Quiz on D-Day Landings

This week marked the 75th anniversary of the D-Day Landings at Normandy. This quiz explores that historic occasion.

D-Day special

1 The first film to capture the event in its entirety was The Longest Day, based on Cornelius Ryan’s book of the same name and starring the likes of John Wayne, Richard Burton and Sean Connery. The book got its title from a quote by an officer to his junior: “...The first 24 hours of the invasion will be decisive... the fate of Germany depends on the outcome... for the Allies, as well as Germany, it will be the longest day.” Who made this statement?

2 What was the name given to the extensive system of coastal fortifications built by Nazi Germany between 1942 and 1944 to serve as a defence against an Allied attack?

3 Five beaches in Normandy were chosen as sites for the invasion. The Americans were to land at Utah and Omaha and the British at Sword and Gold. Which nation was leading the attack at Juno?

4 The Germans never thought the attack would be at Normandy. The Allies had planned an operation to fool the Germans into thinking that the attack would be at another location, a place even closer to Britain. Which place did they pretend they were attacking?

5 Why was the headmaster of Strand School, Leonard Dawe, picked up by the British intelligence shortly after the invasion?

6 DD tanks, nicknamed Donald Duck tanks, were a special variety of Sherman tanks developed specifically for the operation. What was unique about them?

7 What was the significance of the first stanza of Paul Verlaine’s poem Chansom d’Automne, broadcast on Allied radio in June 1944?

8 While attacking, the Allies had to make sure that French cultural treasures remained intact. Which famous artwork had been stored at the Chateau de Sourches near Le Mans from the start of the war, and had a British team specifically dedicated to finding it and preserving it?

9 A book presented to television and film writer Robert Rodat alerted him to the story of the Niland family. What story did he base on the real-life Nilands?

10 Martha Gellhorn was one of the pioneers of American journalism and sneaked aboard a Landing craft to become the only woman to land on a beach in Normandy on June 6. At the time, which literary celebrity was Gellhorn married to ?

Answers

1 Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, commander of the Axis Forces in that front

2 The Atlantic Wall (Atlantikwall in German)

3 Canada

4 Pas De Calais, also the location of Germany’s V-1 and V-2 rocket sites

5 MI5 had noticed a variety of code names related to Allied Landings in the weeks immediately preceding the event appearing in The Daily Telegraph crossword set by Dawe. They included the names of the beaches Utah and Omaha, the name of the naval operation, Neptune, and the overall code name of the operation, Overlord. He was later released

6 They were amphibious; the Duplex Drive Tanks had two small propellers and a flotation screen which allowed it to cross the sea

7 It was the signal to let the French Resistance know that the invasion would begin in the next 24 hours, so that they could sabotage the Nazi war effort

8The Bayeux Tapestry of the Norman invasion of Britain, commissioned in the 11th century

9 Saving Private Ryan; two of the three Niland sons were lost in the war, the third was pulled out from Normandy

10 Ernest Hemingway

Joy Bhattacharjya is a quizmaster;

Twitter: @joybhattacharj

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