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.
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?