People of WWII – Flashcards

Austrian-born founder of the German Nazi Party and chancellor of the Third Reich (1933-1945). His fascist philosophy, embodied in Mein Kampf (1925-1927), attracted widespread support, and after 1934 he ruled as an absolute dictator. Hitler's pursuit of aggressive nationalist policies resulted in the invasion of Poland (1939) and the subsequent outbreak of World War II. His regime was infamous for the extermination of millions of people, especially European Jews. He committed suicide when the collapse of the Third Reich was imminent (1945).

German architect. Hitler's Chief architect. In charge of the construction of German buildings to live up to the ruin theory. Constructed the Reich Chancellery, Zeppelinfeld stadium in Nuremburg where rallies were held. Also had plans to reconstruct Berlin.

1936 made chief of police in Germany (state position), built an economic empire within the labor camp system (economy), creates private 2nd German army

German politician, military leader and member of the Nazi Party. Also, founder of the Gestapo—the Nazi's secret service in 1933. He was promoted to one of the highest ranks in the Nazi party by Hitler but later stripped of all of his ranks, committed suicide after being sentenced to death the night before he was to be hanged.

Nazi leader who in 1941 flew to Scotland in an apparent attempt to negotiate a peace treaty with Great Britain but was imprisoned for life (1894-1987)

A minor movie star in the 1930s, Eva Braun became Hitler's mistress and married him the day before they committed suicide in the underground bunker at the end of WWII.

Austrian who became the Nazi official who administered the concentration camps where millions of Jews were murdered during World War II (1906-1962) In charge of transportation of Jews and extermination. Fled to Argentina then later brought to Isreal to be tried and executed. Only person to be executed by Isreal.

Headed an elaborate Propaganda Ministry in Hitler's Third Reich. Utilized all media of information and education and operated within Germany and throughout the world. Goebbels used the technique of the big lie. Nazi propagandists operated on the theory that any lie - if stated authoritatively, repeated incessantly, and guarded from critical analysis--will eventually be accepted by most people.

Guderian had pioneered motorized tactics in the pre-war army, while keeping himself well-informed about tank development in other armies. In particular, he promoted the use of radio communication between tank-crews, and devised shock-tactics that proved highly effective. In 1940, he led the Panzers that broke the French defences at Sedan, leading to the surrender of France. In 1941, his well-planned attack on Moscow was interrupted by orders from Hitler, with whom he disagreed sharply, and he was transferred to the reserve. This marked the end of his ascendancy. After the defeat at Stalingrad, Hitler appointed him to a new post, rebuilding the shattered Panzer forces, but he feuded with many other generals, who managed to get his responsibilities re-allocated. He was then appointed Chief of the General Staff of the Army, but this was largely a symbolic post, since Hitler had effectively become his own Chief of Staff. From 1945-48, Guderian was held in U.S. custody, but released without charge. He then advised on the re-establishment of military forces in West Germany.

"Desert Fox"-May 1942; German and Italian armies were led by him and attacked British occupied Egypt and the Suez Canal for the second time; were defeated at the Battle of El Alamein; was moved to France to oversee the defenses before D-Day; tried to assassinate Hitler.

He was a German who helped and saved over 1,100 Jews. There was a movie based on his story called Schindler's List and a book called Schindler's Ark. He owned a factory and he hired Jewish forced labourers to work for him. He was originally motivated by money but started to care for his workers. He kept them from being killed. (the book mentioned in the textbook was Schindler's List)

A noted British statesman who led Britain throughout most of World War II and along with Roosevelt planned many allied campaigns. He predicted an iron curtain that would separate Communist Europe from the rest of the West.

