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The Allied Invasion of Southern France in August, 1944

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The Allied Invasion of Southern France in August, 1944 THE STRATEGIC AND OPERATIONAL DEBATE OVER OPERATION ANVIL: THE ALLIED INVASION OF SOUTHERN FRANCE IN AUGUST, 1944 Cameron Zinsou Thesis Prepared for the Degree of MASTERS OF ARTS UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS May 2013 APPROVED: Robert Citino, Major Professor Geoffrey Wawro, Committee Member Richard McCaslin, Committee Member and Chair of the Department of History Mark Wardell, Dean of the Toulouse Graduate School Zinsou, Cameron. The Strategic and Operational Debate over Operation Anvil: The Allied Invasion of Southern France in August, 1944. Master of Arts (History), May 2013, 125 pp., 1 illustration, references, 75 titles. In August, 1944, the Allies embarked on one of the “two supreme operations of 1944,” Operation Anvil/Dragoon. It is an operation that almost did not happen. Envisioned as a direct supporting operation of Overlord, Anvil soon ran into troubles. Other operations taking away resources away from Anvil in addition to opposition from the highest levels of Allied command threatened Anvil. This thesis chronicles the evolution of this debate, as well as shed light on one of the most overlooked and successful operations the Allies embarked on in World War II. Copyright 2013 by Cameron Zinsou ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS There are numerous individuals I would like to thank for helping me on this project. First and foremost is my advisor, Dr. Robert Citino, who saw me through this thesis from conception to conclusion. Without his advice and support, this project would have floundered long ago. In addition to being an advisor, I am fortunate enough to call Dr. Citino much more than that: a mentor and good friend. Thanks to the other members on my committee, Dr. Rick McCaslin and Dr. Geoffrey Wawro. They have seen me grown and have provided optimal conditions for me to flourish throughout the course of my undergraduate and graduate career. They also provided astute critiques and observations of my work as it developed. Chief inspirations for my love of history are my great grandparents, Leo L. Lowrey and Floyd E. Rynes, both veterans of World War II. This work is dedicated to them. Also my parents, Robin and Parfait Zinsou, have supported me always, and encouraged my curiosity. Thanks are in order to my sisters, Paige and Natasha Zinsou, who provided many laughs when times ran tough. Many thanks to Roger Cirillo, who directed me in the right direction when I first started research on Anvil. Thanks to the fine men and women at the National Archives in College Park, who were endlessly patient with my neophyte ways. Lastly, I thank the graduate students at the University of North Texas. Their help, questions, debates, edits and support made this arduous process run much more smoothly, as we leaned on one another through this mutual struggle. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................. iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ......................................................................................................... v MAP 1. ANVIL: THE ALLIED LANDING ON THE RIVIERA, 15 AUGUST 1944 ................ vi CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER 2. CONCEPTION AND PRELIMINARY PLANNING............................................ 8 CHAPTER 3. PROMISE AND PROBLEMS ............................................................................. 33 CHAPTER 4. CANCELLATION ............................................................................................... 56 CHAPTER 5. RESTORATION AND COMMENCEMENT ..................................................... 86 CHAPTER 6. CONCLUSION................................................................................................... 116 BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................................... 121 iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AFHQ .........................Allied Force Headquarters BCS ............................British Chiefs of Staff CCS ............................Combined Chiefs of Staff CIGS ..........................Chief of the Imperial General Staff COS ............................Chief of Staff COSMED ...................Chief of Staff Mediterranean COSSAC ....................Chief of Staff to the Supreme Allied Commander ETO ............................European Theater of Operations JCS .............................Joint Chiefs of Staff JSM ............................Joint Service Mission JPS..............................Joint Planning staff LCI .............................Landing Craft, Infantry LCT ............................Landing Craft, Tank LSD ............................Landing Ship, Dock LSE ............................Landing Ship, Emergency Repair LSH ............................Landing Ship, Heavy LSI..............................Landing Ship, Infantry LST ............................Landing Ship, Tank MAAF ........................Mediterranean Allied Air Force MATAF......................Mediterranean Allied Tactical Air Force MTO ...........................Mediterranean Theater of Operations SAC ............................Supreme Allied Commander SACMED ...................Supreme Allied Commander Mediterranean SHAEF .......................Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force SOS ............................Supply of Service TF 163 ........................Task Force 163 WNTF ........................Western Naval Task Force v Map 1. Anvil: the Allied Landing on the Riviera, 15 August 1944 vi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Operation Anvil, later renamed Dragoon, has not received the attention it deserves in the historiography of World War II. 1 Academic works have seldom covered the operations in southern France. Mentions of the operation are usually made in passing. It is treated as though it was just a footnote in the war. Literature devoted solely to the operation is sorely lacking, and largely devoid of academic credentials.2 A scouring of several prominent one-volume histories of the war exemplifies this oversight.3 This is a typical example of the perfunctory coverage of this campaign: As this drive towards Paris began, Allied, air, sea and land forces launched Operation Dragoon, landing 94,000 men and 11,000 vehicles between Toulon and Cannes on the Mediterranean coast of France in a single day. Within twenty-four hours these troops had pushed nearly twenty miles inland. That day, in Paris, amid the excitement of the news of this fresh landing, the city's police force, hitherto a reluctant arm of German civic control, agree to put aside its uniforms, keep its arms and join the active resistance on the streets. But the revenge of the occupier was still not ended. That day, five French 1In this thesis, the operation is referred to as Anvil, until the name change on 1 August 1944 occurs. It is also referred to as Anvil when speaking of the operation generically. 2 There are few monographs dedicated to covering the breadth of the campaign. Some even cover only portions of it, such as the airborne operation or the initial landings themselves. See Jeffrey Clarke and Ross Smith, Riviera to the Rhine (Washington DC: Center of Military History, United States Army, 1993); Alan Wilt, The French Riviera Campaign of August 1944 (Carbondale: Southern Illinois Press University, 1981); Mark Stout and Harry Yeide, First to the Rhine: The 6th Army Group in World War II (St. Paul: Zenith Press, 2007); Robert H. Adleman, The Champagne Campaign (Toronto: Little, Brown & Company, 1969); Stephen Sussna, Defeat and Triumph: The Story of a Controversial Allied Invasion and French Rebirth (Bloomington: Xlibris, 2008); William B. Breuer, Operation Dragoon: The Allied Invasion of the South of France (Novato: Presidio Press, 1987); and Steven J. Zaloga, Operation Dragoon 1944: France's Other D-Day (Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2009). One recent work that argues that Anvil should not have occurred is Anthony Jones-Tucker, Operation Dragoon: The Liberation of Southern France 1944 (Barnsley: Pen and Sword Military, 2009). Lesser coverage of the campaign can be found in Robert A. Miller, August 1944: The Campaign for France (Novato: Presidio Press, 1988) and Sir William Jackson, Victory in the Mediterranean, Part II June to October 1944, Vol. VI (London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1987), 173-200. 3 Some monographs that are referenced here and cover the spectrum of the historiography are: Martin Gilbert, The Second World War: A Complete History (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1989); John F.C. Fuller, The Second World War 1939-45: A Strategical and Tactical History (New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1954); Henri Michel, The Second World War, trans. by Douglas Parmée (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1975); John Keegan, The Second World War (New York: Penguin, 1989); Gerhard Weinberg, A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II, 2005 ed. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005); Allan R. Millett and Williamson Murray, A War to be Won: Fighting the Second World War (Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2000). 1 prisoners, among them de Gaulle's clandestine military representative in Paris, Colonel Andre Rondenay, were taken by the Gestapo to the village of Domont, twelve miles north of Paris, and shot. Their killers had then returned to Paris for an 'executioners' banquet', of champagne.4 Other accounts are similarly sketchy. And yet, the planning for Anvil was complex and lengthy. United States and
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