Word War II Figures, Part 1 - United Kingdom Quiz

Answer: Arthur Harris

Arthur "Bomber" Harris was a pilot during the First World War and joined the newly formed Royal Air Force shortly afterwards. He was appointed Commander-in-Chief of Bomber Command early in 1942. His tactics of strategic bombing of German cities, including civilian areas, caused some controversy, particularly the attack on Dresden in February, 1945.

Answer: Alan Turing

Alan Turing was a mathematician who was part of the code-breaking team at Bletchley Park during the Second World War. He is most famous for decoding the German Enigma machine. His story was told in the 2014 film "The Imitation Game", starring Benedict Cumberbatch.

Answer: Hugh Dowding

Hugh "Stuffy" Dowding was a fighter pilot during World War I. He was appointed commander of RAF Fighter Command in 1936. He was in charge of the defence of the UK during the "Battle of Britain" in the summer and autumn of 1940. He stood down as Head of Fighter Command in November of that year.

Answer: Barnes Wallis

Barnes Wallis was an airship and aircraft designer, who began designing bombs during World War II. His most famous creation was the "bouncing bomb" which could evade the torpedo nets protecting dams on the Ruhr River. The bombs breached two dams on the night of 16th/17th May, 1943. The raid was immortalised in the 1955 film "The Dam Busters", with Michael Redgrave portraying Wallis.

Answer: Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill was a former soldier who entered politics in the early 20th century, holding posts including Home Secretary and First Lord of the Admiralty. In May, 1940, with the Nazis marching through Europe and Britain under serious threat, he was asked by King George VI to fill the role of Prime Minister.

His leadership helped boost the morale of an under-siege population. Given a state funeral in 1965, he was voted "Greatest Ever Briton" in a 2002 BBC poll.

Answer: Lord Beaverbrook

Max Aitken (Lord Beaverbrook) was a Canadian-born son of a Scottish minister who achieved fame as a newspaper publisher, particularly with the Daily Express. In May, 1940, Winston Churchill appointed him as Minister of Air Production. He oversaw a huge increase in aircraft production which helped win the Battle of Britain. Later in the war he would fill the positions of Minister of Supply and Minister of War Production.

Answer: Orde Wingate

Orde Wingate was a career soldier, most of whose postings were outside of Europe. He was sent to Burma in early 1942, where he was tasked with forming guerrilla units to penetrate deep behind Japanese lines. They were nicknamed "Chindits", taken from the name chinthe, a Burmese mythical beast. Wingate had achieved the rank of Major-General when he was killed in a plane crash in 1944.

Answer: Bernard Montgomery

Bernard "Monty" Montgomery served with the British Army during World War I. A career soldier, he was appointed commander of the 8th Army in North Africa in August, 1942. His "Desert Rats" scored a vital victory over Erwin Rommel at El Alamein later that year, a pivotal turning point in the war.

After mixed fortunes in Italy in 1943, he was put in command of all allied ground forces during the Battle of Normandy (Operation Overlord).

Answer: Neville Chamberlain

Neville Chamberlain was a Conservative politician who became party leader, and Prime Minister, in 1937. In the autumn of 1938, he had a series of meetings with Adolf Hitler, which later saw him erroneously claiming "peace for our time". When the Germans invaded Poland in September, 1939, it was Chamberlain who informed the country in a radio broadcast that "this country is now at war with Germany".

In May, 1940, with the early months of the war going against Britain, he resigned to be replaced by Winston Churchill.

He died of bowel cancer just six months later.

Answer: Ernest Bevin

Ernest Bevin became General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union in 1922. A member of the Labour Party, he twice failed to win election to parliament before being elected unopposed in Wandsworth in 1940 at the behest of Winston Churchill.

He was given the post of Minister for Labour and National Service in the wartime coalition government. Among his measures was the conscription of 48,000 "Bevin Boys" to work in the coal mines. After the war, he served as Foreign secretary in Clemet Attlee's Labour government.