Major Battles
This June 6, 1944, Allied invasion of Normandy, France, was the largest seaborne invasion in history.
What is D-Day (or Operation Overlord)?
He served as the British Prime Minister for most of the war and famously promised "blood, toil, tears, and sweat".
Who is Winston Churchill?
This top-secret U.S. research project led to the development of the first nuclear weapons.
What is the Manhattan Project?
This iconic fictional character represented the millions of American women who worked in factories and shipyards.
Who is Rosie the Riveter?
This country suffered the highest total number of casualties during WWII, estimated at over 20 million lives.
What is the Soviet Union (USSR)?
Often called the turning point of the war in Europe, this brutal urban battle ended with the surrender of the German 6th Army in 1943.
What is the Battle of Stalingrad?
This U.S. President led the country through most of WWII but died just months before the final victory.
Who is Franklin D. Roosevelt?
The German military used this "lightning war" strategy, combining fast-moving tanks with air support.
What is Blitzkrieg?
Citizens in many Allied countries grew these at home to reduce the pressure on the public food supply.
What are Victory Gardens?
This was the name of the B-29 bomber that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
What is the Enola Gay?
This 1942 naval battle in the Pacific saw the U.S. sink four Japanese aircraft carriers, shifting the momentum of the war.
What is the Battle of Midway?
Known as "Il Duce," he was the fascist dictator of Italy who allied with Hitler before being overthrown in 1943.
Who is Benito Mussolini?
British codebreakers at Bletchley Park famously used early computers to crack this German cipher machine.
What is the Enigma machine?
Following Executive Order 9066, over 100,000 people of this descent were forcibly relocated to internment camps in the U.S..
Who are Japanese Americans?
This defensive fortification along the French-German border was rendered useless when Germany invaded through Belgium.
What is the Maginot Line?
This 1943 conflict involving German and Soviet forces is recognized as the largest tank battle in history.
What is the Battle of Kursk?
This General of the Japanese Army served as Prime Minister and was a key architect of the Pearl Harbor attack.
Who is Hideki Tojo?
The German Me 262 holds the distinction of being the world's first operational version of this type of aircraft.
What is a jet fighter?
This term describes the government-controlled limit on the amount of certain goods, like gasoline and sugar, individuals could buy.
What is rationing?
This term, originating from a German word for anti-aircraft guns, is still used today to describe intense criticism.
What is flak?
In 1944, this last major German offensive in the West created a "dent" in the Allied lines through the Ardennes Forest.
What is the Battle of the Bulge?
He led the Free French Forces from London after the fall of France and later became President of France.
Who is Charles de Gaulle?
Developed by Germany, the V-2 was the world's first long-range version of this type of guided weapon.
What is a ballistic missile?
This 13-year-old girl’s diary, written while hiding from the Nazis in Amsterdam, became one of the world's most widely read books.
Who is Anne Frank?
The formal Japanese surrender took place on September 2, 1945, aboard this American battleship.
What is the USS Missouri?