According to the testimony of captured Germans, Allied activity had been observed on Corsica, thus the defenders were aware of the impending invasion 24 hours in advance.

The military commander of the island, Generale di Brigata Achilles Gilardi, had a garrison of 8,300 men comprising 6,300 army and 2,000 navy personnel with about fifty Germans, mostly radar operators.

Some Italian military units defected to the Allies and others, like a battalion of the 184th Infantry Division "Nembo" stayed loyal to the Axis; control of Elba was necessary for the evacuations.

The corvettes Folaga, Ape and Cormorano sailed and engaged five German armed lighters, forcing them to turn back.

In the evening, the Italian authorities at Piombino requested help from the ships in Portoferraio but Ammiraglio Amedeo Nomis di Pollone, reported that nothing could be done until dawn.

German aircraft flew over the island dropping leaflets which denounced the Badoglio government and gave an ultimatum Gilardi to surrender before 4:00 p. m. or the garrison would be annihilated by bombing; troops that fought on would be treated as terrorists and shot.

The Germans tried to land on the islet of Palmaiola, at the north-eastern extremity of Elba but were forced back by the coastal artillery at Cannelle on Giglio Island.

On 16 September, ten Luftwaffe bombers attacked Portoferraio, causing about 100 military and civilian deaths, with 150 injuries, far beyond the medical facilities on the island to cope.

I. Bataillon, Panzergrenadier-Regiment 200 (3rd Battalion, Mechanised Infantry Regiment 200, Oberstleutnant Heinrich von Behr) arrived from Livorno in ferries and landed at Portoferraio.

In May 1944, his replacement, Major Dietze, wrote that most of his men were experienced but some were unable to march for long due to their frostbite injuries and that training was necessary on the Italian equipment.

Marine-Artillerie-Abteilung 616 (Korvettenkapitän Max Schreiber) of the Kriegsmarine, was transferred from the Straits of Messina to operate six of the Italian coastal batteries.

With Elba secure, the evacuation of Axis troops from Sardinia and Corsica had been made easier and in two weeks 6,294 soldiers, 3,026 vehicles, 361 guns, 105 tanks and 5,414 long tons (5,501 t) of equipment had been withdrawn to the mainland by sea.

The air evacuation cost 25 Ju 52s, many being destroyed on the ground, when Allied bombers attacked the airfields at Pisa and Pontedera.

[12] The Allied success was followed by orders for the invasion of southern France, Operation Dragoon, the majority of the troops for the landings being found by the 15th Army Group.

The 15th Army Group was reduced to 18 divisions, the reduction in strength ending any possibility of Alexander reaching the Gothic Line by August 1944.

[12] Lying between the mainland and Corsica 31 mi (50 km) to the west, obstructing access to the Tyrrhenian Sea, Elba was of considerable strategic importance.

[1] While the front line was south of Rome, Elba had been a useful Axis outpost which protected ships taking supplies to nearby ports on the mainland.

The unexpected length of the Battle of Anzio (22 January – 5 June 1944) delayed planning for an invasion of Elba but work began on 7 April.

On 12 June, the German commander in Italy, Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, was informed that "Elba must be defended to the last man and the last cartridge".

Two of the RCTs were from the 9ème Division d'Infanterie Coloniale (Général Joseph Magnan), the first RCT had three battalions from the 13ème Régiment de Tirailleurs Sénégalais (West African troops in French service) commanded by Colonel Jean Chrétien, the second RCT had two battalions from the 4ème Régiment de Tirailleurs Sénégalais (Colonel Lucien Cariou).

With an engineer beach group equipped for clearing mines and other obstacles, five batteries of 105 mm and one of 155 mm guns from the divisional artillery, anti-aircraft batteries and ten light tanks from the 9ème divisional reconnaissance regiment, the invasion force numbered 11,667 troops, with 86 guns, 250 mules and 481 vehicles, with Magnan in command.

[17] Force N comprised three groups: In his briefing, Troubridge said he expected the shore batteries to have been destroyed by aerial bombardment and the commandos.

With the German gun batteries engaging a retreating PT boat, four others made toward Portoferraio to simulate landing craft approaching, firing salvos of rockets and dropping dummies overboard to give the impression of troops wading ashore.

The two landing craft of the Royal Navy Commandos entered the bay of Marina di Campo and made for the flak ship.

The LCVPs carrying the French division beached on time to be met by massed machine gun and 88 mm (3.46 in) fire.

By 7:00 a.m., the German defences in the hills above Kodak Amber beach had forced the incoming landing craft to lay smoke and withdraw.

The defensive fire forced the follow-up waves of landing craft to divert to Kodak Green beach, which caused some congestion on the beachhead.

Delays and German gunfire kept some landing craft off shore until 2:00 p.m..[22] The Commandos, unaware of the diversion to the other beach, had to wait some hours before the French cleared the village and reached them.

The commandos were under continuous artillery and small arms fire, which is believed to have set off two demolition charges on the jetty, blowing a 30 ft (9.1 m) hole in the concrete structure.

[27] Troops of the 9ème Division d'Infanterie Coloniale and the Groupement de Tabors Marocains inflicted outrages on civilians, raping, robbing, burgling houses, looting cattle and wine and killing those who tried to stop them.