Description
In January 1942, Nazi submarines launched Operation Paukenschlag, or “Drumbeat,” a campaign to defeat the United States on its own shores. Even as u-boats attacked Allied ships, cities from Boston to Galveston refused to impose blackouts, creating a neon shooting gallery along the East Coast and into the Caribbean. Vessels backlit by the onshore lights were easy targets. By that summer, U.S. General George Marshall warned that the German attacks were so serious that they “threaten our entire war effort.”