Quotes from World War Two Multiple Choice Quiz | War History

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. "Germany is not a warlike nation. It is a soldierly one, which means it does not want a war, but does not fear it. It loves peace, but also loves its honour and freedom".

Answer: Adolf Hitler

Whilst addressing the Reichstag in 1938, Hitler came out with these famous words. Within weeks a European crisis over German demand for annexation of Sudeten borderland of Czechoslovakia arose. This event was seen to be a key prelude to what would later become the world's worst conflict.

2. "We must be very careful not to assign to this deliverance the attributes of a victory. Wars are not won by evacuation".

Answer: Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill was addressing the House of Commons on June 4th, 1940 after the end of the Dunkirk evacuation.

When he became Prime Minister in 1940 Winston Churchill formed a War Cabinet, initially consisting of the following:
Winston Churchill (Conservative), Neville Chamberlain (Conservative), Clement Attlee (Labour), Lord Halifax (Conservative), Arthur Greenwood (Labour).

It would undergo many changes in composition over the next five years.

3. "We've already reached our first objective, which we weren't supposed to do until the end of May [1941]. The British are falling over each other to get away. Our casualties small. Booty can't be estimated".

Answer: General Erwin Rommel

Rommel stated the above in a letter to his wife, describing the offensive in North Africa during April 1941.

The Afrika-Korps was never accused of any war crimes, and Rommel himself referred to the fighting in North Africa as "war without hate". Numerous examples exist of Rommel's chivalry towards Allied POWs, such as his defiance of Hitler's infamous Commando Order, as well as his refusal of an order from Hitler to execute Jewish POWs.

4. "You will not only be unable to make up your losses but will grow weaker as time goes on ... we will not only make up our losses but will grow stronger as time goes on. It is inevitable that we shall crush you before we are through with you."

Answer: Admiral Harold Stark

Stark, Chief of Naval Operations, said the above to Admiral Nomura Kichisaburo, Japanese Ambassador to the United States shortly after the latter's Navy struck a heavy blow on U.S Naval base Pearl Harbor on December 7th 1941.

5. "Each position, each yard of Soviet territory must be stubbornly defended to the last drop of blood. We must cling to every inch of Soviet soil and defend it to the end".

Answer: Joseph Stalin

Prior to the Battle of Stalingrad, Stalin spoke to the Red Army. The Battle of Stalingrad was fought between Germany and its allies and the Soviet Union between August 21, 1942 and February 2, 1943. It is widely seen as a turning point of World War II and was arguably the bloodiest battle in human history, with combined casualties suffered reaching close to 2 million.

6. To whom was Adolf Hitler referring with this remark? "What hurts me the most, personally, is that I still promoted him to field marshal. I wanted to give him this final satisfaction ... a man like that besmirches the heroism of so many others at the last moment. He could have freed himself from all sorrow and ascended into eternity and national immortality, but he prefers to go to Moscow."

Answer: Friedrich Paulus

Paulus was expected to hold Stalingrad to the death. On 30 January 1943, Hitler promoted Paulus to the rank of field marshal, after the Sixth Army's fate was sealed. Since no German field marshal had ever surrendered, the implication was clear. If Paulus surrendered, he would shame Germany's military history.

Despite this, and to the disgust of Hitler, Paulus surrendered on January 31, 1943, angering Hitler in the process and providing the first major defeat on the battlefields of Europe.

7. "He [Churchill] told me that if Overlord failed, the United States would have lost a battle, but for the British it would be the end of their military capability". US Presidential envoy William Averell Harriman on a meeting with Winston Churchill, May 4, 1944 was said to have heard the British PM say this.

Answer: True

Indeed, Churchill did say the above quote. The British forces were fully stretched and under intense pressure to gain a foothold in Europe. Operation Overlord was vital for British survival and with the input of American and Commonwealth troop backing the victory came.

8. "If leaders are called to account and condemned, very well, but you cannot punish the German people at the same time. The German people are free of guilt".

Answer: Hermann Goering

Goering said the above in his closing statement to the Nuremburg War Crimes Tribunial, August 31, 1946.

All the names provided (Goering, Rosenberg, von Ribbentrop and Keitel) were found guilty and sentenced to death of four charges, 1. Participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of crimes against peace; 2. Planning, initiating and waging wars of aggression and other crimes against peace; 3. War crimes; 4. Crimes against humanity.

9. "The war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage. We have resolved to pave the way for a grand peace for all generations to come by enduring the unendurable and suffering what is unsufferable".

Answer: Emperor Hirohito

After the atomic bombings of Hiroshima on August 6 and Nagasaki on August 9, the Emperor addressed his nation on August 15 declaring that Japan had in principle accepted the uncompromising terms the Allies had set down for ending the war in the Potsdam Declaration.

"The enemy now possesses a new and terrible weapon with the power to destroy many innocent lives and do incalculable damage."

10. "The atom bomb was no 'great decision.' It was merely another powerful weapon in the arsenal of righteousness."

Answer: Harry S Truman

Harry S Truman was the 33rd President of the United States (1945-1953); as Vice President, he succeeded to the office upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Truman's presidency was eventful in foreign affairs, starting with victory over Germany, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the surrender of Japan and the end of World War II, the founding of the United Nations, the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe, the Truman Doctrine to contain Communism, the beginning of the Cold War, the creation of NATO, and the Korean War.

~quotes came from the book World War II by Wilmott, "Cross & Messenger", published by DK.

Source: Author doomed

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
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Quotes from World War Two Trivia Quiz

1938-1946 saw the World turn upside down with a War that changed the way we lived. Who said what, though?

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