World War 2 from K-O Trivia Quiz

Answer: Krummlauf

The Krummlauf was designed to be fit on the barrel of an MP44 automatic rifle. The weapon could shoot at an imperfect angle around a corner, thus solving the age-old problem of rounding corners. However, some unreliability and the priority of producing other things caused it to be produced in only very small numbers.

The Americans did capture a few of these devices, and did produce one that could fire at 90 degrees. However, it suffered from similar mechanical issues as the original and was never produced.

Answer: KV series

The KV series, named after politician Klementi Voroshilov, was the Soviet heavy tank at the beginning of its entry into WW2. The KV-1 had satisfactory armor and armament, and was a threat to German tanks early in the war. However, mechanical problems as well as flawed design soon made it obsolete, especially with the upgunning and upgrading of German designs.

The KV-2 was similar to the KV-1, except with a much larger turret housing an impractical massive cannon. Instead, the KV-1 design led to the IS (Iosef Stalin) -1, which became the IS-2, the definitive heavy tank of the Soviet forces, until replaced by the super-powerful IS-3 towards the end of the war.

Answer: Kaga

The Kaga was originally a Tosa class battleship but was converted to an aircraft carrier in 1923. It was part of the fleet that attacked Pearl Harbor. She then served in the New Guinea - Australia area. She was sunk at the Battle of Midway.

Answer: Khalkin Gol

At Khalkin Gol, the astounding and crushing Soviet victory influenced the Japaneses commanders and governments to avoid challenging their western neighbor, and instead turned their focus to the east and south, assisting the decision of war with the United States. Also, Stalin, who had wanted to avoid a two-front war in the near future, wanted to be absolutely sure that the Japanese were properly subdued.

For example, although Eastern Poland had been given to the Soviets by Ribbentrop in August 1939, Stalin held his forces back until the 16th, when Zhukov finalized the Battle at Khalkin Gol.

Answer: Libya

Before the war started, Italy controlled Libya, and Britain controlled Egypt. At the outbreak of war, Italian troops in Ethiopia and in Libya, although outnumbering the British, were soundly defeated. However, the arrival of Rommel and his Afrika-Korps turned the tables, and pushed the British back to Egypt.

A few counterattacks by the British met with varying successes, causing a brutal tug-of-war in North Africa. By late 1942, Rommel had pushed the British to within 60 miles of Alexandria, where he was defeated at a tiny town whose name became synonymous with one of Britain's greatest generals.

Answer: Luger

The Luger was a pistol dating back to before the Great War, and, by the middle of World War II, had generally been phased out of service by the newer mass-produced Walther P38. However, commanders and officers and in many cases soldiers also possessed Lugers. They were much sought after by Allied soldiers as a war prize.

Answer: Lexington

The first Lexington was converted from a battlecruiser, like its sister ship Saratoga. At the Battle of Coral Sea, it sustained massive damage and was sunk, although its planes had influenced the course of the battle. However, the USS Cabot, a more modern Essex class carrier was just finished and named the Lexington in honor of the ship.

The new Lexington went on to an illustrious career in the Pacific. CV-2 and CV-16, nicknamed the Lady Lex and the Blue Ghost, were the fourth and fifth ships to bear the name in the American Navy.

Answer: Leclerc de Hauteclocque, Philippe

Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque was a captain at the start of the war, but he escaped the fall of France, and joined the Free French. A descendant of old French nobility, he achieved successes in North Africa leading forces from Chad. The French Second Armoured Division, under his command, liberated Paris.

He went on to liberate Strasbourg and Hitler's Eagle's Nest. After the war ended, he commanded troops in Vietnam, and was criticized for suggesting that they negotiate. He recognized the power of nationalism, and he alone realized that it could not be underestimated.

He died in 1947 in an accident and was promoted posthumously to Marshal of France.

Answer: Madagascar

When increasing German and Japanese influence gave the possibility that Madagascar could be used as a naval and trade base linking the two nations, Britain and South Africa planned Operation Ironclad, which was the invasion of Madagascar. Within two days of the commencement of the operation, Madagascar was wrested from the powerless Vichy French, but, some resistance continued for another week.

Answer: Mers el Kebir

A portion of the French fleet was stationed at Mers el Kebir after the establishment of the Vichy puppet regime. Churchill was adamant that the French ships were not to fall into the hands of the Axis ...

Answer: Model, Walther

Walther Model, at the start of the war, was a demanding, aggressive panzer leader. No one envisioned that this man would become arguably the world's best defensive tactician. He specialized in attrition type warfare, and emphasized efforts on prevention of breakthroughs.

He realized the effectiveness of strong-point defense against the poorly coordinated Soviets, although he was adaptive to different situations. His down-to-earth character and dislike of politics and bureaucracy reflected the feelings of lower echelon leaders, winning him a little popularity, but mainly his colleagues and subordinates disliked his impatience, rudeness, and his disdain for subordinates.

He also performed less superbly when given command of a corps or army, as he had not much organizational, logistic, or large-scale strategic skills.

He was quite close to Hitler because of his successes, but later grew apart when his Ardennes Offensive failed. A Nazi, he stood by at multiple SS atrocities, and upheld faith in Hitler.

At Warsaw, he was in command when the Poles rose, and he was partly responsible for the ruthless put-down, when the Soviets halted their advance.

Answer: Mercury

In Operation Mercury, the Germans used large numbers of paratroopers in a direct attempt to secure the island of Crete. However, the largely undeveloped paratrooper doctrine suffered at the hands of the conventional British troops. After the drops, the German men were left in disarray and heavily reduced in effectiveness.

