French troops landing at Provence on 15 August 1944

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aukepalmhof
Posts: 7771
Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2009 1:28 am

French troops landing at Provence on 15 August 1944

Post by aukepalmhof » Thu Dec 06, 2018 7:55 pm

For the 25th anniversary of the resistance and liberation, France used two stamps of which the 0.45 F stamp shows the landing of the French troops under command of the French General Lattre de Tassigny at the beaches in Provence in South France on 15 August 1944 http://www.cheminsdememoire.gouv.fr/en/ ... e-provence

About 120.000 French troops of which many were from Africa landed that day.

Have not anything on the two landing crafts or the warship in the background of the stamp.

France 1969 0.45f sg1837, scott?
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1969 landing at Provence .jpg
1969 landing in Provence.jpg

aukepalmhof
Posts: 7771
Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2009 1:28 am

Re: French troops landing at Provence on 15 August 1944

Post by aukepalmhof » Sun Dec 09, 2018 7:04 pm

Have not anything on the two landing crafts or the warship in the background of the stamp.

From Mr. Doria Carla with thanks, I got the information that the warship is the USS TEXAS. Also confirmed by Mr D. v. Nieuwenhuizen.

Operation Dragoon
After TEXAS underwent repairs at Plymouth from damage sustained at Cherbourg, she drilled in preparation for the invasion of southern France. On 16 July, she departed Belfast Lough and headed for the Mediterranean. After stops at Gibraltar and Oran, Algeria, the battleship arrived in Taranto, Italy on 27 July. Departing Taranto on 11 August, Texas rendezvoused with three French destroyers off Bizerte, Tunisia, and set a course for the French Riviera. She arrived off Saint-Tropez during the night of 14 August and was joined early the next morning by battleship NEVADA and cruiser PHILADELPHIA. At 04:44 on 15 August, she moved into position for the pre-landing bombardment and, at 0651, opened up on her first target, a battery of five 15-cm guns. The beaches had been fortified and heavy resistance was expected. Due to very poor visibility that morning, TEXAS relied on her SG radar equipment to determine her position and track for both navigation and gunnery purposes. No landmarks were visible during the firing and for the greater part of the forenoon.
The heavy opposite that was expected never materialized, so the landing forces moved inland rapidly. As fire support from TEXAS’s guns was no longer required, she departed the southern coast of France on the early morning of 17 August. After a stop at Palermo, Sicily, she left the Mediterranean and headed for New York where she arrived on 14 September 1944.

More on the USS TEXAS is given on:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6455

France 1969 0.45f sg1837, scott?

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