In the fighting, the French seized the island, killing 500 German and Italian defenders, and taking 1,995 of them prisoner. The Germans defended Elba with two infantry battalions, fortified coastal areas, and several coastal artillery batteries totaling some 60 guns of medium and heavy caliber. Fighting in the hills between the Germans and the Senegalese colonial infantry was vicious, with the Senegalese employing flamethrowers to clear entrenched German troops. Portoferraio was taken by the 9th Division on June 18 and the island was largely secured by the following day. The RN commandos boarded and seized the German Flak ship KГ¶ln and also landed to guide in other troops headed for the beaches, but a massive blast from a German demolition charge killed 38 of their men. Within two hours, French commandos reached the crest of the 400-meter Monte Tambone Ridge overlooking the landing areas. Falling back on an alternate plan, the landing beach was shifted to the east, near Nercio, and here the troops of the 9th Colonial Infantry Division seized a viable beachhead. Landing in the Gulf of Campo on the south coast, the French initially ran into difficulties because of the German fortifications and extremely rugged terrain that ringed the landing area. French Choc (lightly armed fighters who had the mission of operating behind enemy lines) units landed at multiple points before the main landing force and neutralized coastal artillery batteries. French forces comprised the 9th Colonial Infantry Division (9e DIC), two battalions of French commandos (Commandos d'Afrique and Commandos de Choc), a battalion and supplementary battery of the Colonial Artillery Regiment of Morocco (R.A.C.M.) and the 2nd Group of Morrocan Tabors (2e GTM), in addition to 48 men from 'A' and 'O' commandos of the Royal Navy. After British General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson took over the Mediterranean Theater, however, attitudes at Allied headquarters changed and the operation was approved.By this time, though, the Germans had strongly fortified Elba, an island dominated by rugged terrain in any case, making the assault considerably more difficult.ДЄt 0400 hours on June 17, 1944, the I Corps assaulted Elba in Operation Brassard. Initially, the proposal was denied by General Eisenhower, who considered it a dispersal of resources while the planning for the Anzio landings was underway.

Following the liberation of Corsica, the French proposed to invade the island of Elba, possession of which would allow the Allies to dominate by gunfire ships in the Piombino Channel and vehicles on the coastal road of the Italian peninsula, both transportation arteries essential to the supply of German forces in western Italy.

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