World War 2
World War 2 – Railway GK Capsule
1. Introduction
- Global War: 1 Sep 1939 – 2 Sep 1945 (6 years & 1 day)
- Belligerents: Axis (Germany, Italy, Japan) vs Allies (UK, France, USSR, USA, China & 50+ nations)
- Trigger: Germany’s invasion of Poland (Blitzkrieg)
- Human Cost: ~70–85 million dead (≈ 3 % of 1940 world population)
- Economic Cost: ≈ US $1.5 trillion (1945 prices)
2. Timeline Snapshot (Must-Remember Dates)
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1 Sep 1939 | Germany invades Poland – WW2 begins |
| 3 Sep 1939 | Britain & France declare war on Germany |
| 10 Jun 1940 | Italy enters war; France falls (22 Jun) |
| 22 Jun 1941 | Operation Barbarossa – Germany invades USSR |
| 7 Dec 1941 | Pearl Harbor – USA enters war |
| 15 Feb 1942 | Fall of Singapore (largest British surrender) |
| 4 Jun 1942 | Battle of Midway – turning point in Pacific |
| 17 Jul 1942 | Battle of Stalingrad begins – turning point on Eastern Front |
| 6 Jun 1944 | D-Day – Allied landings in Normandy |
| 8 May 1945 | VE-Day – Germany surrenders |
| 6 Aug 1945 | Hiroshima atomic bombing (Little Boy) |
| 9 Aug 1945 | Nagasaki atomic bombing (Fat Man) |
| 2 Sep 1945 | VJ-Day – Japan signs surrender; WW2 ends |
3. Key Personalities
| Name | Country | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Adolf Hitler | Germany | Führer, Nazi Party |
| Benito Mussolini | Italy | Il Duce, Fascist Party |
| Emperor Hirohito | Japan | Constitutional monarch |
| Winston Churchill | UK | Prime Minister (1940-45) |
| Franklin D. Roosevelt | USA | President (1933-45) |
| Harry S. Truman | USA | President who ordered A-bombs |
| Joseph Stalin | USSR | Premier / Marshal |
| Chiang Kai-shek | China | KMT leader |
| Charles de Gaulle | France | Leader of Free French |
| Hideki Tojo | Japan | Prime Minister, General |
4. Important Battles & Theatres
| Battle / Operation | Year | Significance |
|---|---|---|
| Battle of Britain | 1940 | First major military campaign fought entirely by air force; RAF saved UK |
| Operation Barbarossa | 1941 | Largest land invasion in history; opened Eastern Front |
| Pearl Harbor | 1941 | Forced US entry; unified American public opinion |
| Battle of Stalingrad | 1942-43 | Bloodiest battle; German 6th Army surrendered; turning point |
| Battle of Midway | 1942 | US Navy broke Japanese carrier strength |
| Operation Overlord (D-Day) | 1944 | Largest seaborne invasion; opened 2nd front in Europe |
| Battle of Kohima & Imphal | 1944 | “Stalingrad of the East”; stopped Japan in India |
| Berlin Fall | 1945 | Hitler suicide; Germany surrendered |
5. War Conferences & Treaties
| Conference / Pact | Year | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact | Aug 1939 | Non-aggression + secret protocol to divide Poland |
| Atlantic Charter | Aug 1941 | FDR & Churchill outline post-war goals |
| Tehran Conference | Nov 1943 | Big-3 agree on opening 2nd front |
| Yalta Conference | Feb 1945 | Decide post-war Europe; UN seed |
| Potsdam Conference | Jul 1945 | Demand Japan’s unconditional surrender; confirm Germany’s 4-zone occupation |
| Nuremberg Trials | 1945-46 | War-crime trials; established international law precedent |
6. Technology & Facts
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| First jet fighter | Messerschmitt Me 262 (Germany) |
| First ballistic missile | V-2 Rocket (Wernher von Braun) |
| First computer used in war | Colossus (UK) – code-breaking at Bletchley Park |
| Enigma Machine | German cipher; broken by Alan Turing’s team |
| Atomic Bomb Project | Manhattan Project (Los Alamos, USA) |
| Tanks | Tiger, Panther (Ger); T-34 (USSR); Sherman (USA) |
| Radar | Invented by UK & deployed for air defence |
| Liberty Ships | USA mass-produced cargo ships (record: 4 days 15 hours) |
7. India & WW2
- Troop Contribution: 2.5 million soldiers – largest volunteer army in history
- Financial Contribution: ₹ 2.5 billion (1940-45)
- Important Campaigns: North Africa, Italy, Burma, Kohima-Imphal
- Subhas Chandra Bose: Formed INA (Indian National Army) & Azad Hind Government (21 Oct 1943, Singapore)
- Quit India Movement: Launched 8 Aug 1942; Churchill refused immediate independence
8. Casualties & Genocide
| Country | Military Deaths | Civilian Deaths | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| USSR | 8.7 m | 13.7 m | ~22 m |
| China | 3.5 m | 12 m | ~15.5 m |
| Germany | 5.5 m | 2 m | ~7.5 m |
| Poland | 0.24 m | 5.6 m | ~5.8 m |
| Japan | 2.1 m | 0.8 m | ~2.9 m |
| India (UK crown) | 0.087 m | 2 m (famine) | ~2.1 m |
| USA | 0.42 m | 0.001 m | ~0.42 m |
- Holocaust: Systematic murder of 6 million Jews + 5 million others (Roma, disabled, Slavs, etc.)
