Operation Anvil (it’s name during the planning stages) but then renamed Operation Dragoon was the Allied invasion of southern France on 15 August, 1944, during World War II.

Operation Anvil (it’s name during the planning stages) but then renamed Operation Dragoon was the Allied invasion of southern France on 15 August, 1944, during World War II. The invasion was initiated via a parachute drop by the 1st Airborne Task Force, followed by an amphibious assault by elements of the U.S. Seventh Army, followed a day later by a force made up primarily of the French First Army. The landing caused the German Army Group G to abandon southern France and to retreat under constant Allied attacks to the Vosges Mountains. Despite being a large and complex military operation with a well-executed amphibious and airborne components, Operation Dragoon is not well known; it came in the later stages of the war and was overshadowed by the earlier and larger Operation Overlord – the invasion of Northern France through Normandy.

The amphibious element of this Operation was supported by RFA’s Celerol, Dewdale (1) and Ennerdale (1)