World War II · European Theater · August – September 1944
Operation Dragoon: The Invasion of Southern France, 1944
France’s second D-Day: three veteran American divisions, a French army returning home, paratroopers in the hills above the Riviera, and a month-long pursuit up the Rhône that ended with the armies of Provence and Normandy joining hands. Nine illustrated chapters, from the argument over ANVIL to the cemeteries of Provence.
On the morning of 15 August 1944, ten weeks after D-Day in Normandy, the U.S. Seventh Army came ashore on the beaches of the French Riviera. The landing had been argued over for a year and almost cancelled twice. It turned out to be one of the most successful amphibious operations of the war. Within a month the Allies had taken Toulon and Marseille, driven the Germans out of most of southern France, and joined hands with the armies from Normandy.
Key facts
What happened
The Americans wanted a landing in southern France from the summer of 1943, to open the great port of Marseille and to bring the French Army home; the British wanted the divisions kept in Italy. The argument lasted until a week before the landings (Chapter 1). General Patch’s Seventh Army assembled a force of three veteran American divisions, the French Army B and a fleet of battleships, cruisers and escort carriers (Chapter 2). In the night of 14–15 August commandos and the American-Canadian 1st Special Service Force landed on the flanks, and the 1st Airborne Task Force dropped around Le Muy (Chapter 3).
At 08:00 the 3rd and 45th Divisions landed on the Alpha and Delta beaches against light opposition (Chapter 4). The 36th Division landed on the Camel beaches near Saint-Raphaël, where Camel Red proved too strong and was taken from the flank (Chapter 5). From 16 August the French poured ashore and in less than two weeks took Toulon and Marseille (Chapter 6).
The Germans retreated up the Rhône. A small American armored force raced through the Alps to block them at Montélimar, and for ten days American guns pounded the German columns, but most of the Nineteenth Army escaped (Chapter 7). The pursuit went on through Lyon and Besançon until patrols met Patton’s Third Army west of Dijon in the second week of September (Chapter 8). Chapter 9 weighs the cost and the controversy and visits the memorials.
Why it matters
DRAGOON was the most successful Allied amphibious invasion in Europe, and the least remembered. It opened ports that carried a large share of the supplies for the Allied armies through the autumn of 1944, it destroyed much of a German army, and it brought the French First Army into the fight for France. It also showed what the Americans had learned in two years of landings in North Africa, Sicily and Italy.
The Carolinas connection
Camp Mackall, Fort Bragg and Rock Hill
The 551st Parachute Infantry Battalion and the 517th Parachute Infantry trained at Camp Mackall in the North Carolina Sandhills before jumping into Provence. William P. Yarborough, who led the 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion into southern France, went on to command the Special Warfare Center at Fort Bragg. See Chapter 3 and Chapter 9.
How to use this collection
Read the nine chapters in order for the whole story, or start anywhere: chapters 1–2 cover the plan, chapters 3–6 the landings and the ports, chapters 7–8 the pursuit, and chapter 9 the cost and the memory. Each chapter has its own photographs, maps or charts, a command decision to try, and sources. The maps below can be played phase by phase; select any place for details and a link to the chapter that tells its story.
The collection
9 chapters
Read in order for the full story, or start anywhere.
01August 1943 – August 1944Anvil or Not? The Long Argument over Southern FranceFrom Quebec to Teheran to the last-minute protests of Winston Churchill: why the Americans insisted on a second invasion of France, and why it was postponed, renamed and nearly cancelled.
02February – 14 August 1944The Plan and the Armada: Patch, Truscott and Hewitt’s FleetThe Seventh Army and VI Corps, three veteran divisions from Italy, the French Army B, a fleet of battleships and escort carriers, and the thin German defenses waiting on the Riviera.0314–17 August 1944Into the Dark: Commandos, the Special Service Force and the AirborneThe 1st Special Service Force on the Hyères islands, French commandos at Cap Nègre, and the scattered drop of the 1st Airborne Task Force around Le Muy.0415 August 1944Alpha and Delta: The 3rd and 45th Divisions Come AshoreH-hour at Cavalaire Bay, Pampelonne and Sainte-Maxime; Sergeant James Connor’s Medal of Honor; Saint-Tropez freed by paratroopers and the Resistance.
