The Ultimate World War II Quiz Book: 1,000 Questions and Answers to Test Your Knowledge

Introduction

World War II was a truly global conflict. Decades later its impact can still be seen in popular culture through the many books, movies and television series that provide a glimpse into the events that were witnessed by those who lived through it.

The experiences of most people in the war were unique. A soldier fighting in the desert had a very different experience to that of a sailor on a long voyage through an Arctic winter, or of a marine fighting on a lush tropical island. As fewer people who remember these historical events first-hand remain, it is important to continue to explore the facts about the war, and to try to understand the lessons of this key period of modern history.

This Ultimate World War II Quiz Book covers the global nature of the war, beginning with the events which led to war, going on to explore the conflict on each continent across land, sea and air, and also asking questions about the aftermath of the war in 1945. There are 1,000 questions to test everyone’s knowledge, from someone who may remember a few facts from their schooldays, to those who feel more at home with the details. Some questions look at strategy, whilst others look at key technology, personalities or daring operations. The questions come in different forms: some simply require an answer, some are multiple choice, and others – in true military scrambled code – offer the answer in an anagram. These are placed in italics after the question. There are also questions based on photos, all from the Imperial War Museums’ collection, and occasionally, you are even given a clue! In asking and answering the many questions contained within this book, the experiences of those who witnessed this truly global conflict will continue to be remembered by all of us today.

Imperial War Museums (IWM) is a family of five museums in the United Kingdom that cover modern conflicts since 1914. IWM’s story of World War II does not just come from its vast archives of photographs, artwork, film, documents, objects and personal stories, but from the museums themselves. Historic sites such as Churchill’s War Rooms, HMS Belfast and IWM Duxford provide visitors with the chance to walk in the footsteps of those who lived during the war, and to see how these important sites played a vital role in this global conflict.

CHAPTER 1

Before the War Began

1. What was the name of the treaty signed at the end of World War I which re-drew national borders in Europe?

A) Treaty of Fontainebleau  B) Treaty of Versailles  C) Treaty of Vincennes.

2. Where and when was the treaty signed that shaped post-World War I Europe and what international body did it create?

3. Which fascist leader came to power in Italy in 1922? Boils nio minutes.

4. What was the nickname for the fascist activists in Italy as seen in this photo?

5. In what year did Adolf Hitler come to power in Germany?

A) 1929  B) 1931  C) 1933.

6. Truth or fiction? Hitler’s popularity was in decline when he came to power in Germany.

7. Hitler replaced which leader in 1934 to become Führer?

8. What does the term ‘Nazi’ mean?

A) National Socialist German Workers’ Party

B) National Unionists German Workers’ Party

C) Nationalists of Germany Socialist Workers’ Party.

9. Which financial institution crashed on 29 October 1929, leading to the collapse of the international economy?

10. What was the name of the large shanty towns which formed in the United States during the global depression in the 1930s, and after which person were they named?

11. In what year did Germany withdraw from the League of Nations?  A) 1931  B) 1932  C) 1933.

12. Who was elected US president in 1932?

A) Franklin D. Roosevelt  B) Herbert Hoover  C) Harry Truman.

13. In what year did Prohibition end in the United States?

A) 1923  B) 1933  C) 1943.

14. In 1935, Hitler announced German re-armament and the re-introduction of what?

15. Truth or fiction? In order to train pilots, Germany used gliders rather than planes, so as not to break re-armament conditions.

16. On 3 October 1935, Italy invaded which country?

A) Libya  B) Algeria  C) Ethiopia (Abyssinia).

17. Which disputed territory, a demilitarized zone, are these German troops marching into in 1936?

18. Truth or fiction? Adolf Hitler had an English aunt whom he visited in Britain after World War I.

19. Who is pictured here in 1938?

20. Following his meeting with Hitler in 1938, at which airport did the plane carrying the British prime minister arrive in Britain?  A) Heathrow  B) Heston  C) Biggin Hill.

21. What phrase did the British prime minister say after returning from talks with Adolf Hitler in 1938?

A) ‘No deal without peace’  B) ‘Peace in our time’  C) ‘Peace not war’.

