Book Review of
Operation ‘Dragoon’ & Beyond
Author: Jean Paul Pallud
Pen & Sword Military Books
By Ray Mehlberger
ISBN: 978-1-3990-4611-4
Copyright: 2022
MSRP: $52.95
By Ray Mehlberger
ISBN: 978-1-3990-4611-4
Copyright: 2022
MSRP: $52.95
THE BOOK;
Pen & Sword Books is located in the UK.
This book is of hard-cover in 201 pages in 6 ½”x 9 ¾” page format. Five pages are blank.
It has a paper jacket with fold over tabs, that anchor it to the book.
The jacket has 2 photographs on it.
The top photo is black and white. It shows: Troops from the 35th Infantry Regiment using the sand for cover, as they wait for orders to advance. On the shoulder of the sergeant looking at the photographer is the divisional patch of the 4rd Division: there are white stripes in a blue square. Another sergeant of the 15th Infantry – Staff Sergeant Audie L. Murphy – also landed here: he was to receive the Distinguished Service Cross for his role in over-running a strong point in the hills overlooking the beach.
The color photo at the bottom of the cover shows the beach as it appears now.
The back cover shows 3 black and white photos and 3 color ones.
The 1st black and white one shows a German soldier, in July 2944, of the 19th Armee, guarding the Mediterranean Coastline with Italy, the LXII Reserve Korps, with two divisions in the center of the LXXXV Armeekorps, with 2 divisions; and on the right flank, from the Rhone River, to the Spanish border, the IV Luftwaffe-Feldkorps, with 3 divisions. At Collioure, 10 kilometers from the Spanish border, a 20mm Flak 30 gun protected the harbor.
The 1st color photo shows this as it looks today.
The 2nd black and white photo shows: Pursuit north up the Rhone Valley. Between August 21 to 31, the Americans captured some 5,800 prisoners in the Rhone Valley alone (3 men of the German Luftwaffe are shown here, guarded by a U.S. infantryman of the 36th Division, pictured in front of the First World War memorial at Loriol.
The 2nd color photos shows the memorial as it looks today.
The 3rd black and white photo, at the bottom shows: On February 8th, after a final stand in the southeast corner of the Colmar pocket, the German command gave the 19th Armee the order to withdraw over the Rhine. In Colmar a dead German soldier lies prostrate in the snow in front of guns. Picture taken at the major road junction, where the Route de Strasbourg joins the Route De Selestat on the right. Off on the left is Rue de Ostheim.
The 2nd color photo shows this scene in 2004, just a year before the building was completely rebuilt, with its front part removed. It now houses a lovely pastry shop.
The book contains:
The title page (book was printed in China by Printing International Ltd.)
CONTENTS: Four chapters
INTRODUCTION:
From Riviera to the Rhine, by Jeffrey J. Clarke & Robert Ross Smith
Operation “Dragoon” – The Invasion of Southern France
Pursuit to the North by Paul Pallud
The Battle of Alsace By Paul Pallud
There are numerous black and white photos of German and Allied Generals and infantrymen.
German officers, sailors, Luftwaffe men, tank crewmen etc.
Allied officers, sailors, pilots, gun crews, medics.
48 photos of Allied ships, landing crafts and German rafts. (48 photos).
42 photos of Sherman tanks. A U.S. Air Force glider (2 photos), Vought O52U Kingfisher, Grumman F6F Hellcat, L-4 Grasshopper.
U.S. dump truck (6 photos), U.S. A.A. halftrack (2 photos), U.S. bulldozer (2 photos), U.S. LST (2 photos), U.S. DUKW, Jeep (9 photos), U.S. M-5 light tank (3 photos), U.S. halftrack (3 photos), U.S. 75mm AT gun, 57mm, U.S. 6-wheeled armoured car (2 photos), U.S. ambulance and a 4-wheeled cannon, a civilian bus.
A German sedan (2 photos), a German Pz.Kpfw.IV (2 photos), German 15cm guns in concrete shore casements (4 photos), German 4-wheeled cars (3 photos). German truck, German Tiger tank (2 photos), German Panther tank, German 20mm A.A. gun, VW Beetle, a wrecked German ½ tracked truck and 105mm gun, German rail guns (3 photos), Jagdpanther (2 photos), German lorry that is burning and a German Whirlwind tank.
10 maps and a horse-drawn cart.
The history of Operation Dragoon is printed on the fold over flap on the front of the paper cover:
The project of the landing operation in southern France was debated between the Western Allies from mid-1943. The Americans favouring the idea and the British expressing doubts on the value of such an operation. In November, at the ‘Eureka’ conference at Tehran, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin declared he was much interested in an operation in southern France.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill agreed to launch Operation ‘Anvil’ in southern France at the same time as Operation ‘Overlord’, the Normandy landings.
