August 10th - Date to remember

[Walt's Daughter]

Here's an article from the new magazine America in WWII

 

http://www.americainwwii.com/stories/rivieradday.htm

[Walt's Daughter]

Well thank goodness I have my buddies, for sometimes I do not know where my head is!

 

I received the following email from Richard Fietz last night and wanted to post it here. Yup it's the anniversary of the invasion of southern, France. As I call it, the one that NO ONE CARES ABOUT. I'm sure the boys that landed that day, and the navy that accompanied them did not share those views. Nor the people of southern France who were very grateful that we were there.

 

Here's Dick's note:

Dear Marion,

 

Just a reminder: Today is the 63rd anniversary of the landing in Southern France of the troops who really won the battle for Europe. Without the port of Marseille, the entire effort in the north of France would have failed.

 

Dick Fietz

 

I wrote back to him and said how grateful I was for the reminder, and told him how ironic it was because I always received the reminder from Al Kincer, but alas, Al is very ill, so no note.

 

Told him it was a very good point. No one EVER talks about the southern landing. It's as if it never occurred or was of little importance.

 

Went on to say that I think the same way as you. You had to have men at both fronts to stem the Nazi tide. Our boys pushed their way north, while the others pushed their way south and east. We had to have both in order for it to succeed.

 

So here's to ALL the men involved in the invasion and to ALL they accomplished from that day forward. Think of every battle and encounter that the the 7th Arrmy and VI Corps were involved in from August 15th through the end of the war! Nothing small or unimportant about it. Without it, 1944 and 1945 would have been very different years, and one very likely consequence of it NOT occurring, would have been the extension of the war far beyond May of 1945. Think about it!

 

Once again, thanks Dick for sending that email. It was a very good way to start my day. Here's to you buddy!

[rennog]

Told him it was a very good point. No one EVER talks about the southern landing. It's as if it never occurred or was of little importance.

 

Well you're right everybody speaks about D-Day in Normandy but no one of this landing and to my shame I must admit that I know very little about that landing well I will see if have no book about it if not I'll buy one. Thx for the tip

[Walt's Daughter]

Dear Martin:

 

Well we are here to spread the word. As Frank Sinatra said, "Start spreading the news..."

 

A very good book that covers it well is Riveria to the Rhine. See my book section on the main site for more info. It's in my collection. Top notch!!!

[206thmpco]

:armata_PDT_37:thanks Dick & Marion!

 

The DDay Southern France Invasion Operation Anvil didn't get much press

and those guys NEVER NEVER got the credit they deserved.

 

The fall struggle through the Vosges & the Belfort Gap was no walk in the park.

Devers 6th army group did a heck of a job, but then Ike ordered 7th army north to

help 3rd army. Seventh army was stretched thin when the Germans launched

Operation Nordwind in the bitter winter if '45. Lots of our fellows lost their lives.

 

Highly recommend the book "From The Riviera To The Rhine". (ha! I just see Marion's

recommending it too! It's an excellent detailed source with maps etc.)

 

 

My dad was there. Our guys wore American Flag armbands to

distinguish themselves from First French Army when they hit the beaches. Here's

the armband that he wore, it still has the safety pin on the back that he used to

fasten it. He wrote on the back: "armband I wore August 15, 1944 DDay

Invasion Southern France".

 

Everyone outta be damned grateful to all those guys! I know I am!

Here's to 'em

love you Dad!

 

mary ann

[SonofaMP]

I`ve never come across an Order of Battle that`s online for the 7th Army or VI Corps for the Southern France invasion & i`ve been looking for years. It`s probly buried in some obscure book or gov archive.

As for the St Rapheal assault landings of the 36th ID, the Beach Operating group consisted of the 540th Combat Engineers, 48th Combat Engineers, 8th Naval Beach Battalion, & units of the 504th Military Police Co. My dad landed in the 2nd or 3rd wave.

8th Naval Beach Battalion

excepts from their website:

"[in early July the entire Beach Battalion except a small rear echelon, moved from AATB Salerno, Italy to the vicinity of Battpaglia and bivouacked with the 540th Combat Engineers Regiment, U.S. Army. Training in conjunction with the 540th Engineers was instituted and the Battalion participated in the battalion and regimental landing exercises with the 36th Division.

On July 22nd 1944 the EIGHTH Beach Battalion moved with the 540th Engineers to a new bivouac area North of Naples to Quaglian and continued routine training.

 

One Company of the 48th was attached to the 540th to bring the 540th up to three Companies. "C" Company of the EIGHTH Beach Battalion was assigned to the 48th .

 

During the early part of August, the Battalion with its combat equipment, was made ready for a combat operation, personnel and equipment were loaded according to the loading plan of the 540th Combat Engineers Regiment, U.S. Army, to which the Battalion was attached.

 

On August 7th and 8th the Beach Battalion took part in a training operation in which personnel were landed from seaward. Each unit of the Beach Battalion rehearsed its part with the battalion or company of the Engineer Regiment to which it was assigned.

 

During the assault phase of the Camel operation, the companies of the EIGHTH Beach Battalion bivouacked with, and subsisted with, the battalions and companies of the 540th Engineers to which they were assigned. The entire Beach Battalion worked in harmony and close cooperation with the 540th Engineer Regiment, and supplies were expedited across the beaches during the assault and post-assault phases.