22. Which event led to the arrest of Adolf Hitler for treason in 1924? Chit chums pun.

23. In which prison did Adolf Hitler work on his political memoir?

24. What was the name of the political memoir that Adolf Hitler wrote whilst in prison?

25. In his political memoir, Adolf Hitler described the need for Lebensraum, but what was it?

26. What year did the Spanish Civil War begin?

27. What was the original name of Joseph Stalin, who would lead the USSR during World War II? Dogs if jashz hiluvi.

28. Joseph Stalin came from a family that ran what type of business?  A) Butchers  B) Cobblers  C) Blacksmiths.

29. In which country in the Russian Empire was Joseph Stalin born?

30. What did Joseph Stalin launch in the USSR in 1928?

A) The Two-Year Plan  B) The Five-Year Plan  C) The Ten-Year Plan.

31. Truth or fiction? The people who fell out of favour with Joseph Stalin were erased from history. For example, Nikolai Yezhov, head of the secret police, was erased from official photographs.

32. Who defeated Hitler in the German presidential elections in 1932?

33. Who said in 1931, ‘Whoever can conquer the street will one day conquer the state’?

34. What was the name of the German-speaking area of Czechoslovakia which Hitler demanded in 1938?

35. What was the name given to Britain’s policy of accepting German expansion in Europe in the 1930s?

A) Agreement  B) Aggrandizement  C) Appeasement.

36. Which German city was the site of talks between Britain, Germany, France and Italy during the Czechoslovakia crisis? Clue: this city was where Hitler attempted to seize power in 1923.

37. Which city in central Europe, situated on the Vltava river, are these German troops entering in April 1939?

38. In March 1939, following the occupation of Czechoslovakia, Britain and France guaranteed which country’s independence?

39. To serve as a port for Polish trade, what was the former German city of Danzig (present-day Gdansk) established as?

A) Trading city  B) Open city  C) Free city.

40. Which German foreign minister met with the Polish ambassador to discuss Danzig’s return to Germany in October 1938? Tom in chain vero probbj.

41. Brown-shirted Nazi paramilitaries were known by which two-letter initials?  A) SS  B) SD  C) SA.

42. Who was the leader of the Nazi ‘Brownshirts’?

43. What name was given to the removal and murder of Nazi Stormtroopers on 29 June 1934?  A) Night of the Long Grass  B) Night of the Blades  C) Night of the Long Knives.

44. In February 1933, which prominent building in Berlin broke out in flames?

45. What is being signed in this photograph?

46. With which country did Britain enter into a formal military alliance on 25 August 1939?

A) France  B) USSR  C) Poland.

47. In what year did Berlin host the Olympic Games?

48. Truth or fiction? A secret protocol in the Nazi–Soviet pact left Hitler free to attack Poland without risking war with the Soviet Union.

49. Which country was the only one to boycott the Berlin Olympics?  A) Britain  B) USSR  C) Greece.

50. Truth or fiction? No Jewish athletes won medals at the Berlin Olympics despite many competing.

51. How many gold medals did African–American athlete Jesse Owens win at the Berlin Olympics?

A) Three  B) Four  C) Five.

52. Truth or fiction? During the Berlin Olympics, anti-Jewish signs were temporarily removed and anti-Semitic newspapers were taken off public display in Berlin.

53. What does ‘radar’ stand for?

A) Radio and data results  B) Radio detection and ranging  C) Radio direction and range.

54. What was the name given to the chain of early warning stations built in the 1930s along the south and east coasts of England to detect enemy aircraft?

55. Name the air defence system set up by Britain prior to World War II? To wed his gem dynst.

56. American journalist William Shirer wrote in his diary: ‘I’m afraid the Nazis have succeeded with their propaganda.’ What was he referring to? (©The Estate of William Shirer)

57. In September 1931, Japan invaded and occupied which area of China?

58. What name did Japan give to the province of China they occupied in 1931?

A) Manchu  B) Manchukuo  C) Manchufu.

59. In January 1932, Japanese forces attacked by land, sea and air which Chinese city? Nags hiah.

60. What was the Chinese name of the Chinese Nationalist Party and who was the leader from 1925?

61. The Sino–Japanese war began in which year?

A) 1935  B) 1936  C) 1937.

62. Which two groups suspended their civil war to fight the Japanese invasion of China?

63. What was the name given to the atrocities perpetrated by Japanese troops in December 1937, when they captured the Kuomintang capital?

64. In Britain, how many gas masks were issued before war broke out?  A) 24 million  B) 34 million  C) 44 million.

65. Truth or fiction? In 1935, Australian prime minister Billy Hughes predicted the war in his book Australia and the War Today.

66. Which Italian king named Mussolini prime minister after the