In June 1944, convinced that the Allied forces in the Mediterranean would be better used in the Italian campaign, Churchill appealed directly to Roosevelt to cancel ‘Anvil’, but Roosevelt answered that he was definitely for it.
On July 2nd, the Combined Chiefs-of-Staff directed the Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean Theatre to launch the operation, by now named ‘Dragoon’, a three-division assault against the coast of southern France by August 14th, under the shield of a large naval tank force, the U.S. VI Corps and French forces landed on the beaches of the Riviera on August 15th.
Opposition from scattered German forces was weak. As they withdrew to the north , through the Rhine Valley, chased by the vanguard troops of VI Corps, the French captured the ports of Marseille and Toulon. Troops from Operation ‘Dragoon’ met with the Allied units from Operation ‘Overlord’ on September 15th.
Lead units of the 5th Army Group reached the Rhine in mid-November, but there would be no crossing. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander, directed the 6th Army Group to halt all preparations for a Rhine crossing and turn the Seventh Army north as quickly as possible. Despite its uncertain beginnings, the well-planned Operation ‘Dragoon’ and the forces involved – along with German unpreparedness and disarray – contributed to a surprisingly rapid success that liberated most of southern France in just four weeks.
The Riviera landings, the November push to the Rhine and the battle for the Colmar pocket, all three operations are covered in this volume by Jean Paul Pallud and each show the action and locations in After the Battle’s unique ‘then and now’ style.
THE AUTHOR:
Jean Paul Pallud was born in France in 1949 and studied physics at Grenoble University, graduating as a physicist engineer.
Specializing in the history of WWII he has worked on “After the Battle” for over 43 years. His first submission to the magazine, appearing in 1979, and his last in 2022.
As one of the main contributors to the magazine, he ventured behind the then Iron Curtain, journeyed north to the Northern Circle an far into the deserts of North Africa. He has written and contributed to over 80 articles on a wide variety of wartime topics and is the author of many of the “After the Battle’s” most commemorative feats.
He authored 5 major books: “The Battle of the Bulge-Then and Now”, “Blitzkrieg in the West-Then and Now”, “Operation Torch – Then and Now”, “The Desert War – Then and Now”. He also co-authored “German Coastal Radar Station – Then and Now”, with Winston Ramsey and has contributed to three more “After the Battle” books. He has written over 150 articles and books in French.
Jean Paul lives with his wife Marie Francoise in the picturesque Alps, where he enjoys mountaineering. He has three children and seven grandchildren.
This book will be of great interest to modelers and military historians alike.
I sincerely wish to thank Casemate Publishers for this review sample.
Casemate is the N. American distributor of Pen & Sword books and all Pen and Sword titles can be viewed on Casemate’s website at:
Pen & Sword Books is located in the UK.
This book is of hard-cover in 201 pages in 6 ½”x 9 ¾” page format. Five pages are blank.
It has a paper jacket with fold over tabs, that anchor it to the book.
The jacket has 2 photographs on it.
The top photo is black and white. It shows: Troops from the 35th Infantry Regiment using the sand for cover, as they wait for orders to advance. On the shoulder of the sergeant looking at the photographer is the divisional patch of the 4rd Division: there are white stripes in a blue square. Another sergeant of the 15th Infantry – Staff Sergeant Audie L. Murphy – also landed here: he was to receive the Distinguished Service Cross for his role in over-running a strong point in the hills overlooking the beach.
The color photo at the bottom of the cover shows the beach as it appears now.
The back cover shows 3 black and white photos and 3 color ones.
The 1st black and white one shows a German soldier, in July 2944, of the 19th Armee, guarding the Mediterranean Coastline with Italy, the LXII Reserve Korps, with two divisions in the center of the LXXXV Armeekorps, with 2 divisions; and on the right flank, from the Rhone River, to the Spanish border, the IV Luftwaffe-Feldkorps, with 3 divisions. At Collioure, 10 kilometers from the Spanish border, a 20mm Flak 30 gun protected the harbor.
The 1st color photo shows this as it looks today.
The 2nd black and white photo shows: Pursuit north up the Rhone Valley. Between August 21 to 31, the Americans captured some 5,800 prisoners in the Rhone Valley alone (3 men of the German Luftwaffe are shown here, guarded by a U.S. infantryman of the 36th Division, pictured in front of the First World War memorial at Loriol.
The 2nd color photos shows the memorial as it looks today.
The 3rd black and white photo, at the bottom shows: On February 8th, after a final stand in the southeast corner of the Colmar pocket, the German command gave the 19th Armee the order to withdraw over the Rhine. In Colmar a dead German soldier lies prostrate in the snow in front of guns. Picture taken at the major road junction, where the Route de Strasbourg joins the Route De Selestat on the right. Off on the left is Rue de Ostheim.
The 2nd color photo shows this scene in 2004, just a year before the building was completely rebuilt, with its front part removed. It now houses a lovely pastry shop.
The book contains:
The title page (book was printed in China by Printing International Ltd.)
