OT - WWII quiz

[gladiatt]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

ORIGINAL: micheljq

ORIGINAL: warspite1

What was the first successful Allied landing in WWII against an enemy held beach?

Mmm the Operation Torch landings in Algeria & Tunisia against Vichy held territories?

Warspite1

No - this is from 1941

Narvik ?
Edit: sorry, should have read more carrefully, Narvik was in 1939. Forget it.

[micheljq]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

ORIGINAL: micheljq

Me too I need a fact verified. 

Can someone give me the name of a soviet officer who won one of the highest decorations in 1942 after successfull engagements against the whermacht south of Stalingrad.  This soviet officer would have the same name as a russian hero of the past.

Warspite1

Kusnetzov?

I read a book on Stalingrad, unfortunately not in my possession, if so, I would have mentioned as a source. In this book they also tell of the actions south of Stalingrad and in the Caucasus. I have read of an Alexander Nevsky who won the "Order of the Red Banner", one of the highest decorations in the Red Army, if not the most, in 1942 on the front south of Stalingrad.

Unfortunately I do not remember is rank or any more details, if I find the book again, I will add more details, just to fill the quiz forum hehe.

Alexander Nevsky, prince of Minsk defeated the invasion of the order of the Teutonic Knights on Lake Peipus in 1262. Some german knigths of the teutonic order drowned in the frozen lake their armor was too heavy.

The Alexander Nevsky from WWII was also pretending to be a direct descendant of the latter.

[terje439]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

I need a fact verified and so thought I would resurrect this thread to see if anyone can confirm this.

What was the first successful Allied landing in WWII against an enemy held beach?

I was thinking Operation Claymore? At Lofoten, that was early 1941 sometime.

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: terje439

ORIGINAL: warspite1

I need a fact verified and so thought I would resurrect this thread to see if anyone can confirm this.

What was the first successful Allied landing in WWII against an enemy held beach?

I was thinking Operation Claymore? At Lofoten, that was early 1941 sometime.

Warspite1

Mmm - I guess it depends on exactly how you define an enemy held beach. I do not know enough about the engagement I was trying to verify to know if the answer is right or not. The answer was the attack on Berbera, British Somaliland in March 41 by Indian troops.

However, I think Narvik (Post 901) contained landings either side of the town - which was then taken. So that must be a candidate mustn`t it?

Lofoten was more a commando raid with complete surprise against the enemy garrison so I think can be discounted.

I think I will leave this "fact" out of the write up to be on the safe side....

[micheljq]

However, I think Narvik (Post 901) contained landings either side of the town - which was then taken. So that must be a candidate mustn`t it?

Can we consider Narvik a success since the british had to reembark and leave Narvik to the germans? Also I guess the landing of the british in Narvik was not against enemy held territory the germans arrived after the landing to chase the british? I do not know much on the Narvik fight I maybe mistaken. I have to occupy myself it's so quiet at the office on december 31th.

[cockney]

yes your right, she was also 'told' that the hood had been sunk before the news had been released, she was arrested and jailed under the witch craft act.

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: micheljq

However, I think Narvik (Post 901) contained landings either side of the town - which was then taken. So that must be a candidate mustn`t it?

Can we consider Narvik a success since the british had to reembark and leave Narvik to the germans? Also I guess the landing of the british in Narvik was not against enemy held territory the germans arrived after the landing to chase the british? I do not know much on the Narvik fight I maybe mistaken. I have to occupy myself it's so quiet at the office on december 31th.

Warspite1

At the tactical level, it was a success in that the French/Polish/British troops took Narvik after the landings around the town. The German defenders weren`t to know that the order to evacuate Norway was decided upon pre them taking the town (the Allies decided to proceed with the assault to help the ultimate evacuation - so operationally too it was a success). It was just a shame that the rest of the Allied Norwegian Campaign was a total balls up of the highest magnitude.

Re your second point - no that`s not true. The Germans occupied the town as planned at the start of their campaign.

