Customer Reviews

Dragoon, August 15, 1944: The Other Invasion of France

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4 star:		(1)
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There is so little written in my estimation regarding the invasion of southern France, so this book was a real gift. Not only is the book filled with top-notch photos and maps, but is very well detailed.

I discovered the availability of this book while doing a Google search on my father's unit, the 540th Engineers, and was so surprised to find one that dealt with "my VI Corps Engineers". Very few books cover the amphibious engineers, and very few cover them this comprehensively.

I am sure this book will be a valuable tool as I write my book on the 36th, 39th, 540th and 1108th Engineers. Several of "my vets" saw the book at our latest reunion in 2007, and wanted to know how and where they could purchase one. They were certainly impressed with the content.

Many thanks to the author. I am sure this book will remain one of the favorites in my ETO collection. Two-thumbs up!!

Marion Chard
Proud daughter of Walter (Monday) Poniedzialek
540th Combat Engineer WWII

The author gives a lot of information about the "other" invasion of France in WWII which heretofore has received scant attention. An enjoyable read and well researched, the author details unit-by-unit information for each of the participants and the roles they played before and during the invasion. Also a wealth of photographs adds to the value of this book. I highly recommend it.

An excellent book covering an invasion that know one wanted. Churhchill tried to have it cancelled so many times and he never got his way.

This book is chock full of photo's chart's and drawing's it gives the reader a thorought view of the invasion. From army group level down to division levels. The Book gives back round on the Free French Army and the US Army.

It is a well planned book.

Not a well covered campaign, the southern invasion of France.

The book has a color hardback cover with no dust jacket, nice glossy pages and a mix of black and white and color photos. It has plenty of maps, a few color plates of aircraft, ships and other weapons involved. Photos of the present day sites are mixed in with WWII shots. Nice feature is color scans of the unit crests involved. It include numerous charts, tables and images of historical artifacts from the period. Half the page is generally photos and captions with the remainder being a nice history of the events.

Ijust loved the book. It was very interesting to view. My Dad was in the 36th infantry division that landed on southern France.

I tend to favor the Normandy landings but Operation Dragoon also played an important part on the Western Front. This amphibious/airborne landing on the Riviera helped to anchor the German forces in their fortress cities in the south and to prevent them from attacking the southern flank or the rear areas as Overlord expanded its beachhead. The remaining Germans outside those cities were closely pursued to the German border.
After taking Nice, Toulon and the all important port of Marseilles from Army Group G, the US 7th Army and the French 1st Army would travel up the Rhone Valley to southern Germany and participate in the crossing of the Rhine.

In the book the author does a good job of describing the preparations of the landings and the logistics of moving the Fleet to the southern shores of France. The assault and moving off the beach is described more concisely. A brief discussion of prior amphibious landings were mentioned, notably North Africa, Sicily and Italy. I don't recall a discussion on how the British were very much against reducing our forces in Italy for this landing or the hard feelings that were generated between the two Allies over this assault.
There are other books that are more comprehensive in describing the tactical engagements but where this book shines is its photograpy. More than half the book is photographs and illustrations. Some are black and white but a surprising number are in color. There are quite a few color maps that help acclimate the reader to the beaches and the surrounding towns and countryside.

It shows the leading personalities involved in the landing, and the citizens who were caught between the two sides. There are a number of photos of the ships and landing craft as well. There are also a number of photos detailing the uniforms of the day.
The book is large being 12 in by 9 in and with heavy glossy paper it would be a worthy addition for anybody interested in the other French landing.