D-Day: Prelude to Invasion Trivia Quiz

Answer: He declared war on the United States of America

He didn't have to do it. The Axis "Pact of Steel" was defensive only. Japan, for example, did not declare war on the Soviet Union after Germany invaded. In all likelihood the U.S. would have joined in the war against Germany but not necessarily at that time.

Although Roosevelt and Churchill agreed that the defeat of the Nazis was the first priority, there were many proponents in the U.S. of a "Pacific First" strategy, including the U.S. Navy and General MacArthur. Had Hitler not declared war, the U.S. would have concentrated its initial war effort against the Japanese.

Answer: Gerd von Rundstedt

The 68-year-old field marshal was an able commander and was resentful of the insertion of Rommel into his theater of operations, particularly in light of their differences in defensive strategies. Von Rundstedt, contrary to Rommel, believed neither in fixed fortifications nor that the Allies could be stopped at, or close to, the invasion beaches.

He wanted to hold the major forces, including the panzer units, well behind the beaches out of range of naval guns and then use them to counterattack. Rommel wanted to mass the forces close to the beaches away from allied air attacks and smash the invasion at the beaches on the first day.

It's ironic that Rommel, one of the leading practitioners of "blitzkrieg," became a proponent of a static defensive strategy.

Answer: To support the plot against Hitler

This decision, of course, cost Rommel his life. In order to save his family, Rommel agreed to commit suicide. The German people were told that he died of wounds suffered in Normandy: he was given a state funeral with full military honors.

Answer: Volunteers and conscripts

Although some were actually volunteers, most were conscripts from all over Europe and the Soviet Union. Some even came from North Africa, India and Korea. Initially used on the Eastern Front, they weren't very reliable. They were primarily utilized in fixed defensive positions with German non-coms behind them to shoot any deserters. So much for the "racial purity" of the Wehrmacht in 1944.

Answer: Paratroops

Many consider them to have been the very best of all the German troops. The Germans were pioneers in the use of paratroops. After suffering heavy losses in the invasion of Crete, however, the German paratroops were never again used in a large-scale airborne operation.

Answer: Apple brandy

Many of the Allied troops became intimately familiar with the well-stocked wine cellars of Normandy and the ever-present kegs of calvados.

Answer: George C. Marshall

Marshall was largely responsible for the creation, equipping and training of the American army, and most people, including Eisenhower, assumed that he would be chosen as its commander. Roosevelt wanted to appoint Marshall as Supreme Commander for Overlord and Eisenhower as Chief of Staff.

This arrangement, however, would have put both generals in the highly untenable position of a former subordinate giving orders to his former boss. Roosevelt finally decided that Marshall was too valuable in Washington; but he picked a rather insensitive method of informing Marshall. Roosevelt asked Marshall to write a message to Stalin for him. Roosevelt then dictated the message informing Stalin (and Marshall) that Eisenhower had been selected as Supreme Commander.

Answer: Landing craft

Prior to the war, the Navy wanted warships. Next, merchant ships and escort vessels became priorities. There were never enough landing ships and landing craft to fill the needs of the services in the Pacific, the Mediterranean and the English Channel.

Answer: Axis Sally

Prior to the war, this Ohio native was a model and an aspiring actress. She married a Berliner and, after the war started, became a disc jockey and propagandist. She was popular with the Allied troops because she played the latest hits, but some of her comments to the troops were unnerving because they reflected accurate intelligence.

It turned out that most of this information was fed to the German intelligence service by "reliable" German agents who had been turned by the British. After the war she was convicted of treason and served 12 years in a U.S. prison. Upon her release in 1961, she taught music in Columbus, Ohio and died in 1988.

Answer: Norway

Many of Hitler's U-boat bases were in Norway, and he was very sensitive about invasion threats to this area. In May of '44, he had thirteen divisions stationed in Norway. At Rommel's request he was about to transfer five divisions to France, but when he received new Fortitude intelligence targeting Norway, the transfer was cancelled.

Answer: George Patton

"Old Blood and Guts." This completely fictitious army was another Fortitude creation to reinforce the deception that the invasion was coming at the Pas de Calais. The Germans believed that Patton was the Allies' best commander and would lead the attack. Of course, Patton and the Third Army came to Normandy much later to exploit the breakout and then charged headlong across France.

Answer: All of these are correct

It was determined after an extensive investigation that all had been simply an amazing coincidence. The fact that the authors of the puzzles never repeated the same clue twice makes it even more amazing. Think of the odds of five of the codewords appearing in these puzzles for the first and only time in this one particular month!

Answer: An attack by E-boats

The losses were: 749 killed, 300 wounded. By comparison, at "Bloody Omaha" there were 2,200 killed and wounded. Despite the success of these pre-invasion-attacks, there were no more by E-boats. The depleted condition of the German navy and the Luftwaffe notwithstanding, the fact that there were no sustained attacks against the invasion buildup is one of the war's great mysteries. Perhaps the German High Command believed their own propanda about the "impenetrable" Atlantic Wall.

Answer: His wife Lucie's birthday

He bought her a pair of handmade gray suede shoes in Paris; but he never got the opportunity to meet with Hitler because he rushed back to Normandy after receiving news of the invasion. Manfred Rommel became the mayor of Stuttgart many years after the war.

Answer: In Rennes for war games

Interestingly, the premise of the map exercise was an invasion in Normandy beginning with a parachute attack and followed by a landing from the sea. The absence of these commanders clearly affected the ability of the Germans to respond to the invasion on D-Day.

Answer: General Erich Marcks of the 84th Corps

Army Group B predicted that the invasion would not come in early June and that when it did come it would be at the Pas de Calais. On June 1st, Marcks went to Arromanche on the Normandy coast (at Gold Beach) and said that he thought that the Allies would invade right there on Monday June 5th in spite of this prediction. On the 5th, he was so worried that he delayed his departure from his headquarters at St. Lo for the map exercise at Rennes until the morning of the 6th.

The 6th was his birthday, and his staff held a surprise party which began at midnight.

A couple of hours later came the news that enemy paratroopers had landed.

Answer: Chanson d'Automne

The first line, which was initially broadcast on June 1, signalled the Resistance that the invasion was imminent and asked them to be on the alert for the second part of the message. The second line, broadcast on the 5th, meant that the invasion was coming in the next 48 hours.

Answer: All of these reasons are correct

The 15th Army was put on full alert after General von Salmuth was informed of message broadcast on June 5th, but he remained skeptical. The 7th Army, opposite the invasion beaches, had been put on alert earlier, but that alert was cancelled by General Dollmann because of the weather.

Answer: June 19th

In the evening of June 4th, Group Captain J.M. Stagg, SHAEF meteorologist, predicted a break in the weather for a period of approximately 24 to 36 hours beginning sometime on the 5th. The weather on the 7th was expected to be poor, and the next favorable tide after that would occur on the 19th.

There was a serious concern that the Germans would learn of the invasion site if the invasion were postponed till the 19th, because almost everyone on the invasion fleet now knew the location. After consulting his staff, Eisenhower made the final momentous decision to go ahead the 6th.

Answer: "How stupid of me"

According to Cornelius Ryan in "The Longest Day," after listening quietly to Speidel's briefing, Rommel actually said, "How stupid of me. How stupid of me." He left for his headquarters at La Roche-Guyon about three hours later but did not arrive until after dark. Long before the invasion, Rommel had said that for the Allies and the Germans the day of the invasion would be "the longest day." Certainly, June 6th must have seemed that way to him.