50-603: Operation Anvil may refer to: the original name for the Allied landing in southern France in August 1944, Operation Dragoon Operation Anvil (Mau Mau Uprising) , the military control of Nairobi, Kenya, by British security forces from 24 April 1954, in an attempt to sever rebel supply lines during the Mau Mau Uprising Operation Anvil (Nuclear test) ,
100-528: A general withdrawal from southern France in July and August with the German High Command , but the 20 July plot led to an atmosphere in which any withdrawal was out of the question. Blaskowitz was quite aware that his scattered forces would be unable to ward off any serious Allied landing attempt. He planned to withdraw in secret, demolishing the ports, and to proceed in an orderly manner, covered by
150-471: A generally low fighting morale. The equipment of those troops was in poor shape, consisting of old weapons from various nations, with French, Polish, Soviet, Italian and Czech guns, artillery, and mortars. Four of the German divisions were designated as "static", which meant that they were stripped of all of their mobile capabilities and unable to move from their positions. The only potent unit inside Army Group G
200-597: A large-scale uprising by the French Resistance , the weak German forces were swiftly defeated. The Germans withdrew to the north through the Rhône valley, to establish a stable defense line at Dijon . Allied mobile units were able to overtake the Germans and partially block their route at the town of Montélimar . The ensuing battle led to a stalemate, with neither side able to achieve a decisive breakthrough, until
250-608: A major role in the fighting. As the Allies advanced into France, the resistance evolved from a guerilla fighting force to a semiorganized army called French Forces of the Interior (FFI). The FFI tied down German troops by sabotaging bridges and communication lines, seizing important traffic hubs and directly attacking isolated German forces. They were aided by Allied special forces from the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), who supplied
300-474: A minefield. In addition to the commando operations, another operation was carried out, named " Operation Span ". This was a deception plan, aimed to confuse the German defenders with fake landings and paratroopers, to disperse them from the actual landing zones. The first to land in the early hours were the airborne and glider troops. The 1st Airborne Task Force landed in the River Argens valley around
350-693: A series of 21 underground nuclear tests at the Nevada Test Site in 1981 and 1982 Garda Síochána operation targeting organised crime and criminal gangs and associates Operation Anvil (Honduras) Operation Anvil, the US Navy counterpart of Operation Aphrodite , the US Army Air Forces use of war-weary heavy bombers converted to remote-controlled drones against fortified German targets in World War II. Topics referred to by
400-606: A stop at the Vosges mountains , where Army Group G was finally able to establish a stable defensive line. After meeting with the Allied units from the American Third Army , the Allied forces were in need of reorganizing and, facing stiffened German resistance, the offensive was halted on 14 September. The Americans considered Operation Dragoon a success. It enabled them to liberate most of Southern France in just four weeks while inflicting heavy casualties on
450-615: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Operation Dragoon [REDACTED] United States [REDACTED] France [REDACTED] Sixth Army Group [REDACTED] Army Group G [REDACTED] 15,574 casualties Asia-Pacific Mediterranean and Middle East Other campaigns Coups Naval Logistics Luxembourg The Netherlands Belgium France Britain 1941–1943 1944–1945 Germany Strategic campaigns Operation Dragoon (initially Operation Anvil )
500-490: The 11th Panzer Division . He intended to establish a new defense line at Dijon in central France. German intelligence was aware of the impending Allied landing, and on 13 August, Blaskowitz ordered the 11th Panzer Division to move east of the Rhône, where the landing was expected. The Western Naval Task Force was formed under the command of Vice Admiral Henry Kent Hewitt to carry the U.S. 6th Army Group , also known as
550-738: The Red Army , and achieve a superior negotiating position in postwar Europe, all at a stroke. When first planned, the landings were to take place simultaneously – Overlord in Normandy and Anvil in the south of France. A dual landing was soon recognized as impossible to conduct with the forces available. The expansion of Overlord from a three- to a five-division front required many additional tank landing ships (LSTs), which would have been needed for Anvil. Another Allied amphibious landing, in Italy, at Anzio , had gone badly. All of these led
SECTION 10
#1732772224939600-605: The US Army Chief of Staff . It was supported by Joseph Stalin at the Tehran Conference in late 1943. In discussions with Franklin D. Roosevelt , Stalin advocated for the operation as an inherent part of the planned invasion of Normandy , preferring to have the Allies in the far west instead of at an alternative landing in the Balkans , which he considered to be in his zone of influence. Marshall insisted that
650-788: The "Southern Group" or "Dragoon Force", onto the shore. The 6th Army Group was formed in Corsica and activated on 1 August, to consolidate the French and American forces slated to invade southern France. Admiral Hewitt's naval support for the operation included the American battleships Nevada , Texas , and Arkansas , the British battleship Ramillies , and the French battleship Lorraine , with 20 cruisers for gunfire support and naval aircraft from nine escort carriers assembled as Task Force 88 . The main ground force for
