Hello, welcome to the history hit World Wars Podcast, a podcast dedicated to that turbulent period in history between 1914 and 1945.

I'm James Rogers and in this episode we explore a forgotten aspect of the Second World War. When we think

back to the major Allied invasion of Europe we think of Operation Husky and the

invasion of Sicily or perhaps Operation Avalanche in Salano and up the amount and the

and the invasion of Sicily or perhaps Operation Avalanche in Salano and up the Amalfi coast or those failures at Anseo.

Of course we also remember the Normandy Landings D-Day in June 1944. But there was another invasion that was meant to take place around the same time as the Normandy Landings.

It ended up taking place in August 44 and saw over 100,000 troops from across the US and across the French Empire land on the beaches of southern France.

This was Operation Dragoon. And as expert American historian Cameron Zinsu tells us,

it was the forgotten D-Day. And Hi Cameron, thanks for coming on the pod. I know that you've been traveling a lot recently.

Where are you in the world at the moment?

Hey, yeah, thanks for having me, James.

I'm currently in High Point, North Carolina.

I was supposed to be in New Orleans this past weekend

for an interview I was supposed to do at the National World War II museum, but unfortunately

due to Hurricane Delta that's been postponed a week.

So I guess I'm cooped up in my apartment here in North Carolina for the time being.

Well it was actually from your articles that you've written for the National World War II Museum

that I first came across your research, and it's safe to say that your work focuses on those forgotten aspects of the Second World War and one of these that really stood out for me that fascinated me was Operation Dragoon because I've never heard of it before.

So what was Operation Dragoon?

Yeah, it's quite a doozy of an operation.

It was briefly the Allied invasion of southern France that occurred in August 1944 it consisted of an American army and a French army

and it was the main French effort and participation that they conducted in

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