Eclectic WWII Trivia Quiz

Answer: Utah

Utah was the name given to the general section of beach nearest to the Cherbourg peninsula. Idaho was note a codename for any beach in the operation. Pegasus was the name given to a key bridge that the British Airborne was to take and secure. Sword was a D-Day beach but it was to be taken by British forces.

Answer: MP-40

The MP-40 was a submachine gun issued to German and Axis forces, serving the Axis as basically the counterpart to the American Thompson submachine gun. It lacked the punch of the Thompson but it had a high rate of fire and was light weight and easy to control.

The BAR or Browning Automatic Rifle was a magazine fed light machine gun issued to U.S. servicemen. The M-1 Garand was the United States' standard issue rifle for most of WWII. The M1911 or M1911A1 was the U.S. Government standard issue pistol from WWI to well after Vietnam.

Answer: 0

While they would have been a prized target for the Japanese planes all of the U.S. aircraft carriers were at sea on December 7, 1941 and thus spared any harm.

Answer: false

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, a Japanese submarine surfaced of the California coast. It shelled an oil facility just North of Santa Barbara causing little damage and no human casualties. The Japanese designed and used unmanned, explosive carrying balloons to cross the Pacific at high altitude.

At least one reached the Pacific Northwest, exploded and killed four. And while Alaska was not yet a state, the Aleutian Islands were occupied by Japanese forces and were the scene of battles. A Mitsubishi Zero (almost intact) crash landed on one of the Aleutians and was taken to the U.S. for valuable testing.

Answer: 2

This plane was a German dive bomber and it met with success early in the war but became an easy prey later on. It had a pilot and a rear gunner who sat right behind the pilot.

Answer: Honcho

Market Garden was the name for the combined airborne and ground attack into the German occupied Netherlands at and around Arnhem in an attempt to establish a bridgehead on the Rhine. Varsity was a airborne operation in March 1945, involving the American 17th Airborne and the British 6th Airborne, with the objective of securing a foothold across the Rhine River in Germany itself. Overlord was the famed June 6, 1944 D-Day operation into Normandy. Honcho was not used as an operation name, however it was a nickname used in the Korean War for a rather good MIG-17 pilot, thought to be Soviet.

Answer: T-34

Though the T-34's armor and armament were bettered by later tank designs it was considered one of the best, if not the best, tank at the time it was first produced. It had a highly regarded balance of armour, armament and speed. The M-4 was the American designed main battle tank and was used by other Allied forces as well. Both the Panther and Tiger tanks were German designs.

Answer: True

In this opeartion the United States and British forces faced German infantry and armor in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, areas that had been nominally under the control of Vichy French forces. This operation was the first in which U.S. airborne troops were used.

The 509th parachute infantry battalion was flown from Britain and, while not all went as planned, with the airborne element the objectives were taken and valuable lessons regarding airborne operations were learned.

Answer: James Gavin

Gavin, known as the "Jumping General" started his service with the 82nd in the 505th parachute infantry regiment. He was well respected by his peers and troops. He jumped with his men and carried a rifle as his primary weapon ans opposed to just a pistol or carbine like most company grade or general grade officers. Patton headed the 3rd army amoung other posts. MacArthur was the Supreme Allied commander in the Pacific as well as Nimitz who was not a general but an admiral in charge of naval operations.

Answer: Bockscar or Bock's car

The Enola Gay flew the mission that dropped the fist atomic bomb - on Hiroshima. The Memphis Belle was a B-17 serving in Europe. It was noted for being the first B-17/crew to complete the required 25 missions unscathed. Glamorous Glen was the name of the Bell X-1 flown by Chuck Yeager. He is the test pilot credited with breaking the sound barrier.