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Important Cities in WWII

Based on a description, can you name these cities and towns that were important in WWII?
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: September 13, 2020
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First submittedJanuary 26, 2014
Times taken75,227
Average score57.1%
Rating4.36
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Description
City
Attacked 71 times during the Blitz
London
Capital cities that formed an "Axis" in 1939
Rome
Berlin
Struck by atomic bombs
Hiroshima
Nagasaki
German city almost entirely destroyed by firebombs in 1945
Dresden
Capital of non-occupied France
Vichy
Russian city that the Nazis failed to capture in 1942–43, marking a turning point in the war
Stalingrad
Australian city bombed by the Japanese
Darwin
A single plant in this city produced 25% of American tanks, and more
than the entire country of Germany
Detroit
Site of a 1938 conference that ceded parts of Czechoslovakia to Germany
Munich
Island fortress city captured by the Japanese in 1942, with 80,000 British troops captured
Singapore
Where Nazi war criminals were tried
Nuremberg
Town where over 300,000 people evacuated France in 1940
Dunkirk
Town where British codebreakers worked
Bletchley
City where Anne Frank hid
Amsterdam
Principal location of Manhattan Project scientists
Los Alamos
City that was largely destroyed during the 1944 "uprising" against the German troops
Warsaw
Site of the first conference between the Big 3 Allied leaders
Tehran
Site of the second conference
Yalta
Site of the third conference
Potsdam
+9
Level 63
Feb 21, 2014
The name of the british codebreakers building was Bletchley Park, only way I guessed that one
+8
Level 80
Nov 29, 2016
... but Bletchley Park is in Bletchley.
+4
Level 56
Mar 27, 2017
I thought it was spelled Bletcheley...rip
+3
Level 74
Sep 3, 2017
more of a site than one building. Anyway, it's well worth a visit if you ever get the chance to do so...
+5
Level 76
Jul 18, 2019
Cool quiz but shouldn't Manila have been included? They got hit pretty hard by the Japanese.
+3
Level 45
Dec 30, 2021
It was one of, if not the most destroyed major city in the world after the World War Two
+3
Level 88
Jul 18, 2019
Bletchley (where?) was the 2nd least guessed, just ahead of Los Alamos where the nuclear bomb was developed?
+3
Level 56
Jun 17, 2020
I think probably a goodly proportion of British people doing this one know about Bletchley Park. While I'd heard of Los Alamos, I had no idea what it was... presumably nothing to do with "remember the Alamo"? I don't know what that's about either.
+17
Level 33
Mar 16, 2014
Good quiz. But err... can you please change the Singapore clue from British to Allied?

There were lots of Indian, Malay, Australian and New Zealanders there as well. There's sensitivities here because there's a feeling the British betrayed their Allies by surrendering on their behalf... leading to move of them dying under nasty circumstances.

