The First French Army quickly surrounded Marseille and Toulon. On 15 August 1944, Allied forces carried out Operation Dragoon, a set of simultaneous amphibious landings by three US infantry divisions followed by four Free French divisions along the Mediterranean coast of France. This formation included a British parachute infantry battalion, the only British ground unit taking part in Dragoon. military wiki fandom. [38][39] French troops had been pouring ashore since 16August, passing to the left of the American troops with the objective of Toulon and Marseille. The subsequent German counter-attack gained some ground against the hills occupied by the Allies. Chief of Naval Operations Aerology Section, The Invasion of Southern France: Aerology and Amphibious Warfare (NAVAER 50-30T-8). Washington, DC, January 1945. After Operation Cobra and Operation Dragoon, the Allied advance slowed almost to a halt in September due to a critical lack of supplies. By July 1944 the landing was reconsidered, as the clogged-up ports in Normandy did not have the capacity to adequately supply the Allied forces. The Allied 45th and 3rdDivisions, as well as the 11thPanzer Division, were racing north to fulfill their objectives. Meanwhile, the Germans also struggled to bring the 11thPanzer Division through the chaos of the evacuation into position in the town. After meeting with the Allied units from the American Third Army, the Allied forces were in need of reorganizing and, facing stiffened German resistance, the offensive was halted on 14September. Further delays ensued after the difficult amphibious landings at Anzio in January 1944. The American component being the largest, consisted of the air dropped Mission Albatross, followed by the Glider born Mission Dove. Albin Dearing2 Regimental S-3 : Maj. Forest S. Paxton3 While they did not have to fight the Western Allies as much as the Germans had done at the Rhne, they still had to advance through French partisan-dominated terrain. Hindered by Allied air supremacy and a large-scale uprising by the French Resistance, the weak German forces were swiftly defeated. During the Second World War, Operation Clipper was an Allied offensive by the British XXX Corps (which included the American 84th Infantry Division) to reduce the Geilenkirchen salient in mid-November 1944. French commandos were to capture key German coastal batteries in the Camel and Alpha sectors. In Memoriam; Veterans; Histoire; Waco CG4A parts; Muse virtuel; History. Advancing inland, Allied troops relieved the airborne at Le Muy the next day. [55], Through the decryption of German radio communications, the Allied headquarters became aware of the German withdrawal plan. Due to shipping issues because of the need to continue to supply the Allied beachhead at Anzio, Anvil got squeezed out of Allied plans. In addition to the commando operations, another operation was carried out, named Operation Span. By doing so, LXXXVCorps, as well as IVLuftwaffe Field Corps, were able to successfully retreat from the Allied advance at the Rhne. Thereafter, large quantities of supplies could be moved north to ease the supply situation. [59][61], After the repeated German counterattacks prevented any lasting roadblock, Truscott finally allowed reinforcements from the 45thDivision to support Dahlquist at Montlimar, as he felt the successful operations further south at the French ports allowed him to refocus to the north. Churchill worked to cancel the operation. To do so is a mistake, because closer examination of the operation reveals the complex ways that Allied relations functioned and became strained during the penultimate year of the war, and how those problems persisted in postwar writing about the operation. These missions were conducted with steadily increasing intensity as of mid-May, with care taken not to give the Germans any indications of linkage between specific targets and impending landing operations. [76] Antony Beevor comments, "The landings in the south of France prompted a rapid German withdrawal and thus reduced the damage and suffering done to France. The ports of Normandy were overwhelmed handling the cargo to support the Overlord invasion forces and another high-capacity port closer to the German frontier was vital if more men and supplies were to be delivered to the continent. Learning from experiences in Normandy, planners selected landing areas that were devoid of enemy-controlled high ground. Initially conceived as Operation Anvil, Operation Dragoon called for the invasion of southern France. The southern invasion (now "Operation Dragoon") was planned for August 1944, and all airborne forces were allocated to a new unit formed on 11 July 1944 as the Seventh Army Airborne Division (Provisional). The British concerns about the Italian theater had limited the number of Allied ground forces, but the ably commanded naval and air forces involvedand German unpreparedness and disarrayhad contributed to a surprisingly rapid battlefield success that achieved all of its tactical and strategic objectives in a minimum amount of time. World War II in Europe began with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany