Britain in the Second World War

Question 1

What was the phoney war?

Answer 1

A period from September 1939 to March 1940 where little fighting took place

Question 2

Why did the phoney war happen?

Answer 2

Hitler was confident that he could get Britain and France to agree to a peace deal with him rather than continue the war so he took no action against them; Britain and France took little action either

Question 3

Why did the phoney war end?

Answer 3

The war became genuine in April 1940 when Hitler invaded Denmark and Norway and British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was replaced by a new leader, Winston Churchill

Question 4

How did Churchill differ from Chamberlain?

Answer 4

Churchill had been speaking out against Germany throughout the 1930s, whilst Chamberlain had been promoting appeasement.

Question 5

Why was Churchill a good leader for Britain throughout this time?

Answer 5

He was able to provide the strong leadership Britain needed at this difficult time and he kept up the morale of the British people with inspiring speeches and tours of the country.

Question 6

What was Churchill’s attitude to the Nazis?

Answer 6

There was no talk of surrender and he rejected any idea of peace. For him, the defeat of Nazism was all that mattered. His speeches always explained why it was crucial to defeat Nazism and he ensured that the British people were united as one in the fight against Hitler.

Question 7

What led to the evacuation of Dunkirk?

Answer 7

In May 1940 the German army turned its power on France, Belgium and the Netherlands, Blitzkrieg tactics were devastatingly effective.

Question 8

Why was evacuation from Dunkirk necessary?

Answer 8

The Allied forces were surrounded and facing total defeat, by early June hundreds of thousands of British troops were stranded and had to be evacuated from the beaches of Dunkirk

Question 9

What happened at Dunkirk?

Answer 9

Between 26th May and 4th June, 330 000 British and 10 000 French troops were evacuated by a fleet of large and small boats , many of them crewed by amateur sailors. The evacuation was codenamed ‘Operation Dynamo’.

Question 10

What Dunkirk a success?

Answer 10

Dunkirk was celebrated in Britain as a great achievement. Militarily, it was a bitter and total defeat:

• The French were left to fight the Germans alone
• The British forces had been forced to leave most of their equipment behind
• British forces lost almost 70 000 men killed or taken prisoner
• RAF lost almost 200 fighters during the evacuation.

Question 11

What was the “Dunkirk Spirit” ?

Answer 11

The phrase used to describe the morale that was brought about by civilians, government and the media. Churchill was determined to continue the war after Dunkirk and he continued to make rousing and inspirational speeches to rally Britain.

Question 12

Why did the Battle of Britain happen?

Answer 12

Churchill was determined that he would make no deal with Germany, Britain would fight to the finish. Hitler had to invade Britain.

Question 13

Why did Hitler think he could win the Battle of Britain?

Answer 13

The German navy was no match for the British navy.

However, the Germans believed that if the RAF could be wiped out, then the navy’s dockyards could be destroyed by bombing and without the protection of the RAF, British ships would be vulnerable to air attack by German planes.

Operation Sealion began on 1st July 1940.

Question 14

What happened during the Battle of Britain?

Answer 14

It was a series of air battles lasting throughout summer 1940.
In the air the RAF were consistently out-shooting the Luftwaffe.
British production of planes increased to 563 per month – out-producing the Germans

Question 15

What were the strengths of the RAF?

Answer 15

They had a very accomplished and experienced commander.
They benefitted from new technologies.
The development of radar gave them an advantage.
The Spitfires and Hurricanes were superior to the German Planes.
They were organised into regions so that they could meet attacks quickly.
Volunteer pilots from Canada, America, Poland and Czechoslovakia joined the RAF to fight against the Luftwaffe.

Question 16

What were the weaknesses of the Luftwaffe?

Answer 16

Goering didn’t really understand how modern air warfare worked.
The majority of planes were no match for the agile Spitfires and Hurricanes
Only had enough fuel on board to guarantee them 30 minutes’ flying time over England
Bombs were too small to inflict any significant damage on airfields and aircraft factories.

Question 17

Why was the Battle of Britain a turning point in the war?

Answer 17

It was Hitler’s first real defeat
It was a morale booster for the British
Britain’s survival was essential to Allied success
It bought time for the USA to enter the war

Question 18

Why was the Battle of Britain not an end?

Answer 18

Britain only avoided defeat. It was hardly a victory
Hitler was far from beaten and was still in control of most of Europe
It brought about the launch of the Blitz

Question 19

Why did D-Day happen?

