Editing Operation Dragoon (section)

===Opposing forces===
{{main|Operation Dragoon order of battle}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-258-1324-18, Südfrankreich, Flak-Stellung an Küste.jpg|thumb|upright|German [[8.8 cm FlaK 18/36/37/41|88-mm gun]] on the coast in Southern France]]
The Western Naval Task Force was formed under the command of Vice Admiral [[Henry Kent Hewitt]] to carry the [[U.S. 6th Army Group]], also known as the "Southern Group" or "Dragoon Force," onto the shore. The 6th Army Group was formed in [[Corsica]] and activated on 1{{nbsp}}August, to consolidate the French and American forces slated to invade southern France. Admiral Hewitt's naval support for the operation included the American battleships ''[[USS Nevada (BB-36)|Nevada]]'', ''[[USS Texas (BB-35)|Texas]]'',<ref>{{Cite web |last=The History Guy |date=18 June 2021 |title=USS Texas and Operation Dragoon |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pTLCnmZQ3Q |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211107/1pTLCnmZQ3Q |archive-date=7 November 2021 |url-status=live |access-date=18 June 2021 |website=[[YouTube]]}}{{cbignore }}</ref> and ''[[USS Arkansas (BB-33)|Arkansas]]'', the British battleship ''[[HMS Ramillies (07)|Ramillies]]'', and the French battleship {{ship|French battleship|Lorraine||2}}, with 20 [[cruiser]]s for [[gunfire support]] and naval aircraft from nine [[escort carrier]]s assembled as [[Task Force 88 (Operation Dragoon)|Task Force{{nbsp}}88]].{{sfnp|Potter|Nimitz|1960|pp=588–598}}

The main ground force for the operation was the [[US Seventh Army]] commanded by [[Alexander Patch]]. The US Army's [[U.S. VI Corps|VI Corps]], commanded by Major General Lucian Truscott, would carry out the initial landing and be followed by the French Army B under command of [[Général]] [[Jean de Lattre de Tassigny]].{{sfnp|Pogue|1986|p=227}} Accompanying the operation was a fully [[Motorized infantry|mobilized]] separate detachment called "Task Force Butler" consisting of the bulk of the Allied tanks, tank destroyers, and mechanized infantry.

The [[French Resistance]] played a major role in the fighting. As the Allies advanced into France, the resistance evolved from a guerilla fighting force to a semiorganized army called [[French Forces of the Interior]] (FFI). The FFI tied down German troops by sabotaging bridges and communication lines, seizing important traffic hubs and directly attacking isolated German forces. They were aided by Allied special forces from the [[Office of Strategic Services]] (OSS), who supplied the Allies with vital intelligence.{{sfnp|Zaloga|2009|pp=8, 29}}

The Allied ground and naval forces were supported by a large aerial fleet of 3,470 planes. The majority of them were stationed on Corsica and [[Sardinia]]. The tactical bombers and fighters had to support the landings directly, while the strategic element had to bomb German targets deep into France. The strategic bombing started well before the landing, and targeted airports, traffic hubs, railroads, coastal defenses, and communication lines.{{sfnp|Vogel|1983|pp=584–586}}

Opposing the Allies was the German Army Group G (''Heeresgruppe{{nbsp}}G''). Although nominally an army group, Army Group G had at the time of the invasion only one army under its command: the [[19th Army (Wehrmacht)|19th Army]], led by [[Friedrich Wiese]]. As Southern France had never been important to German planning, their forces there had been stripped of nearly all their valuable units and equipment over the course of the war. Due to the Allied threat in Normandy, Army Group G's units were continuously sent north until the Dragoon landings. The remaining 11 divisions were understrength and only one panzer division was left, the 11th.{{sfnp|Vogel|1983|pp=588–598}} In early August, the 11th Panzer Division had sent one of its two panzer battalions to Normandy shortly before the landing.{{sfnp|Clarke|Smith|1993|p=63}}

The troops were positioned thinly along the French coast, with an average of {{convert|90|km|mi|abbr=on}} per division. Generally, the troops of the German divisions were only second- and third-rate. This meant that over the course of the war, the divisions were thinned out and soldiers were replaced with wounded old veterans and ''[[Volksdeutsche]]'' from Poland and [[Czechoslovakia]]. Numerous units were also replaced by ''[[Ostlegionen]]'' and ''Ostbataillone''. These units were volunteers from Eastern Europe, mainly the Soviet Union, and had a generally low fighting morale. The equipment of those troops was in poor shape, consisting of old weapons from various nations, with French, Polish, Soviet, Italian and Czech guns, artillery, and mortars. Four of the German divisions were designated as "static", which meant that they were stripped of all of their mobile capabilities and unable to move from their positions. The only potent unit inside Army Group G was the 11th Panzer Division, which was commanded by [[Wend von Wietersheim]].{{sfnp|Vogel|1983|pp=588–598}}{{sfnp|Zaloga|2009|pp=16–19}}

The German chain of command was overly complex, with parallel chains for the occupation forces, the land forces, the [[Luftwaffe]] and the [[Kriegsmarine]]. The Luftwaffe, with 200 aircraft, and the Kriegsmarine, with 45 small ships, played a negligible role in the operation.{{sfnp|Vogel|1983|pp=588–598}}{{sfnp|Zaloga|2009|pp=20–22}} The German defense was aided by extensive coastal artillery placements which had been constructed in the years before the landing. After the [[Fall of France]], the [[Vichy France|Vichy French]] regime greatly improved the coastal defenses to appease the Germans. Along the coast, about 75 coastal guns of heavy and medium calibers were emplaced. Toulon was protected by a complex of heavy {{convert|340|mm|abbr=on|1}} gun artillery batteries in mounted turrets. After their military [[Case Anton|take-over in November 1942]], the Germans improved the coastal defense further by repairing damaged and outdated turrets, as well as moving in additional guns. This included the {{convert|340|mm|abbr=on|1}} guns taken from the dismantled French battleship'' [[French battleship Provence|Provence]]''.{{sfnp|Tucker-Jones|2010|p=78}}