FDC France 2014 "70 years South France D-Day Landing, Dragoon 1944, DE LATTRE" (DEB14-33)

South France D-Day Landing August 15, 1944 - Operation "DRAGOON", assaulting Toulon and Marseille

On August 15, 1944, the Allies landed in Provence on eighteen beaches between Toulon and Cannes under the leadership of General Alexander Patch, Commander of the 7th American Army. Alongside the American, British and Canadian troops, there was a powerful army corps commanded by General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny. Made up of 120,000 Frenchmen, approximately 260,000 men, including 5,000 female auxiliaries, would land in the months that followed. This army was composed of 82% soldiers from the units of the North African Army (Maghrebis and Pied-Noirs), black Africans and French from mainland France.

First named Anvil, the name of the operation was changed to Dragoon by Winston Churchill because he was against this landing (he declared that he had been "forced" to do so, dragooned in English). The objectives were to liberate the major French ports on the Mediterranean, such as Toulon and Marseille, then to go up the Rhone to make the junction with the forces of Operation Overlord landed in Normandy, always with the support of the national resistance, called to arms by Radio London.