[terje439]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

Re your second point - no that`s not true. The Germans occupied the town as planned at the start of their campaign.

Yup, this was not believed by the Royal Navy however. They believed when they recieved the report, that Narvik was a misspelling for Larvik (which lies on the southern coast).

[Mike Dubost]

I thought this might interest others, as a point of trivia too obscure to justify making it a quiz item.

A few years ago I attended a conference on the WW2 code breaking operations. One of the participants in the code breaking operations ate dinner with us one evening. She mentioned in passing that things in the UK were so tight and the code breaking priority was so high that at one point they arranged to have colored pencils shipped in from the US!

[brian brian]

Ok, seems like all the beta-testers are busy beta-ing again, which is great. Time for a question:

Who was the German general who placed a bomb in a bottle of Cointreau aboard Hitler's plane in the middle of the war sometime? (It failed to explode, possibly due to the design not accounting for lower temperatures or a different air pressure at altitude).

But I don't know the answer. I have read about the incident and forgotten the name, and read about it again in the latest George Will column (in Newsweek and/or online, check it out) the other day. And I saw it all in the movie "Valkyrie" recently. (Quick review: pretty good overall, but very hard for a true-to-history movie to overcome the basic problem of the audience pretty much knowing the complete outcome in advance. Particularly, of course, for people who know the history well). One of history's greatest what-ifs that might have saved a million or more lives in the long run.

[terje439]

from JGN

Major General Henning von Tresckow had been one of the earliest participants in the 1943 conspiracy to rid Germany of Hitler. For the alternate plan, he and his aide, Lieutenant Fabian von Schlabrendorff, obtained sufficient quantities of the unstable compound Plastic C. Its only identifiable drawback was its occasional failure to explode at temperatures below 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Tresckow and Schlabrendorff fashioned a package to resemble two square bottles of Cointreau, containing the bomb and a 30-minute fuse. To detonate the device, someone would crush a small vial of acid, which would cut through a wad of cotton and then through a trip wire that released a plunger, driving the detonator into the Plastic C.

[brian brian]

thanks man! for bonus points, let's figure out what command von Tresckow had....

his name does come back to me now. don't know his command though.

Here is one I do know the answer, courtesy of the movie...

where was Colonel von Stauffenberg wounded before his transfer to duties in Berlin, and what command did he hold?

[micheljq]

A figure from WW2 who was an Ace pilot in WW1?  another easy one I guess.

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: micheljq

A figure from WW2 who was an Ace pilot in WW1?  another easy one I guess.

Warspite1

Hermann Goering

[micheljq]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

ORIGINAL: micheljq

A figure from WW2 who was an Ace pilot in WW1?  another easy one I guess.

Warspite1

Hermann Goering

I know it, too easy, grats!

[patchogue]

Tresckow was in Paris ... unless he was at one of the german HQs!
 
Stauffenberg was shot up in Tunisia

[terje439]

ORIGINAL: brian brian

thanks man! for bonus points, let's figure out what command von Tresckow had....

his name does come back to me now. don't know his command though.

Here is one I do know the answer, courtesy of the movie...

where was Colonel von Stauffenberg wounded before his transfer to duties in Berlin, and what command did he hold?

from JGN
Although he initially sympathized with the Nazis due to their opposition to the Treaty of Versailles, Tresckow condemned the 1934 Night of the Long Knives, in which many loyal Nazis were executed on Hitler's orders. After studies at the Kriegsakademie, he graduated as the best of the class of 1936, and was appointed to the German General Staff's 1st Department. Studying the possible scenarios of war, he recognized the risks and weaknesses in Hitler's desire to prepare for war in 1940.





There is a Memorial plaque for Erich Hoepner and Henning von Tresckow in the Bundeshaus, Berlin.

The 1938 Blomberg-Fritsch Affair alienated Tresckow and others from Hitler. As a result, he sought out civilians and soldiers who opposed Hitler, such as Erwin von Witzleben.