700-401: The 1st Regiment drove the German garrison to the western side of the island to an old fort. Fighting continued through 16 August. When darkness fell, German guns on the French mainland at Cap Benat shelled Port-Cros. HMS Ramillies took aim at the fort where the Germans were barricaded. The German garrison surrendered on the morning of 17 August. With both islands in Allied hands,
750-494: The 2nd and 3rd regiments of the First Special Service Force faced sporadic resistance that became more intense when the German garrison forces came together in the area of the port. The men of the First Special Service Force gained the upper hand and discovered that the "coastal defense battery " the Allied naval forces were worried about was actually several well-camouflaged dummy weapons. On Port-Cros,
800-689: The AFL made the majority of the troops landing on French shores, capturing the ports of Toulon and Marseille . The French troops in Southern France were now named French First Army and would participate in the Liberation of France and the invasion of south-western Germany in 1944–45. One of the AFL's garrison and second-line formations, which later helped man the French occupation zone in Germany ,
850-512: The Allied threat in Normandy, Army Group G's units were continuously sent north until the Dragoon landings. The remaining 11 divisions were understrength and only one panzer division was left, the 11th. In early August, the 11th Panzer Division had sent one of its two panzer battalions to Normandy shortly before the landing. The troops were positioned thinly along the French coast, with an average of 90 km (56 mi) per division. Generally,
900-424: The Allies to postpone Anvil. After the landing at Normandy, a revival of Anvil became increasingly attractive to Allied planners. The Normandy ports had insufficient capacity to handle Allied supply needs and French generals under Charles de Gaulle pressed for a direct attack on Southern France with participation of French troops. These factors led to a reconsideration of the plan. Despite Churchill's objections,
950-473: The Allies was the German Army Group G ( Heeresgruppe G ). Although nominally an army group, Army Group G had at the time of the invasion only one army under its command: the 19th Army , led by Friedrich Wiese . As Southern France had never been important to German planning, their forces there had been stripped of nearly all their valuable units and equipment over the course of the war. Due to
1000-495: The Allies with vital intelligence. The Allied ground and naval forces were supported by a large aerial fleet of 3,470 planes. The majority of them were stationed on Corsica and Sardinia . The tactical bombers and fighters had to support the landings directly, while the strategic element had to bomb German targets deep into France. The strategic bombing started well before the landing, and targeted airports, traffic hubs, railroads, coastal defenses, and communication lines. Opposing
1050-617: The Anzio and Normandy landings. They chose a location with no high ground controlled by the Wehrmacht , conditions that had led to heavy casualties after the initial landings on Omaha Beach at Normandy. The choice for the disembarkation site was an area on the Var coast east of Toulon. A preliminary air campaign was planned to isolate the battlefield and cut the Germans off from reinforcement by destroying several key bridges. A large airborne landing
SECTION 20
#17327722249391100-408: The German forces, although a substantial part of the best German units were able to escape. The captured French ports were put into operation, allowing the Allies to solve their supply problems quickly. The British disagreed with the American assessment due to the weak political impact and lack of movement in Italy. The idea of invading Southern France had come in 1942 from General George Marshall ,
1150-451: The German garrisons on both islands could reach the proposed Allied landing area and the sea lanes that the troops would follow. The First Special Service Force , a joint US-Canadian special forces unit trained in amphibious assault and mountaineering and consisting of three regiments, received the order to take the islands as part of Operation Sitka. The landings on Port-Cros and Levant started simultaneously on 14 August. On Levant,
1200-502: The Germans expected another Allied landing in the Mediterranean, the advancing Red Army and the Allied landings in Normandy placed great strains on German resources, so little was done to improve the condition of Army Group G, occupying southern France. Given the advancing Allied forces in northern France, the Germans deemed a realistic defense in the south impossible. Johannes Blaskowitz 's Army Group G headquarters discussed
1250-650: The Germans heavily, interrupting railroads, damaging bridges, and disrupting the communication network. The landing started on the morning of 15 August. Ships of the Western Naval Task Force approached under cover of darkness and were in position at dawn. The first of 1,300 Allied bombers from Italy, Sardinia, and Corsica began aerial bombardment shortly before 06:00. Bombing was nearly continuous until 07:30, when battleships and cruisers launched spotting aircraft and began firing on specific targets detected by aerial surveillance. Naval gunfire ceased as
