It is not the sort of thing you expect to see while driving along the shoreline of the Cote d’Azur, or French Riviera — a World War II landing craft marked “US 282” parked on a beach near the upscale city of Saint Raphael.

The second Allied invasion of France is not particularly well known; even as it was going on, from August 1944, it was considered far less important to the war effort than what was happening in northern France (after the Normandy invasion of June 1944) and the Eastern Front.

The whole of the invasion of southern France, known as Operation Dragoon, has been criticized by many military commentators as being unnecessary to the defeat of Germany — as well as being an effort that took away from operations in Italy and potential operations in the Balkans, which were about to become part of the Soviet sphere of influence in the Cold War.

Three veteran U.S. Army divisions were committed to Operation Dragoon, the 3rd, 36th and 45th, and they landed on three beaches, ranging from the 3rd on the west, near Toulon, to the 36th on the east — at Saint Raphael, now as then one of the poshest areas on the Cote d’Azur.

As probably should have been expected, the German defense was weak and half-hearted in most places, given that the commanding German general already figured his Osttruppen (non-German troops from eastern Europe) were unlikely to fight. He had in place a plan to have the whole of his mobile forces retreat up the Rhone Valley, eventually to reach Germany.

One area where the defenders fought back was on Camel Beach, there at Saint Raphael, where the 36th landed. The landing craft we saw there apparently was part of the effort — though it may be an homage to an Allied landing craft that was sunk with the loss of 40 men.

The site has two plaques commemorating the invasion, and names some of the leading American officers. A park has been created around the beached landing craft, and on the road side of the park are towers, one with the year “1944” on it and the other with “2014” — marking the 70th anniversary of the invasion.

Everyone got off the beach quickly enough, back in 1944, and the most difficult aspect of the invasion was the difficult terrain, just a few yards from the beaches and extending well into this part of France, known as the Var. We can vouch that even in 2015 not many roads take vehicles inland, in this part of France.

Seven decades later, it is hard to grasp the strategic imperative of the invasion, which was an enormous effort involving at least 175,000 men, four U.S. battleships and more than 1,300 aircraft — against shadow German divisions primed to retreat.

The only explanation that carries any weight was the apparent Free French insistence that the southern part of the country be freed of German control sooner than later — though “later” might have been only a few additional months.

Some of the local residents, however, still remember what went on, and the armored landing vehicle on the Saint Raphael beach is perhaps the most prominent example of that, just a few yards from million-dollar homes.