General Walter Bedell Smith

Savagery at Salerno

By Michael E. Haskew

As the 450 ships of the Operation Avalanche invasion force approached Salerno on the evening of September 8, 1943, the Allied troops, packed tightly aboard transport vessels, broke into wild celebration. Read more

General Walter Bedell Smith

Opening the Venona Files

By Peter Kross

On February 1, 1943, a group called the U.S. Army Signal Intelligence Service, the forerunner of the modern-day National Security Agency (NSA), began a project to intercept and analyze diplomatic signal traffic sent by an ally of the United States: the Soviet Union. Read more

From Around the Network

  • Following an extensive modernization, the battleship HMS Warspite sails past the battlecruiser HMS Hood at Grand Harbor, Valletta, Malta, in 1938. The tiny Mediterranean island became a bastion of British resistance to the Nazis during World War II as aircraft and submarines attacked German supply convoys bound for North Africa. However, the Maltese endured heavy bombing and reached the brink of starvation in the process.

    WWII

    Malta: Bastion in the Mediterranean
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  • Female Spies like Virginia Hall, Amy Thorpe and Barbara Lauwers were large supporters of the Allied war efforts, and some of the most important women in World War 2.

    WWII

    ‪Important Women in World War 2: Female Spies
    Read More