- Hiroshima: 80,000 killed instantly; total by 1945-end ≈ 1.4 lakh
- Nagasaki: 40,000 killed instantly; total ≈ 70,000
9. Quick-Reference Tables
Table-1: Allied vs Axis Powers (Major)
| Allied Powers | Axis Powers |
|---|---|
| UK, France (till 1940), USSR (from 1941), USA (from 1941), China, Canada, Australia, India, Poland, Brazil (from 1942) | Germany, Italy (till 1943), Japan, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Finland (co-belligerent), Slovakia |
Table-2: Nick-Names & Code Words
| Term / Code | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Blitz | German air raids on Britain (1940-41) |
| Operation Sea Lion | Planned German invasion of Britain (never executed) |
| Operation Torch | Allied invasion of North Africa (Nov 1942) |
| Operation Market Garden | Failed airborne invasion of Netherlands (Sep 1944) |
| Operation Varsity | Largest airborne drop over Rhine (Mar 1945) |
| Enola Gay | B-29 bomber that dropped Hiroshima bomb |
| Little Boy | Uranium gun-type bomb on Hiroshima |
| Fat Man | Plutonium implosion bomb on Nagasaki |
10. One-Liner Revision Facts
- WW2 lasted 2,194 days.
- 1st September 1939 = Friday; 2nd September 1945 = Sunday.
- Swastika flag of Nazis had red background, white circle & black hooked cross.
- “Big-3” at Yalta: Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin.
- Only Axis country to surrender before May 1945: Italy (3 Sep 1943).
- Largest tank battle: Battle of Kursk (Jul 1943).
- Only time US territory invaded: Aleutian Islands (Alaska) by Japan (1942-43).
- UN was officially born 24 Oct 1945 (ratification date).
- Nuremberg Laws (1935) stripped Jews of German citizenship.
- Bengal Famine (1943) killed ~3 million; linked to rice export disruption & Japanese occupation of Burma.
- Indian Army Victoria Cross winners in WW2: 17.
- First Indian Admiral: Ram Dass Katari – served in WW2.
- Railway usage: German Holocaust trains transported 3 million to camps; Indian Railways moved 2 million troops.
- War Medal 1939-45 awarded to every Indian soldier who served > 28 days.
Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)
Click to view 15 MCQs with answers
Q1. World War 2 started with Germany’s invasion of which country?
A. Czechoslovakia
B. Austria
C. Poland
D. Belgium
Answer: C
Q2. Which battle is called the “Turning point” on the Eastern Front?
A. Kursk
B. Stalingrad
C. Leningrad
D. Moscow
Answer: B
Q3. The code-name for Allied invasion of Normandy was:
A. Operation Torch
B. Operation Overlord
C. Operation Sea Lion
D. Operation Barbarossa
Answer: B
Q4. Pearl Harbor is located in which US state?
A. California
B. Florida
C. Hawaii
D. Alaska
Answer: C
Q5. Who was the Prime Minister of Britain at the end of WW2?
A. Neville Chamberlain
B. Winston Churchill
C. Clement Attlee
D. Harold Macmillan
Answer: B (Churchill till Jul 1945; Attlee after election, but war ended under Churchill)
Q6. The atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki was nick-named:
A. Little Boy
B. Fat Man
C. Thin Man
D. Trinity
Answer: B
Q7. INA was formed originally under which leader?
A. Subhas Chandra Bose
B. Mohan Singh
C. Rash Behari Bose
D. Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon
Answer: B
Q8. Which country suffered the highest number of total casualties (military + civilian) in WW2?
A. Germany
B. Poland
C. China
D. USSR
Answer: D
Q9. The conference that decided to open a second front in Europe was:
A. Yalta
B. Tehran
C. Potsdam
D. Casablanca
Answer: B
Q10. V-E Day is celebrated on:
A. 5 Jun 1945
B. 8 May 1945
C. 15 Aug 1945
D. 2 Sep 1945
Answer: B
Q11. The German parliament building set on fire in 1933, blamed on communists, was:
A. Brandenburg Gate
B. Reichstag
C. Bundestag
D. Berlin Palace
Answer: B
Q12. Which Indian city witnessed the farthest point of Japanese advance on mainland India?
A. Imphal
B. Kohima
C. Dimapur
D. Agartala
Answer: B
Q13. The plane that dropped the first atomic bomb was named:
A. Bockscar
B. Enola Gay
C. Memphis Belle
D. Spirit of St. Louis
Answer: B
Q14. The acronym “UN” was first coined in which document?
A. Atlantic Charter
B. Declaration by United Nations, 1 Jan 1942
C. San Francisco Charter
D. Treaty of Versailles
Answer: B
Q15. Which Axis power was the last to surrender?
A. Germany
B. Italy
C. Japan
D. Hungary
Answer: C
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