| USS Quincy (CA-71) Vought OS2U Kingfisher floatplane is catapulted from the cruiser’s stern, probably at the time of the Invasion of Southern France. The mission of Général d’Armée Jean de Lattre de Tassigny’s (February 2, 1889 – January 11, 1952) Premier Armée was to capture the historic naval port and dockyard of Toulon, and the city and harbor of Marseilles. Both places were more heavily fortified than the assault area; they had been designated “no surrender” fortresses by Führer und Reichskanzler (“Leader and Reichchancellor”) Adolf Hitler (April 20, 1889 – April 30, 1945), and the preliminary air bombing had left many batteries intact. Accordingly, all fire support ships except those under Admiral Morton Deyo (July 1, 1887 – November 10, 1973) were shifted to this flank. Admiral Lyal A. Davidson (December 2, 1886 – December 29, 1950) now had at his disposal battleships USS Nevada (BB-36), HMS Ramillies and Free French Navy Lorraine; heavy cruisers Augusta and Quincy, 2 American, 3 British, and 7 French light cruisers; 10 American destroyers and 1 British; and most of the available minecraft. These were none too many. Admiral Davidson issued his plan to the gunfire support ships on August 18, 1944. 1st phase was to sweep the Rade d’Hyères and capture Ile de Porquerolles. The object here was to knock out the batteries on the Giens Peninsula and Cap de l’Esterel, which had an estimated range of 11 miles (17 kilometers), so that the Allied ships could lie behind the peninsula and fire on the even-longer-range batteries on Cap Cépet. The 1st attempt to sweep the Rade d’Hyères, on August 18, had to be abandoned because of opposition from the enemy batteries on Porquerolles, Cap Bénat and the Giens Peninsula. Every day, the gunfire support ships pounded away at these key batteries, but every day they replied, although the only effect of their shooting was to spoil the aim of Kriegsmarine U-boat U-230, whose shot on Augusta on August 20, after stalking her for day, was disrupted by short battery fire. By the morning of August 21, Admiral Davidson was presumably somewhat disappointed in the progress of the Allied Navies. The French Army, advancing against dug-in Germans, was breaking into the suburbs of Toulon and even approaching Marseilles, but the combined American-British-French Navies had not yet attained their objectives. That afternoon, however, the results of almost continuous daylight bombardment began to bear fruit. Porquerolles Island surrendered to shore party contingents from USS Eberle (DD-430) and USS Omaha (CL-4) on August 21. On the morning of August 23, white flags began to appear on the Giens Peninsula, which a shore party found to be evacuated by the enemy. Promptly the entire Rade d’Hyères Islands were mineswept and secured. The Nazi Germans installed a battery on Cap Cépet, the southern cape that protects Toulon roadstead and which had to be neutralized before that city and Marseilles could be secured. The Saint-Mandrier battery, as the United States Navy called it, consisted of 2 casemated turrets of 2 340 millimeter (13.4 inch) each, which the Germans had removed from French battleship La Provence and mounted on the crest of the headland. 2 guns had been sabotaged by French workmen, but “Big Willie,” as the sailors named the other turret, could outrange any guns in the combined Mediterranean Fleet. They were surrounded by a labyrinth of tunnels and underground chambers providing living quarters for the gunners, power plant and ammunition storage; and the entire peninsula was studded with large, medium and small pieces of ordnance. In addition, a partly salvaged French battleship and light cruiser were moored in the outer harbor of Toulon. Despite frequent efforts of Capitaine de Vaisseau Rosset, their commander, to assure Allied Intelligence that he was trying to save these ships for the future French Navy and that the Germans could make no use of them, the Air Forces spent a great deal of effort and bomb tonnage reducing them to junk. The 20-year-old Free French Navy battleship Lorraine, whose 340 millimeter main battery was of the same caliber as “Big Willie,” took a particular interest in knocking out the peninsula’s guns, which had formerly been mounted in her sister battleship. Admiral Davidson gave her the privilege of firing the 1st shot on August 19, after which USS Nevada, USS Augusta and USS Quincy joined in. The German gunners waited until next day, when they fired at Free French Navy cruiser Emile Bertin and USS Philadelphia (CL-41) off Porquerolles. On August 22, 1 salvo just missed HMS Aurora, whose commanding officer sent a signal to USS Nevada just as she was moving in: “Please give Big Willie a poke in the kisser for me. Have a grudge against him since yesterday!” But Willie got in the 1st poke, with a 500-yard (450 meters) miss off Nevada at a range of 30,000 yards (27,500 meters). USS Nevada returned, with destroyers, to lay smoke around her, and gave Willie the works. On August 25, at the request of the Allied Armies, HMS Ramillies and Lorraine opened fire. Admiral Davidson, then busy directing shoots by his other ships on the defenses of Marseilles, sent a signal to those off Toulon “to parade past Mandrier” to see if there was any more life in it. They complied, closing the range to 10,000 yards; and on August 26, Lorraine, which had fired the 1st shot, appropriately drew the last ever fired from the 1 remaining gun. By next day the peninsula was isolated, and the German defenders were pushed into subterranean pits or dugouts. News of the liberation of Paris on August 25 gave a great fillip to the French assailants, and on August 28, Kriegsmarine Konteradmiral Heinrich Ruhfus (April 14, 1895 – May 26, 1955), the German commander at Toulon, surrendered that city and all enemy forces in the area, including 1,800 sailors who had been manning the numerous batteries on Cap Cépet. A careful study was made by French ordnance experts of Cap Cépet after this 9 days’ effort to destroy the big battery. The entire rocky peninsula for almost a square mile around the batteries was scarred and holed by high-caliber naval shells, whose craters could easily be distinguished from those made by air bombs. 1 big gun had a nick in the muzzle made by a naval shell which had knocked it out, but the 2nd was still intact. The casemate containing the 2 dead guns had been completely taken apart, and all range-finding and other instruments destroyed. German prisoners who tried to escape from the fortress in a small boat on August 27 reported that most of the gunners had been killed, and a German officer told Free French Navy Admiral André Lemonnier (February 23, 1896 – May 30, 1963) that during the last 3 days his men had refused to serve the guns. Since August 24, the same ships that pounded Saint-Mandrier, and others in Admiral Davidson’s force, had been engaged in reducing the defenses of Marseilles, especially the batteries on Cap Croisette. Actually there was more shooting by ships around Marseilles than at the defenses of Toulon, and heavy aerial bombardments were laid on at the same time. Marseilles, too, surrendered to the Free French Army August 28. Isolated garrisons on Ratonneau, Pomègues and Château d’If, conveyed, through a truce mission, their desire to quit. Captain Walter C. Ansel (August 25, 1897 – November 26, 1977), Commanding Officer of Philadelphia, with Marine detachments from that ship and USS Augusta, went ashore on 1 of the islands and accepted the surrender of about 730 Germans. | |
| Image Filename | wwii1921.jpg |
| Image Size | 1.28 MB |
| Image Dimensions | 5723 x 3912 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | United States Navy |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | August 15, 1944 |
| Location | |
| City | Baie de Cavalaire |
| State or Province | Saint-Tropez |
| Country | France |
| Archive | Naval History and Heritage Command |
| Record Number | 80-G-K-1950 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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