bigpigeon.us webpage  WW II - Germany >  ETO > France Liberated > Southern France, updated by RAC 7 Oct '19.
Operation Dragoon - The Invasion of Southern France
By the middle of August 1944, Allied armies were sweeping east and north across northern France. The German 1st Army, fearful of being cut off, was abandoning southwestern France and moving northeast into Lorraine and northern Alsace. The Allies were about to launch a second invasion of France, Operation Dragoon, against the German 19th Army, which guarded southern France against an invasion from the Mediterranean Sea.

Operation Dragoon had been fiercely opposed by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who objected to removing divisions from the Italian Campaign to participate in Dragoon. Fortunately Eisenhower stood his ground. 

The 6th Army Group, consisting of the new 7th US Army and the 1st French Army, comprised the ground forces for the Southern France Campaign.

On 15 August 1944, the Southern France Campaign began when Allied forces landed east of Marseille between Toulon and Cannes. Unlike Normandy back in June, the Mediterranean landing was only lightly resisted.

The major French port of Marseille was liberated on 28 August. Germans had destroyed the port facilities, but by the end of October it was handling a third of the ETO's supply needs.
The Operation Dragoon Landing
The Operation Dragoon Landing
The Allied Advance Northward
Within a month the 6th Army Group had pushed the German 19th Army north xxx miles along the Rhone and Saone Rivers and made contact with the rightmost units of Patton's 3rd Army, thus isolating southwestern France.

Most of France was liberated by mid September. However, portions of Lorraine, all of Alsace, and French ports along the Bay of Biscay still lay in German hands.
The Sixth Army Group Advance
The Sixth Army Group Advance
Sources for the WW II - Southern France Liberated webpage
  • The Operation Dragoon Landing map is courtesy of villandio.net.
  • The Sixth Army Group Advance map
Pottawattamie County, Iowa WW II Dead - Southern France Liberated
(taken from the bigpigeon.us WW II Dead webarea)
  • 03-02 - Liberation of France - Southern France Liberated: (two dead, updated 6 Oct ’19)
    † Reynolds, Elmer Dale - SN 37-483-681, US Army
    Co. K, 30th Inf. Regt., 3rd Inf. Div.; KIA 16 Aug ’44 near St. Tropez, southern France; Operation Dragoon.
    † Spark, Albert Johann - SN 37-035-953, US Army
    Co. H, 7th Inf. Regt., 3rd Inf. Div.; DOW 17 Aug ‘44, near St. Tropez, southern France; Operation Dragoon.