More Wacky WWII Tidbits Trivia Quiz

Answer: Switzerland

Just after Italy and England declared war on each other, an RAF mission to Turin, Italy, lost its way and bombed Geneva, Switzerland. Six people were killed, and many injured.
(In the course of WWII Switzerland was also mistakenly bombed by the Luftwaffe and the French air force, too.)

Answer: Fog

For several days, heavy fog created a great cover for the Allies to clear the beaches. The Luftwaffe could not see the beaches, thus preventing them from flying over and shooting anything that moved. Later, a German flyer stated that "only the fog saved them."

Answer: Hermann Goering

Hitler created this award specifically for Goering. He was presented with it shortly after the fall of Dunkirk. No one after him received it.

Answer: Iceland

A black British sailor was amoung the small force sent to help prevent a Nazi invasion of Iceland. When he was seen later in a local bar, it caused a sensation. The next day, a leading newspaper's headline simply said "Black Icelander?". The British pulled this gentleman out, and later when in the country the USA did not send a black serviceman into Iceland until racial tension eased.

It is important to note that the general population didn't want the English Tommies in town, anyway. They seemed to be afraid that all they would do is drink and get the local girls pregnant!

Answer: William Shirer

Shirer was the European reporter for CBS radio. He covered mainland Europe, while his partner, Murrow, was based in England. The Germans had the pool of reporters taken back to Berlin, where Hitler had planned a grand announcement. However, Shirer caught wind of the surrender, and with the help of some officers who weren't were sympathetic to Hitler, stayed and actually listened to the signing with the official German reporters.

He radioed his report to England and New York, where it beat the German report by almost two hours. Apparently, Hitler and Goebbels were furious, and almost had Shirer thrown out of the country. Even Winston Churchill didn't quite believe that an American reporter was the only person reporting such dramamtic news, even before the Nazis did.

It took several more hours for the official press pool in Berlin to issue the statement that was provided them by the Germans that France had fallen.

Answer: King of Italy

After the allies invaded southern Italy, The King of Italy ordered the arrest of Mussolini, so that he might sign the armistice with them. "El Duce" was arrested, but later freed by German troops. When free, he in turn had Prince Philip of Hesse-Cassel, and his wife Princess Mafalda of Savoy, arrested. Philip survived the war, despite being tortured by the Gestapo. Mafalda was sent to Buchenwald, were she hurt during a RAF raid.

Her arm was amputated, and she died the next day. She was 42yrs old. Philip lived until 1980, when he died at the age of 96.

Answer: Plane crashed

Moeders flew his HE-111 bomber right into a smoke stack and was killed.

Answer: Italy

Mussolini attacked France in a vain attempt to regain parts of Savoy which had been ceded to France in 1859.

Answer: Ran out of fuel

The division was rushed to the front. They fought until they ran out of fuel. In the rush to battle they forgot to bring the fuel trucks to the front with them.

Answer: Hitler

According to several older generals, when Hitler threw his most spectacular temper tantrums he would sometimes throw himself on to the floor, and bite and chew the carpet. Saying this in Nazi Germany constituted "insulting the Fuehrer" and more than one soldier was sentenced to death for saying this among his comrades - if one may call them such.