CONTENTS: Four chapters
INTRODUCTION:
From Riviera to the Rhine, by Jeffrey J. Clarke & Robert Ross Smith
Operation “Dragoon” – The Invasion of Southern France
Pursuit to the North by Paul Pallud
The Battle of Alsace By Paul Pallud
There are numerous black and white photos of German and Allied Generals and infantrymen.
German officers, sailors, Luftwaffe men, tank crewmen etc.
Allied officers, sailors, pilots, gun crews, medics.
48 photos of Allied ships, landing crafts and German rafts. (48 photos).
42 photos of Sherman tanks. A U.S. Air Force glider (2 photos), Vought O52U Kingfisher, Grumman F6F Hellcat, L-4 Grasshopper.
U.S. dump truck (6 photos), U.S. A.A. halftrack (2 photos), U.S. bulldozer (2 photos), U.S. LST (2 photos), U.S. DUKW, Jeep (9 photos), U.S. M-5 light tank (3 photos), U.S. halftrack (3 photos), U.S. 75mm AT gun, 57mm, U.S. 6-wheeled armoured car (2 photos), U.S. ambulance and a 4-wheeled cannon, a civilian bus.
A German sedan (2 photos), a German Pz.Kpfw.IV (2 photos), German 15cm guns in concrete shore casements (4 photos), German 4-wheeled cars (3 photos). German truck, German Tiger tank (2 photos), German Panther tank, German 20mm A.A. gun, VW Beetle, a wrecked German ½ tracked truck and 105mm gun, German rail guns (3 photos), Jagdpanther (2 photos), German lorry that is burning and a German Whirlwind tank.
10 maps and a horse-drawn cart.
The history of Operation Dragoon is printed on the fold over flap on the front of the paper cover:
The project of the landing operation in southern France was debated between the Western Allies from mid-1943. The Americans favouring the idea and the British expressing doubts on the value of such an operation. In November, at the ‘Eureka’ conference at Tehran, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin declared he was much interested in an operation in southern France.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill agreed to launch Operation ‘Anvil’ in southern France at the same time as Operation ‘Overlord’, the Normandy landings.
In June 1944, convinced that the Allied forces in the Mediterranean would be better used in the Italian campaign, Churchill appealed directly to Roosevelt to cancel ‘Anvil’, but Roosevelt answered that he was definitely for it.
On July 2nd, the Combined Chiefs-of-Staff directed the Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean Theatre to launch the operation, by now named ‘Dragoon’, a three-division assault against the coast of southern France by August 14th, under the shield of a large naval tank force, the U.S. VI Corps and French forces landed on the beaches of the Riviera on August 15th.
Opposition from scattered German forces was weak. As they withdrew to the north , through the Rhine Valley, chased by the vanguard troops of VI Corps, the French captured the ports of Marseille and Toulon. Troops from Operation ‘Dragoon’ met with the Allied units from Operation ‘Overlord’ on September 15th.
Lead units of the 5th Army Group reached the Rhine in mid-November, but there would be no crossing. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander, directed the 6th Army Group to halt all preparations for a Rhine crossing and turn the Seventh Army north as quickly as possible. Despite its uncertain beginnings, the well-planned Operation ‘Dragoon’ and the forces involved – along with German unpreparedness and disarray – contributed to a surprisingly rapid success that liberated most of southern France in just four weeks.
The Riviera landings, the November push to the Rhine and the battle for the Colmar pocket, all three operations are covered in this volume by Jean Paul Pallud and each show the action and locations in After the Battle’s unique ‘then and now’ style.
THE AUTHOR:
Jean Paul Pallud was born in France in 1949 and studied physics at Grenoble University, graduating as a physicist engineer.
Specializing in the history of WWII he has worked on “After the Battle” for over 43 years. His first submission to the magazine, appearing in 1979, and his last in 2022.
As one of the main contributors to the magazine, he ventured behind the then Iron Curtain, journeyed north to the Northern Circle an far into the deserts of North Africa. He has written and contributed to over 80 articles on a wide variety of wartime topics and is the author of many of the “After the Battle’s” most commemorative feats.
He authored 5 major books: “The Battle of the Bulge-Then and Now”, “Blitzkrieg in the West-Then and Now”, “Operation Torch – Then and Now”, “The Desert War – Then and Now”. He also co-authored “German Coastal Radar Station – Then and Now”, with Winston Ramsey and has contributed to three more “After the Battle” books. He has written over 150 articles and books in French.
Jean Paul lives with his wife Marie Francoise in the picturesque Alps, where he enjoys mountaineering. He has three children and seven grandchildren.
This book will be of great interest to modelers and military historians alike.
I sincerely wish to thank Casemate Publishers for this review sample.
Casemate is the N. American distributor of Pen & Sword books and all Pen and Sword titles can be viewed on Casemate’s website at:
Very highly recommended.