Dieppe, a port city in Northern France, offered the Allies an opportunity. Their German enemy controlled the entire continent, and to win the war the Allies would sooner or later have to make a successful amphibious attack. A raid on Dieppe would test equipment, teach valuable lessons, and make a serious dent in Germany’s continental defenses.
I posted recently about Canada’s role in WWII. and I mentioned the Dieppe raid. That paragraph read, in part, “A combination of strong German defenses and haphazard planning by the Allies made the raid a disaster.”
Link to the story in question “Canada Went to War Early”
I received the following comment from RandyO.
“Hi Dennis, the Dieppe raid wasn’t a total disaster though was it? Didn’t Canadian troops also attack the main offices of the German u boat command right there? Didn’t they come out of there with radio and enigma machine info that helped the overall war effort? Wasn’t Ian Fleming (of James Bond fame later) also involved, sitting offshore on a British warship waiting specifically for the info to be brought directly/personally to him?”
I answered with a promise that I would do a little more homework and write a post on the Dieppe Raid. And here it is.
First of all, Ian Fleming did take part in the intelligence gathering from offshore on a British Warship. Moreover, the capture of an enigma machine gave British code breakers invaluable information. I couldn’t find information about an important German Uboat command.
Canadian forces led the way into Dieppe and they suffered major casualties. Four thousand nine hundred sixty-three Canadians raided Dieppe. Two thousand two hundred ten of them returned to England.
Veterans Affairs Canada sums it up this way.
“By early afternoon, August 19, 1942, Operation Jubilee was over. Debate over the merit of the raid continues to the present day. Some believe that it was a useless slaughter, others maintain that it was necessary for the success of the invasion of the continent two years later on D-Day. Without question, the Raid on Dieppe was studied carefully in planning later attacks against the enemy-held coast of France. There were improvements in the technique, fire support and tactics, which reduced D-Day casualties to an unexpected minimum. The lessons learned at Dieppe were instrumental in saving countless lives on June 6, 1944.”
hi dennis, sadly the casualties were still ‘severe’ regardless aye. we cant help but wonder what quality of recce info they based this raid on? or did they just decide that ‘lets give it a go’ anyway, and ‘the canuck troops are sitting around here wanting something to do’… theres been some serious planning debacles over the various wars involving commonwealth troops. war is definitely a serious business! keep up the great work dennis. cheers, RandyO
You have a seriously good and moral perspective on this and Tyler comment inspired a lot of thought at my end.