Editing First Special Service Force (section)

===France, 1944===
On 14 August 1944, the 1st SSF, now restored by recruitment to a 2,000-man unit, landed on the islands of [[Port-Cros National Park|Port Cros]] and [[Île du Levant]] during [[Operation Dragoon]], the invasion of southern France. They fought the small [[Battle of Port Cros]] in which they captured the five forts on the islands from the German Army. Nine men were killed in action or died of wounds received in combat.

On 22 August the Force was attached to Frederick's [[1st Airborne Task Force]], a provisional [[Seventh United States Army|Seventh Army]] airborne division, and later made part of the Task Force.

In the first week of September the Force advanced through the French Riviera sector and on 5 September attacked and either killed or captured an entire German battalion of about 1,000 men near [[L'Escarène]].<ref>Battles of the First Special Service Force. https://fssflhg.tripod.com/id18.htm</ref><ref name=forgot>{{cite web|url=http://firstnationsdrum.com/2002/09/thomas-prince-canadas-forgotten-aboriginal-war-hero-2/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101203014434/http://firstnationsdrum.com/2002/09/thomas-prince-canadas-forgotten-aboriginal-war-hero-2/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=3 December 2010|title=Thomas Prince: Canada's Forgotten Aboriginal War Hero|date=9 September 2002 |publisher=|access-date=21 July 2016}}</ref> On 7 September it moved with the 1st Airborne Task Force to defensive positions on the Franco-Italian border.

During the war the 1,800-man unit accounted for some 12,000 German casualties, captured some 7,000 prisoners, and sustained an attrition rate of over 600%.