The Dieppe Raid
The Dieppe Raid
Unknown Date
On August 19, 1942, the largest single-day disastrous battle occurred on the rocky shores of Dieppe, France. Not since July 1, 1916 have Canadian and British soldiers faced such bloodshed in the span of only a few hours (as per the Somme offensive during the First World War). By the end of the afternoon, 907 Canadians lay dead on the pebble beach and at the steep sea wall, while German forces captured another 1946 and 514 men lay wounded and dying. Many people question the worth of the Dieppe raid, and call it a senseless slaughter, although it was very necessary in order for the D-Day landings of 1944 to take place, and this thesis shall prove just such a fact.
By the spring of 1942, German forces controlled the large majority of Europe, and were advancing rapidly into Russian territory. The future looked bleak for Europeans, and the only answer was to launch an invasion of Europe. However, allied forces in 1942 had a shortage of munitions and manpower alike, so a full-scale invasion was not yet feasible, and would have to wait. However, a plan was drafted that would strike back at the Germans and strike fear into Germans, as well as destroying costal facilities that threatened future invasions.
Stalin pleaded with Sir Winston Churchill and General Eisenhower to open the Western Front to ease pressure on the Soviet Red Army. A large majority of Hitler’s forces were employing their successful blitzkrieg tactics and moving deep into the Soviet Union. Opening a second front would require Hitler to commence operations on two fronts, allowing the large, yet highly disorganized Soviet Army to stand their ground and counter-attack against a smaller force.
While British commandos and small units of troops have made amphibious assaults prior to 1942, none were at the scale that the planned raid on Dieppe. New types of barges that would carry medium and heavy tanks and artillery had never been tested, and a large-scale combined arms operation with land, sea, and air had yet to be attempted, but needed to be tested in combat to ensure their efficiency and to adjust accordingly. Numerous invasion plans were drafted to be carried out in 1942 and 1943 in order to capture ports large and deep enough for supply and troop ships to dock in, without destroying infrastructure.
The plan called for Canadian troops (that would make the main force, approximately 5000 men strong) to attack the flanks in a surprise raid at daybreak, while thirty minutes later, a second wave would make a frontal assault on Dieppe itself, creating havoc amongst the German defenders, and causing them to spread thin. The flanks were first priority, as the towns of Berneval and Varengeville had formidable artillery and coastal battery defenses present that could easily compromise troop ships at sea, and the landing infantry at Dieppe.
Dieppe was simply a raid; troops were to attack, complete their objective, and vacate the area. The entire raid was to last no more than six hours (in order to board the troop ships at low tide, so as not to have the landing craft be damaged by the beach defenses) and depended totally on the element of surprise and timing. If the troops were discovered before the initial attack on sunrise, the element of surprise was to be lost. If all troops were unable to board the ships before high tide, they would be stranded on shore for six hours, venerable to any German counter-attack.
Canadian troops in England, training on a daily basis, sat in wait for their time to prove themselves worthy. During the First World War, Canadian troops earned the reputation of fierce and fearless fighters, achieving such victory as the Second Battle of Ypres, Paschendaele, Vimy Ridge, and so forth. Yet after three years of war, Canadians hadn’t fired a single shot in anger in a major operation. Public opinion in Canada questioned the inactivity of their boys overseas, and the troops were eager to get into the fight; the time was right.
General Bernard Montgomery, commander of British Forces in the European theater, chose the Second Canadian Infantry Division for the raid. General McNaughton (commander of Canada’s First Army) and General Crerar (commander of the First Canadian Corps) both eagerly accepted the plans, as they both had campaigned passionately to their superiors for Canadians to be used in just such an operation.
Operation Rutter was underway, and the Second Canadian Infantry Division was set to the Isle of Wight on May 20 for intensive amphibious training. The soldiers weren’t instructed for what they were training in regard to (in order to maintain total secrecy), but the Canadians knew they were soon to take part in a major operation.
Before the operation had even begun, bad luck began to plague the soldiers. Constant bad weather postponed the invasion and antagonize the troops. The operation was almost called off numerous times by the high command, though Canadian officers saw to it that it would remain in action. After the storms of July, the operation was renamed to Operation Jubilee, and the invasion set for August 19, 1942.
On the 19th, 4963 Canadian infantry soldiers boarded the awaiting armada of ships, along with 1005 British Commandos, 50 US Rangers, and 15 Free French soldiers (mainly to be used as interpreters). 237 ships and barges, including six destroyers, quietly brought the troops close to the French coastline in the early morning hours of the 19th. Seventy-four allied air squadrons (eight of which were Canadian) took to the skies shortly thereafter to assist the men landing on the beach, and protecting the naval ships and troops from the fierce and battle-hardened Luftwaffe.
The plan called for five separate landing points on a sixteen-kilometer front. Before the break of dawn, four attacks were to take place on the flanks of Dieppe in order to silence the artillery batteries that threatened the invasion. The fifth landing was to take place thirty minutes after the initial landings at Dieppe itself. Canadian troops were to make the frontal assault, as well as close the gaps in the in the cliffs of the town of Pourville on the western flank (approximately four kilometers from Dieppe) and Puys on the eastern flank. British commandos were to destroy the coastal batteries in Berneval on the eastern flank, and Varengeville to the west (with the American troops under the command of the British commandos).
Even before the troops neared the coast, trouble began. The armada encountered a small German convoy ferrying supplies through the channel. British destroyers engaged the convoy, which set to alert the coastal batteries and defenses, specifically in Berneval and Puys, leaving little chance for success in those sectors.
