments sent from Germany, gradually being reinforced with elements from the 15th army coming in from Beveland Peninsula, which was just to the north of Antwerp, but not cut off. When Market Garden then started, the ground troops (XXX corps) had to actually fight their way through determined German resistance, where 1-2 weeks earlier very little resistance would have been encountered. So, Market Garden, often called a bridge too far, is more accurately called a week too late.

If the Arnhem bridge had not been included, by the way, there would not have been an unimpeded route into Germany, as the Allies would be stuck behind the Rhine River.

Answer: Greater parts of Europe might have become Soviet controlled

Of course, agreements on the zones of control in Europe were made in various conferences between the Allies. But it is certainly the question if Stalin would have abided by these agreements if they were not enforced by the presence of Western troops on the ground. For instance, a greater part of Germany and/or Austria could have become Soviet controlled.

This is not to diminish the sacrifice of so many Allied soldiers, who bravely fought in Europe. But Germany was already well on its way to defeat at this point; the Soviet operation, Bagration, had just destroyed the Army Group Centre on the Eastern Front. It would not have taken the Red Army ten years to defeat Germany, even if some divisions would have moved from France to the east as no invasion seemed to be happening. Exactly when Germany lost the war on the Eastern Front, and thus the war as a whole, is debatable; cases can be made for June '41, December '41, November '42, July '43, etc., but it would have certainly happened by June '44.

Answer: 36,000 British to 150,000 Italians

Around 135,000 Italians became prisoners. The Italian soldiers and their generals did not share Mussolini's desire for conquest; after a small foray into Egypt, Italy lost a large part of Libya in this campaign. After the victory at Beda Fomm, however, the British were worn out and had to halt their advance.

This allowed Germany to send a certain foxy general to the region, which resulted in fighting continuing there into early 1943.

Answer: The Finnish force, though smaller, was highly mechanized

In fact, the Finnish force was basically just infantry, although the availability of skis and sleds was important. The Red Army divisions, coming from the Ukraine without winter clothing and without knowledge of the terrain, had to face freezing temperatures (-30 to -40) and highly motivated Finns defending their homeland, moving about unseen in their white camouflage clothing.

The Soviet losses were between 13000 to 22000 killed, a significant amount due to the cold.

Answer: To cut of supplies coming through the Volga River

The Volga was an important lifeline for supplies to the rest of the Soviet Union, such as oil and lend-lease shipments coming through Persia. As the battle progressed, the name of the city became increasingly important, contributing to Hitlers stubborn refusal to withdraw from the city after the Soviet counteroffensive in November 1942. An advance across the Volga was not foreseen; it was supposed to become the Eastern border of the German Reich. Forcing the enemy army into a battle of attrition was the aim of the Battle of Verdun in WWI.

Answer: Defeating the airborne operation around the Hague

The aim of the operation was to capture the Dutch government, including Queen Wilhelmina. But the German paratroopers were defeated by mostly second line troops, and the three airports around The Hague were recaptured. The losses in German paratroopers and Ju-52 aircraft were significant, and it was the bombing of Rotterdam and the capitulation of the Netherlands that prevented a shameful surrender of the remaining airborne troops under Von Schoneck.

Answer: Yes, at least one of them could have made it, using some of the other's aircraft

Zuikaku was not damaged in the earlier Battle of the Coral Sea, but it had lost most of its aircraft. Shokaku was damaged, but had more aircraft remaining. However, Japanese carrier doctrine specified a carrier and its aircraft to remain together as a tightly knit and trained unit.

The fact that new aircraft were not readily available already showed Japanese failings in this respect early in the war. Interestingly, the Japanese navy command did not seem to care too much to get Zuikaku available for the battle, it was just left to remain in port as its aircrew were being replenished.

This is in stark contrast with the US efforts to get the carrier Yorktown battle ready in 72 hours, when the estimated repair time (also after Coral Sea) was months. Thus the carrier ratio for Midway was 4:3 where it might have been 5:2 just as easily.

Answer: No

Sadly, no. The Germans actually respected the historic structure and even evacuated some of its artworks to Rome. However, understandably during a grueling battle like this, Allied troops had the strong impression that the aAbbey was at least used by German artillery observers. After the bombing, German paratroopers did enter the ruins to turn it into a hard to take fortress position.

Answer: Antwerp

Hitler's aim was to cut the Allied forces in two, with the British north and the Americans south of the German corridor to Antwerp. It was hoped that this would contribute to the Allied disagreements and that maybe the Western Allies could be persuaded into a separate peace.

Most German generals predicted the aim of the offensive to be wildly optimistic, and it hastened the German defeat on the Eastern Front, as much of the best German armored formations were severely mauled in the campaign.

Answer: German tanks used superior tactics

Essentially, this is what Blitzkrieg was about. Armor was concentrated on small sectors and used to enforce a breakthrough. Actually, the German tanks were so inferior in armor and armament, that they had to withdraw when facing tanks like the Matilda II and the Char B, luring them into divisional AT guns.

Although numerically superior, a lot of Allied tanks were distributed in infantry formations according to WWI tactics.

Answer: The participating battleships were the largest ever constructed

The largest battleships ever constructed were the Japanese Yamato and its sistership, the Musashi. They were involved in the Leyte Gulf battles, but not here; the Musashi was sunk by US aircraft in the Sibuyan Sea, and the Yamato participated in the battle off Samar and was forced to withdraw.

It is actually the last battleship vs. battleship action as of 2021. The role of battleships is basically played out, so there is unlikely to be any such action in the foreseeable future.

Answer: About four hours

The very short resistance is actually seen as a somewhat shameful legacy in Denmark. However, one of the reasons for the surrender was the threat of aerial bombardment of Copenhagen, as had happened to Warsaw earlier and would happen to Rotterdam and other cities later in the war.

Sources disagree on exactly how long the campaign took, typically stating anywhere from 3-6 hours.

Answer: Italians (CTV)

The supposedly volunteer Italian units initiated the attack, but were successfully repulsed by Republican units under their famous General Lister. Franco was supposed to let the attack coincide with a Spanish attack elsewhere on the front, which did not happen.

The Spanish (Nationalist) impression of the Italian troops was not very favorable to begin with and did not improve after this event.

Answer: Finland

Interestingly, this is one of the very few examples in history of wars between democracies, as the United Kingdom was at war with Finland during this time. There was not much fighting between Finland and the Western Allies, so there is some discussion if this really counts as a war between democracies. Finland did obviously see a lot of combat against the Soviet Union, which was not a democracy at the time.