Military Equipment Trivia

1. The first combat use of the tank occurred where?

From Quiz A History of Tanks

Answer: Battle of the Somme

The British were the first to use tanks with the first Mark I tank seeing action during the Somme campaign in 1916. The Germans and French would eventually follow the British in designing their own tanks before the end of WW1.

From Quiz Horses and Bayonets

Answer: Gold and blue

In the US armed forces, gold denotes mounted cavalry. Blue denoted the queen of the battlefield, the infantry.

From Quiz Stick 'Em Up - Evolution of Weapons

Answer: Spear throwing tool

This was used to give the weapon being thrown greater speed and force. The end of the atlatl had a carved out end, into which the butt of the spear or dart was placed, before both were pulled back over the shoulder and flung. Later versions of the atlatl had leather loops attached, to fit it securely over the fingers, thus enabling more force to be applied to the throw.

From Quiz Fighter Pilots and Planes: F-15 Eagle

Answer: MiG-25 Foxbat

The MiG-25 Foxbat was actually developed as an interceptor and was certainly not the maneuverable, air-to-air threat that US intelligence thought.

From Quiz Fighter Pilots and Fighter Planes

Answer: Roland Garros

Roland Garros, a French aviator, became the first pilot to shoot down an enemy aircraft with a plane's forward firing machine gun on April 1, 1915.

From Quiz Airpower In The Two World Wars

Answer: Maj. Richard Ira Bong

Bong had 40 kills to lead the American contigent. Hartmann was the leading German Ace of the war, claiming 352 kills. Maguire was the #2 American Ace with 38 kills. Yeager had a few distinct accomplishments like being an "Ace in a day" with five kills in a 24-hour period and the first US pilot to shoot down a jet (a German Me-262), but his final number of 11.5 official victories wasn't enough to surpass Bong.

From Quiz Weapons and Military Units Throughout History

Answer: The Assyrians

The war-chariot is believed to have been developed by the Summerians. It was later adopted by most of the Middle Eastern civilisations. The war-chariot was effective until the rise of the cavalry.

From Quiz Scrapped Metal

Answer: Kursk

Kursk is the administrative center of the Kursk Oblast, near the Ukraine border. German and Soviet forces fought there in 1943, over a huge area: 15,000+ sq. mi. (38,850+ sq. km.). Estimates of how many tanks each side used vary widely, but there may have been as many as 2,700 German tanks and 3,600 Soviet armored vehicles. As luck would have it, Russian defense was ferocious, and on July 10, Allied forces began the invasion of Italy. Hitler had to deploy some of the Eastern Front troops and tanks southward. The tank battle was inconclusive, as the Soviet Army held their ground, but at a high cost. The German retreat gave the Soviets the symbolic victory and signaled the loss of German momentum on the Eastern Front, which they never recovered.

From Quiz A History of Tanks

Answer: Germany

The German military doctrines during the late interwar years favored massed armored formations with emphasis on mobility and organization. These combined with massive air advantages in the early stages of WW2 formulated to what later became known as the "Blizkrieg", a term that was in fact unknown to the German army before the invasion of Poland.

From Quiz Horses and Bayonets

Answer: The British used only the bayonet

Paoli Tavern was considered a massacre because the British used only the bayonet when routing the rearguard element of Washington's army after the battle of Brandywine Creek. Actually, prisoners were taken, but the killed and wounded were the result of the use of the bayonet, a weapon not fully understood and feared by the raw militia and Continentals.

From Quiz Winds of War

Answer: Aleutian Islands

This Akutan Zero or Aleutian Zero was a Japanese fighter plane that crashed in the American owned Aleutian Islands on July 11, 1942. It was recovered in flyable condition after being shot down and was used by the American Air Force to discover design flaws. What was learned from this plane had a direct impact on the tactics used to defeat the Japanese Army. Its recovery was regarded by many as priceless.

From Quiz Helmets: They're For Your head!

Answer: leather

The 'Pickelhaube' was made of hardened (boiled) leather. This piece of headgear was found to be impractical for trench warfare.

From Quiz Stick 'Em Up - Evolution of Weapons

Answer: Large catapult type weapon for hurling rocks or other missiles

Used in siege warfare, the ballista was similar in principle to a catapult, but much larger. It was dragged along on horse drawn carts to where it was to be used. The springs that gave impetus to the throwing force consisted of several loops of twisted skeins around a rigid cross beam. When suddenly released, the weapons being used (large darts or rocks etc) were hurled, with great force and velocity, towards the enemy's position.

From Quiz Fighter Pilots and Planes: F-15 Eagle

Answer: July 1972

The F-15A had its first flight in January 1976 and the F-15B, the two-seat version, was first flown the next year in July.

From Quiz Airpower In The Two World Wars

Answer: P-38 Lightning

The twin-tail, twin-engine design of the P-38 made it quite quick and maneuverable. Both pilots flew out of Australia and New Guinea. Bong was eventually sent back to the States and became a test pilot. He was killed when his plane crashed on 6 Aug 1945. Maguire was killed in Jan 1945 when his aircraft stalled during a dogfight and impacted the ground.

