1. society
2. unrest and war

Name: ________________________
Date: _______________
Period: _________
Mr. Hons
Stuff My Dad Thinks You Should Know About WWII!
Directions: My dad is a big fan of World War II history. I asked him to write up some basics of
what he thought you all should know when studying the topic. Read what he has to say, check
out the pictures that go along with text, and answer the questions throughout!
1. Where was my grandfather stationed during World War II? ______________________________
2. What surrounded him that he did not like to talk about? _________________________________
3. Using the high end of the troop groupings, how many soldiers would be in combat if there were
two battalions, four companies, three platoons, and two squads?
______________________________________________________________________________
4. What were the six theaters of combat during World War II?
a. _________________________
b. _________________________
c. _________________________
d. _________________________
e. _________________________
f. _________________________
5. What do you think a “war of attrition” means?
______________________________________________________________________________
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6. List the Allied Powers:
a. ___________________________
b. ___________________________
c. ___________________________
d. ___________________________
e. ___________________________
f. ___________________________
g. ___________________________
7. List the Axis Powers:
a. ___________________________
b. ___________________________
c. ___________________________
8. When did World War II begin? _____________________________________________________
9. Define “Blitzkrieg” ______________________________________________________________
10. Where does “Nazi” come from and what does it mean?
______________________________________________________________________________
11. What did the Lend-Lease Program do?
______________________________________________________________________________
12. What was the longest running battle of WWII? ________________________________________
13. What did British Prime Minister Winston Churchill mean by his quote about the Battle of
Britain? _______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
14. What was the V-2? ______________________________________________________________
15. List four facts about Operation Barbarossa
a. __________________________________________________________
b. __________________________________________________________
c. __________________________________________________________
d. __________________________________________________________
16. Summarize why the German invasion of Russia failed.
______________________________________________________________________________
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17. Why did Hitler have his forces attack Stalingrad? ______________________________________
18. How did Stalin treat soldiers who deserted combat?
______________________________________________________________________________
19. What two natural resources did Japan need for it’s “war machine?”
a. _______________________
b. ____________________________
20. Why did Japan attack Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
21. How many were killed and wounded in the attack on Pearl Harbor?
______________________________________________________________________________
22. How did President Franklin D. Roosevelt respond to this attack?
______________________________________________________________________________
23. Why did B-25 bombers only fly 6 feet above the ocean on their way to attack Tokyo in 1942?
______________________________________________________________________________
24. What was the new naval weapon used by both sides in the Pacific? ________________________
25. What allowed America to get the upper-hand in the Battle of Midway before it even began?
______________________________________________________________________________
26. Explain what “island hopping” was.
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
27. What did Kamikaze pilots do?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
28. Why did President Harry S. Truman take over command of the American Armed Forces in 1945?
______________________________________________________________________________
29. What did the Allied Powers, in the Potsdam Declaration, warn would happen to Japan if they did
not surrender? __________________________________________________________________
30. What did this “prompt and utter destruction” end up being?
______________________________________________________________________________
31. Looking at the two photos of Hiroshima, what do you learn about the impact of the atomic bomb?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
32. What is your current opinion on the dropping of two atomic bombs on Japan in 1945?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
33. What is the name of the Allied Operation that started June 6, 144? _________________________
34. What does my Dad think was the “greatest fault” of the German war machine at Normandy?
______________________________________________________________________________
35. Who was in charge of Operation Market Garden? ______________________________________
36. How many soldiers were dropped from airplanes in the Operation? ________________________
37. What was the result of Operation Market Garden?
______________________________________________________________________________
38. Why was the location of the Battle of the Bulge so unusual?
______________________________________________________________________________
39. What division was surrounded by Germans at Bastogne? ________________________________
40. What did they mean by the quote, “[t]hey have us surrounded, the poor bastards!”
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
41. How many Americans died in the Battle of the Bulge? __________________________________
42. When did Hitler and his wife commit suicide? _________________________________________
43. When is “Victory in Europe Day” and what happened?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
44. How many people died in the Holocaust? ____________________________________________
45. Explain why you agree or disagree with my Dad’s point that, “WWII showed how strong the
human spirit can be when faced with events so tragic it seems they will never escape or rebuild
from.”
46.
47.
48.
49.
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
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Who got to take Berlin and why?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
What eventually happened to Germany and Berlin? ____________________________________
Summarize World War II in a paragraph after reading this paper.
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
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Respond to this statement (agree or disagree with it): “World War II and all those who died in
fighting it was justified due to the defeat of the Axis Powers.”
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
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