A second, nearly forgotten invasion of France, this time in the south, commenced.
Operation Dragoon.
Ordinally planned on concert with Operation Overlord, a shortage of landing craft caused it to be postponed to August. In just four weeks the Allies would clear southern France of the Germans.
Troops of the 15th Inf. Regt., 3rd Div., take cover in the sand as they await orders to advance inland. 15 August, 1944. 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division.
SC 411764 - Infantrymen of B Company, 120th Infantry, 30th Division, cut through a field alongside a road to avoid crossing in the open and giving German snipers a target. 15 August, 1944.
A paratrooper thanks the French fighters who saved his life. Pvt. Winifred D. Eason, of Atlanta, Ga., Company B, 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion, landed 34 hours before H-Hour, D-Day, Aug. 15, 1944, for the invasion of southern France. On the left is the man who saved him, Monsieur Marc Rainaut, leader of the French forces of the Interior of St. Tropez. In the center is Mademoiselle Nicole Celebenovitch, who secured a .45 (seen in her belt) and led the paratroopers to a group of hidden Germans. Rainaut received the Silver Star for his work on D-Day.
It is at this point, frankly, that the Germans should have rationally concluded they had lost the war.
The Battle of Port Cros took place in which the U.S. Navy and the Kriegsmarine engaged in a rare surface engagement in connection with Operation Dragoon in which Axis ships operating out of Port Cros engaged the U.S. Navy. Later in the day, a mixed regiment of United States Army and Canadian Army infantry, the 1st Special Service Force, dropped onto Port Cros and captured the five forts there after a day-long battle with their German garrisons.
Audie Murphy received the Distinguished Service Cross for action taken on 15 August 1944.
"U.S. Army nurses, newly arrived, line the rail of their vessel as it pulls into port of Greenock, Scotland, in European Theater of Operations. They wait to disembark as the gangplank is lowered to the dock.", 08/15/1944"
The U-741 was sunk off of Le Havre by the USS Somers.
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