the 2nd Battalion captured the hilltop village of Montesario. On the left the 3rd Battalion moved through Montepescali against light resistance, going on to take Sticciano with 14 prisoners. Meanwhile, the 1st Battalion had been taking Monte Peloso. The RCT bivouacked overnight 22–23 June on a ridgeline south of Gavorrano. Next morning the RCT moved across the Piombino Valley and closed into all assembly area behind the 142nd Infantry Regiment. On 24 June the 2nd Battalion entered the eastern outskirts of Follonica under heavy artillery and Nebelwerfer fire. During late June, the 517th went into IV Corps reserve and remained in that status until early July. Operation Dragoon The 517th had been sent to Italy in response to a Seventh Army request for airborne troops for Operation Anvil, the invasion of Southern France. Troops had been withdrawn from the line (including the 517th's) and air and naval forces were assembling. On 2 July the Combined Chiefs of Staff issued a directive to the Commander-in-chief Mediterranean to go ahead with Anvil (renamed Dragoon) on 15 August. As a by-product of this directive the 517th RCT was released from IV Corps and moved to join the 1st Airborne Task Force in the Rome area. The German Nineteenth Army was stationed along the Mediterranean coast. Four divisions and a corps headquarters were west of the Rhone. East of the Rhone the LXII Corps at Draguignan had a division each at Marseilles and Toulon and one south-west of Cannes. There were an estimated 30,000 enemy troops in the assault area and another 200,000 within a few days march. The planners decided early that an airborne force of division size would be needed. Since there was none in the Mediterranean, a force of comparable size would have to be improvised. In response, the 517th RCT, 509th and 551st Parachute Infantry Battalions and the 550th Airborne Infantry Battalion were provided. Other units in Italy were designated "gliderborne" to be trained by the 550th and the Airborne Training Center. By early July the concentration of airborne forces in the Rome area was almost complete. Two additional troop carrier wings totaling 413 aircraft were en route from England. H-Hour and D-Day were tentatively set for 0800, 15 August 1944. The 517th RCT had been allocated 180 C-47 aircraft in four serials. The combat team was sealed off on 10 August. Maps, "escape kits" and invasion scripts were issued.