| “Parachutes fill the sky after the 12th Air Force Troop Carrier Air Division [Douglas] C-47s [Skytrains] drop Allied soldiers and supplies over the beachhead between Marseille and Nice, during the Allied Invasion of France. This is probably reinforcements landing for the British 2nd Parachute Brigade after the main assault at 1504 Hours. Paratroopers from the 1st Airborne Task Force dropping from Dakotas on 1 of the 3 “Rugby” drop zones inland while Allied naval landings attacked from the coast. The paratroopers of 1st Allied Airborne Task Force commanded by United States Army General Robert T. Frederick (March 14, 1907 – November 29, 1970) would jump in early, concentrating on the small French town of Le Muy located generally between the 2 massifs of Maures and Estérel. Possession of the Le Muy area would both protect the initial landings along the coast and provide an entrance into the Argens valley corridor. Paratroopers, Special Service forces, and commandos would attack during the night of August 14-15, but the actual landings would began at 0800 Hours on August 15, providing ample time for the final air attacks and United States Admiral Henry K. Hewitt’s (February 11, 1887 – September 15, 1972) naval gunfire to do their work by daylight. Inland, the echeloned paratrooper and glider landings were characterized by confusion. Always a difficult proposition by night, the airborne attack was bedeviled by a low cloud cover that obscured drop zones for pathfinder teams and pilots alike. Although most landed within a 10-mile radius of Le Muy, daylight found some as far south as the Gulf of Saint Tropez while others were located as far east as the Cannes region. But, as in the Normandy invasion, the confusion that the scattered landings caused within the German interior lines may have more than made up for the almost inevitable pilot errors. | |
| Image Filename | wwii2048.jpg |
| Image Size | 681.66 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 2592 x 2092 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | United States Army Signal Corps |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | August 15, 1944 |
| Location | |
| City | Marseille |
| State or Province | Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur |
| Country | France |
| Archive | National Museum of the United States Air Force |
| Record Number | 190723-F-JH747-0001 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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