1300-434: The Germans were finally able to complete their withdrawal and retreat from the town. While the Germans were retreating, the French managed to capture the important ports of Marseille and Toulon , soon putting them into operation. The Germans were not able to hold Dijon and ordered a complete withdrawal from Southern France. Army Group G retreated further north, pursued by Allied forces. The fighting ultimately came to
1350-625: The US VI Corps landed on the beaches of the Côte d'Azur under the shield of a large naval task force, followed by several divisions of French Army B . They were opposed by the scattered forces of the German Army Group G , which had been weakened by the relocation of its divisions to other fronts and the replacement of its soldiers with third-rate Ostlegionen outfitted with obsolete equipment. Hindered by Allied air supremacy and
1400-483: The aim of taking these towns to prevent German counterattacks against the beaches. The bulk of the American force then had to advance quickly to the north along the Rhône, to take Lyon and Dijon and make contact with the Allied forces in northern France. After a successful initial landing, units of the French Army B were to land, given the task of taking the French ports of Toulon and Marseille. Although
1450-553: The area of Le Muy with the objective of preventing German reinforcements from reaching the landing beaches. The American component being the largest, consisted of the air dropped Mission Albatross , followed by the glider-borne Mission Dove . Later, the missions Bluebird and Canary would bring in the reinforcements. The British landings, codenamed " Operation Rugby ", consisted of the 2nd Parachute Brigade . Fog and low clouds resulted in many paratroopers landing ten or fifteen miles away, while others were closer. The British took
1500-622: The capacity to adequately supply the Allied forces. Concurrently, the high command of the French Liberation Army pushed for a revival of the operation that would include large numbers of French troops. As a result, the operation was finally approved in July to be executed in August. The invasion sought to secure the vital ports on the French Mediterranean coast and increase pressure on the German forces by opening another front. After preliminary commando operations,
1550-599: The coast of Brittany . Eisenhower, supported by Roosevelt, who (with his 1944 election campaign four months away) opposed diverting large forces to the Balkans, stood firm on the agreed plan despite long harangues from Churchill on 5 and 9 August. The chief objectives of Operation Dragoon were the important French ports of Marseille and Toulon, considered essential to supply the growing Allied forces in France. The Allied planners were cautious, taking heed of lessons learned from
Operation Anvil - Misplaced Pages Continue
1600-500: The coastal defense further by repairing damaged and outdated turrets, as well as moving in additional guns. This included the 340 mm (13.4 in) guns taken from the dismantled French battleship Provence . To ensure the success of Dragoon and support the initial landings, preliminary commando operations had to be carried out. The first target was the Hyères Islands , specifically Port-Cros and Levant . The guns of
1650-499: The landing craft headed ashore at 08:00. The relatively steep beach gradients with small tidal range discouraged Axis placement of underwater obstacles, but landing beaches had been defensively mined. LCIs leading the first wave of landing craft fired rockets to explode land mines on the beaches to be used by following troops. The main landing force consisted of three divisions of the VI Corps. The 3rd Infantry Division landed on
1700-435: The left at Alpha Beach ( Cavalaire-sur-Mer ), the 45th Infantry Division landed in the center at Delta Beach (Le Muy, Saint-Tropez ) and the 36th Infantry Division landed on the right at Camel Beach ( Saint-Raphaël ). French Liberation Army The French Liberation Army ( French : Armée française de la Libération [aʁme fʁɑ̃sɛz də la libeʁasjɔ̃] or AFL) was the reunified French Army that arose from
1750-561: The men of the First Special Service Force transferred to the mainland, where they were attached to the First Airborne Task Force . Meanwhile, at Cap Nègre , to the west of the main invasion, a large group of French commandos destroyed German artillery emplacements as part of Operation Romeo . Their main effort was supported by diversionary flank landings by other commando teams. While the main mission succeeded, 67 French commandos were taken prisoner after they ran into
1800-636: The merging of the Armée d'Afrique with the prior Free French Forces ( Forces françaises libres or FFL) during World War II . The military force of Free France , it participated in the Italian and Tunisian campaigns before joining in the Liberation of France with other Western Allies of World War II . It went on to join the Western Allied invasion of Germany . The French Liberation Army
1850-696: The operation was authorized by the Allied Combined Chiefs of Staff on 14 July, then renamed Dragoon on 1 August. The landing was scheduled for 15 August. Churchill and his chiefs of staff had opposed Dragoon in favor of reinforcing the campaign in Italy, by capturing Trieste , landing on the Istria peninsula, and moving through the Ljubljana Gap into Austria and Hungary. Then, on 4 August, Churchill proposed that Dragoon (less than two weeks away) should be switched to
