Battle of the Bulge Trivia Quiz Questions With Answers

Trivia quiz questions with answers about the Battle of the Bulge

Battle of the Bulge Trivia Quiz Questions With Answers

What was the “Battle of the Bulge”?
A: The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Counteroffensive, took place from 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945, and was the last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during World War II.

Where was it launched?
A: Through the densely forested Ardennes region of Wallonia in eastern Belgium, northeast France, and Luxembourg, towards the end of the war in Europe.

The offensive was intended to do what?
A: To stop Allied use of the Belgian port of Antwerp and to split the Allied lines, allowing the Germans to encircle and destroy four Allied armies and force the Western Allies to negotiate a peace treaty in the Axis powers' favor.

The Germans achieved total surprise on the morning of 16 December 1944, due to what?
A: A combination of Allied overconfidence, preoccupation with Allied offensive plans, and poor aerial reconnaissance.

American forces bore the brunt of the attack and incurred their highest casualties of what?
A: Of any operation during the war.

The battle also severely depleted Germany's what?
A: Armored forces, and they were largely unable to replace them.

The Germans had attacked a weakly defended section of the Allied line, taking advantage of what?
A: Heavily overcast weather conditions that grounded the Allies' overwhelmingly superior air forces.

What was the furthest west the offensive reached?
A: It was the village of Foy-Nôtre-Dame, south east of Dinant, being stopped by the British 21st Army Group on 24 December 1944.

The Germans' initial attack involved how many men?
A: 410,000.

How many tanks?
A: 1,400 tanks, tank destroyers, and assault guns.

How many artillery pieces?
A: 1,600 anti-tank guns.

How many aircraft were involved?
A: Over 1,000 combat aircraft, as well as large numbers of other armored fighting vehicles (AFVs).

These were reinforced a couple of weeks later, bringing the offensive's total strength to around what?
A: 450,000 troops, and 1,500 tanks and assault guns.

Between 63,222 and 98,000 of these men were what?
A: Killed, missing, wounded in action, or captured.

For the Americans, out of a peak of 610,000 troops, how many became casualties?
A: Some 19,000.

The "Bulge" was the largest and bloodiest single battle fought by the United States in World War II and the second deadliest battle in what?
A: American history.

The Allies captured the port of Antwerp intact in the first days of September, but it was what?
A: Not operational until 28 November.

The estuary of the Schelde river, that controlled access to the port, had to be cleared of what?
A: Both German troops and naval mines.

By early October, the Allies had suspended major offensives to improve their what?
A: Supply lines and supply availability at the front.

In October, the First Canadian Army fought what battle?
A: The Battle of the Scheldt, opening the port of Antwerp to shipping.

The assault's ambitious goal was to do what?
A: To pierce the thinly held lines of the U.S. First Army between Monschau and Wasserbillig with Army Group B (Model) by the end of the first day, get the armor through the Ardennes by the end of the second day, reach the Meuse between Liège and Dinant by the third day, and seize Antwerp and the western bank of the Scheldt estuary by the fourth day.

The Allied air offensive of early 1944 had effectively grounded the Luftwaffe, leaving the German Army with what?
A: Little battlefield intelligence and no way to interdict Allied supplies.

Success in the west would give the Germans time to do what?
A: Design and produce more advanced weapons (such as jet aircraft, new U-boat designs and super-heavy tanks) and permit the concentration of forces in the east.

Given the reduced manpower of their land forces at the time, the Germans believed the best way to seize the initiative would be to what?
A: Attack in the West against the smaller Allied forces rather than against the vast Soviet armies.

In the west supply problems began to do what?
A: Significantly to impede Allied operations, even though the opening of the port of Antwerp in late November improved the situation somewhat.

The positions of the Allied armies stretched from southern France all the way north to where?
A: The Netherlands.

German fuel supplies were what?
A: Precarious.

Materials and supplies that could not be directly transported by rail had to be what?
A: Horse-drawn to conserve fuel, and the mechanized and panzer divisions would depend heavily on captured fuel.

Before the offensive the Allies were virtually blind to what?
A: German troop movement.

The foggy autumn weather prevented Allied reconnaissance aircraft from what?
A: Correctly assessing the ground situation.

German units assembling in the area were even issued what?
A: Charcoal instead of wood for cooking fires to cut down on smoke and reduce chances of Allied observers deducing a troop buildup was underway.

What little intelligence the Allies had, led them to believe precisely what the Germans wanted them to believe, that what?
A: Preparations were being carried out only for defensive, not offensive, operations.

The attack, when it came, completely what?
A: Surprised the Allied forces.

Its newest and most powerful tank, the Tiger II heavy tank, consumed 3.8 litres (1 gal) of fuel to go how far?
A: 800 m (.5 mi).

A single 18-man Intelligence and Reconnaissance Platoon from the 99th Infantry Division along with four Forward Air Controllers held up what?
A: A battalion of about 500 German paratroopers until sunset, about 16:00, causing 92 casualties among the Germans.

This created a what?
A: A bottleneck in the German advance.

The US 99th Infantry Division, outnumbered five to one, inflicted casualties in what ratio?
A: The ratio of 18 to one.

The division lost about 20% of its effective strength, including how many casualties?
A: 465 killed and 2,524 evacuated due to wounds, injuries, fatigue, or trench foot.

German losses were what?
A: Much higher.

When did the German offensive draw to a close?
A: On January 25th.

In the bitter, desperate fighting of Operation Nordwind, VI Corps, which had borne the brunt of the fighting, suffered how many casualties?
A: A total of 14,716 casualties.

The total for Seventh Army for January was how many?
A: 11,609.

Total casualties included at least how many wounded?
A: 9,000.

First, Third, and Seventh Armies suffered a total of how many troops hospitalized from the cold?
A: 17,000.

Winston Churchill, addressing the House of Commons following the Battle of the Bulge said what?
A: "This is undoubtedly the greatest American battle of the war and will, I believe, be regarded as an ever-famous American victory."