Operation Dragoon has long been forgotten as a major campaign and Allied victory of WW II. The invasion of southern France at that time was anti-climactic to the D-Day landings at Normandy more than two months earlier. The Allies were pushing the Germans back in the north. The news headlines were filled with the coming liberation of Paris. It would begin in just four days and end a week later with German surrender of the city on Aug. 25, 1944.Yet, this Allied operation on Aug. 15 was one of the more successful of the war – and least costly to the Allies. Almost 200,000 Allied troops were involved. The operation lasted from Aug 15 to Sept. 14. It routed the German Army Group G from southern France. American and French casualties were about 10,000 each, and German losses were 7,000 killed and 20,000 wounded. About 130,000 Germans trapped by the operation later surrendered. The resistance to the Allies was much less than at Normandy. The German forces in the area of the assault were less than 100,000 men. Since this had not been a combat front, the Germans didn't use their well-trained and ready combat troops to control the area. So, these mostly were lower tier troops. They included older men, previously wounded, and little trained units from conquered countries. Their weapons and equipment also were sub-standard. For that reason, the combat scenes in this film, "Saints and Soldiers – Airborne Creed," don't seem so outlandish. The American paratroopers were combat hardened by this time, and they were going against much inferior troops. They would indeed be much more effective in downing the enemy. This film shows three men from the 517th Parachute Regimental Combat Team that spearheaded the operation with a jump behind enemy lines. This force was formed from the 517th Parachute Infantry Regiment and other units. The 517th was a late-organized Army unit, formed in 1943 in Georgia. But, it served in some of the tough battles of WW II in Europe. It saw combat in the Italian Campaign, in Operation Dragoon and at the Battle of the Bulge as part of the 101st Airborne Division. The jump of Operation Dragoon was the only combat jump this Airborne unit made. The unit was part of the 17th Airborne Division when it was deactivated in 1946. The 17th was slated to take part in the airborne invasion of Japan. This is a good film in the sense of showing some combat encounters, and its development of the three main characters. The script suffered some in its believability for two things. The first was the repeating of the airborne creed a number of times. Once, in discussion between a couple of GIs I can believe. But as a former paratrooper myself, I don't know that anyone ever went around exclaiming the airborne creed as such. And, I doubt very much if GIs in combat would be doing that. So, this film differs significantly in that from, say, "Band of Brothers." And, not one of these GIs smoked. Nor did anyone else in the film. I'm a former smoker myself, and am glad that's something of my past. But the likelihood of three GIs together during WW II who didn't smoke – and then meeting up with resistance fighters and others – no one of whom smoked, is a stretch beyond believability. Otherwise, the acting, plot, action and technical aspects of this movie were quite good. If nothing else, it's a good film to show GIs wrestling with killing, even in war. And, it's a small record of a WW II operation not shown in any other movie to my knowledge.

When I watched the first Saints and Soldiers I was impressed, it was better than most WWII films containing some good actions sequences and a story that successfully touched on the implications of war on people.Naturally when I saw Saints and Soldiers Airborne Creed I was hoping it would live up to or exceed the first film. I have been left disappointed though. A positive I will give to the film is that for a low budget movie, it is not noticeable reflecting the good work of the director and so forth. I found the plot all but absent though, the only constant throughout the film is the character of Deacon but even then the "story" strays away from him in a failed effort to try and shed some light on other characters. The film just felt like a sequence of events that built up to nothing, no lessons to be learned etc. When the credits rolled I literally went "is that it?" I'm not a man who needs a nice clear ending but I do think if someone tells a story I should come away having learned something, Saints and Soldiers failed to that for me.I think the lesson of the movie was meant to be the stereotypical one of all soldiers being normal human beings and the only difference between enemy and ally is a uniform. However the opening scene took away from this somewhat, and certain lines about Nazi's also dehumanized the film which proved counter-productive to the lesson I assume the film was trying to tell me.I though the acting was hit and miss in the film as well, I found it really unimpressive during the first half of the film but the second half was better and the performances given by the actors were more emotional and compelling. I thought the guy who played Deacon was good in the first Saints and Soldiers but then again he didn't say much, in this one he is more of a character but sometimes his delivery of lines seem a bit flat. I don't really like being a negative reviewer especially for a low budget film that in terms of cinematography was done very nicely. However the story was a huge let down and the acting a little bit bland at times. I bought the DVD for £1.99 and on reflection that was probably a good price to pay, any higher than £3-4 and I would feel as if the film hadn't been worth watching.

Of the deluge of low budget World War II movies coming out of both Europe and the USA this little indie effort is better than most. I can see where great care has been given here to getting people who sound German to speak German, French to speak French. It may not have been shot in the South of France, but the DOP has spent some considerable care to give the film the warm tones of that part of Europe and the CGI shots blend nicely to convince of this too. The plot is a little wish washy, men taking part in Dragoon, (The invasion of the South of France, August 1944) end up helping the French resistance on an unrelated mission. The number of characters is kept small and simple and the action scenes are nicely directed. The acting here is earnest, the cast aren't going to win any Oscars, but they don't make the mistake of over selling their performances like so many inexperienced actors would. Everyone here does a good job. Its a small film and a small story, so don't be expecting Band of Brothers, but its well made with care and love and a great example of how to make a small but interesting film, as opposed to the terrible 'Rhineland' which felt like a bunch of re-in-actors out on a jolly. Here you can tell everyone involved wanted to make a good authentic film with a bit of heart, they succeeded. If you liked the original your unlikely to be too disappointed, I personally wasn't and this has made it into my WW2 Collection.

Yes, the film is low budget, and the combat scenes show this, however. the movie follows group of paratroopers who meet local french resistance and set out to free there friends and rejoin the rest of their stick. Then i wont ruin the film for you but the story changes from what i feel was meant to be the real story, but still good none the less. This movie isn't a huge blockbuster gripping film but VERY moving and an emotional movie to watch. If your expecting saving private Ryan don't waste your time, its not like that but still a good movie to watch. I think this movie depicts human nature and the stresses of war more than anything else. Doesn't sound great I know. But watch it. you will be pleasantly surprised.