Verdun Intercept Site Exhibit

Army cryptologists first went to the field during World War I. This site is a mock-up of the World War I Verdun intercept site in France, built by NSA craftsmen based on the two extant pictures of the original shack.

Although signals intelligence was in its infancy, information was gained from direction finding, radio intercept, and decryption, and was used for tactical planning by the American Expeditionary Forces. Just as American combat troops in the "Great War" frequently had to fight with foreign equipment, their intercept activities also were conducted with foreign equipment: in this case, the radios are of French manufacture.