Tresckow opposed Germany's involvement in having started World War II, but in the spring of 1939, he served as an infantry division chief of staff in the invasion of Poland. Later in 1939 and into 1940, he served as a general staff officer under Gerd von Rundstedt and Erich von Manstein in Army Group A, culminating in the invasion of France in the spring of 1940. From 1941-1943, he served under Field Marshal Fedor von Bock, his uncle, and Field Marshal Günther von Kluge as chief operations officer of the German Army Group Center in the Soviet Union. Subsequently, he served in combat as the commanding officer of an infantry regiment defending the western bank of the Dnieper River in Ukraine. At the time of his death, he was serving as Chief of Staff of the 2nd Army, in areas that are now Belarus and eastern Poland. During his World War II service, he was awarded the German Cross in Gold and other decorations. When the mass shootings behind the lines were extended towards Jewish women and children, Treskow started to resume his resistance activities.

Tresckow planned several assassination plots against Hitler and Heinrich Himmler, but all failed. On March 13, 1943 for example, after the Führer visited troops on the Eastern Front, Tresckow concealed explosives on Hitler's Condor plane in a package that purportedly contained bottles of cognac. Tresckow asked Lieutenant Colonel Heinz Brandt who was traveling with Hitler to take the package to another officer named Helmuth Stieff at Hitler's headquarters in East Prussia, to pay up for a lost bet. After news was received that Hitler had returned safely to his East Prussian base, it was obvious that the bomb had failed to detonate (probably due to the extremely low temperature in the unheated luggage compartment, thereby preventing the fuse from working). Tresckow's cousin and military aide-de-camp, Lieutenant Fabian von Schlabrendorff, retrieved the package to prevent discovery of the plot.

[terje439]

ORIGINAL: micheljq

A figure from WW2 who was an Ace pilot in WW1?  another easy one I guess.

Could also be Ernst Udet.

[Froonp]

ORIGINAL: terje439

ORIGINAL: micheljq

A figure from WW2 who was an Ace pilot in WW1?  another easy one I guess.

Could also be Ernst Udet.

Goering ?

Edit : OK, I see I'm late and this was already answered.

[Michael the Pole]

ORIGINAL: terje439

ORIGINAL: micheljq

A figure from WW2 who was an Ace pilot in WW1?  another easy one I guess.

Could also be Ernst Udet.

Or it could be Generalfeldmarschall Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen who had 8 kills with Jasta 11 in 1918 and went on to command Fliegerkorps VIII in Poland, France, Crete and the USSR and was then promoted to command Luftflotte 4, which among other things was responsible for the "air bridge" that attempted to supply Sixth Army at Stalingrad. He retired for medical reasons in 1944 (really) and died of a brain tumor while being held by the Americans after the end of the war.
See -- not as simple as you thought, was it.[:-]
Also worth mentioning is Generalfeldmarschall Robert Ritter Von Griem who had 28 kills and commanded Jagdgruppe 10 during WWI. He is also credited with the first kill of a tank by an aircraft on August 23, 1918. He was awarded the Blue Max. During WWII he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords (Das Ritterkreuz mit Eichenlaub und Schwertern des Eisernen Kreuzes) for commanding his Luftflotte at Kursk and Orel. (This is roughly equivilent to the CMH or Victoria's Cross.) He was the officer who flew out of Berlin during the last days of the war with Hannah Reitsch under orders to arrest Himmler. He committed suicide to prevent the Americans from trading him to the Soviets after the war.
And last, but certainly not least was Colonel General Ernst Udet, who was the second highest scoring German Ace of WWI with 62 victories. Among other things, he was the officer most responsible for rebuilding the Luftwaffe during the inter-war years and also with advocating the use of dive bombers in close ground support, and as the officer responsible for the Stuka. He committed suicide in 1941 alledgedly due to conflicts with Goering and the Nazi party orginisation.
Additionaly, Generalfeldmarschall Erhard Milch commanded a recon squadron during the Great War, and Generalfeldmarschall Hugo Sperrle was an arial observer,