Ruth M. Briggs Papers. 1942 - 1945. Photographs

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Ruth M. Briggs Papers. 1942 - 1945. Photographs

1942-1945

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/722067

Ruth M. Briggs compiled this series of photographs while serving as secretary to Chief of Staff of the Supreme Allied Commander, Walter Bedell Smith, during World War II. It contains photographs of the facilities and personnel attached to the Allied Force Headquarters and to the Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force. There are photographs of the Combined Chiefs of Staff engaged in planning for the Normandy Invasion. In the performance of her duties, Briggs also had the opportunity to obtain photographs of high-level political and military personnel. Among those depicted are Dwight D. Eisenhower, Trafford Leigh-Mallory, Carl "Tooey" Spaatz, Bernard Law Montgomery, Arthur William Tedder, Omar Nelson Bradley, Sir Winston Churchill, Henry Harley "Hap" Arnold, Ira Eaker, Charles de Gaulle, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, George S. Patton, and Mark W. Clark. She accompanied her boss to meetings such as the Cairo Conference and the Casablanca Conference. There are also photographs of significant military capitulations, including the signing of the Italian armistice, the German surrender at Reims, and the signing of surrender terms in Berlin. After the Allied victory a Congressional committee traveled to Europe to investigate Nazi atrocities. Included in this series are images of the committee visiting concentration camps where they viewed the ovens, barracks, and burial pits. There are also images of the suffering of unidentified European civilians, primarily children and the elderly. A significant portion of the series includes photographs of military action, including the North African campaign, the Sicilian campaign, and locations elsewhere in Italy. There are photographs of troops in transports and discharging from landing craft. There are also images of aerial reconnaissance and bombing missions. Photographs of captured German and Italian troops and equipment are also included. There are a few images of V-1 bombs in flight.

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Dwight D. Eisenhower Library

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SNAC Resource ID: 6499592

Dwight D. Eisenhower Library

Related Entities

There are 16 Entities related to this resource.

Eisenhower, Dwight D. (Dwight David), 1890-1969

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6k17x25 (person)

Dwight David Eisenhower (1890-1969) was leader of the Allied forces in Europe in World War II, commander of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), and the thirty-fourth president of the United States, from January 20, 1953, to January 20, 1961. Eisenhower was born on October 14, 1890, in Denison, Texas, the third son of David Jacob Eisenhower, a railroad worker, and Ida Elizabeth Stover. In 1891, the family moved to Abilene, Kansas, where David accepted a job at a local creamery run by ...

Spaatz, Carl, 1891-1974

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w62k72cq (person)

Carl Andrew Spaatz (born Spatz; June 28, 1891 – July 14, 1974), nicknamed "Tooey", was an American World War II general. As commander of Strategic Air Forces in Europe in 1944, he successfully pressed for the bombing of the enemy's oil production facilities as a priority over other targets. He became Chief of Staff of the newly formed United States Air Force in 1947. Spaatz retired with the rank of general on June 30, 1948. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, Distinguished Servic...

Bradley, Omar Nelson, 1893-1981

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w65822fj (person)

Omar Nelson Bradley (February 12, 1893 – April 8, 1981) was a senior officer of the United States Army during and after World War II, holding the rank of General of the Army. Bradley was the first Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and oversaw the U.S. military's policy-making in the Korean War. Born in Randolph County, Missouri, Bradley worked as a boilermaker before entering the United States Military Academy at West Point. He graduated from the academy in 1915 alongside Dwight D. Eisenh...

Arnold, Henry Harley, 1886-1950

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6n699qb (person)

Henry Harley "Hap" Arnold (June 25, 1886 – January 15, 1950) was an American general officer holding the ranks of General of the Army and General of the Air Force. Arnold was an aviation pioneer, Chief of the Air Corps (1938–1941), Commanding General of the U.S. Army Air Forces, the only U.S. Air Force general to hold five-star rank, and the only officer to hold a five-star rank in two different U.S. military services. Arnold was also the founder of Project RAND, which evolved into one of the wo...

Briggs, Ruth M., 1911-1985

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6qz572p (person)

Lieutenant Colonel Ruth M. Briggs (1911?-1985) was on of the first women sent abroad as an officer in World War II. She arrived in England in November 1942 as a part of the first contingent of the Women's Army Corps to go overseas. She was secretary to Lieutenant General Walter Bedell Smith, Chief of Staff for General Dwight D. Eisenhower at Supreme Allied Headquarters. Briggs was a native of Hopkinton, Rhode Island, and attended Coker College in Hartsville, South Carolina. She earned a master's...

