bigpigeon.us webpage WWII - Germany > ETO > France Liberated > Southern France, updated by RAC 17 May 2022.
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.
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.
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Operation Dragoon - The Southern France Invasion
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 US Seventh Army and the French 1st 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
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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 the US Third 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 6th Army Group Advance
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Sources for the Southern France Liberated webpage:
Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead - Southern France Liberated:
† Kloewer, Eugene John, SN 37-436-471, US Army, Shelby Co.
- The Operation Dragoon Landing map is courtesy of villandio.net.
- The 6th Army Group Advance map
Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead - Southern France Liberated:
- Taken from the bigpigeon.us WWII Roster module.
† Kloewer, Eugene John, SN 37-436-471, US Army, Shelby Co.
- 753rd Tank Bn., Seventh Army; KIA 15 Sep 1944, Burgundy area, France; France Liberated > Southern France.
- Co. K, 30th Inf. Regt., 3rd Inf. Div.; KIA 16 Aug 1944 near St. Tropez, southern France; Operation Dragoon - France Liberated > Southern France.
- Co. H, 7th Inf. Regt., 3rd Inf. Div.; DOW 17 Aug 1944, near St. Tropez, southern France; Operation Dragoon - France Liberated > Southern France.