p. 108 ‘The Prime Minister has …’ Butcher, Three Years with Eisenhower, p. 555
p. 108 ‘We have just heard …’ Ibid, p. 554
p. 112 ‘The invasion fleet is …’ cited Giziowski, General Blaskowitz, p. 309
p. 116 ‘The landing near Toulon …’ Bryant, Triumph in the West, p. 201
p. 117 ‘could have broken into …’ Gilbert, Churchill, p. 789
Chapter Eight: The ‘Champagne Campaign’
p. 119 ‘I would like to express …’ http://www.b26.com
p. 120 ‘Mission was guns at …’ Sergeant Delbert F. Kretschmar, 95th Bomb Squadron, 17th Bomb Group, Mission Report and Diary, 16 August 1944
p. 125 ‘Mission was gun positions …’ Ibid, 26 August 1944
p. 126 ‘What a farce …’ cited Julian Jackson, Charles de Gaulle (London, 1990), p. 26
p. 126 ‘Can’t you sew?’ Ibid
p. 128 We fired our guns …’ Eric Ethier, ‘Riviera D-Day,’ America in WWII (August 2006), p. 8
p. 131 ‘I’m expecting a hell …’ Private First Class John A. Hyman, ‘From the Riviera to the Rhine,’ T-Patch, 36th Infantry Division Newspaper (1945), p. 3
p. 132 Under the 36th Division command …’ Ibid
p. 135 They called it the …’ Robert H. Adleman & Colonel George Walton, The Champagne Campaign (Boston, 1969), p. 209
Chapter Nine: De Gaulle Stakes his Claim – the Liberation of Paris
p. 137 ‘must not fall into …’ Steven Zaloga, Liberation of Paris 1944 (Oxford, 2008), p. 67
p. 139 ‘Perhaps. But it’s my …’ Willis Thorton, The Liberation of Paris (London, 1963), p. 161
p. 139 ‘His arguments, which he …’ Irving, War between the Generals, p. 253
p. 140 ‘Paris since Sunday noon …’ Ibid, p. 254
p. 141 ‘Throughout France the Free …’ Eisenhower, Crusade, pp. 323–5
p. 142 ‘I hope you’ve no idea …’ Thorton, Liberation of Paris, p. 193
p. 143 ‘Who in the devil is …’ Irving, War between the Generals, p. 254
p. 144 ‘The Republic has never …’ Thorton, Liberation of Paris, p. 199
p. 144 ‘From this battle front …’ Eisenhower, ‘Remarks for Broadcast on the Army Hour’, 3 September 1944
p. 145 ‘I address my words …’ Eisenhower, ‘Remarks in Paris’, 8 September 1944
Chapter Ten: The Battle of the Belfort Gap
p. 150 ‘It was an enigma …’ MS B-787 (Weise), Record Group 338, Records of US Army Commands, 1942–, National Archives, Washington DC, cited Giziowski, General Blaskowitz, p. 356
Chapter Eleven: Lorraine and the Southern Push to the Rhine
p. 160 ‘The US 6th Army Group …’ Hans von Luck, Panzer Commander: The Memoirs of Colonel Hans von Luck (New York, 1989), pp. 168–9
p. 163 ‘Our Panthers were superior …’ Major-General F.W. von Mellenthin, Panzer Battles (London, 1984), pp. 377–8
p. 164 ‘On 20 September 1944 …’ Ibid, p. 271
Chapter Twelve: Churchill and Monty were Right
p. 171 ‘As we had intended …’ Ethier, Riviera D-day, p. 8
p. 171 ‘What a transformation now …’ Stewart, His Finest Hours, p. 174
p. 171 ‘While this great operation …’ Ibid, pp. 174–5
p. 172 ‘When I had the opportunity …’ Ibid
p. 172 ‘We have, I regret …’ Ibid
p. 172 ‘The aim of this operation …’ Philip Warner, World War Two: The Untold Story (London, 2002), p. 239
p. 176 ‘The troops involved could …’ Ethier, Riviera D-day, p. 9
p. 177 ‘I personally had always …’ Montgomery, Memoirs, p. 221
p. 177 ‘It was a relief …,’ Bryant, Triumph in the West, p. 200
p. 178 ‘The three frankly discussed …’ William J. Donovan Papers, OSS Reports to the White House, Intelligence Cables covering the capitulation of the Nazi armies in northern Italy. Memoranda for the President: Sunrise, 26 February 1945
p. 179 ‘The weakening of the …’ Clark, Calculated Risk, pp. 348–51
p. 179 ‘imply a strategy aimed at …’ General Wilson’s Report to the Combined Chiefs of Staff on the Italian Campaign, p. 34
p. 179 ‘If he [Eisenhower] had …’ De Guingand, Operation Victory, p. 413
p. 180 ‘The decision to switch …’ Wilmot, Struggle for Europe, p. 455
Bibliography
A Note on Sources
On the whole there is a curious disregard for Operation Dragoon among military historians; perhaps this is understandable in light of the momentous events in Normandy and on the Eastern Front in August 1944. Yet it is a glaring omission when one considers the attention paid over the years to all the other amphibious assaults in the Mediterranean, most notably Operations Torch and Husky and the landings at Anzio. The political storm over the diverting of resources from Italy to the south of France remains the main preoccupation of historians. But this omission presents a challenge to any military historian trying to research Operation Dragoon and assess its wider ramifications. The fact that there was no bloody Omaha on the beaches, no bitter slogging match for any of the major cities and no dramatic break-out does not nullify the fact that American and French lives were expended in expelling Army Group G from southern France.
