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Draguignan (Provence, France): Aug. 27 – Sept. 29, 1944

 

 

Draguignan, France

 
The first hospital invasion unit, under the command of Lt. Col. Douglas Scott, Exec. Officer of the 51st, consisted of surgical teams assembled from a number of different hospitals. This unit went in with the invasion and set up operations in a small captured German hospital in Draguignan, the hospital being called the "51st Evac."
 

Unfortunately, the work done by this "hodge-podge" unit was so poor that Army Headquarters in Naples considered breaking up the 51st.
 

Fortunately, Col. Carleton Mathewson in Naples Hdqrs. knew many members of the 51st, and he came up from Naples to personally inspect the hospital. The issue was resolved when he determined that casualties treated by the real 51st Evac., which had arrived in the meantime, had all received proper care.
 

 

Sacramento newspapers reported the 51st’s involvement in supporting "Operation Dragoon", code name for the invasion of Southern France.

 

 

 

Since this was the 51st’s first experience handling actual battle casualties as a unit, there was an uncomfortable "learning curve". However, our set-up was comfortable, located in a pasture on the edge of Draguignan.

 

The townspeople visited the hospital Sunday evenings to see how their new neighbors were doing.

 

 

The battle lines rapidly moved up the Rhone Valley to the north, and over to the Italian border at Menton, where the Germans held a stalemate until the end of the war in Europe. As hospital admissions fell, there was more time to look about us. In Draguignan, we witnessed the shaving of the heads of women who were accused of consorting with the Germans.
 

 
The streets were still patrolled by gun-toting French Resistance fighters.

 

In the vineyards around Draguignan were the remains of the invasion glider fleet.
German defenses along the Cote’ d’Azur were very evident ...
... and the yacht harbor at Cannes was a wrecking yard.
At Marseille, I found the bombed port area was already being cleaned up by German prisoners.

 

 

 

After a month operating at Draguignan, the 51st received orders to move to northern France in support of the 7th Army. We traveled north by train, the officers and enlisted men in "40 & 8" box cars ...
... the nurses in 3rd class coaches.
 

It was a slow week-long trip up the Rhone Valley with many delays before we reached Epinal.

Map by Staff Sgt. Jack Crouse
 

There, in the middle of the night, we transferred to trucks, and under blackout conditions, moved N.E. toward the seemingly nearby flashes of an artillery battle in the Luneville area.
 

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