 LIENS
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After the Allied Forces landed in Normandy, on June 6 1944, the Allied High
Command decided to open a second front, some six weeks later, in order to liberate
Southern France and to trap the German Army in a pincer movement with units of the Allied
Army in Normandy to hook up with the Allied Troops who were liberating the South of
France.
 This
led to OPERATION DRAGOON,
in Provence, on August 15 1944. In the first days, 250,000 men, and thousands of tons of
equipment, were landed on the beaches between Toulon and Cannes. The overall armada
consisted of 2000 ships, 3 American divisions (36th, 45th and 3rd Divisions) and the 1st
French Army of Général de Lattre de Tassigny, all under the command of General Alexander
Patch of the 7th Allied Army. The 6th American Army Corps of Major General Lucian Truscott
landed the same day.
 The
American troops landed on the 15th and the French on the 16th. In order to protect the
allied landings on the coast of the South of France and to capture the key roads leading
north, an impressive airborne drop was made on the night of the 14th to the 15th August
1944, 25 km behind the German lines, in three zones around Le Muy.
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  This mission was entrusted
to the first Airborne Army, «Airborne Task Force» under the command of the American
General Robert T. Frederick. 10,000 Parachutists, mostly Americans, but also the British
Second Parachutist Brigade, and a group of French pathfinders from the First Storm
Batallion, jumped into enemy-held territory. To
reinforce the paratroopers, close to 500 gliders, both American WACO type and English
HORSA, left from Italy towed by C 47 transport planes and brought in heavy equipment,
jeeps and supplies, to help the paratroopers hold the strategic and vital town of Le Muy.
The next day, the Parachutist Division, with help
Liberation Museum
| The Church | the Market | Moulin des Serres | The Tower
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