The attack on the convoy caused the landing craft carrying the Number Three Commando unit to split up. The result was that many of the landing craft were never able to reach shore, and those that did were quickly overwhelmed by the alerted German forces. Once small party of commandos of 20 men managed to get a foothold inland, and from 180 meters of the artillery battery managed to accurately snipe the German soldiers manning the guns, preventing them from opening fire on the beaches for the entire two and a half hours the battle took place.
Further east, near the town of Puys, Canadian infantry troops were sharing in the British commando’s misfortune. Having engaged the German convoy earlier in the morning only alerted the highly organized defenders. The beach was very narrow and the cliffs which they were to secure were inhabited by German machinegun crews. Due to the convoy, the naval landings were delayed in the Puys sector, exposing the Canadians in the bright morning sun. The men of the Royal Regiment of Canada bravely leapt from their landing craft in the face of heavy machinegun and mortar fire. The majority of soldiers were pinned on the beach by the increasingly heavy (and growingly more accurate) mortar fire, though a small group of men managed to reach the highly fortified and wired sea wall. All men at the beaches at Puys were either killed or taken prisoner, including three platoons of reinforcements from the Royal Highlanders Regiment (better known as the infamous Black Watch). At Puys alone, 200 men were killed, and 20 later died in captivity of their wounds.
Unlike their comrades in Number Three, the Number Four Commando’s managed to achieve nearly complete surprise in the western sector. The Number Four managed to quickly achieve all of their objectives by destroying all guns in the Varengeville artillery battery, and safely withdrew with minimal casualties.
The Canadians in the western sector also achieved a high degree of surprise. The South Saskatchewan Regiment and the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada assaulted the beaches of Pourville with minimal opposition. However, as the Canadian troops advanced towards Dieppe, resistance stiffened, especially while crossing the Scie River.
The Saskatchewan’s were stopped just outside of the town itself (with support from a platoon of the Camerons), while the Cameron main force were forced to stop three kilometers inland while attempting to capture their objective of an airfield.
The troops on the western sector were forced to withdraw. Heavy casualties were sustained during the evacuation, as a German counter-attack pushed them back towards the sea. However, the landing craft, in the face of fierce and severe machinegun and mortar fire from the cliffs, plowed in toward the beaches. Supported by a rearguard, the large majority of both Cameron’s and Saskatchewan’s managed to re-embark on to the landing craft (although most had suffered some kind of wound), and were evacuated. However, there was no room for the rearguard who allowed for their comrades in arms to be evacuated, and were forced to surrender after they had spent the very last of their ammunition in a gallant and selfless stand while covering the landing craft.
Lines of communication were weak, and the news of the many failures failed to reach commanders who were safely on the waiting ships. The men of the Essex Scottish Regiment assaulted the eastern section of the beach while the German troops in concealed cliff-top positions opened up with machinegun fire. The Essex Scottish were beaten back hard while attempting to breach the formidable seawall, although a small squad did manage to make it over. A misleading message made its way back to command that the Essex Scottish were making headway into town, so the reserve Les Fusiliers Mont Royal were sent in to support the Essex Scottish in the town, but found themselves pinned down on the beach and at the seawall as well.
To the west of the beach, the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry landed in front of a large and heavily fortified casino. The Germans had demolished part of the casino (the side facing the sea) to use it as a safe defensive point, and made full use of the protection it offered. However, the Hamilton’s managed to break the defensive position and clear out the casino and surrounding pillbox defenses, and enter the town where they engaged in vicious street fighting.
Timing was essential for the Dieppe Raid, but failed to take place. The Calgary Armored Regiment, equipped with the new Churchill tanks, were to land with the infantry after an air and naval bombardment, but were between ten and fifteen minutes late, leaving the infantry complete exposed. The tanks were made quick work of enemy anti-tank guns and by shingle banks. Those that made their way around (or up) the seawall were met with concrete tank-traps, and immobilized or destroyed. Those tanks that were immobilized due to damage or track damage due to the pebble beach continued to fight from where they stood. All men of the Calgary Regiment were either killed or captured.
The last troops to land was the Royal Marine “A” Commando unit, but suffered the same fate as all soldiers on the Dieppe beach; heavy losses without the being able to complete any of their objectives.
In the skies over Dieppe, the largest single-day aerial battle was taking place. While the Royal Air Force and Royal Canadian Air Force were able to protect the ships from German fighters and dive bombers, they paid a grave price. The RAF lost 106 aircraft within the span of a few hours, while the RCAF lost 13, the largest single-day air losses of the war (even with the Battle of Britain).
By the early afternoon hours, Operation Jubilee had ended. 1946 Canadians remained on the beach and were now in the hands of the Germans, and 907 Canadians lay dead in the rising tide waters of the English Channel.
With such a high loss of life and equipment, many argue that the Dieppe Raid was a waste of lives and money, others disagree. The lessons learned on the beaches of Dieppe were crucial in the success of the D-Day landings. Better tactics were employed, and more care was sought to the gathering of intelligence, the chain of command, and lines of communication. Those who made it off of the beaches would later participate in Operation Husky, the invasion of Italy. The combat experience those who had survived and were well enough to remain in the army was invaluable. Following their successes in Italy, many of those Canadian troops landed at Juno Beach on June 6, 1944, and the liberation of Europe began.
Despite such a grievous loss of life, the raid was essential. Had there been no Dieppe, no lessons would have been learned, and the same horrible events would have appeared during D-Day, on a much grander scale. Then men of the Second Canadian Infantry Division were pioneers in modern amphibious landing tactics, and the reputation for truly fearless and fierce fighting men was re-established, even though the raid had failed.
