The Dieppe Raid Canada Leads the Way In the summer of 1942 WWII was nearing the end of its third year. On the Russian Front, the Russians were in full retreat. The Germans were driving towards the Volga river and the oilfields of the Caucasus. The Japanese had captured Singapore and were moving through India and threatening the Middle East. In May and June, German Uboats sank more than 1.5 million tons of shipping vessels. The rate of sinkings exceeded building capacity by 2.5x. Allied supply lines were seriously threatened and resources in Britain were quickly diminishing.

Origins Allies were not yet prepared for a full invasion of Europe Dieppe Raid was a way to test new techniques and equipment The raid would serve as a reconnaissance mission and a precursor to the Normandy invasion The town of Dieppe was an important port town If the attack could lure out the Luftwaffe, perhaps Allies could inflict serious losses to them and divert them to the Eastern front In the summer of 1942 WWII was nearing the end of its third year. On the Russian Front, the Russians were in full retreat. The Germans were driving towards the Volga river and the oilfields of the Caucasus. The Japanese had captured Singapore and were moving through India and threatening the Middle East. In May and June, German Uboats sank more than 1.5 million tons of shipping vessels. The rate of sinkings exceeded building capacity by 2.5x. Allied supply lines were seriously threatened and resources in Britain were quickly diminishing.

The Luftwaffe German Air force Very powerful at the start of the war but eventually could not prevent German defeat Instrumental in German Blitzkrieg tactics

Blitzkrieg Literally means lightning war Blitzkrieg involved an initial bombardment followed by the employment of mobile forces that attacked with speed to take the enemy by surprise The technique evolved out of WWI as a way to avoid the heavy losses of trench warfare

Why Canada? Most Canadian troops had not yet fought in Europe as much of the war for Canada was being fought in Africa Canadian troops were highly esteemed British General Bernard Montgomery selects the 2nd Canadian Division

The Plan Intended to gauge the possibility of a sea landing attack, to gather intelligence, and to draw the Luftwaffe out Paratroopers would flank the beach while the main forces would seize the town from the main beach. Tanks would provide ground support After poor weather and scaled down RAF involvement, the raid was cancelled on July 7th 1942 Discuss Pincher method. Intelligence suggested Dieppe was defended by 1,400 “low category” German troops It would take nearly 8 hours for German reinforcements to reach the attack

The Plan General Mountbatten began reorganizing the raid for July 11th under the codename “Operation Jubilee” Mountbatten went ahead with the raid despite a lack of approval from the Joint Chiefs of staff This created a disjointed plan and a lack of involvement from intelligence agencies

The Plan

The Reality Canadian ships were to have disembarked before dawn but delays kept them in port until early daylight. On the way to the raid, a Canadian ship met a German convoy and a battle ensued. Lost element of surprise They were gunned down easily by German machine gunners as Germans had high ground. Geography/Landscape When the surprise commando crossing was detected and the naval fight began, the Allied vessels scattered. This led to a completely disjointed assault. The Germans waited until the Allies hit the beach. The largest support vessel returned to England. Four landing crafts actually make it to the beach, but the tied is out, this forces the troops to cross an additional 300 meters of open beach. They were sitting ducks! The landing attempt lasted 9 ours.

The Reality Poor communications led commanders to believe that the first wave of troops made it to shore in good shape They sent reinforcements who also became trapped Tanks could not advance on the pebble beach because of a lack of traction

The Aftermath The raid was a disaster In total, 907 Canadian troops died in the nine-hour battle, while 586 were wounded and 1874 were taken prisoner Some historians argue that the raid was a failure but it taught Allied forces what not to do next time

Dieppe Today

Lessons Learned All services must truly work together. Plans must be flexible Sufficient fire power to reduce German defenses was needed Training must be more specialized. Security must be tighter Communication in the war arena must be improved

New Historical Perspective Recently information has been de-classified in Britain. This has led to a change in perspective on this event. Real purpose was a “pinch raid” to capture of the German codebreaking machine. Mission failed, but was accomplished a few months later.