80 years after the Allied forces landed in Provence and began the historic Operation Dragoon on 15th August 1944, Monaco’s Prince Albert II has joined French President Emmanuel Macron in paying tribute to the thousands of soldiers who participated in Operation Dragoon. 

At a moving ceremony on 15th August in Saint-Raphaël, Prince Albert stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the French leader as he and several other heads of state commemorated the Provence Landings of WWII. 

Under the code name of Operation Dragoon, US troops landed in the south of France during the summer of 1944 with the goal of securing important maritime ports and locations along this stretch of the Mediterranean coast.  

Primarily led by US, British and Canadian troops, some 100,000 of soldiers invaded the region, which was under German control, by night. The naval assault on 18 beaches between Toulon and Cannes was by and large a resounding success; by the end of the month, the Allied forces involved in the operation had liberated much of the region and had begun their advance into the Rhône Valley. By 3rd September, the Principality of Monaco was also liberated.  

See more: Prince Albert II to lead commemorations of Monaco’s 1944 Liberation

The ceremony commemorating the efforts of these soldiers was held at the Nécropole Nationale de Boulouris, a military cemetry in the Var where 464 French soldiers have been laid to rest.  

Among those who attended the event were former French President Nicolas Sarkozy and nearly a dozen African leaders and government representatives from Cameroon, Togo, the Central African Republic, Burkina Faso and Senegal.  

The presence of the African delegations, which included former servicemen, was significant as the initial batch of US, British and Canadian troops who landed on 15th August 1944 were followed up by 250,000 other soldiers, some of whom were recruited forcibly from France’s overseas colonies.  

Click on the images below to see more:

Monaco Life is produced by real multi-media journalists writing original content. See more in our free newsletter, follow our Podcasts on Spotify, and check us out on Threads,  Facebook,  Instagram,  LinkedIn and Tik Tok. 

Photo credits: Axel Bastello / Palais Princier de Monaco / Emmanuel Pita