0515–17 August 1944Camel Red and the Beachhead: The 36th Division at Saint-RaphaëlThe Texas division at Le Dramont and Anthéor, the beach that was too strong to assault, the sinking of LST-282, and a beachhead won at a cost of about 95 killed.
0616–28 August 1944Toulon and Marseille: The French Army Liberates the PortsGeneral de Lattre’s Army B, with colonial and North African regiments, takes France’s two great Mediterranean ports weeks ahead of schedule.0718–31 August 1944Task Force Butler and the Battle of MontélimarA dash through the Alps to Grenoble and the Rhône, the battle square north of Montélimar, and the German Nineteenth Army’s escape up Route N-7.
0829 August – 14 September 1944Pursuit to the North: Lyon, Besançon and the Link-Up with NormandyThree hundred miles in less than a month, the liberation of Lyon and Besançon, and the day the invasions of Normandy and Provence joined hands.
091944 – todayThe Cost and the Memory: France’s Second D-DayWhat the campaign won and cost, the argument over whether it was worth it, the Carolinas connections, and the cemeteries and memorials of Provence today.Maps
Three interactive maps
The first map follows the convoys and the airborne across the western Mediterranean. The second shows the landings on the coast of Provence, phase by phase. The third follows the pursuit up the Rhône. Press Play, or choose a phase.
Interactive map 1 of 3 · the western Mediterranean
The Western Mediterranean, August 1944
Interactive map 2 of 3 · the landings
The Landings, 14–17 August 1944
Interactive map 3 of 3 · up the Rhône
Up the Rhône, August–September 1944
Forces
Who fought
The main formations in this collection. Filter by nation.
Interactive · filter
Who fought in southern France, August–September 1944
Commanded the invasion and the campaign until 15 September.
Chapter 2 →Led the three American assault divisions from the beaches to the Vosges.
Chapter 2 →Landed at Cavalaire and Pampelonne; fought at Montélimar and took Besançon.
Chapter 4 →Landed at Sainte-Maxime; swung east of Lyon to Meximieux and Bourg.
Chapter 4 →The Texas division; landed near Saint-Raphaël and fought the battle of Montélimar.
Chapter 5 →Raced through the Alps to block the Rhône at Montélimar.
Chapter 7 →Carried and covered the landings with battleships, cruisers and escort carriers.
Chapter 2 →American parachute units of the 1st Airborne Task Force.
Chapter 3 →Took Toulon and Marseille; became the French First Army.
Chapter 6 →Led the attack on Marseille with Moroccan goumiers.
Chapter 6 →Scaled the cliffs on the western flank in the night of 14–15 August.
Chapter 3 →Freed towns ahead of the Allies and guided Task Force Butler.
Chapter 7 →Took Port-Cros and the Île du Levant in the night of 14–15 August.
Chapter 3 →Jumped with the 1st Airborne Task Force around Le Muy.
Chapter 3 →Defended the coast, then retreated up the Rhône.
Chapter 7 →Kept the road open at Montélimar and escaped north.
Chapter 7 →You decide
Command decisions
Every chapter puts you in a commander’s place before showing what actually happened.
Command decision · you decide
Provence, or somewhere else?
You are General Eisenhower in early August 1944. The breakout from Normandy has begun. Churchill urges you to send the divisions waiting in Italy and North Africa to Brittany instead of the Riviera, or to leave them in Italy. Your armies are short of ports, and the French are eager to fight for their own country.
Numbers
By the numbers
Every figure carries its source. Where sources disagree, the Army’s official history is used and the difference noted.
