islands in Allied hands, the men of the First Special Service Force transferred to the mainland, where they were attached to the First Airborne Task Force. Meanwhile, at Cap Nègre to the west of the main invasion, a large group of French commandos destroyed German artillery emplacements as part of Operation Romeo. Their main effort was supported by diversionary flank landings by other commando teams. While the main mission succeeded, 67 French commandos were taken prisoner after they ran into a minefield. In addition to the commando operations, another operation was carried out, named Operation Span. This was a deception plan, aimed to confuse the German defenders with fake landings and paratroopers, to disperse them from the actual landing zones. Airborne landings The first to land in the early hours were the airborne and glider troops. The 1st Airborne Task Force force landed in the River Argens valley around the area of Le Muy with the objective of preventing German reinforcements from reaching the landing beaches. The American component being the largest, consisted of Mission Albatross followed by Mission Dove the Glider born landings, Mission Bluebird, and Mission Canary the latter being the reinforcements. The British landing codenamed Operation Rugby consisted of 2nd Parachute Brigade. Fog and low cloud resulted in many paratroopers landing ten miles away, others were closer, but some ended up fifteen miles away. The British took the villages of Le Mitan, La Motte, Clastron and Les Serres and then assaulted and captured the bridge over the River Naturby, which carried the road to Le Muy. Soon after they secured the high ground to the east and north of Le Muy, while the Americans did the same in the west and south. The Americans then attempted to seize the town that evening but were repelled. Only in the afternoon of the following day after reinforcements did they succeed in capturing Le Muy along with 700 prisoners. The 1st Airborne Task Force then awaited for the arrival of ground troops whilst holding off a number of counterattacks. Overall the landings were successful, with only 104 dead, 24 of which were caused by glider accidents and 18 by parachute accidents. Main invasion force landings The preceding bombing missions, together with resistance sabotage acts, hit the Germans heavily, interrupting railroads, damaging bridges, and disrupting the communication network. The landing started on the morning of 15August. Ships of the Western Naval