When the Allied invasion of Southern France took place, Army Group G had eleven divisions with which to hold France south of the Loire.[2] Between August 17 and 18, the German Armed Forces High Command ordered Army Group G (with the exception of the troops holding the fortress ports) to abandon southern France. The German LXIV Corps, which had been in charge of troops in the southwest since First Army had been withdrawn a few weeks earlier to hold the line on the River Seine southeast of Paris, formed three march groups and withdrew eastward toward Dijon.