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The article explores the historical significance of Operation Anvil, the Allied invasion of southern France during the summer of 1944. According to the author, the invasion may have been the most underrated amphibious campaign of World War II. He asserts that the campaign underscored the transition of the Mediterranean Theater of Operations to a secondary war effort and that it confirmed the success of the Normandy lodgment in northern France.

The article focuses on the role played by the U.S. Navy in Operation Dragoon, the landings at several invasion beaches along the French Riviera between Toulon and Cannes, France on June 6, 1944. In the book "World War II: The Encyclopedia of the War Years," authors Norman Polmar and Thomas B. Allen cites that Operation Dragoon was comprised of 887 ships, 2,000 aircraft and 180,000 soldiers. It notes that the support, transport and logistics provided by the Navy enabled the soldiers to join the Normandy invaders to free France.