 

As a matter of note; with the exception of one infantry battalion that landed at Antheor, (Blue Beach), the entire 36th Division, with all of its personnel, vehicles, artillery, tanks and equipment, was put across "Green Beach", (230 yards wide), during "D"- day.

 

Some 7,000 prisoners of war were evacuated seaward during the first six days of the operation, and prisoners were being sent to seaward from "Green Beach" before noon of "D"-day. About 1,400 casualties, brought back from the lines, were treated, tagged and evacuated to seaward before the army hospital units were set up inland and took over the hospitalization of the wounded. "

 

Yes, the Invasion of Southern France has been deemed generaly unimportant in the history of WWII but consider these facts and questions: over one-third of the supplies for the forces in northern France, & thousands of followup troops came thru the Port of Marsilles. It put the Sixth Army Group on the right flank of Patton`s 3rd Army. The 7th Army`s drive up thru France forced the Germans to withdraw 250,000 troops from southern & western France. Now, without an Army group on his right to cover & fill the line & a quarter of million germans behind him, could Patton have pulled out of a winter battle during the Battle of the Bulge to relieve Bastone?

[206thmpco]

You've probably seen this third infantry website.

The pictures are unbelievable.

 

http://www.dogfacesoldiers.org/d%5Fday/xxxx-02.htm

[SonofaMP]

Here`s a list books about the Invasion of southern France from this website:

http://books.stonebooks.com/cgi-bin/foxweb...ubjects?1000366

 

Invasion of southern France, August 1944

(aka Anvil-Dragoon)Broader subjects Books on this subject

Main subjects

 

Naval operations in the Mediterranean, 1943-1945

 

Northwest Europe campaign, 1944-1945

 

Adleman, Robert and George Walton. The Champagne Campaign: Spectacular Airborne Invasion that Turned... Boston: Little Brown and Company, 1969.

Anonymous. Operations in Southern France. London: HMSO, 1946.

 

Aron, Robert. France Reborn: The History of the Liberation. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1964.

 

Bimberg, Edward L. The Moroccan Goums: Tribal Warriors in a Modern War. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999.

 

Breuer, William B. Operation Dragoon: The Allied Invasion of the South of France. Novato: Presidio Press, 1987.

 

Clarke, Jeffrey and Robert Ross Smith. United States Army in World War II: European Theater of Op.... Riviera to the Rhine. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1993.

 

De Lattre de Tassigny, Jean. The History of the French First Army. London: Allen and Unwin, 1952.

 

Esvelin, Philippe. Forgotten Wings. Bayeux: Editions Heimdal, 2007.

 

Funk, Arthur Layton. Hidden Ally: The French Resistance, Special Operations, and the Landings in Southern France, 1944. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1992.

 

Gaujac, Paul. L'Armee de la Victoire: De la Provence a l'Alsace. Paris: Charles-Lavauzelle, 1985.

 

Gaujac, Paul. Dragoon: The Other Invasion of France, August 15, 1944. Paris: Histoire & Collections, 2004.

 

Goddard, William B. Report of Operations: The Seventh United States Army in France and Germany 1944-1945, volume II. Nashville: Battery Press, 1988.

 

Goddard, William B. Report of Operations: The Seventh United States Army in France and Germany 1944-1945, volume I. Nashville: Battery Press, 1988.

 

Miller, Robert. August 1944: The Campaign for France. Novato: Presidio Press, 1988.

 

Mitcham jr, Samuel W. Retreat to the Reich: The German Defeat in France, 1944. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2000.

 

Naval Staff History Office. Invasion Europe. London: HMSO, 1994.

 

Neufeld, William. Slingshot Warbirds: World War II U.S. Navy Scout-Observation Airmen. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc, 2003.

 

Robichon, Jacques. The Second D-Day. New York: Walker, 1969.

 

Ross, Robert Todd. The Supercommandos: First Special Service Force, 1942-1944: An Illustrated History. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Military History, 2000.

 

Springer, Joseph A. Black Devil Brigade: The True Story of the First Special Service. Pacifica, CA: Pacifica Military History, 2001.

 

Trez, Michel de. First Airborne Task Force: Pictorial History of the Allied Paratroopers in the Invasion of Southern France. Wezembeek-Oppem: D-Day Publishing, 1998.

 

Truscott, Lucian. Command Missions. Novato: Presidio Press, 1990.

 

US Army. United States Army Campaigns of World War II. Southern France. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1994.

 

US Army Air Force. Wings at War. The AAF in the Invasion of Southern France. Washington, DC: Center for Air Force History, 1992.

 

Weigley, Russell. Eisenhower's Lieutenants: The Campaign of France and Germany, 1944-1945. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1981.

 

Wilt, Alan. French Riviera Campaign. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois Univ Press, 1981.

[rennog]

Thx you all for the info's and the links and thx to the two M's I'll see if I can get the book over here.

[Walt's Daughter]

You've probably seen this third infantry website.

The pictures are unbelievable.

 

http://www.dogfacesoldiers.org/d%5Fday/xxxx-02.htm

 

Oh yes, Denis' site is listed on our main site, and if you go to his Thank you page, you might see a name you recognize!

 

You are absolutely correct about the photos; top-notch!