Invasion of Southern France On July 14, 1944, while the battle for Normandy was ongoing, the Allied High Command agreed to launch an invasion of southern France. This new offensive, given the codename Operation Dragoon, was intended to ease the worsening supply problems that the Allies were facing in northern France. There, the destroyed port of Cherbourg, captured in late June 1944, was still being rehabilitated, while the artificial harbor in the western sector, was inadequate to supply the ever-increasing numbers of men, weapons, and equipment being brought into battle daily. Operation Dragoon also resulted from pressure by General Charles de Gaulle, commander of Free French forces, to open a new front in southern France, and with greater participation of French troops.
(Taken from Defeat of Germany in the West 1944-1945 – Wars of the 20th Century – World War II in Europe: Vol. 6)
On August 15, 1944, the Allies launched Operation Dragoon, with elements of U.S. 7th Army being amphibiously landed at Cote d’Azur in southern France (Figure 40) under the cover of massive air and naval bombardment that targeted enemy positions at the beach. The next day, a second landing was made by French Army B to the west; the combined American and French forces comprised U.S. 6th Army Group. These landings met only light resistance from German 19th Army defending the region, as the ablest German units here had already been moved to Normandy, and were replaced with lower-echelon troops, including Eastern European conscripts and ex-POW Soviet Red Army defectors, who were issued only inferior weapons and who possessed low fighting morale. German 11th Panzer Division still remained in the region, although most of the armored units had already been transferred to Normandy. Also, in the period before Operation Dragoon, the Allies stepped up their air attacks in southern France, and destroyed transportation, power, and telephone lines, and cut off the coastal defense units from resupply, reinforcements, and communications to other commands. French partisans also increased their activity, particularly in carrying out sabotage operations.
On August 16, 1944, the Germans mounted a counter-attack, which the Allies, now pouring in large numbers, easily turned back. The next day, Hitler reluctantly yielded to his generals’ pleas to allow German 19th Army to retreat north (at this time, a similar withdrawal order was given to the trapped German forces at the Falaise Pocket in Normandy) to set up a new defense line along the Sens-Dijon-Swiss border area.
Allied landings at Cote d’Azur in southern France under Operation Dragoon
On August 26, 1944, French Army B captured Toulon, and two days later, Marseilles, achieving the invasion’s primary objectives; these towns’ ports soon entered service, unloading weapons, equipment, and materials, and easing the Allies’ supply problems. At the same time, U.S. forces raced north along the Rhone River to try and cut off the retreating Germans, who adopted rear guard actions to allow their most valuable units and equipment to escape. On August 20, the Americans reached Montelimar ahead of the Germans, and a week-long (August 21-28) series of battles ensued, with neither side gaining a decisive victory. In the end, the Germans slipped out most of their forces from Montelimar, but lost substantial quantities of equipment and supplies.
French Army B had also advanced northward to the left of U.S. 7th Army. In a further series of battles, the Allies failed to trap the bulk of the German forces, although the constant pressure prevented the latter from stopping to organize a new defense line. On September 10, 1944, forward units of U.S. 7th Army met up with elements of U.S. 3rd Army, thus linking up Allied forces from northern and southern France (i.e. from the Normandy and Dragoon operations). On September 14, U.S. 6th Army was ordered to stop its pursuit of the Germans, who meanwhile, had formed a stable defense line at the Vosges Mountains.
German forces in southwestern France, which generally had been spared the fighting in the two Allied invasions, had also made their escape to the east, traversing through partisan-controlled territory and joining up with German 19th Army (from southern France) at Burgundy, and both proceeding to the safety of the Vosges Mountains. Several German hold-outs would remain along the French Atlantic coast, e.g. Brest, Saint-Nazaire, Lorient, and La Rochelle, many of which would persist until the end of World War II in Europe in May 1945.