Marsala Marsala, beginning the process of Italian unification. On 11 May 1943, in the lead-up to the World War II Allied invasion of Sicily, an Allied bombardment of the town permanently damaged its Baroque centre and claimed many victims: "Marsala Wiped Off the Map" titled the New York Times on 13 May 1943. The archaeological area of Marsala has been investigated both through excavations and topographic studies. Lilybaeum, the ancient town, took up a rectangular area on Capo Boeo, a low and rocky promontory sloping gently down towards the sea. The urban layout of the town can be dated back to
Fortified Sector of the Jura Fortified Sector of the Jura The Fortified Sector of the Jura ("Secteur Fortifiée du Jura") was the French military organization that in 1940 controlled the French frontier with Switzerland in the general area of Besançon. The area was lightly fortified, since the Swiss border was regarded as a low-risk frontier, save for the possibility of an advance from Germany through Switzerland into France. The Jura Mountains and the Doubs River presented natural barriers to invasion, allowing defenses to concentrate on a few points of potential access. The SF Jura was bordered on the east by the Fortified Sector of Montbéliard.