By early August 1944, the state of the war effort in Europe was looking hopeful, as the Allied Forces had at this point made some very significant gains against Axis powers in Europe. In the East, the Wehrmacht had been all but removed from Lithuania and Latvia, and the German Army barely held onto Western Poland against the might of the advancing Russian Army. Rome had fallen and Allied forces were rolling up the rest of the Italian peninsula like a window shade while the German Army retreated to defensible terrain in the mountains in the North of the country.
Operation Overlord, the costly invasion of Northern France had rapidly produced a solid foothold on the continent, expanding well past the beaches at Normandy by the British and American forces. However, this Allied foothold in Europe was still relatively small, and with only a limited number of suitable ports available in Northern France the US Army would soon be facing a crisis: The shipping of men and materiel for the war effort were solidly bottle-necked. Additionally, the Free French Forces were applying justifiable pressure to the Allied leadership to commit more troops towards the liberation of their country.
Operation Dragoon (originally designed to occur simultaneously with the Normandy invasion) was authorized on July 14th, just five weeks after the Overlord had commenced, with the amphibious landing zones stretching from La Lavandou northwards to Mandelieu De Napoule. The most pristine resort beaches in France were to be stormed by the 7th US Field Army, followed by "Armee B", (the First French Army) on August 15th, 1944.
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The objectives of Operation Dragoon were, per General Alexander Patch:
"1. To establish a beachhead east of Toulon as a base for the assault and capture of Toulon.
2. Thereafter to capture Marseilles and exploit toward Lyon and Vichy."
The long-term objective was to crush the German Army in France between the two invasion forces. The Allies would then link up on a unified front line as they advanced into Germany, where fighting was expected to be at it's most fierce. United States Army units that were previously deployed in the Italian campaign were then called into action. Among them was the Texas 36th Infantry Division. The overall D-Day objectives for the 36th Infantry Division were to seize the industrial shipping ports of Saint Raphael, and Frejus (and it's enormously valuable airfield). After controlling the city, units were expected to expand the established beach head up to 20 miles from the coast, hopefully while the German defenders were disorganized: United States Army Command had learned it's lessons well from Anzio, and intended to drive northwards along the Rhone River Valley with overwhelming speed immediately upon securing the ports.
Dan Henry and Operation Dragoon
1 - Italy 2 - Operation Dragoon 3 - Invasion Plans 4 - German Defenses 5 - Cote D'Azur D-Day 6 - Aftermath 7 - Sources