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Challenge #23

These are the ten questions from War Dossier daily challenge #23, of 15 October 2026, with the correct answer and an explanation for each. Today's challenge is a different one and it is free to play.

What British tank appears in the photograph, belonging to a division that crossed the Weser river in April 1945?
Credit: Sgt Laing, No 5 Army Film and Photographic Unit (IWM BU 3202) · Licence: PD-UKGov (Crown Copyright expirado) · View at original source

The dossier entry: Comet, el mejor británico de la guerra

Designated A34, the Comet featured a high-velocity 77 mm gun able to fire the same ammunition as the 17-pounder with a lighter charge suited to its smaller turret. The British 11th Armoured Division received the first examples in December 1944, but the German Ardennes offensive delayed its combat debut until the spring of 1945. Considered by many historians the best British design of the war, about 1,200 units were built and it served as a stopgap until the arrival of the Centurion.

Challenge answers

1 / 10

What British tank appears in the photograph, belonging to a division that crossed the Weser river in April 1945?

  • The Comet
  • The Cromwell
  • The Churchill
  • The Crusader

It is a Comet of the British 11th Armoured Division, photographed at the Weser bridgehead in April 1945.

2 / 10

Which element of the Battle of Tarawa still keeps bunkers and guns from 1943 today?

  • Betio
  • David Shoup
  • Keiji Shibasaki
  • Robert Sherrod

Betio is the place that keeps the relics; Shoup, Shibasaki and Sherrod are people of the battle.

3 / 10

Which navy bore the main responsibility for escorting the Axis convoys to Libya?

  • The Italian Regia Marina
  • The German Kriegsmarine
  • The Royal Navy
  • The French Marine nationale

Escort duty fell mainly to Italian cruisers and destroyers.

4 / 10

In what year was the first Liberty ship, the SS Patrick Henry, launched?

  • 1941
  • 1939
  • 1943
  • 1944

It was launched in September 1941, even before the US had entered the war.

5 / 10

What was the main strategic objective of the combined attacks on the German aircraft industry known as Big Week?

  • Destroy fighter production capacity and force the Luftwaffe into combat
  • Cut off the oil supply to German armoured units
  • Destroy the dams that supplied power to Ruhr industry
  • Mark night targets for the main bomber stream

The goal was to weaken German fighter production and wear down its pilots before the Allied Normandy landings took place.

6 / 10

What design tradeoff explains the M18 Hellcat's thin protection (armor of only 12 to 25mm)?

  • Armor was sacrificed for speed and mobility
  • Armor was sacrificed to carry two main guns
  • Armor was sacrificed so it could fly like an autogyro
  • Armor was sacrificed to cut production cost and speed up assembly

American tank destroyer doctrine prioritized mobility and ambush capability over frontal resilience, so the M18 sacrificed nearly all its armor to achieve a speed of 89 km/h, the highest of any tracked vehicle of the war.

7 / 10

At which research center was the A-4/V-2 rocket originally developed before mass production was moved to underground facilities?

  • Peenemünde
  • Mittelwerk
  • Kummersdorf
  • Blizna

The V-2 was developed at the Peenemünde Army Research Center before production was moved to Mittelwerk after the 1943 bombing raids.

8 / 10

What was unique about the Panzer IV throughout the whole war compared to other German tanks?

  • It was the only German tank kept in production for the entire conflict
  • It was the only one that never fought on the Eastern Front
  • It was the only one originally designed by France
  • It was the only German tank fitted as standard with a diesel engine

It was the only German tank kept in production from the start of the war to the end, evolving from a short support gun to a long anti-tank gun.

9 / 10

What was the approximate weight of the shell fired by the 40 mm Bofors?

  • 0.9 kg
  • 5 kg
  • 15 kg
  • 0.1 kg

Each 40 mm shell weighed about 0.9 kg, fired at a muzzle velocity of between 850 and 880 m/s, enough to bring down aircraft at low and medium altitude.

10 / 10

Which British organization defined ten properties that an 'ideal' invisible ink should have?

  • The SOE (Special Operations Executive)
  • MI5
  • The RAF
  • The British Admiralty

The SOE defined ten ideal properties for invisible ink, including not producing an odour, not reacting with common detection reagents, and being easy to obtain in the field.

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