HEADLINE: An island offensive was risky. Luckily, the Navy had a secret weapon. Bulldozers.
LEAD-IN COPY: Island after island, the plan of attack was the same. Navy ships would bomb the beach. Marines would hit it. And Seabees would turn it into an airfield. Or a harbor. Or a hospital. In fact, with a little ingenuity, a lot of sweat, and a bulldozer or two, there wasn’t much the guys whose motto was “can do” couldn’t do.
HEADLINE: Now there was only one thing standing between them and victory. Really big shrubs.
LEAD-IN COPY: After the swift D-Day invasion of the Normandy coast, it seemed the beginning of the end of the war was at hand. Weeks into the battle, though, the Allies were only a few miles from the beach. Sure, the Germans were mounting a tough resistance. But the hedgerows were tougher.
HEADLINE: Sick pig box, sheep pain and our mother. Or how a secret code helped the Allies win the war.
LEAD-IN COPY: To break the Germans’ secret code, the British used one of the first computers. To crack Japan’s code, the Americans used a decoding machine and some brilliant interpretive work. But perhaps the most notable victory in the Second World War’s secret war involved the Navajos.