During the Second World War he commanded the British Eighth Army from August 1942 in the Western Desert until the final Allied victory in Tunisia. This command included the Battle of El Alamein, a turning point in the Western Desert Campaign. He subsequently commanded the British Eighth Army during the Allied invasion of Sicily and then during the Allied invasion of Italy. He was in command of all Allied ground forces during Operation Overlord from the initial landings until after the Battle of Normandy. He then continued in command of the 21st Army Group for the rest of the campaign in North West Europe. As such he was the principal field commander for the failed airborne attempt to bridge the Rhine at Arnhem and the Allied Rhine crossing. On 4 May 1945 he took the German surrender at Lüneburg Heath in northern Germany. After the war he became Commander-in-Chief of the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) in Germany and then Chief of the Imperial General Staff.

credited with creating the field of artificial intelligence and pioneering the use of genetic algorithms and other innovative techniques based on natural processes

Bader joined the RAF in 1928, and was commissioned in 1930. In December 1931, while attempting some aerobatics, he crashed and lost both his legs. Having been on the brink of death, he recovered, retook flight training, passed his check flights and then requested reactivation as a pilot. Although there were no regulations applicable to his situation, he was retired against his will on medical grounds.[3] After the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, however, Bader returned to the RAF and was accepted as a pilot. He scored his first victories over Dunkirk during the Battle of France in 1940. He then took part in the Battle of Britain and became a friend and supporter of Air Vice Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory and his "Big Wing" experiments. In August 1941, Bader bailed out over German-occupied France and was captured. Soon afterward, he met and befriended Adolf Galland, a prominent German fighter ace.[4] The circumstances surrounding how Bader was shot down in 1941 are controversial. Recent research strongly suggests he was a victim of friendly fire. Despite his disability, Bader made a number of escape attempts and was eventually sent to the prisoner of war camp at Colditz Castle. He remained there until April 1945 when the camp was liberated by the First United States Army.

Eileen Mary "Didi" Nearne MBE (15 March 1921 - 2 September 2010 (date body found)) was a member of the UK's Special Operations Executive (SOE) during World War II. She served in occupied France as a radio operator under the codename "Rose". (French Resistance operative Andree Peel is also known as Agent Rose.)

This general was premier of Japan during World War II while this man was dictator of the country. He gave his approval for the attack on Pearl Harbor and played a major role in Japan's military decisions until he resigned in 1944

At the start of his reign, Japan was still a fairly rural country with a limited industrial base. Japan's militarization of in the 1930's eventually led to Japan's invasion in China and involvement in WW2.

The last japanese soldier to surrender Hiroo Onod (March 19, 1922 - January 16, 2014) was an Imperial Japanese Army intelligence officer who fought in World War II and did not surrender in 1945. In 1974, his former commander traveled from Japan to personally issue orders relieving him from duty. Onoda had spent almost 30 years holding out in the Philippines. He held the rank of Second Lieutenant in the Imperial Japanese Army.

Yamamoto held several important posts in the Imperial Japanese Navy, and undertook many of its changes and reorganizations, especially its development of naval aviation. He was the commander-in-chief during the decisive early years of the Pacific War and so was responsible for major battles such as Pearl Harbor and Midway. He died when American codebreakers identified his flight plans and his plane was shot down. His death was a major blow to Japanese military morale during World War II.

Mitsuo Fuchida (3 December 1902 - 30 May 1976) was a Japanese captain in the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service and a bomber aviator in the Japanese navy before and during World War II. He is perhaps best known for leading the first air wave attacks on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. Working under the overall fleet commander, Vice Admiral Chūichi Nagumo, Fuchida was responsible for the coordination of the entire aerial attack. After the war ended, Fuchida became a Christian evangelist and traveled through the United States and Europe to tell his story. He settled permanently in the United States but never became a U.S. citizen.

Tokyo Rose was a generic name given by Allied troops in the South Pacific during World War II to what they believed were multiple English-speaking female broadcasters of Japanese propaganda. The broadcasts were aimed at Allied forces in the Pacific, with the intent of lowering morale. "American servicemen in the Pacific often listened to the propaganda broadcasts to get a sense, by reading between the lines, of the effect of their military actions. She often undermined the anti-American scripts by reading them in a playful, tongue-in-cheek fashion, even going as far as to warn her listeners to expect a "subtle attack" on their morale."

