The Anthéor railway viaduct was a rail link in southern France along the coast between Saint-Raphaël and Nice. The viaduct carried a double rail line that was being used to move supplies to German forces blocking the advance of the Allies in Italy. Though the rail line had been attacked and cut in a number of places before, each time the Germans repaired the tracks quickly. The viaduct was 185 feet in the air and spanned a brook that flowed between two coastal hills. If destroyed the line would be disrupted permanently. Attempts on the viaduct had been made twice earlier, but destroying it required a direct hit, and the previous attacks had been unsuccessful.