Operation Dragoon Photo Gallery
Shipping in the Bay of Naples, Italy, early August 1944, prior to departing for the southern France invasion. Two Italian light cruisers are present, along with dozens of U.S. Navy and British amphibious and combatant ships (80-G-59468).
LSTs loading for Operation Dragoon at Naples-Bagnoli, Italy, 8 August 1944. They include LST-76, LST-286, and LST-174, among others. Note LCS(S)(2) on bow davits of LST-286 and LCVPs carried by other LSTs (SC-192702).
Soldiers and sailors singing hymns during religious services on board an LST while en route to the invasion of southern France, 13 August 1944 (SC-192720).
Rear Admiral Calvin T. Durgin, USN, commander of a Task Force 88 (the Operation Dragoon carrier force) task group, which included two U.S. Navy escort carriers. He is shown on board USS Tulagi (CVE-72), 15 August 1944 (80-G-301379).
LCVPs and LCMs pass LSTs while retracting from the Alpha landing sector Yellow beach, south of St. Tropez, on "D-day", 15 August 1944 (SC-192873).
A Navy beachmaster gives directions to an Army officer for the emplacement of his men after they had debarked from landing craft on the initial day of the invasion, 15 August 1944 (80-G-59478).
LST-656 and LST-691 unloading on a southern France beach on "D-day," 15 August 1944. Photographed by USS Catoctin (AGC-5). Note beachfront resort and large houses just inland (80-G-362804).
LST's loading invasion supplies and vehicles at the island of Nisida, Bay of Naples, Italy, 9 August 1944, just prior to the southern France operation. Note barrage balloons overhead. Ships loading on beach include (left to right): USS LST-1019; USS LST-504; USS LST-1020; and USS LST-995; among others. Passing by in center distance is LST-505 (80-G-258037).
Invasion convoy steams toward the objective area, August 1944. Seen from USS Tulagi (CVE-72), the convoy includes three other escort carriers and a large number of merchant ships. Aircraft on the flight deck are Grumman F6F Hellcat fighters (80-G-416654).
Scene in the USS Catoctin (AGC-5) combat information center on "D-day" of the invasion of southern France, 15 August 1944. Catoctin was amphibious force flagship for this operation (80-G-362857).
USS LCI-513 and LCT-1143 unloading on "D-day" of Operation Dragoon, 15 August 1944. Note use of steel fencing to stabilize beach, and severed telephone wires on roadside poles (SC-192865).
Scene on a Baie de Cavalaire invasion beach, toward the Dragoon beachhead’s southwestern end, on 15 August 1944, with LCVPs from USS Andromeda (AKA-15) and Samuel Chase (APA-26) in center. A group of German prisoners of war is passing beyond the LCVPs and a smoke screen is developing (80-G-59475).
U.S. troops come ashore on 15 August 1944. LCIs in distance are the British LCI-133 and LCI-316. Note bulldozer working in center (SC-192907).
Senior officers of the invasion task force follow the progress of the landings on a relief map, aboard USS Catoctin (AGC-5), 15 August 1944. The main map depicts the central Alpha and Delta landing beach areas. Present are (left–right around the map): Rear Admiral Lemonnier, French navy chief of staff; an aide; Vice Admiral H. Kent Hewitt, USN; General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson, British army; Admiral Sir John Cunningham, RN; and Captain R.A.J. English, USN. Vice Admiral Hewitt has autographed this photo (NH-54483).
U.S. Seventh Army soldiers race up one of the invasion beaches after landing from LCIs on 15 August 1944. Among ships present are USS LCI-592 and LCI-668 (SC-192652).
On board USS Tulagi (CVE-72), Rear Admiral Calvin T. Durgin, foreground, congratulates the carrier's pilots for destroying a target beyond the reach of naval guns during the invasion of southern France, 16 August 1944. Photographed in the carrier's ready room. Note chalk board message in background: "be sure to charge guns on take off" (80-G-305235).
USS LST-282 lies burned out and sunk off Cape Dramont, in the northern Camel landing sector, on 18 August 1944. She had been hit by a German Henschel Hs 293 guided bomb following the initial Dragoon landings on 15 August (NH 51437).
A Navy LCT wrecking barge beached on the Alpha landing sector’s Red beach near Cavalaire, France, on 18 August 1944. Note broached LCVP and other debris in the background (80-G-K-1930).
U.S. Navy sailor examines a German 20-mm tank turret "pillbox" near one of the Dragoon invasion beaches, 18 August 1944 (80-G-K-1942).
An Army truck drives ashore from USS LST-996, the first LST to reach the Delta landing sector beaches, toward the center of the Dragoon beachhead, occupied by the 45th Infantry Division, 15 August 1944 (SC-192903).
USS Quincy (CA-71) fires her forward 8-inch/55-caliber guns off Toulon, France, while supporting the invasion, 16 August 1944. Note smoke screen laid by the ship next ahead to prevent accurate counter-fire by German coastal artillery (80-G-367853).
From left to right: Lieutenant Commander Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., USNR, commander of the Special Operations Group's Eastern Diversionary Unit ("Beach Jumpers"); Captain Henry C. Johnson, USN, commander of the Special Operations Group (TG 80.4); and Lieutenant Commander John D. Bulkeley, USN, commanding officer of USS Endicott (DD-495) on Endicott's bridge during the Operation Dragoon, August 1944. This photo may have been taken after the 17 August engagement that sank the German corvettes Nimet Allah and Capriola (NH 54383).
Scene at the Navy beachmaster command post of Alpha landing sector’s Red beach near Cavalaire, France, 18 August 1944. Note CPO emblem on helmet in center, and visual signal lamps (80-G-K-1925).
U.S. warships engaging German shore batteries off Cannes, 21 August 1944. USS Tuscaloosa (CA-37) is at right, with a destroyer at left and shells hitting between them. Cannes is in the background. Photographed from USS Brooklyn (CL-40) (80-G-245615).
German prisoners of war on board a U.S. Navy LCT awaiting transfer to a transport, off southern France, 18 August 1944 (80-G-K-1931).
Published: Tue Jul 09 13:53:45 EDT 2019
