What Was D-Day questions
What was the largest sea invasion?
D-Day; June 6, 1944
Who was the man in charge of the invasion?
Dwight D Eisenhower "Ike"
Where were the five thousand ships and boats with 155,000 soldiers sailing to?
France
Who was the leader of the make-believe army base?
General George Patton
Who was the oldest soldier at Omaha?
General Norman "Dutch" Cota; 51 years old
What happened May 7, 1945?
Germany surrendered
What were the Allied leaders known as?
"Big Three"
Why did the United States not want to send troops to help Europe during the war?
115,000 soldiers were killed in World War I; they didn't want to fight again
How did World War II start?
1939 with Hitler invading Poland
How many pounds of gear did the paratroopers have?
200
How many planes were made monthly in 1943?
8,000
What happened December 7, 1941?
Japan surprise attack on Americans Pearl Harbor, Hawaii killing over 2,000 soldiers
What happened September 2, 1945?
Japan surrendered after the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima & Nagasaki
Who were the Axis powers in 1940?
Japan, Germany, and Italy
Who did Hitler claim was the enemy?
Jews
What do people mean when they say D-Day?
June 6, 1944 end of World War II
Who were the leaders of the Allied powers?
Winston Churchill, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin
What was the bloodiest war ever?
World War II
What happened after Germany invaded Poland?
World War started; England and France declared war on Germany
Why did Hitler send 200,000 soldiers to Calais before the D-Day invasion?
allies had fooled him by creating a phony army base in Dover, England
How was Omaha unlike the other beaches invaded on D-Day?
backed by wall cliffs 100 feet high
What did the Allies do as the scheduled D-Day grew nearer?
bombers exploded bridges and railroads all over France
What were crickets?
clickers to know the troops were Allies
What did the Allies have to do as more troops and supplies landed after D-Day?
create makeshift harbors and haul them to Normandy in pieces
What was World War II?
deadliest battle in history; estimated 40 to 50 million soldiers were killed
What did Adolf Hitler make himself?
dictator of Germany
What happened to the commander of Easy Company?
died when the plane exploded
How did the United States respond to the attack from the Japanese?
enlisted men went from 334,000 to twelve million
Why was it so important that the D-Day soldiers not fail on this plan?
everything would be lost; they had no back up plan
What were MG42s?
fastest machine gun at time; 2,000 mph; 125 bullets per second; "Hitler's zipper"
Why did the Americans set up an army base in Dover, England?
fool the Germans
What are allies?
friends that join together for a cause
How did they know it was time to jump?
green light
What is a bazooka?
guns that fire exploding rockets
What was Franklin Roosevelt's response to Japan's attack?
he declared war on Japan and Germany
What is shrapnel?
hot metal; flew out at 7,000 mph
How did Lieutenant Moody help his soldiers to the top?
hung ladders
What did Paratrooper Winters use his "cricket" to do after landing without a gun?
identified figures looming in the darkness as Allied troops
What did Germany do that immediately led to World War II in September of 1939?
invaded Poland and launched a crushing attack called blitzkrieg
What did Hitler do?
killed himself; did not want to face defeat
When defeat seemed certain, how did Moody get the Omaha attack moving again?
leading a unit to high ground
What did General Cota do when he saw soldiers trapped on Omaha Beach?
left his ship, waded to the shore and inspired soldiers into action
How many were killed in World War I?
nearly 10 million; 1914-1918
How many Allied troops were killed on D-Day?
over 9,000
What were the 20,000 paratroopers going to do?
parachute in enemy territory in the dark
What did Hitler use to line the Atlantic ocean coastline west of Europe?
planted 6 million mines, barbed wire, steel spikes, and great logs in the sand
What was mortar?
portable cannon fire; exploding shells
What did Hitler do during the war?
responsible for the murders of 11 million people in the Holocaust; 6 million were Jewish
Why did they decide to go ahead with the plan during a brief break in the bad weather?
risked their plan being discovered during the month they would have to wait
What were these soldiers doing?
risking their lives to invade Europe in fight in World War II
What happened to the swim tanks?
sank to the bottom of the English Channel
What problem did the Allied soldiers face?
storm returned; many got seasick and boats were flooding
Why was Normandy, France the location to go for the Allies?
surprise the Germans; 100 miles away from the Atlantic Wall
What was D-Day code for?
the day of a major military attack
Why were the bombs not hitting their targets?
they couldn't see the targets because of the thick storm clouds
Why did Eisenhower say the men were heroes?
they were asked to die for freedom and they were willing to do so
What defenses did the Atlantic Wall include?
thick nets of barbed wire and six million mines, steel spikes planted in sand to gash boats at high tide, concrete bunkers and forts linked by a network of trenches
What were minesweepers?
tiny boats that cleared the water of any mines before the actual ships
Why did the military decide never to parachute troops at night again?
too many died
What was one result of the stormy weather on D-Day?
twenty-seven swim tanks sank to the bottom of the channel
How long did they train together?
two years
What did Lieutenant Moody do?
used a bayonet in a cliff crack to pull himself up to the top
Why was the attack plan delayed?
weather; bad storm
Why did Lieutenant Winters not have his gun?
whipped away in the air
Who were the leaders of the Axis powers?
Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, and Hideki Tojo
What was "Bloody Omaha"?
Omaha Beach battle-worst; center of Normandy; most difficult to invade; 6 miles long
