The Seaweed

USS Champlin DD-601  

Fall 2001

DUES ARE DUE

Now hear this:
It's that time of the year again. . . time to pay our 2001-2002 dues to the USS Champlin Reunion Group. The annual dues, due each Fall, are still only $15.00. Please send your payment to the Sec./Treas.

Norman Prewitt
2049 Eastridge Drive
Excelsior Springs, MO 64024

OPERATION DRAGOON

The following are excerpts from "Operation Dragoon - The Allied Invasion of the South of France, by William B. Breuer, published by Jove Books, pages 1 and 2:

"By late July 1944, Operation Dragoon, a proposed massive Allied invasion of southern France, had been embroiled in heated controversy for months. Originally scheduled to coincide with Operation Overlord, the Normandy landings that took place on June 6, Dragoon was the invasion that almost wasn't. It had been on again, off again repeatedly, and it came within a hair-breadth of being canceled at the final moment due to a bitter and prolonged dispute between the Americans and British at the highest levels.

"Second in scope only to Overlord, Operation Dragoon would involve a force of three hundred thousand men, a thousand ships, and several thousand warplanes. A ten-thousand man airborne contingent would spearhead the assault to seize the vitally needed major ports of Marseilles and Toulon, to liberate the southern two thirds of France, and to form the lower pincer to link up with Overlord armies in the North.

"A shortage of LSTs was a factor that contributed to the repeated postponements and near cancellation of Dragoon; the Allies hadn't enough of those assault craft to launch Overlord and Dragoon simultaneously.

       (continued top column 2)

Also in this issue:

Annual Dues are Due.................page 1
Operation Dragoon....................page 1
More Chickepoop......................page 2
Raymond Vachon......................page 2
Otto Stein..............................page 2
John Russel.............................page 2
Enlisted Men to Officers.............page 3
Colorado Springs Reunion...........page 3
Howard L. Newton....................page 3
USS Champlin Voyages - Recap...page 4
Champlin References.................page 5
Ship's Store............................page 5
Gone to Soon..........................page 5
Changing Berths.......................page 5
Reunion 2001..........................page 5
Questions are Answered............page 6
Veteran's Benefit Book..............page 6
Thought for the Day.................page 6

From pages 213-214 we are told, "It was nearing midnight when Lt. Col. James Critchfield's battalion of the 36th Infantry Division dug in for a short rest near La Napoule, on the road to Cannes. The Texans were exhausted after two days and a night of almost continuous marching and fighting.

"General Dahlquist's Texas army had been pushing eastward along the Cote d'Azur in the direction of Cannes and Nice. VI Corps commander Lucian Truscott was intent on capturing these two world-renowned resort cities for reasons more psychological than military, although the docks at Nice would be useful to the invader's cause. It would be humiliating to Adolf Hitler to have the Wehrmacht chased out of these two famous communities.

"As Colonel Critchfield's Texans fell into fitful slumber, large-caliber shells began screaming into their positions. German batteries on the Ile Sainte-Marguerite off Cannes had zeroed in on Critchfield's men.

"A hurried call was put through to General Dahlquist, who in turn radioed Adm. Mort Deyo, gunnery commander of the warships offshore. The energetic Deyo, who distinguished himself during the Normandy invasion by regularly rushing in close to the coastline to knock out German batteries, ordered most of his Camel Beach gunfire forces to rush eastward to silence the island batteries and other German strongpoints in and around Cannes.

"Responding to the urgent order, the destroyer McLanahan dashed boldly into the dark Gulf of Napoule near Cannes to draw German fire and locate the big guns. Minutes later, lightning-like flashes illuminated the seascape and coastline as German guns on the Ile Saint-Marguerite opened fire on the McLanahan. The destroyer promptly fired back, and after an intense duel of some thirty minutes, the German battery fell silent.

"Now other warships had spotted gun flashes and began pounding enemy positions - and were pounded in return. The destroyer Tuscaloosa was straddled by batteries located in thick-walled bunkers near the famous Cannes casino. The French destroyer Emile Bertin and the Brooklyn joined in the exchange of large-caliber shells. Crewmen on a third destroyer, the Champlin, cheered boisterously as one of her antiaircraft projectiles struck a Ju-88 that had attempted to bomb her; the Luftwaffe aircraft exploded in a brilliant flash of orange.

"By dawn, silence had returned to the Cote d'Azur off the gambling and resort center of Cannes. But dogfaces of Jim Critchfield's battalion had gotten little sleep and soon would be climbing wearily out of foxholes to continue the attack toward Cannes and Nice."

To paraphrase Walter Conkrite, it was one of those events that alter and illuminate our times, . . . and you were there.

OK, that's the story as written in "Operation Dragoon". Now let's hear the story from our shipmates who were there. I've overheard stories of events in the IC shack (Let's hear from Connors, Staller and others in IC on this) and still other stories of which mount should be credited with the kill (Lets hear from all of you whose battle station was in one of the mounts). And, let's hear from the rest of you who were amongst those who "cheered boisterously".