Robert Underhill

Assaulting the Riviera, 1944 Robert Underhill

Normandy is indelible in accounts of WWII, and scribes often overlook the invasion of Southern France. Prior to WWII, the northern shores of the Mediterranean were where titled barons of Europe and the rich or famous from America often sought refuge. In the southern campaign, the numbers were smaller but sacrifices equally costly. Wounds were as painful, blood flowed just as red, and corpses remained as dead as those up north.

The Southern Invasion, given the code name Dragoon, was controversial. Churchill was reluctant; American General Mark Clark stalled at Anzio in Italy also opposed it. Yet General George Marshall, the major strategist, won endorsement from Supreme Commander of the Allies, General Dwight Eisenhower. Within three months, Allied troops in the south linked up with Third Army elements coming down from the north. The linkage marked the beginning of the end for the Third Reich. Allies captured the German border city of Strasbourgh, and six months afterwards, the maniacal der Fuhrer committed suicide in a Berlin bunker.