Freedom, an essential struggle

This is Operation Dragoon with 350,000 men, 250 warships (including 34 French ships), 600 transport ships, 1,270 barges, supported by 2,000 aircraft and gliders carrying 5,000 paratroopers.

Freedom is a necessary, vital, existential struggle. On the beaches of Le Lavandou and Cavalaire, men landed. In La Londe, others awaited them in the shadows, silent resistance fighters, watchmen of dawn, scouts of the possible.

The Armée B of France Libre, 230,000 French soldiers strong under général de Lattre de Tassigny, emerged from the shadows to prepare for their rendezvous with History.

And when the first American tanks arrived, late in the afternoon of August 17 in La Londe-les-Maures, the handshakes were brief, but their eyes spoke volumes: a brotherhood born in fire, and a people standing up again.

During the night of August 17 to 18, the town was already catching a glimpse of the dawn of its liberation. In the early morning, the scouts of the fusiliers marins and Commandos d'Afrique crossed the town. They brought much more than military support, a breath of life.

That of regained freedom.