Allied casualties on D-Day, 15 August 1944
American casualties at Montélimar, 21–31 August 1944
The battles for the ports
People
Commanders and soldiers
Select a name for the chapter where they appear.
Commanded the invasion and the campaign that followed.
Planned the trap at Montélimar and led the pursuit north.
Commanded the fleet that carried and covered the landings.
Took Toulon and Marseille weeks ahead of schedule.
Led the airborne landing around Le Muy.
Later commanded the Special Warfare Center at Fort Bragg.
Led the dash through the Alps to the Rhône.
Commanded at Montélimar; admitted he had “fumbled” a great opportunity.
Cancelled the assault on Camel Red and landed the 36th elsewhere.
Talked his German captors into surrendering 959 men at Grenoble.
Photographed with a wounded paratrooper aboard a Coast Guard transport.
Killed in action in France on 21 October 1944.
Valor
Medals of Honor
Three of the Medals of Honor earned in the southern France campaign, all told in this collection.
Wounded three times, took command of his platoon and cleared the German positions on the cape. Chapter 4
Covered his platoon, rescued wounded men, escaped capture and led a counterattack. Chapter 7
Threw himself on a grenade to protect his comrades. Chapter 8
Myth or fact
What people get wrong
Myth or fact · open each card
Six things people get wrong
Dragoon was an easy walk-over.
The beaches were lightly defended, but the campaign cost thousands of Allied casualties, and Camel Red was too strong to assault. See Chapter 5.
It was an American operation.
It was led by the Americans, but the French Army supplied most of the troops who took the ports, and British and Canadians fought in the airborne and the Special Service Force. See Chapter 6.
It was planned as an afterthought to Normandy.
A landing in southern France was planned from 1943 to coincide with Normandy; a shortage of landing craft delayed it to August. See Chapter 1.
The name was Churchill’s joke about being “dragooned.”
The story is often told, but it is not documented in the official records. See Chapter 1.
The German army in the south was destroyed.
Many were captured, but most of the Nineteenth Army escaped up the Rhône. See Chapter 7.
The Champagne Campaign on the Riviera was a holiday.
The paratroopers fought a steady small war in the Maritime Alps until November 1944. See Chapter 8.
Gallery · 12 photographs · select to enlarge
Operation Dragoon in photographs
Gallery · Provence today · select to enlarge
Provence today
Before and after
Then and now
Drag the slider to compare.
Quiz
Test yourself
Eight questions. Every answer is explained in the chapters.
Score: answer a question to begin.
1. What was Operation Dragoon first called?
It was renamed on 27 July 1944. See Chapter 1.
2. Which ports did the Allies most want in southern France?
Marseille became one of the Allies’ main supply ports. See Chapter 6.
3. Where did the 1st Airborne Task Force land?
Many were scattered, but Le Muy fell on 16 August. See Chapter 3.
4. Why was the assault on Camel Red cancelled?
The 36th Division landed on Camel Green instead. See Chapter 5.
5. Who liberated Marseille?
The Germans surrendered on 28 August. See Chapter 6.
6. What did Task Force Butler try to do?
Most of the Germans still escaped at Montélimar. See Chapter 7.
7. Where did troops from Provence meet troops from Normandy?
The link-up was complete by 10–12 September. See Chapter 8.
8. Which North Carolina camp trained the 551st Parachute Infantry Battalion?
The 551st took Draguignan on 16 August. See Chapter 9.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
What was Operation Dragoon?
Operation DRAGOON, first called ANVIL, was the Allied invasion of southern France on 15 August 1944. The U.S. Seventh Army under Lt. Gen. Alexander M. Patch, with Maj. Gen. Lucian Truscott’s VI Corps and the French Army B, landed on the coast of Provence between Cavalaire and Saint-Raphaël, after an airborne drop around Le Muy. See Chapter 2 and Chapter 4.
Why is it called the “forgotten D-Day” or France’s second D-Day?