Answer 19

Throughout 1942 and 1943 Allied forces were pushing back the Axis powers from the South.
Italy surrendered in September 1943.
The work of the codebreakers at Bletchley Park enabled the Allies to be more successful in sinking German U-Boats.
The Germans called off organised attacks
In January 1944, Soviet forces began to push Nazis back through Eastern Europe.
Roosevelt and Churchill had promised to open a second front at the Teheran Conference in November 1943.

Question 20

How did the Allies plan for D-Day?

Answer 20

Eisenhower was made Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces.
Plans were drawn up for the invasion under the codename of ‘Operation Overlord’.
Churchill delayed the assault until he felt that the time was right
Allied troops were trained in landing tactics
New devices were developed to assist in the landings.
The Allies took countless aerial photographs of the Normandy areas
The French Resistance provided information on German defences and troop deployments.

Question 21

How did the allies trick the Germans in preparation for D-Day?

Answer 21

As air superiority was necessary for the success of D-Day in the first half of 1944 more than 2 600 German fighter pilots were killed as a result of constant attacks on Luftwaffe bases and aerial combat.

It was imperative that the Germans were convinced that the invasion would take place in an area other than Normandy. The whole deception plan was named ‘Operation Fortitude’ .

The Allies heavily bombed the area around Calais to make the Germans think that would be the site for the Allied landings

Question 22

When did D-day begin?

Answer 22

6th June 1944

Question 23

How did Overlord begin?

Answer 23

Some 13 000 Allied aircraft pounded radar installations, rail links and bridges
False radio messages were used to convince the Germans that attacks were taking place elsewhere

Question 24

Where did the invasions take place?

Answer 24

Several beaches and were supported by paratroopers dropped from planes or landed in gliders.

Question 25

What were the casualties?

Answer 25

Casualties were only 11 000, including 2 500 dead. The heaviest losses were sustained by the USA on Omaha Beach.

Question 26

How did the allies bring in supplies of military hardware and oil?

Answer 26

Giant floating harbours, known as Mulberries and PLUTO (Pipe Line Under the Ocean)

Question 27

Why was the German army weakened when it tried to counter-attack the Allies?

Answer 27

Because Hitler refused to allow Field Marshal Rommel to take control of the Panzer tank divisions in Normandy.

Question 28

How many troops did the allies land by the end of the day?

Answer 28

156 000 troops with supporting mechanised vehicles

Question 29

How did the allies push forward after D-day?

Answer 29

They liberated the port of Cherbourg on 27th June, giving them a port to bring in further supplies. They used their air superiority to destroy factories, attack German vehicles and trains, disrupt German communications and destroy their supplies.

Question 30

When did the major breakthrough happen?

Answer 30

In August, at Falaise, when much of the German Seventh Army and the Fifth Panzer Army were surrounded. In the space of just over a week, the Germans had lost more than 10 000 dead and had 50 000 troops taken prisoner

Question 31

When was Paris finally liberated?

Answer 31

25th August 1944

Question 32

What was ‘Operation Market Garden’?

Answer 32

A suggested airborne attack to hasten the end of the war in the west, on the 17th September 1944, 30 000 Allied men were parachuted behind German lines.

Question 33

Why did ‘Operation Market Garden’ fail?

Answer 33

Because the allies miscalculated the strength of German forces. 1500 men were killed and 6 500 were captured.

Question 34

How did the war come to an end?

Answer 34

End of 1944 Hitler planned one last desperate attack. The Battle of the Bulge in the wooded Ardennes region of Belgium was defeated by Allied forces.
The Allies crossed the Rhine into Germany in March 1945.
In May 1945 American and British forces met up with Soviet forces and the war in Europe was over.

Question 35

What gave the allies the advantage over the Germans?

Answer 35

They had access to tremendous industrial and military resources, they destroyed industrial complexes, roads, bridges, railway yards and munitions factories, they had technical developments – sonar, depth charges and radar – helped the Allies to combat the U-boats.

Question 36

How did Hitler’s mistakes cost Germany the War?

Answer 36

The invasion of the USSR meant that Hitler had to fight a war on two fronts and, in addition, he had to send several divisions to assist Italy in North Africa and then in Italy itself
He also made mistakes such as the halting of German tanks outside Dunkirk, his refusal to allow his troops to retreat from Stalingrad and the belief that the Normandy invasion was a feint.

Question 37

How did the allies work together to defeat Germany?

Answer 37

Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin were inspirational leaders.

Ordinary people in Britain and the USA were united in the belief that they were fighting to rid Europe of tyranny.