+5
Level 39
Jun 4, 2015
I'd second that notion
+4
Level 74
Jan 13, 2016
Agreed.
+2
Level 59
Dec 1, 2017
You might need to substantiate the cannon fodder comment. It’s hard to single out one or two countries as cannon fodder when all nations who fought suffered horrendous losses. Take Gallipoli for an example, there were far more British and French soldiers theee alongside the ANZACs and the British and French suffered as much as the Aussies and Kiwis
+2
Level 20
Oct 18, 2017
I would say that the British betrayed those soldiers that they had subjugated in the past.
+4
Level 59
Nov 29, 2017
The British subjugated British, Australian and New Zealand soldiers? Eh?
+2
Level 20
Nov 30, 2017
yes, Indian and Malays and then used the Aussies and Kiwis as cannon fodder in WWI and WWII.
+8
Level 79
Jun 26, 2018
oh dear, what utter nonsense. They served and died side by side. Among the people who actually served there was a lot of mutual respect and admiration between the commonwealth forces. There are loads of memorials and tributes here in the UK for commonwealth soldiers - with a new statue about to go up in Birmingham dedicated to Sikh soldiers. You should check this stuff before posting such rubbish.
+2
Level 79
Sep 16, 2020
In Malaysia (where I come from) there are lots of memorials commemorating the liberation of Malaya by British and Commonwealth forces.
+1
Level 43
Jul 11, 2016
Paris isn't an important city of WWII ????
+18
Level 71
Oct 28, 2016
I agree, it wasn't.
+1
Level 64
Mar 29, 2022
I mean the Germans almost blew it up
+1
Level 72
Oct 20, 2023
Neither was Tokyo.
+6
Level 59
Jun 20, 2017
Do you really think that this quiz is *the* definitive list of all important cities of the war?
+8
Level 20
Oct 18, 2017
Not really. It wasn't bombed, it did not have a famous trial there or it wasn't part of the Vichy govt. Other than both sides in the conflict just passing through and having fun with the women there wasn't much else going on there.
+2
Level 82
Sep 14, 2020
Adolf Hitler told his general Dietrich von Choltitz he should burn Paris to the ground before capitulating, I think some bombs were ready to blow up monuments and bridges. Choltitz refused to obey and left the city untouched. Which makes the most important happening in Paris's modern history a non-event.
+2
Level 84
Sep 14, 2020
Eisenhower didn't think so. He believed it held no strategic importance. It would be a headache to liberate and supply the city. And it would hand power to DeGaulle, who wasn't exactly popular at SHAEF. The French resistance rose up and the 2nd French Armored had scrounged enough fuel to reach Paris, so his hand was forced.
+3
Level 56
Mar 15, 2017
I kept trying variations of Alamogordo.
+2
Level 73
Jul 15, 2017
Same, and I thought Potsdam had two t's.
+4
Level 56
Oct 17, 2017
No, that is Pottstown.
+2
Level 62
Sep 14, 2020
Potsdam is a real city in Germany, look it up.
+4
Level 52
Nov 29, 2017
I was expecting Leningrad, tried it first, then gave up.
+3
Level 59
Dec 1, 2017
?
+3
Level 75
Sep 14, 2020
Worth at least reading one or two of the clues before throwing in the towel no?
+6
Level 47
Nov 30, 2017
You can try googling Bletchley Park... I won't spoil what will come out.
+5
Level 35
Sep 14, 2020
Just looked it up and i'm having a good chuckle, thank you.
+5
Level 72
Nov 12, 2020
That's really cool! Thanks for sharing!
+2
Level 37
Dec 11, 2017
"Name the cities that were important in WWII" (Not "to" WWII, or "leading up to" WWII, but IN WWII)
+3
Level 82
Dec 8, 2018
These events remained important during WW2.
+7
Level 53
Apr 25, 2018
The most tragical city of WWII - Warsaw, Poland. Definitelly. That was very important city, similar than Gdańsk, which was firstly attacked.
+4
Level 62
Sep 14, 2020
Firstly attacked was Wielun. Eventually Tczew
+3
Level 70
Oct 9, 2018
Although the question is perfectly understandable, one might argue that the Nazis actually did capture Stalingrad. At least, according to Wikipedia, they captured 90% of the city and the Russians only held a few outskirts. However, as the Nazis were too focused on capturing the city itself, they got themselves surrounded and lost a complete army in the end.
+2
Level 74
Nov 11, 2023
What would one gain by arguing that? Seems like a waste of breath.
+2
Level 68
Apr 9, 2019
Singapore isn't a city - it's a COUNTRY.
+4
Level 47
Oct 23, 2019
singapore was a city in British Malaya at the time
+12
Level 85
Dec 6, 2019
Everyone knows Singapore is a country. MOST people know it's also a city.
+5
Level 49
Sep 14, 2020
Singapore didn't become a country until 1965. In 1942 it was still a crown colony and part of a broader entity referred to either as the Straits Settlements and/or Malaya (the former being legally correct but the latter used fir greater ease).
+3
Level 76
Jul 18, 2019
You guys are taking this quiz kind of seriously.
+3
Level 68
Sep 14, 2020
the quiz is too british centric.

noone cares about bletchley noone has heard of it outside uk

+7
Level 49
Sep 14, 2020
I presume you're being sarcastic? It's one of only two UK answers, and the cracking of the Enigma code was a fundamental element in the Allied victory.
+5
Level 85
Jan 29, 2022
The play Breaking the Code starring Derek Jacobi and the film The Imitation Game starring Benedict Cumberbatch have both been seen outside of the UK. So your statement is false.

However, as an American who is very familiar with Bletchley Park, I am delighted to see someone else get the brunt of one of these ignorant "Too _____-centric" comments for a change.

+1
Level 66
Jan 29, 2023
You say that, and I agree to an extent, but the Cities by Letter series is horribly USA-centric.

You have like the 2nd biggest city in North Carolina (USA) amongst some of the largest or most historic cities in the world.

+4
Level 72
Sep 14, 2020
The Manhattan Project clue is sort of misleading. 1. Los Alamos was not a city. 2. The project started with the principal location in New York City, thus the name of the project, at 270 Broadway, on the 18th floor of the building. Later, the primary activity of the project shifted to a location at Oak Ridge, TN; however, there was no city there. The town of Oak Ridge resulted from the boom in activity from the project. Prior to that, Oak Ridge was a rural area. Following that, "Project Y" began at Los Alamos Ranch, another rural location (not a city), involved in completing and testing the bomb that resulted from the Manhattan Project. So, the correct answer to "Which important city was the principal location of the Manhattan Project" is "New York, NY, USA".
+2
Level 72
Sep 14, 2020
I'm not British and I know about Bletchley Park, except I spelled it without the t. Quizmaster, maybe a little flexibility on spelling for this one?
+4
Level 65
Sep 14, 2020
Well, as we are talking about important cities in WW2, I'm wondering why we are mentioning Amsterdam and especially with this definition.

I understand Anne Frank's story is sad and symbolic but does it make Amsterdam an important city regarding WW2's events?

Other cities, like Gdańsk (where basically the war started) should be mentioned instead

+6
Level 58
Jun 9, 2021
Why is the Warsaw uprising in ""?
+2
Level 45
Dec 30, 2021
I was wondering about it too. I find it disrespectful - the events of 1944 in Poland, and particularly in Warsaw definitely deserve to be referred to as an uprising, the scale of all the actions against German troops was big, we can almost say the whole society was engaged.
+2
Level 67
Sep 14, 2023
Should've remembered Los Alamos from Oppenheimer
+1
Level 22
Feb 26, 2024
Well, l am shocked. I consider myself an expert in WWII and get only two-thirds of this quiz correct! Missing out on "Vichy" France is unforgivable, but l also raise serious doubt as to the validity of the answer for the Manhattan Project (its origin is definitely in the name) as defined, as Los Alamos is definitely not a city.