Specific titles dealing with the liberation of southern France remain scarce in comparison to those available on Operation Overlord and the subsequent liberation of northern France and Paris. There are only two readily accessible studies, The Champagne Campaign by Robert Adleman and Colonel Walton, dealing with the airborne part of the operation, and William Breuer’s Operation Dragoon, which again focuses on the airborne assault, but also covers the landings.
Other volumes worthy of note are Eisenhower’s Lieutenants: The Campaigns of France and Germany 1944–1945 by Russell F. Weigley, which provides one of the most comprehensive surveys of American military operations in Europe. Robert A. Miller’s August 1944: The Campaign for France gives one of the best day-by-day overviews of operations in both the north and the south. Similarly Destination Berchtesgaden, The Story of the US 7th Army in World War II by John Frayn Turner and Robert Jackson provides an excellent account of the 7th Army’s activities in Europe.
The best biography on General Blaskowitz, the commander of Army Group G, is easily that by Richard Giziowski, which covers his entire career in commendable detail, including Dragoon and the subsequent fighting in Lorraine. Nick Beale generously permitted me to draw on his detailed research on Luftwaffe operations during Dragoon.
The following list is far from a complete bibliography, but indicates the principal works and documents consulted.
Primary Sources
Dwight D Eisenhower Presidential Library, Overlord/Anvil Papers, December 1943–April 1944:
Secret, Urgent Incoming Message, Montgomery to Marshall/Eisenhower, 10 January 1944
Top Secret, Incoming Message, Marshall to Eisenhower, 16 January 1944
US Secret, Urgent Outgoing Message, Eisenhower to Marshall, 23 January 1944
Operation Policy Memoranda, 29 January 1944
SCAEF 10th Meeting, Top Secret, Minutes of Meeting Held in Conference Room (C4 –Room 8) Widewing, 1100, 20 March 1944
Top Secret, Urgent Outgoing Message, Eisenhower to Marshall, 21 March 1944
SCAEF 12th Meeting, Top Secret, Lt Commander J.E. Reid, Minutes of Meeting Held in Conference Room, Widewing, 1430, 27 March 1944
Top Secret, Incoming Message, Marshall to Eisenhower, 31 March 1944
Papers and Minutes of Meetings, Sextant and Eureka Conferences, November/December 1943:
Combined Chiefs of Staff, Amphibious Operation Against the South of France, Note by the Secretaries, 5 December 1943
Eureka Conference, Minutes of Plenary Session, Between the USA, Great Britain and the USSR, 30 November 1943
Papers and Minutes of Meetings, Quadrant Conference, August 1943:
Combined Chiefs of Staff, Operation Overlord �
�� Outline Plan, 10 August 1943
Papers and Minutes of Meetings, Trident Conference, May 1943:
Combined Chiefs of Staff, Trident Minutes, 1st Meeting, The White House, 12 May 1943
Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission
Churchill, W.S., letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt, 16 December 1941
Eisenhower, Dwight D., ‘Remarks in Paris’, 8 September 1944
Eisenhower, Dwight D., ‘Remarks for Broadcast on the Army Hour’, 3 September 1944
Eisenhower, Dwight D., ‘Address at French Rearmament Ceremony’, Algiers, 8 May 1943
Roosevelt, F.D., Statement on North African Policy, 17 November 1942
The Tehran Conference, Declaration of the Three Powers, 1 December 1943
US Chiefs of Staff, Proposals on Mediterranean Operations
Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library
Fire Side Chats File:
Address of the President broadcast from Hyde Park, New York, 24 December 1943
Address of the President on the Fall of Rome, 5 June 1944
The Safe Files:
Box 4: Roosevelt Memoranda for General Marshall, 2 June 1944
William J. Donovan Papers
OSS Reports to the White House
Intelligence Cables covering the capitulation of the Nazi armies in northern Italy
Memoranda for the President: Sunrise, 26 February 1945
US National Archives
Record Group 338. Records of the US Army Commands, 1942-44
