1. It was home to a nuclear bomb factory.
   The city had symbolic importance.
2. Hitler didn't care about Stalingrad.

Stalingrad bore the name of the country's leader, Joseph Stalin. Hitler knew that capturing the city would be a major blow to the country's morale … so he set out to bring Stalingrad to heel.

1. True
2. False

At Stalingrad, the Soviets decided to make a stand against the Nazis ... and the Germans were determined to take the city. Millions of soldiers collided, and the siege became what is often called the biggest battle of the war.

1. Siege of Tokyo
   Siege of Leningrad
2. Siege of Washington

In September 1941, the Germans surrounded the Soviet city of Leningrad. The resulting siege lasted 872 days, making it one of the longest in recorded history.

1. more than 500,000
   more than 3 million
2. more than 14 million

Leningrad was a huge city, particularly by 1940s standards. Well over 3 million people lived there, all agonizing about the approaching German army.

1. Turn the city into a fortress.
   Turn the city into an amusement park.
2. Set the city on fire.

Hitler sent his own civilians running for their lives, and he turned the city of Breslau into a fortress. But this "fortress" was manned by many very young and very old soldiers incapable of withstanding Allied forces.

1. 82 days
   8 months
2. 2 years

Soviet troops surrounded Breslau and began a siege that lasted for 82 days. About 80,000 German civilians died during the siege.

1. Soviets
   Americans
2. Germans

As the Soviets moved toward Berlin, the Germans rushed to defend Budapest, even though the Hungarians wanted nothing to do with more fighting. Sadly, things were about to get much worse for the locals.

1. He was going to let them flee.
   He was going to kill them all.
2. He was going to evacuate them.

Hitler wanted no part of dealing with the civilians of Leningrad. He figured it would just be easier to kill of them once the siege was over or push them into captivity in the countryside.

1. about a week
   about a year
2. six months

It didn't take long for the Nazis to surround Leningrad. After only a week, the city was completely cut off from the outside world … and would continue to be isolated for nearly two and a half years.

1. about 4,000
   about 40,000
2. about 1 million

Every day, hundreds of civilians were killed. In just 50 days, about 40,000 residents of Budapest died, either from bullets or lack of nutrition.

1. Battle of Iwo Jima
   Battle of Bull Run
2. Battle of the Bulge

In late 1944, the Germans made one last, desperate offensive, creating a "bulge" in the front lines. The Battle of the Bulge resulted in the Siege of Bastogne, a town that was stubbornly held by American troops.

1. about 1,000
   about 100,000
2. about 800,000

Panic gripped the innocents of Breslau during an ill-fated evacuation of the city. About 100,000 died just trying to get away, many freezing to death in the winter's extreme cold.

1. It was merely a symbolic city.
   It was an industrial center.
2. It was no more important than other Soviet cities.

Leningrad was a sprawling city filled with factories. More than 10% of the USSR's industrial output was based in Leningrad.

1. immediately evacuated
   began fortifying the city
2. broke down in tears

The Soviets knew the Germans were coming, so they sounded the alarm. Soon, 1 million city residents were working to fortify the city in an effort to make it harder for the Germans to invade.

1. about 20
   about 100
2. about 450

The Germans desperately pressed the Americans, but to no avail. They suffered incredible numbers of casualties and lost 450 tanks in just a week.

1. Increase artillery bombardments and wait for reinforcements.
   Fight to the death.
2. Run for your lives!

It would have been easy for the Germans to back up a few miles and gather themselves. Instead, Hitler told his men to fight to the death, a decision that would ultimately cost him an army.

1. about 2 million
   about 200,000
2. about 20,000

The Soviets never gave up at Stalingrad, but by the end of the siege they were decimated. They suffered about 2 million total casualties, making it one of the bloodiest battles in history

1. the Road of Life
   the Autobahn of Atrocities
2. the Highway to Hell

The Soviets began ferrying people and supplies across Lake Lagoda, using boats in the summer and trucks in the winter. They called this route the Road of Life … and in darker days, the Road of Death.

1. True
2. False

In early 1943, the Soviets finally managed to push through one narrow area near Leningrad, allowing them to move a few things in and out of the city. But the siege was by no means over, and in the meantime both troops and civilians were starving to death.

1. Reinforcements arrived.
   The Americans surrendered.
2. The Germans overran the American positions.

As the 101st languished under siege, General Patton and his Third Army rode in to the rescue. The siege was broken, and the men of the 101st sighed with relief … until they received their orders to chase the Germans down.

1. True
2. False

The "fortress" of Breslau withstood Soviet assaults but finally fell after an 82-day siege. It was the final major German city to surrender, and it did so just two days before the end of the war.

1. Libya
   India
2. France

Axis forces invaded North Africa and set siege to Tobruk, Libya in 1941. For nearly a year, Australian forces desperately clung to the city to deny the Nazis the use of the city's strategic port.

1. Desert Kings
   Rats of Tobruk
2. Tobruk's Heroes

German propaganda radio labeled the Australian defenders the "Rats of Tobruk." The men there took the insult as a badge of honor and began calling themselves "rats."

1. remarkably warm
   terribly cold
2. rainy

As the siege settled into place, the temperatures plummeted, eventually turning into one of the worst winters in memory. Starving Soviets burned books and other belongings just to stay alive. And just when things couldn't much worse ... they did.

1. They ate people.
   They ate furniture.
2. They all died.

In Leningrad, the desperation of starvation turned into a nightmare, and cannibalism took hold. The police department formed special groups that patrolled specifically to stop humans from eating other humans.

1. He was helping the Soviets.
   He tried to flee the city.
2. He ate an old woman.

Breslau's deputy minister, Wolfgang Spielhagen, was shot by Nazi troops. Why? Because he knew the city was going to fall to the Soviets, and he tried to flee with his family. He was branded a coward and executed by firing squad.

1. It grew all of the food for the Soviet army.
   It made most of the bullets for the Allies.
2. It had a major port.

Sevastopol had a major sea port, and the Nazis wanted to control it. The Soviets were equally determined to keep the port and its vital waterways out of German hands.

1. True
2. False

For more than eight months, the Soviets kept the Germans out of Sevastopol. But relentless Nazi assaults finally won the day, and the Soviets were defeated after suffering more than 300,000 casualties.

1. about 1 million
   9,000
2. just a handful

In the fog of war, Soviet officials didn't really develop a plan to evacuate civilians from Leningrad. About 1 million innocents eventually fled the city … but many of them were killed by the Germans as they tried to escape.

1. about 50,000
   about 100,000
2. about 1 million

By the time the Germans fled the scene, the damage had been done. Leningrad was a wasteland where more than 1 million civilians had perished. It was perhaps the worst siege the world had ever seen.