in September 1939. For the rest of the day, only small skirmishes occurred between German and Allied forces. [13] Churchill reasoned that by attacking the Balkans, the Allies could deny Germany petroleum, forestall the advance of the Red Army, and achieve a superior negotiating position in postwar Europe, all at a stroke. [38][40][41], The German Navy's response was minimal. Originally called Operation Anvil, these landings had been intended to take place at the same time as the Normandy landings of Operation Overlord, commonly called D-Day, but were postponed because the necessary shipping was committed to the Normandy operation. The First Airborne Task Force Airborne Landing / Opration aroporte 7th ARMY US La 7me arme Amricaine VI CORPS Likewise, engagement by the already weak German naval forces in the Mediterranean was minor. Both cities fell to the French on August 28, a full month earlier than anticipated. Allied paratroopers interrupted his communication lines and trapped his headquarters in the city. The Allies struck back and retook the hills north of Montlimar, and were able to establish a temporary roadblock on the German escape route. Overwhelming the garrisons on Port-Cros and Levant, they secured both islands. As the Allies advanced into France, the Resistance evolved from a guerilla fighting force to a semiorganized army called French Forces of the Interior (FFI). He intended to establish a new defense line at Dijon in central France. The commanding officers on August 15, 1944 are mentioned below their unit. The pursuit of Blaskowitz ended shortly thereafter when the remnants of Army Group G assumed a position in the Vosges Mountains. Robert B. Pearce Regimental S-2 : Capt. The 3rd Infantry Division landed on the left at Alpha Beach (Cavalaire-sur-Mer), the 45th Infantry Division landed in the centre at Delta Beach (Le Muy, Saint-Tropez) and the 36th Infantry Division landed on the right at Camel Beach (Saint-Raphal). Invasion of the South of France: Operation "Dragoon," 15th August, 1944 (B.R. It enabled them to liberate most of Southern France in just four weeks while inflicting heavy casualties on the German forces (although a substantial part of the best German units were able to escape), and the ports of Marseilles and Toulon were soon in operation. Seventh Army commander; Vice Admiral Henry Hewitt, Western Naval Task Force commander; James Forrestal, Secretary of the Navy; Rear Admiral A. G. Lemonnier, chief of staff of the French navy. Eisenhower, for his part, claimed that There was no development of that period which added more decisively to our advantagesthan did this secondary attack coming up the Rhone Valley. Due to the new Cold War era, Churchills interpretation of events involving Operation Dragoon won out, and as a result generations of historians have designated the operation as a sideshow. Despite Churchill's objections, the operation was authorized by the Allied Combined Chiefs of Staff on 14July, then renamed Dragoon on 1August. [23][30], The German chain of command was overly complex, with parallel chains for the occupation forces, the land forces, the Luftwaffe and the Kriegsmarine. [62][63] Whilst the 36thDivision had surrounded the 19thArmy, they themselves were almost surrounded, too, during the chaotic fighting, with only a thin supply route to the east open, resulting in their having to fight to the front and the rear. After preliminary commando operations, the US VI Corps landed on the beaches of the Cte d'Azur under the shield of a large naval task force, followed by several divisions of the French Army B. The landings went well for the Allies. The sudden appearance of this new threat shocked Wiese and the German command. However, on seeing the heavy terrain and shattered forces, he refrained and left the headquarters again. [45] The Kriegsmarine also had a U-boat force based at Toulon operating in the Western Mediterranean; By the summer of 1944 this had been reduced to eight U-boats, and in air-raids prior to Dragoon five were destroyed. The Allied units in this sector were able to secure a beachhead and quickly linked up with the paratroopers, capturing Saint-Tropez and LeMuy. However, the Allies failed to cut off the most valuable units of the retreating Army Group G, which retreated over a distance of 800km (500mi) in good order, into the Vosges Mountains on the German border, with the capability of continuing the fight. A dual landing was soon recognized as impossible to conduct with the forces available. At the same time, heavy fighting occurred at Saint-Raphal. To support the landings, Major General Robert T. Frederick's 1st Airborne Task Force was to drop around Le Muy, approximately halfway between Draguignan and Saint-Raphal. The Allied invasion fleet off the coast of Southern France near San Tropez Bay on September 9, 1944. World War II: Operation Dragoon. Finally, the division-size 1st Airborne Task Force was to be dropped behind German lines between Camel and Delta sectors. General William H. Simpson, commander of Ninth Army, has received little attention in the historiography of World War II. 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