MS A-875 (Richter)
MS B-888 (Kniess)
MS B-880 (Wietersheim)
MS B-800 (Blaskowitz)
MS B-787 (Wiese)
MS B-696 (Botsch)
MS B-488 (Gyldenfeldt)
US State Department, Foreign Relations of the United States
The Conferences at Washington and Casablanca 1942-43 (Washington DC, 1967)
The Conferences at Washington and Quebec 1943 (Washington DC, 1970)
The Conferences at Cairo and Tehran 1943 (Washington DC, 1961)
Other Published Primary Sources
Blaskowitz, Johannes von, German reaction to the invasion of Southern France, Historical Division, HQ US Army, Europe (Foreign Military Studies Branch, 1945)
Blaskowitz, Johannes von, Army Group G (10 May–22 September 1944), Historical Division, HQ US Army, Europe (Foreign Military Studies Branch, 1947)
Blaskowitz, Johannes von, German (OB South-west) estimate of situation prior to Allied invasion of Southern France, Historical Division, HQ US Army, Europe (Foreign Military Studies Branch, 1954)
Bryant, A., Triumph in the West 1943–1946. Based on the Diaries and Autobiographical Notes of Field Marshal The Viscount Alanbrooke (London, 1960)
Butcher, Captain H.C., Three Years with Eisenhower: The Personal Diary of Captain Harry C. Butcher, USNR Naval Aide to General Eisenhower, 1942 to 1945 (London, 1946)
Chandler, A.D. (ed.), The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower (Baltimore, 1970)
Churchill, W.S., The Second World War, Volume V: Closing the Ring (London, 1954)
Churchill, W.S., The Second World War, Volume VI: Triumph and Tragedy (London, 1955)
Clark, General Mark., Calculated Risk (New York/London, 1951)
De Gaulle, General Charles, The Call to Honour: 1940–2 (London, 1955)
De Gaulle, General Charles, Unity: 1942–4 (London, 1959)
De Gaulle, General Charles, Salvation: 1944–6 (London, 1960)
De Guingand, Major-General Sir Francis, Operation Victory (London, 1947)
De Lattre de Tassigny, General Jean, The History of the French First Army (London, 1952)
Eisenhower Dwight, D., Crusade in Europe (London, 1948)
Eisenhower, Dwight, D., At Ease: Stories I Tell to Friends (London, 1968)
Keitel, W., The Memoirs of Field Marshal Keitel (New York, 1965)
Kesselring, A., A Soldier’s Record (New York, 1954)
Luck, Hans von, Panzer Commander: The Memoirs of Colonel Hans von Luck (New York, 1989)
Mellenthin, Major-General F.W. von, Panzer Battles (London, 1984)
Montgomery, Field Marshal Bernard Law, The Memoirs of Field Marshal The Viscount Montgomery of Alamein (London, 1958)
Patton, General G., War as I Knew It (Boston, 1947)
Roosevelt, E., As he saw it (New York, 1946)
Sodenstern, Georg von, Southern France preparations for invasion, Historical Division, HQ US Army, Europe (Foreign Military Studies Branch, 1945)
Truscott, General L.K., Command Missions (New York, 1954)
Warlimont, General W., Inside Hitler’s Headquarters: 1939–1945 (New York, 1964)
Westphal, General S., The German Army in the West (London, 1951)
Journals
Ashmore, W.C., ‘Supply Planning for Beachhead Operations,’ Quartermaster Review (January/February 1945)
Bigelow, M.E., ‘General Truscott and the Campaign in Southern France,’ Military Review (August 1944)
Budd, H.A., ‘Air Force Beach Party,’ Military Review (February 1947)
Coffin, R.E., and Scott, D., ‘Operation Dragoon: A Forging of Allies,’ US Army Journal (August 1944)
Devers, J.L., ‘Operation Dragoon: The Invasion of Southern France,’ Military Affairs (Summer 1946)
Gregory, S.S., ‘Anti-Aircraft Artillery Planning for the invasion of Southern France,’ Coast Artillery (September/October 1945)
Hyman, J.A., ‘From the Riviera to the Rhine,’ T-Patch, 36th Infantry Division Newspaper (1945)
Jenkins, R.E., ‘Operation Dragoon – Planning and Landing Phase,’ Military Review (August 1946)
Jenkins, R.E., ‘Operation Dragoon – The Breakthrough,’ Military Review (September 1946)
Kretschmar, D.F., 95th Bomb Squadron, 17th Bomb Group, Mission Report and Diary (9 June 1944–21 March 1945)
Lanza, C.H., ‘The War in the South of France,’ Field Artillery Journal (October 1944)
