Unusual Facts from WWI Trivia Quiz

Answer: genders

They were grouped as "genders" and this was determined on the armament they carried. The male tanks had Naval 6 pounder cannons attached and the female tanks normally carried two machine guns.

Answer: a pigeon

Men of the 77th Infantry Division were pinned down behind German lines without food and very little ammunition. Cher Ami was sent into flight with a message for divisional headquarters after two other pigeons had been shot out of the sky. Cher Ami was shot through the chest, blinded in one eye, and one leg just hanging by a tendon.

The message was delivered and 194 survivors were saved. Doctors could not save the leg but carved a wooden one for her. She was then shipped back to the USA as a hero.

Answer: Female Switchboard operators

This was the colloquial name given the bilingual female switchboard operators that were sworn into the U.S. Army Signal Corps. Only 450 were accepted from over 7,000 applicants and after receiving their training at Camp Franklin they were shipped off to Europe in March 1918. The girls needed to be fluent in English and French and were posted in many parts of France and also in the UK.

Answer: Edith Cavell

Edith Cavell (1865-1915) was a British nurse who helped save the lives of many soldiers on both sides of the conflict in German occupied Belgium during WWI. It was through her courageous efforts of funnelling British soldiers out of Belgium into neutral Holland that she was arrested and executed by firing squad on October 12, 1915.
Gertrude Bell (1868-1926)was an English writer, political officer, spy, administrator and archaeologist. She worked closely with T.E.Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) and British forces during WWI. She played a major role in establishing the modern state of Iraq.
Vivian Bullwinkel (1915-2000) was an Australian Army nurse and the sole survivor of the Bangka Island massacre when the Japanese killed 21 of her fellow nurses on Radji Beach in February 1942. She was badly wounded and by feigning death she survived for 2 weeks before recapture and she spent 3½ years in captivity. It was only after WWII that she able to speak about the massacre and testify.
Mildred Harnack-Fish (1902-1943) was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and was the only American female executed in WWII on the orders of Adolph Hitler.
She and her husband left for Germany in 1929 and they did not agree with the principles of the Nazi regime and became part of a resistance group. The group were contact by the Soviet Union to work against the Nazi regime. It was through this Soviet connection that Mildred and Arvid were imprisoned, tortured and executed in 1943.

Answer: No: A 111 118

The licence plate has been likened to the signing of the completion of WWI on the 11th November 1918 and is celebrated as Armistice Day.
A - Armistice
11- Day
11- Month
18- Year

Answer: Charles de Gaulle

Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970) was wounded several times and taken prisoner by the Germans at Verdun. At the beginning of WWII he lead an armoured division but fled to England as he became disillusioned with the French armistice with Germany in 1940. He led the Free French Forces while in exile. After WWI he became involved in politics and became President of France from 1959-1969.
Winston Churchill (1874-1965) was for a short period of time a POW during the Boer war in South Africa in 1899. He was a war correspondent at the time. He was the Prime Minister of the UK on two occasions (1940-1945 and 1951-1955).
Philippe Pétain (1856-1951) was a decorated soldier during WWI and became President of Vichy France after the armistice with Germany in 1940.
Adolph Hitler (1889-1945) was a decorated veteran of WWI and became the Reich Chancellor of Germany from 1933-1945.

Answer: Lafayette Escadrille

The squadron was named after Marquis de Lafayette who was a hero of the American and French revolutions. The word "escadrille" means squad or small squadron. The squadron was made up of five French officers and 38 American pilots. When the USA entered WWI the pilots were then inducted into the U.S. Air Service.

Not all Americans fought in this squadron as others fought as part of the Lafayette Flying Corps.

Answer: Liberty Steak

The changing of the names was only for a short period and reverted back to the original after the war. Frankfurters were called Liberty sausages and the dachshunds became Liberty dogs and sauerkraut became Liberty cabbage. The German language was widely spoken in the US before the war but it was stopped being taught in schools and German-language books were banned.

Answer: Gave "his word as an Officer" that he would return to the camp

Robert Campbell (1885-1966) was captured in 1914 and sent to a POW camp in Magdeburg, north-east Germany. When he heard that his mother was dying he wrote a letter to the German Emperor asking for permission to leave but gave his word that he would return.

After travelling to Kent and spending a week with his mother, he made his way back to Germany. Upon returning he was involved in an unsuccessful escape attempt. The reason why he returned to the camp was that he felt that if another soldier had a similar situation with a family member they would also be given the opportunity to visit, then return.

He returned to England after WWI and then enlisted again in 1939 for WWII.

Answer: October, 2010

Germany made their final payment of WWI debts on October 3, 2010. In 1929 due to the Great Depression the debt was reduced from the original $US 33 billion. However, in 1933 Hitler suspended all payments. Only in 1953 was another revision made with the final payment being in 2010.

After WWII it was decided not to punish a nation that needed to rebuild its economy but rather hang the leaders. August 1945 was the Potsdam Conference that was to decide reparations for WWII. German was required to make their payments in the form of machinery and manufacturing plants. July 7, 1974 was when the FIFA World Cup was held in Munich (West Germany beat The Netherlands 2-1 in the final). November 8-9, 1989 was when the Berlin Wall came down.