It came ten weeks after Normandy and was far less costly, about 95 Allied soldiers were killed on the first day, so it has been overshadowed. But it liberated most of southern France in a month and brought two great ports into Allied hands. See Chapter 9.
Why did Churchill oppose it?
Churchill and the British chiefs wanted the divisions kept in Italy, and in early August 1944 Churchill proposed landing them in Brittany instead. The Americans, above all Eisenhower and Marshall, wanted the ports of Marseille and Toulon and a second front in France, and held firm. See Chapter 1.
Which American divisions landed?
The 3rd, 45th and 36th Infantry Divisions of VI Corps, all veterans of Italy, landed on the Alpha, Delta and Camel beaches. The 1st Airborne Task Force, with American and British paratroopers and glider troops, dropped inland, and the American-Canadian 1st Special Service Force took the Hyères islands. See Chapter 3, Chapter 4 and Chapter 5.
Who liberated Toulon and Marseille?
The French Army B under General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, many of its soldiers from North and West Africa, took both ports by 28 August 1944, weeks ahead of schedule, capturing about 31,000 Germans. See Chapter 6.
What happened at Montélimar?
From 21 to 31 August 1944, Task Force Butler and the 36th Division tried to block the retreat of the German Nineteenth Army up the Rhône valley north of Montélimar. American artillery destroyed thousands of vehicles, but most of the German army escaped. See Chapter 7.
When did the southern and northern invasions meet?
According to the American Battle Monuments Commission, a patrol from the south made contact with the French 2nd Armored Division of Patton’s Third Army west of Dijon on 7 September 1944, and the link-up was complete by 10 September; other accounts date the first formal meeting to 11–12 September. See Chapter 8.
Where are the Americans who died in Operation Dragoon buried?
The Rhône American Cemetery and Memorial at Draguignan holds 860 American dead, and its Walls of the Missing list 294 more names. Many others were brought home after the war. See Chapter 9.
Did North Carolina units take part?
The 551st Parachute Infantry Battalion and the 517th Parachute Infantry trained at Camp Mackall, North Carolina, before jumping into Provence, and the 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion’s commander, William P. Yarborough, later led the Special Warfare Center at Fort Bragg. See Chapter 3 and Chapter 9.
Sources
Sources and further reading
- Jeffrey J. Clarke and Robert Ross Smith, Riviera to the Rhine, ch. I, “The Debate Over Southern France” (U.S. Army in World War II) — the strategic argument over ANVIL
- Clarke and Smith, Riviera to the Rhine, ch. V, “The Plan of Assault” — the assault plan
- Clarke and Smith, Riviera to the Rhine, ch. VII, “The ANVIL Beachhead” — the landings, Camel Red, Le Muy, casualties and prisoners
- Clarke and Smith, Riviera to the Rhine, ch. IX, “The Battle of Montelimar” — Task Force Butler, the battle square and the losses on both sides
- Clarke and Smith, Riviera to the Rhine, ch. X, “Pursuit to the North” — Lyon, Besançon, distances and prisoners
- Naval History and Heritage Command, “Operation Dragoon: The Invasion of Southern France” — the naval side, dates and the liberation of the ports
- American Battle Monuments Commission, “France’s Second D-Day: Operation Dragoon and the Invasion of Southern France” — the link-up, results and the Rhône American Cemetery
- Wikipedia, “Operation Dragoon” — a general summary with references, used to cross-check dates and figures
- Wikipedia, “1st Airborne Task Force (Allied)” — the airborne task force’s units and later service
- Wikipedia, “517th Parachute Regimental Combat Team” — the 517th’s training, Dragoon losses and later service
- US Airborne in Belgium, “551st Parachute Infantry Battalion” — the 551st’s training at Camp Mackall, Draguignan and its end in the Ardennes
- Wikipedia, “William P. Yarborough” — the 509th’s commander and his later career at Fort Bragg
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