Page "Johannes Blaskowitz" Paragraph 10

The invasion of southern France commenced on 15 August 1944, with Operation Dragoon, when Allied forces landed on the Riviera between Toulon and Cannes.

Blaskowitz, badly outnumbered and lacking air superiority, brought up units, stabilized his front, and led a fighting withdrawal to the north to avoid encirclement.

US army units pursued Blaskowitz up through the Vosges mountains before pausing to regroup.

There, Blaskowitz's forces were reinforced by the 5th Panzer Army under Hasso von Manteuffel.

Blaskowitz wanted to entrench his forces, but Hitler ordered him to immediately counterattack the US Third Army.

Both Manteuffel and Blaskowitz realized the futility of such an action, but obeyed their orders, and their attack caught the US forces in disarray and pushed them back to near Lunéville on 18 – 20 September 1944, at which point resistance stiffened and the attack was suspended.

Furious over this failure, Hitler summarily relieved Blaskowitz, replacing him with Hermann Balck.