From Quiz Famous Plane Jockeys of the 20th Century

Answer: 352

All of Hartmann's 352 aerial victories were achieved over the Eastern (Russian) front. It is said that he acquired so many victories because of the poor Russian aircraft and pilots at the start of the war.

From Quiz Weapons and Military Units Throughout History

Answer: Hoplites

The hoplites fought in a close formation, each individual being protected by his companions. A hoplite carried a big round shield, a bronze armor, a bronze helmet and a javelin. The hoplite was then developed into the phalanx, the succesful unit which Alexander the Great used in his conquering campaigns.

From Quiz Scrapped Metal

Answer: The Yom Kippur War

The Yom Kippur War lasted for much of October, 1973 with Israel fighting Egypt and Syria. From October sixth to ninth, a tank battle was fought in the Golan Heights area; the fight became known as the Valley of Tears Battle. About 100 Israeli tanks and armored vehicles fought more than 500 Syrian vehicles. By the fourth day Israeli tanks only numbered about 30 and the Israelis were almost at the point of collapse but the Syrians withdrew, their forces being reduced apparently to the same level as the Israelis.

From Quiz A History of Tanks

Answer: Panzer IV

The Panzer IV was a very reliable tank for its age, and saw service with the German army throughout the entire war, remaining in use even after the end of WW2. It was, however, gradually outclassed by the Panther and later Tiger tanks by the closing stages of WW2, and was no match in a head-on competition with heavier allied tanks.

From Quiz Horses and Bayonets

Answer: By ingenuity, without loaded firearms

On July 15, 1779 'Mad' Anthony Wayne's Light Infantry was able, by stealth and using extra security measures, to storm the 150 foot peninsula at Stony Point. General Wayne ordered the men to unload their weapons and use only the bayonet. This insured that the garrison would not be alerted by concentrated musketry. Stony Point avenged Paoli and vindicated Wayne's reputation. Five hundred British prisoners were taken and this was the last major engagement in the north during the Revolutionary War.

From Quiz Winds of War

Answer: Soviet Union

"Operation Barbarossa" ultimately destroyed over 5,000 planes belonging to the Red Army by the beginning of October. The Soviet Union fought back valiantly, engaging in dogfights over Leningrad, Moscow and the Ukraine. In desperation the Soviet Airforce took to ramming their aircraft into the German aircraft in a futile attempt to save what they could.

From Quiz Helmets: They're For Your head!

Answer: khaki

French soldiers from the colonies wore a khaki colored helmet along with the mustard colored uniform. All Metropolitan French soldiers wore the 'Horizon Blue'.

From Quiz Stick 'Em Up - Evolution of Weapons

Answer: A horse clad from top to bottom in armour

Ridden by an armoured clad soldier or knight, the cataphract horse was an unfortunate creature also clad in armour. These horses had to be particularly strong to carry such a load, and, more often than not, draught horses were selected for this inglorious task. The poor things would have hardly the strength left to get up a whinny.

From Quiz Fighter Pilots and Planes: F-15 Eagle

Answer: 555th Tactical Fighter Squadron

The famous, "Triple Nickel" was the first operational fighter squadron to receive the Eagle at Luke AFB, Arizona in January 1976.

From Quiz Fighter Pilots and Fighter Planes

Answer: David McCampbell

On October 24, 1944, David McCampbell and his wingman, in their US Navy F6F Hellcats, attacked a formation of 60 Japanese aircraft. McCampbell downed nine planes, the most aerial kills in a single WWII sortie. In a mission earlier that same day he had downed seven aircraft.

From Quiz Airpower In The Two World Wars

Answer: Messerschmitt Bf 110

The Bf 110, sometimes also called the Me 110, lacked the maneuverability and acceleration to compete with the British Hurricane and American P-51 during visual daylight fights. However, it's heavy firepower, high top speed, and ability to house a radar proved very helpful as a night fighter and long-range bomber escort.

From Quiz Famous Plane Jockeys of the 20th Century

Answer: U.S. Navy and the Airforce

Randy Cunningham, USN, and Steve Ritchie, USAF, both shot down 5 MiG's.

From Quiz Weapons and Military Units Throughout History

Answer: 10

A legion would consist of ten cohorts, with six centuries in each. A cohort was commanded by a centurion. The senior centurion was called the prime pilus - he would be a career soldier.

From Quiz Scrapped Metal

Answer: France

Arracourt is in Lorraine, France. In September, 1944, the German 5th Panzer Army was sent to Arracourt to stop a U.S. advance by General George S. Patton. In what was the largest tank battle on the Western Front to that point the Germans had as many as 300 tanks and tank destroyers. It's difficult to find out how many tanks the Americans had available but it may have been around 210. The U.S. made better use of intelligence and tactics and over eleven days of battle destroyed over 200 of the enemy vehicles while losing 32 themselves.

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Last Updated Oct 25 2025 5:54 AM

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