President of the US during Great Depression and World War II 32nd US President (elected 4x) - He began New Deal programs to help the nation out of the Great Depression, and he was the nation's leader during most of WWII

(October 14, 1890 - March 28, 1969) was the 34th President of the United States from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army during World War II and served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe; he had responsibility for planning and supervising the invasion of North Africa in Operation Torch in 1942-43 and the successful invasion of France and Germany in 1944-45 from the Western Front. In 1951, he became the first supreme commander of NATO. He was the last U.S. President to have been born in the 19th century.

Allied Commander of the Third Army. Was instrumental in winning the Battle of the Bulge. Considered one of the best military commanders in American history.

(1880-1964), U.S. general. Commander of U.S. (later Allied) forces in the southwestern Pacific during World War II, he accepted Japan's surrender in 1945 and administered the ensuing Allied occupation. He was in charge of UN forces in Korea 1950-51, before being forced to relinquish command by President Truman. Was forced to remove the vets, with force, from the white house lawn

Omar Bradley (February 12, 1893 - April 8, 1981) was a United States Army field commander in North Africa and Europe during World War II, and a General of the Army. From the Normandy landings through the end of the war in Europe, Bradley had command of all U.S. ground forces invading Germany from the west; he ultimately commanded forty-three divisions and 1.3 million men, the largest body of American soldiers ever to serve under a U.S. field commander. After the war, Bradley headed the Veterans Administration and became Chief of Staff of the United States Army. In 1949, he was appointed the first Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the following year oversaw the policy-making for the Korean War, before retiring from active service in 1953.

(25.3) U.S. Admiral during WWII, the commander of American naval forces in the Pacific. He took action to defend the island of Midway from the Japanese. On June 3, 1942, his scout planes found the Japanese fleet. The Americans sent torpedo planes and dive bombers to the attack. The Japanese were caught with their planes still on the decks of their carriers. The results were devastating. By the end of the Battle of Midway, the Japanese had lost four aircraft carriers, a cruiser, and 250 planes.

Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884 - December 26, 1972) was the 33rd President of the United States (1945-53). As the final running mate of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944, Truman succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when Roosevelt died after months of declining health. Under Truman, the Allies successfully concluded World War II; in the aftermath of the conflict, tensions with the Soviet Union increased, marking the start of the Cold War.

Paul Warfield Tibbets, Jr. (February 23, 1915 - November 1, 2007) was a brigadier general in the United States Air Force, best known as the pilot of the Enola Gay - named for his mother - the first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb in the history of warfare. The bomb, code-named Little Boy, was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.

Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (22 November 1890 - 9 November 1970) was a French general, resistant, writer and statesman. He was the leader of Free France (1940-44) and the head of the Provisional Government of the French Republic (1944-46). In 1958, he founded the Fifth Republic and was elected as the 18th President of France, until his resignation in 1969. He was the dominant figure of France during the Cold War era and his memory continues to influence French politics.

Bolshevik revolutionary, head of the Soviet Communists after 1924, and dictator of the Soviet Union from 1928 to 1953. He led the Soviet Union with an iron fist, using Five-Year Plans to increase industrial production and terror to crush opposition

Vasily Zaytsev (23 March 1915 - 15 December 1991) was a Soviet sniper and a Hero of the Soviet Union during World War II. Between 10 November and 17 December 1942, during the Battle of Stalingrad, he killed 225 soldiers and officers of the Wehrmacht and other Axis armies, including 11 enemy snipers. Prior to 10 November, he killed 32 Axis soldiers with the standard-issue Mosin-Nagant rifle (effective range of 900 metres or 985 yards). Between October 1942 and January 1943, Zaytsev made an estimated 400 kills, some at distances of more than 1,000 metres (1,100 yd).

Lieutenant-general Mikhail Kalashnikov (10 November 1919 - 23 December 2013) was a Russian general, inventor, military engineer, writer and small arms designer. He is most famous for developing the AK-47 assault rifle and its improvements, AKM and AK-74, as well as the PK machine gun. Kalashnikov was, according to himself, a self-taught tinkerer who combined innate mechanical skills with the study of weaponry to design arms that achieved battlefield ubiquity. Even though Kalashnikov felt sorrow at the weapons' uncontrolled distribution, he took pride in his inventions and in their reputation for reliability, emphasizing that his rifle is "a weapon of defense" and "not a weapon for offense".