Major World War 2 Battles and Offensives Quiz

Answer: Operation Dragoon

Operation Dragoon was a landing of British, Canadian, and American paratroopers followed by an amphibious assault by the US 7th Army and the French 1st Army. This offensive resulted in the liberation of all areas of France still under German occupation (except Alsace) within 4 weeks.

Answer: Operation Uranus

Operation Uranus resulted in the surrender of the German 6th Army. Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus was the first German (or Prussian) Field Marshal to surrender to an enemy force.

Answer: Operation Torch

You may or may not know that Operation Torch was one of the easiest offensives to succeed in through the entirety of WW2. That's because the Allies were fighting the Vichy French in Operation Torch, not the Germans. The five landings all were successful and because of the humiliation of the Axis ally, Vichy France, losing a battle without a fight, their government was dissolved.

The 275,000 Germans and Italians in Africa that had been fighting the British in Egypt (on the opposite side of North Africa from Operation Torch) surrendered in May 1943.

Answer: Oran, Casablanca, Algiers, Safi, Rabat

The only fighting during the entire operation was at Algiers Harbor, where two British destroyers were driven out by Vichy French forces. Other than that, there was no real fighting until the Americans, British, and exiled troops from fallen countries fought 275,000 Germans and Italians in Tunisia until the Axis troops had to surrender because of supply problems.

Answer: Fall Weiss

Operation Weiss was followed by the Soviet invasion of eastern Poland, and conventional resistance in Poland (not counting partisan forces) was completely subdued by November 1939 (two months after the invasion began). Fall Weiss means 'Case White' in German.

Answer: Crete

This invasion, launched by General Kurt Student with around 25,000 paras against Major General Bernard Freyberg, with around 40,000 soldiers. 10,000 of the Allied soldiers were evacuated from Greece and therefore without weapons.

Answer: Monte Cassino

Because Italy is so thin, the Axis defenders had an easy job making fortifications to hold off the Allied invaders after Naples fell to the Allies. Breakthroughs occurred rarely, and this battle, along with Anzio, led to Rome falling and the Germans retreating even farther up the peninsula.

Answer: Operation Vesuvius

Two Free French Divisions took the island with assistance from Italian divisions that joined the Allies after Italy surrendered and declared war on Germany. Over 30,000 German soldiers were evacuated to Northern Italy from Corsica.

Answer: Operation Panzerfaust

Since Regent Horthy was considering surrendering Hungary to the advancing Soviets, the Nazis considered it an appropriate measure to kidnap his son to prevent him from doing so. As one would expect, it worked and the Soviets weren't able to get Hungary to surrender until April 4th, 1945. Otherwise, Hungarians would have laid down their arms halfway through October 1944.

Answer: Operation Avalanche

During Operation Avalanche, Allied troops under American general Mark Clark crossed the Strait of Messina and landed in Southern Italy. Because of Italy's failures in the war, Benito Mussolini was deposed, and Italy switched sides to help the Allies against Germany.