Operation Anvil was planned as a nearly simultaneous complement to Operation Hammer. The former was the code name for Allied landings on the French Riviera, and the latter for the invasion of Normandy. Dwight D. Eisenhower and other American military planners saw the two operations as necessarily complementary--the means of invading Europe while crushing the enemy between two major forces. Operation Hammer was subsequently renamed Operation Overlord, however, and Operation Anvil was put on hold--delayed until after the Normandy landings had been completed and the advance across France (Operation Cobra) under way--in part because of a shortage of Landing craft and in part because British prime minister Winston S. Churchill believe that Operation Anvil represented a diversion of resources that would be better used invading the oil-producing Balkans.

Churchill and top British commanders also feared that the operation would divert resources from the ongoing Italian Campaign. Ultimately, the Balkan operation did not materialize, and Churchill was persuaded to allow the authorization of Operation Anvil, which, when it took place on August 15, 1944, between Toulon and Cannes, was renamed Operation Dragoon (because, it was said, Churchill claimed that he had been "dragooned" into agreeing to it).

As originally conceived, Operation Anvil/Dragoon was to land Free French and American troops in the south of France. Initially, the objective was Toulon, to which Marseille was soon added. Later, Saint Tropez became a third objective. These were to be captured simultaneously with the Normandy landings. The postponement of the operation threatened to become permanent, but the capture of Rome and the excellent progress made with Operation Cobra finally convinced the British to agree to the renamed Operation Dragoon. . .

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