Normandy to Rhine Video

Question 1

What were the 3 operations discussed at the Arcadia Conference?

Answer 1

Operation Gymnast, Supercharge, and Operation Sledgehammer

Question 2

What was Operation Gymnast?

Answer 2

an invasion of North Africa, two sub operations

-Torch-landing of US forces in Morocco into Eastern north Africa

Question 3

Who led Operation Gymnast?

Answer 3

Eisenhower and Patten

Question 4

What was Operation Supercharge?

Answer 4

involves British in North Africa in Egypt, led by Bernard Montgomery, which was a counter-attack into northwest Africa, in the middle, Germans were in North Africa, the Afrika Korps led by von Rommel.

Question 5

What was the English Channel invasion of 1943?

Answer 5

crossing the channel, to establish, liberate French bring them back in and put more pressure on Germany, Stalin is angry because he is the only one fighting Germany at this point, somewhat of a cause of the Cold War because everyone is in Africa.

Question 6

Why do Allies start with Operation Gymnast?

Answer 6

They need time and eliminate Luftwaffe as a threat, cross-channel invasion is too big a risk and years to get back. Round-up is too big of a gamble, so they go ahead with gymnast.

Question 7

What was the code-name for the English Channel Invasion?

Answer 7

Round-up

Question 8

What was Operation Sledgehammer?

Answer 8

very vague plan, idea was if Russians were pushed back by Germans, if Soviets get into real trouble if they surrender or collapse, thought process was we need Germany into a two-front war, attack in Western Europe anywhere

Question 9

What were two needs for a cross-channel invasion?

Answer 9

• air supremacy over the enemy and good landing craft

- amphibious shipping from water to land

Question 10

What boat was used by Germany to get people ashore quickly?

Answer 10

Higgins Boat

Question 11

Why did the US step up its bombing of Germany?

Answer 11

• Wear down the Luftwaffe
• Disrupt industry
• Break German morale

Question 12

Why was wearing down the Luftwaffe a reason the US stepped up its bombing?

Answer 12

needed air supremacy, if they shoot down planes and target factories, they won’t be able to reproduce the planes, and their numbers will go down.

Question 13

Why was disrupting industry a reason the US stepped up its bombing?

Answer 13

Hurt the industry’s ability to produce war goods

Question 14

Why was breaking German morale a reason the US stepped up its bombing?

Answer 14

Germany, hasn’t fought on German soil yet, German people have not seen war, so to make it a reality, show Germans how war is.

Question 15

What was the codename given to the D-Day invasion of Normandy and what year was it?

Answer 15

Overlord in 1944

Question 16

What was the idea behind Operation Sledgehammer?

Answer 16

They need help and attack get help for the enemy, Germany has Soviets pinned down, if they get to the point, someone must take some pressure off and make them pay attention to someone else.

Question 17

Why was Sledgehammer not done?

Answer 17

It was a suicide mission because they would send people into Europe and get annihilated

Question 18

What special preparations were needed for the Normandy invasion?

Answer 18

-Photograph coastlines, study postcards, conducting raids, what are obstacles they will face?

Question 19

Why was Normandy chosen for the invasion?

Answer 19

Normandy had good shipping to make landings.

Question 20

Describe the deception plan used to fake out the Germans.

Answer 20

-Deception plan was drawn up, known as ice cream, knew Germans were spying and knew they would find out truth, put out false information, put fake dead bodies to fake them out, but it wasn’t really the truth, most bombs we dropped were outside the landing area as a decoy.

Question 21

Where were there other landings?

Answer 21

Norway, Brittany, and other places

Question 22

What were mulberries?

Answer 22

designed as special harbor docks, interlocking docks, attacking cities are bad ideas, so they need to get people ashore with no port, so they brought their own, opened up Cherbourg, close to the D-Day site, where one was placed.

Question 23

Describe the pipeline used at Normandy.

Answer 23

called pluto, under the ocean, used ice cream as decoy, need fuel for tanks.

Question 24

What were funnies?

Answer 24

made new vehicles to get around coast, specialized for different terrains, flame throwing tanks, rather than fighting with metal detector, these tank beat up ground and if they stay on path, they destroy ground.

Question 25

Why did the allies bring their own bridge to Normandy?

Answer 25

to get everyone across, so they didn’t spend more money on it.

Question 26

What else was formed before the invasion at Normandy?

Answer 26

• Formed Commando divisions, tested them, best places to land
• Bridge layers were made as well
• Lots of research had to be done about weather and timing.
• BBC broadcast was updating British about what was happening.

Question 27

What was the weather factor with respect to the invasion?

Answer 27

Decided weather was good on June 6, so they decided they would be the first into Normandy.

Question 28

What were the beaches of Normandy?

Answer 28

Juno-Canada
Utah-US
Omaha-US
Gold-UK
Sword-UK

Question 29

Who was appointed as Supreme Allied commander of the invasion force and when was he appointed?

Answer 29

Eisenhower in December 1943

Question 30

Why was Cherbourg important?

Answer 30

It was a port city near the front with the docks, it was important to get to the port at Cherbourg to get supplies. It was the meeting place for the allies near Normandy.

Question 31

What commander led the allied breakout from Normandy?

Answer 31

George S. Patten

Question 32

When was Paris liberated? What can we learn from this timeframe?

Answer 32

It happened on August 25th, 1944, and we can learn the speed of the attack like the Blitzkrieg, pace of war is different, D-Day from surrender of Germany is less than a year apart. All the planning for D-Day paid off. Took 2 years to plan, only took less than a year to finish.

Question 33

What was the objective of Operation Market Garden?

Answer 33

To attack Germany by going through Belgium to Norway and attack Germany eventually.

Question 34

What was the goal of the German counteroffensive in the “Battle of the Bulge?”

Answer 34

To cut off British forces from rest of Allies during operation market garden, and take Antwerp.

Question 35

What is the Atlantic Wall?

Answer 35

A system of concrete gun emplacements all along the French coast.

Question 36

Why was the Atlantic Wall created?

Answer 36

Once Germany committed to attacking Russia, Western Europe was not much of a big deal, with small gray troops there.

Question 37

What was the controversy about the Atlantic Wall?

Answer 37

Thought was to not get them ashore, put everything in front of them and keep them off the beach.

Question 38

What was the problem with the wall?

Answer 38

Higgins boats will go up to the beach, and they may jump off the boat or get shot by the machine guns, choice was to fight without gear, or drown. Gives Germans a big advantage.

Question 39

What is the German mistake that happens after their advantage?

Answer 39

Rommel and Rinchstad, the German leaders have a conflict about the coast of the tanks, and Hitler does neither, so there is no attack and now allies can get in.