1900-614: The operation was the US Seventh Army commanded by Alexander Patch . The US Army's VI Corps , commanded by Major General Lucian Truscott, would carry out the initial landing and be followed by the French Army B under command of Général Jean de Lattre de Tassigny . Accompanying the operation was a fully mobilized separate detachment called "Task Force Butler", consisting of the bulk of the Allied tanks, tank destroyers, and mechanized infantry. The French Resistance played
1950-427: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Operation Anvil . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Operation_Anvil&oldid=1071088254 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
2000-415: The southern landing be included in the strategic planning, and Roosevelt found cancelling it to be unpalatable. During planning, the operation was known as "Anvil", to complement Operation Sledgehammer , which was at the time the code name for the Normandy invasion. Both plans were later renamed: Sledgehammer to Operation Overlord and Anvil to Operation Dragoon. Operation Dragoon was controversial from
2050-411: The time it was proposed. The American military leadership and its British counterparts disagreed on the operation. Winston Churchill argued that it would divert military resources from Allied operations in Italy . Instead, he favored an invasion of the oil-producing regions of the Balkans. Churchill reasoned that by attacking the Balkans, the Allies could deny Germany petroleum, forestall the advance of
Operation Anvil - Misplaced Pages Continue
2100-506: The town that evening but were repulsed. Only in the afternoon of the following day after reinforcements arrived did they succeed in capturing Le Muy, along with 700 prisoners. The First Airborne Task Force then waited for the arrival of ground troops while holding off a number of counterattacks. Overall the landings were successful, with 104 dead, 24 of which were caused by glider accidents and 18 by parachute accidents. The preceding bombing missions, together with resistance sabotage acts, hit
2150-481: The troops deployed. The AFL was key in the liberation of Corsica , the first French metropolitan department to be liberated. The troops that landed 2 months after D-Day were the 2nd Armored Division under Philippe Leclerc and the 1st Battalion Marine Commando Fusiliers ( 1er Bataillon de Fusiliers Marins Commandos ) better known as Commando Kieffer . During the Allied invasion of Provence , on 15 August 1944,
2200-469: The troops of the German divisions were only second- and third-rate. This meant that over the course of the war, the divisions were thinned out and soldiers were replaced with wounded old veterans and Volksdeutsche from Poland and Czechoslovakia . Numerous units were also replaced by Ostlegionen and Ostbataillone . These units were volunteers from Eastern Europe, mainly the Soviet Union, and had
2250-535: The villages of Le Mitan, La Motte , Clastron and Les Serres and then assaulted and captured the bridge over the River Naturby, which carried the road to Le Muy. Soon after they secured the high ground to the east and north of Le Muy, while the Americans did the same in the west and south. The American 550th Glider Infantry Battalion under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Edward Sachs then attempted to seize
2300-580: The years before the landing. After the Fall of France , the Vichy French regime greatly improved the coastal defenses to appease the Germans. Along the coast, about 75 coastal guns of heavy and medium calibers were emplaced. Toulon was protected by a complex of heavy 340 mm (13.4 in) gun artillery batteries in mounted turrets. After their military take-over in November 1942 , the Germans improved
2350-611: Was also planned in the center of the landing zone to quickly seize the high ground overlooking the beaches. Parallel to the invasion, several commando units were to take control of the islands off the coast. The Allied plan consisted of a three-division landing of US forces led by Major General Lucian Truscott to secure a beachhead on the first day. Their flanks were to be protected by French, American and Canadian commando units. Within 24 hours, 50,000–60,000 troops and 6,500 vehicles were to be disembarked. The airborne landings would concentrate in an area near Draguignan and Le Muy , with
2400-654: Was created in January 1943 when the Army of Africa ( Armée d'Afrique ) led by General Giraud was combined with the Free French Forces of General de Gaulle . The AFL participated in the campaigns of Tunisia and Italy; during the Italian campaign the AFL was known as the French Expeditionary Corps in Italy ( Corps Expéditionnaire Français en Italie or CEFI) making a quarter of
2450-633: Was the 11th Panzer Division, which was commanded by Wend von Wietersheim . The German chain of command was overly complex, with parallel chains for the occupation forces, the land forces, the Luftwaffe and the Kriegsmarine . The Luftwaffe, with 200 aircraft, and the Kriegsmarine, with 45 small ships, played a negligible role in the operation. The German defense was aided by extensive coastal artillery placements which had been constructed in
2500-477: Was the code name for the landing operation of the Allied invasion of Provence ( Southern France ) on 15 August 1944. Although initially designed to be executed in conjunction with Operation Overlord , the June 1944 Allied landing in Normandy , a lack of available resources led to a cancellation of the second landing. By July 1944 the landing was reconsidered, as the clogged-up ports in Normandy did not have
#938061