However, British miscommunication and slowness to react allowed the German troops to rally and secure one airfield at Maleme. With the airfield secure, reinforcements rushed in and finished off the thousands of British on the island, freshly evacuated from the disastrous Balkans campaign.

Answer: Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein

"Die Wacht am Rhein" is the title of the patriotic song "The Watch on the Rhine". ("Unternehmen" in this context means "(military) operation".

The Germans had stabilized the front by winter 1944, and, with the recent arrival of veteran troops from the Eastern Front, and a stockpiling of scant resources, launched an offensive, targeted at Antwerp and maybe Dunkirk. The operation met with success at first, stunning the green Allied recruits. Thousands were captured in the first few weeks of the offensive, and entire divisions annihilated. The 101st Airborne Division settled into the crossroads town of Bastogne, and the 82nd Airborne Division defended the village of St. Vith. Together, withstanding weeks of siege by elite German troops, and cut off from supplies and reinforcements, the two divisions held out until relieved, with the arrival of Montgomery with elements of the 21st Army Group and Patton with the Third Army. The offensive had been defeated and the German fighting capability crippled.

Answer: Netherlands

The American-British-Dutch-Australian Command commanded the Southwest Pacific area, from the Malayan Peninsula down the southern main islands of the Dutch East Indies, to the Australian-controlled New Guinea. The first and only commander was Archibald Wavell, who was at that point the Commander-in-Chief of India. ABDA has no victories to its credit, as the best Australian forces were in North Africa, available American forces were in the Philippines, and Dutch forces were fortified only around Java.

The objective of ABDA was to maintain the Malay Barrier, but ABDA unraveled as their objective was failed. The Malayan Peninsula was rapidly captured, followed shortly by Singapore. Singapore contained ABDA command, which was dissolved with the defeat.

The formal end of ABDA was when the combined naval fleets encountered and lost to the Japanese at the large surface Battle of the Java Sea.

Answer: Nanjing

At Nanjing in 1937, Japanese soldiers went on a rampage, raping, and murdering tens of thousands of Chinese men and women. Many were killed afterwards, and any men who resisted were killed without hesitation.

Answer: Nuts!

When Brigadier General McAuliffe received the German demand for surrender, he initially thought that the Germans were surrendering. When one of his staff pointed out that they were asking for the 101st Airborne to surrender, he said "Nuts!" He then asked his staff how he should say no, and someone suggested that his initial response would work perfectly.

The message? "To the German Commander: Nuts!" McAuliffe was commanding the 101st Airborne Division, surrounded in Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge, while its regular commander, Major General Maxwell Taylor, was at a conference in Washington D.C.

Answer: Overlord

Overlord was the operation that breached the Atlantic Wall. The landings were conducted at the Normandy beaches of Northern France. With Eisenhower in overall command, the Allied forces landed, secured a beach-head, and then fought hard to break out of it.

The American 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions and the British 6th Airborne Division landed behind the coastal fortifications to secure crossroads and take out batteries. Collins and Gerow landed American troops at Utah and Omaha beaches. Graham and Crocker landed British troops at Gold and Sword, and Keller landed Canadian troops at Juno.

Although all five beaches were secured, only the Canadian troops came close to securing the planned D-day objectives. The town of Caen was a D-day objective, but became fortified by the I SS Panzer Corps, and, as a result, took months to take.

The Allies only broke out later when Montgomery initiated a diversionary Operation Goodwood, allowing Patton to breakout in Operation Cobra. The end of Operation Cobra and the capture of St. Lo ended the Battle of Normandy.

Answer: Odessa

Barbarossa surprised the Russians completey. The Romanians advanced along the coast of the Black Sea, coming upon the coastal Ukrainian city of Odessa. They quickly surrounded the town, and proceeded to attack it, assisted only minimally by the German 11th Army.

After 73 brutal days, the Soviet 9th Army force of about 50,000 had inflicted more than 100,000 total casualties. The rest of the Soviets escaped, leaving only the garrison of 50,000.

Answer: Omar Bradley

Omar Nelson Bradley was one of the most important generals of World War 2. In 1915, he graduated in "the class the stars fell on" from West Point, and, along with his classmate Eisenhower, reached the rank of General of the Army. After serving in the Punitive Expedition, he did not see combat in the Great War.

He went to serve in Tunisia in 1943, and became a staff officer for both Patton and Eisenhower. After Patton left II Corps, Bradley was given command, and he commanded it in the remainder of the Tunisian campaign, as well as into Sicily as part of Patton's Seventh Army.

After a successful command of the First Army in Operations Overlord and Cobra, Bradley was given command of the 12th Army Group, consisting of the First Army (Hodges) and the Third Army (Former superior Patton).

As the Allied numbers increased, so did the 12th Army Group, eventually becoming the biggest field command under one American general. He knew his assets (including Patton) and utilized them to great effect in a incredible campaign in Western Europe.

He would always be known as a polite, gentle officer, in direct contrast to the famously belligerent George Patton.

Answer: Ozawa, Jisaburo

Considered one of Japan's best admirals, Ozawa came up with a plan to defend the island conquests of Japan. When the American fleets would arrive in an island group, Ozawa reasoned that the combined power of the Japanese carrier force and the land-based planes would overcome that of the Americans.

Therefore, when the Americans attacked Saipan, he launched an air assault on the landing force, resulting in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. Ozawa's plan was sound, and the Japanese fighters outnumbered the Americans, but the lack of experience in Japanese replacement pilots showed, and the battle was a one-sided battle known as the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot. Later, another one of Ozawa's sound tactical plans worked down to a detail in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, but a combination of smoke, fog, and luck denied him the victory.