Posted on 09/07/2022 4:55:13 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Operation Dragoon, the Allied invasion of Southern France during World War II, often gets lost in the shadow of the Normandy invasions. Dragoon came little more than a month after the Allies crossed the English Channel, on Aug. 15, 1944.
More than 151,000 troops cleared the way for more than half a million troops to swarm onto the beaches of the French Riviera. At the same time, tens of thousands of members of the French Resistance finally got the chance to rise up against their German occupiers.
Pfc. Stephen Weiss landed on the Côte d'Azur that summer day, with the U.S. 36th Infantry Division. He would get separated from his unit before rejoining them in October. In the nearly two months he was away, he found himself fighting alongside the resistance and agents from the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the precursor to what is today called the CIA.
Weiss was a kid from Brooklyn, New York, who joined the U.S. Army in 1942 to get into a psychological warfare unit. He was only 17 years old. Instead of getting his dream job, he found himself in the Texas National Guard with the 143rd Infantry, 36th Infantry Division.
The 36th Infantry landed in North Africa in 1943, where it trained in Morocco. It missed the Tunisian Campaign and was passed over for more experienced soldiers for the Allied invasion of Sicily. It cut its amphibious teeth in Italy and became the first American unit to fight the Axis on the European mainland when it fought at the Battle of Salerno in Italy in 1943.
German resistance and counterattacks were stiff and swift, but they made their way inland and up the Italian Peninsula, fighting major battles at San Pietro and Monte Cassino as
(Excerpt) Read more at military.com ...
Great story! Thanks for posting. 👍
My dad was a sailor in Operation Dragoon and I served in the Texas National Guard with the 143rd Infantry, 36th Infantry Division.
You are welcome.
Thank you for posting this neat story.
Adventures of a Young Man come to mind.
Very interesting, thank you!
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