Operation Dragoon: The Allied Liberation of the South of France: 1944

by Robin Cross

Forgotten Victory is the story of “Operation Dragoon,” the Allied invasion of the South of France on August 15, 1944. It was, in effect, the second D-Day, launched two months after “Overlord,” the Allied invasion of Normandy. As such, it has often been overshadowed by its predecessor, but it significance cannot be underestimated.


“Dragoon” was a largely American-French operation in which the British, who had argued for action in northern Italy, played a smaller role. After nearly five years of conflict, British war stamina had been severely sapped. In contrast, the French, who had been excluded from the overall planning of D-Day, played an important role in Dragoon, supplying the majority of the ground troops in a campaign which began on the beaches of the Riviera and ended in the cool, clear air of the Alpes Maritimes, the sacred ground of France.


Forgotten Victory provides for the first time a complete overview of the liberation of the South of France—from strategic decisions made from the Allied and German high commands to the intelligence war waged by Allied code-breakers; from the German defeat of French resistance forces on the Vergers to the exploits of individual OSS agents on the ground as they strove to keep pace with a fast-moving battlefield. This is the story of the Allies inflicting on the Germany Army a Blitzkrieg-style defeat, expunging the lingering memories of the catastrophe of 1940.

Genres: History, World War II, Military Fiction, Nonfiction, War, American History

328 pages, Hardcover

First published March 5, 2019

Reviews

[JD · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have always been interested in Operation Dragoon and the Champagne Campaign executed by American and Free French Forces in the south of France in the wake of the Normandy landings, and have read quite a bit about it in articles, so was keen to read a book dedicated to it.

Unfortunately I chose the wrong book for my liking as the author is evidently a massive Anglophobe and very anti-Churchill in his writings and uses quoted text to drive his own personal narrative when discussing the politics behind the decisions affecting Dragoon which takes up almost half the book. When I got to the part of the book covering the actual operations I had already lost my enthusiasm for the book and could not find anything new that the author brought to light about the operation and has just repeated what has been said about it in other sources. What a drag.

[Simon Mee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Operation Dragoon is a paint by numbers book that does get elevated by the lack of readily available detailed coverage. I was ignorant that there was even a significant airborne component to the operation. Cross writes competently and in a logical order. If it was a more well-known campaign the book would be forgettable, but sometimes if you pick the market correctly, you can get a bit of credit for yeoman’s work.

To dial back the meanness a bit, the book is logically arranged with plenty of explanations as to its conception, gestation and eventual birth. There’s a tendency to list components that could be thrown into an Appendix in terms of keeping the narrative moving but it is a quibble rather than a serious issue. The sourcing is not massively deep, but its good enough for a book to summarise the campaign.

I note that the most popular review is quite scathing of Cross’s portrayal of Churchill. Cross is apparently a “massive Anglophobe [presumably a self-hating one] and very anti-Churchill in his writings”.

I accept that the portrayal of Churchill is relatively unflattering and he serves as a good focal point for the resistance to the operation. However, Cross does reflect other sources in that Churchill had serious objections and favoured other operations – the book is necessarily going to be “anti-Churchill” in that Operation Dragoon won out over Churchill’s alternatives. As to the Anglophobe part – possibly, but I feel it is more a case of it being an American operation, with significant French support. The contributions of British agents do feature significantly in the later part of the book, and certain American commanders (especially Dahlquist) come in for the harshest criticisms.

So yes, read it if you have a burning desire to learn more about Operation Dragoon specifically. Not essential though. 4 qualified stars.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Covers the much less well known and understood invasion of southern France after the Normandy invasion. Robin Cross. It only covers the details of the invasion and the breakout from the beachhead but also the significant political and logistical nearly prevented the invasion happening. An operation that found favour with the Americans, but not the British, who saw it as a distraction from the Italian campaign, and the breakout in Northern France. The Americans got their way, and the invasion force consisted of British, American and French forces. Cross covers the detail of the assault - a major success, with relatively light casualties, and then on to the breakout - though at times fighting was clearly harder and casualties higher as a result, the Allies were facing weak forces, and the breakout occurred to a much faster timeframe than had been anticipated.

This is an accessible book, on a part of the European campaign that is often overshadowed by the other operations, especially the Normandy invasion - recommended to anyone interested in the wider European campaign.

[Don Brunell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Forgotten D Day

This is a very well written book written in an easy to read manner. The discussion of the tension between Allie’s and their different objectives is compelling.

[Jeff Brooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good, but I would have liked more emphasis on the French forces involved.