Leigh-Mallory, Trafford, Sir, 1892-1944

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6gg61q3 (person)

Briggs, Ruth M., 1911-1985

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6qz572p (person)

Lieutenant Colonel Ruth M. Briggs (1911?-1985) was on of the first women sent abroad as an officer in World War II. She arrived in England in November 1942 as a part of the first contingent of the Women's Army Corps to go overseas. She was secretary to Lieutenant General Walter Bedell Smith, Chief of Staff for General Dwight D. Eisenhower at Supreme Allied Headquarters. Briggs was a native of Hopkinton, Rhode Island, and attended Coker College in Hartsville, South Carolina. She earned a master's...

Patton, George S. (George Smith), 1885-1945

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George Smith Patton Jr. (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945) was a general of the United States Army who commanded the Seventh United States Army in the Mediterranean theater of World War II, and the United States Army Central in France and Germany after the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944. Born in 1885, Patton attended the Virginia Military Institute and the United States Military Academy at West Point. He studied fencing and designed the M1913 Cavalry Saber, more commonly known ...

Clark, Mark Wayne, 1896-1984

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6t72zj6 (person)

Mark Wayne Clark (1896-1984) was born in Madison Barracks, New York. After he graduated from West Point in 1917, he commissioned in the infantry. During World War I, he became wounded in combat while commanding a battalion in France. He served with the War Department General Staff from 1921 to 1924. He graduated from the Command and General Staff School in 1935 and the Army War College two years later. Between 1940 and 1942, he served at General Headquarters and then Army Ground Forces. He rose ...

Gaulle, Charles de, 1890-1970

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Charles Gaulle (b. November 22, 1890, Lille, France-d. November 9, 1970, Colombey-les-Deux-Églises, France) was a French general, statesman, and veteran of World War I and World War II. He led the Free French Forces during World War II and later served as France's President, 1944-1945; Prime Minister, 1958-1959; and Minister of Defense, 1958-1959, before founding the French Fifth Republic and serving as its first president, 1959-1969. ...

Montgomery of Alamein, Bernard Law Montgomery, Viscount, 1887-1976

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6c2509v (person)

British army officer. From the description of Note of Bernard Law Montgomery, Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, 1943. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 79454594 ...

Churchill, Winston, 1874-1965

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6g26q0t (person)

Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was born at Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, on 30 November 1874. He was educated at Harrow and the Royal Military College at Sandhurst before joining the Army in 1895 and serving in India and Sudan. After leaving the Army in 1899, he worked as a war correspondent for the Morning Post and the following year was elected Conservative Member of Parliament for Oldham. In 1904, Churchill decided to join the Liberal Party, and in 1906, was elected Liberal MP f...

Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w61s7dgz (person)

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born on January 30, 1882, in Hyde Park, New York. He was the son of James (lawyer, financier) and Sara (Delano) Roosevelt. He married Anna Eleanor Roosevelt on March 17, 1905, and had six children: Anna, James, Franklin, Elliott, Franklin Jr., John. He received his B.A. from Harvard in 1904 and later attended Columbia University Law School. Roosevelt was admitted to the Bar in 1907 and worked for the Carter, Ledyard, and Milburn firm in New York City from 1907 to 19...

Smith, Walter Bedell, 1895-1961

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6p84xw4 (person)

Director, Central Intelligence Agency. From the description of Typed letter signed : Washington, D.C., to John Steinbeck, 1952 Feb. 6. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 775807446 From the description of Typed letter signed : Washington, D.C., to Bernard Baruch, 1951 Mar. 22. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 775806212 Walter Bedell Smith (1895-1961), soldier and diplomat, was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, the son of William Long Smith and Ida Frances Bedell, both buyers ...

Eaker, Ira, 1896-1987

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6gt61fz (person)

Air Force officer. From the description of Reminiscences of Ira Clarence Eaker : oral history, 1974. (Columbia University In the City of New York). WorldCat record id: 122451540 From the description of Reminiscences of Ira Clarence Eaker : oral history, 1959. (Columbia University In the City of New York). WorldCat record id: 86147461 U.S. Army officer, U.S. Air Force officer, aviation pioneer, aircraft industry executive, and newspaper columnist. From th...

Tedder, Arthur William Tedder, baron, b. 1890

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6fp798q (person)