Lehman, M., ‘Supplying the Seventh Army,’ Infantry Journal (February 1945)
Walton, M., 37th Bomb Squadron, 17th Bomb Group, Toulon, France (Account of Sergeant Jesse A. Ward winning the Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross, 16 August 1944)
Secondary Sources
Anvil/Dragoon
Adleman, R.H., and Walton, Colonel G., The Champagne Campaign (Boston, 1969)
Beale, N., Operation Dragoon: Luftwaffe Operations 15–23 August 1944 (September 1995–March 2008, www.ghostbombers.com)
Bennett, R., Ultra and Mediterranean Strategy 1941–45 (London, 1989)
Boddie, J.W., Ammunition Support for Operation Dragoon, the invasion of Southern France: could we do it today? (USAWC Military Studies Program Paper, 1987)
Breuer, W.B., Operation Dragoon: The Allied Invasion of the South of France (Shrewsbury, 1988)
Clarke, J.J., Southern France, The US Army Campaigns of World War II
Danby, J., Day of the Panzer: A Story of American Heroism and Sacrifice in Southern France (2007)
Funk, A.L., Hidden Ally: The French Resistance, Special Operations and the Landings in Southern France 1944 (New York, 1992)
Gaujac, P., Dragoon. The Other Invasion of France (Paris, 2004)
Howard, M., The Mediterranean Strategy in the Second World War (London, 1968)
Jacques, R., The Second D-Day (New York, 1969)
Leslie, P., The Liberation of the Riviera (1980)
Miller, R.A., August 1944 The Campaign for France (Novato, California, 1996)
Morin, C.R., Anvil Revisited: The Impact of ULTRA on the decision to invade Southern France (USAWC Military Studies Program Paper, 1984)
Wilt, A.F., The French Riviera Campaign of August 1944 (Southern Illinois University, 1981)
Biography
Ambrose, S., Eisenhower (New York, 1983)
Barnett, C., Hitler’s Generals (New York, 1989)
Burns, J.M., Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom (New York, 1979)
Clark, Brigadier Stanley, The Man who is France (London
, 1960)
Clayton, A., Three Marshals of France (London, 1992)
Cook, D., Charles De Gaulle (New York, 1983)
Crawley, A., De Gaulle (London, 1969)
Crozier, B., De Gaulle the Warrior (London, 1973)
D’Este, C., Eisenhower Allied Supreme Commander (London, 2003)
Gilbert, M., Churchill. A Life (London, 2000)
Giziowski, R., The Enigma of General Blaskowitz (Barnsley, 1997)
Griffiths, R., Marshal Pétain (London, 1994)
Hamilton, N., Monty. Master of the Battlefield 1942–1944 (London, 1983)
Hough, R., Winston and Clementine (London, 1991)
Humble, R., Hitler’s Generals (St Albans, 1976)
Jackson, J., Charles de Gaulle (London, 1990)
Jenkins, R., Churchill A Biography (New York, 2001)
Kersaudy, F., Churchill and De Gaulle (London, 1981)
Ledwidge, B., De Gaulle (London, 1982)
Mitcham Jr, S.W., Hitler’s Field Marshals and Their Battles (London, 1988)
Paterson, M., Winston Churchill. His military life 1895–1945 (Newton Abbot, 2005)
Pitt, B., Churchill and the Generals (London, 1981)
Ponting, C., Churchill (London, 1994)
Slim, Field Marshal Sir William, Defeat into Victory (London, 1956)
Summersby, K., Eisenhower Was My Boss (New York, 1948)
Tompkins, P., The Murder of Admiral Darlan (New York, 1965)
Trez, Michel de, First Airborne Task Force: Pictorial History of the Allied Paratroops in the invasion of Southern France (1998)
Other Published Secondary Sources
Aron, R. (translated by Humphrey Hare), De Gaulle Before Paris: The Liberation of France June–August 1944 (London, 1962)
Atkin, N., The Forgotten French: Exiles in the British Isles 1940–44 (Manchester, 2003)
Atkinson, R., An Army at Dawn. The War in North Africa, 1942–1943 (London, 2003)
Badsey, S., Normandy 1944: Allied landings and breakout (Oxford, 2004)
Bekker, C., The Luftwaffe War Diaries (London, 1972)
Berton, S., Allies At War (London, 2001)
Blackwell, I., Anzio (Barnsley, 2006)
Bonn, K., When the Odds Were Even: The Vosges Mountains Campaign, October 1944–January 1945 (2006)
Bourne, M.J., Naval Warfare Outside The Pacific: Operation ‘Menace’ The Assault on Dakar (Barrow-in-Furness, 1997)
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