During June and July three divisions which formed the bulk of the U. S. VI Corps were withdrawn from the battle in Italy and sent to port areas for training and for participation in Operation ANVIL. At the same time all the French troops with U. S. Fifth Army were withdrawn to prepare for the invasion. The Allied strategic air forces began the process of neutralizing vital enemy communications and installations in southern France. As D Day approached, a large naval force was amassed in the Mediterranean, and the ground forces, American and French troops, were embarked from Italy, North Africa, and Corsica. An airborne task force of American and British units, with the mission of preventing the enemy from reinforcing the coastal defense, successfully jumped astride the Argens River behind the German lines before H Hour. Landings took place on 15 August 1944 in the Cannes-Toulon sector against scattered and disorganized resistance from the enemy. The assault forces, assisted by members of the French Resistance forces, pressed their attack rapidly, defeated the enemy along the coast line, and pushed inland. The troops were met with enthusiasm by the French population. Toulon and Marseille were captured by units of the French forces. By the end of August the combined American and French forces had broken German resistance in southern France, destroyed and put to flight the enemy, and advanced to Lyons. On 11 September 1944 they made junction with the Normandy forces west of Dijon, thereby sealing all of southwestern France. [Illustration: ITALY SMOKE RISING FROM WATERFRONT INSTALLATIONS as Liberators bomb Genoa, Italy, prior to the invasion of southern France. This was part of a plan to keep the enemy guessing as to where the assault would come. At the time of the Normandy landings most of the Allied troops intended for the simultaneous invasion of southern France were fighting in Italy.] [Illustration: ITALY DOCKS AND U-BOAT PENS during an air attack at Toulon, a major French naval base. Allied air attacks destroyed U-boats awaiting repairs in their pens and crippled production facilities. By the end of July 1944 the Mediterranean Sea was almost cleared of German naval power.] [Illustration: ITALY BOMBING OF RHÔNE RIVER BRIDGES at Tarascon by Allied planes. Pre-D-Day bombardment wrecked all but one bridge across the Rhône, which helped to hamper large-scale movement of enemy troops. The Allied forces were to advance through the Rhône River Valley which passes between two mountain masses, the Massif Central and the Alps, and forms a great natural corridor connecting the Mediterranean coast with the Paris basin.] [Illustration: FRANCE