Dieppe

Before a large scale allied invasion of Western Europe, was planned – they decided to mount a “lightning” raid at Dieppe.

The raid would provide opportunity to test new techniques & equipment

It was also designed as an attempt to divert German forces attacking Russia

The allies wanted to test an invasion of “Fortress Europe”

A test of combined land, naval & air forces needed to make a a large-scale invasion possible

Meant to be a quick attack!Timing strongly depended on sunrise & troops had to

retreat before the high tide. In order to increase the element of surprise, there

would be no air bombings the night before.

The 2nd Canadian Infantry Division was chosen for the raid.

This would allow Canadian soldiers to get some combat experience as they had been stationed in Great Britain for two years without having been a part of a major battle operation.

Ground Forces:5, 000 men and officers from the 2nd Canadian

Division1, 000 British commandos50 US rangers and 15 Frenchmen.

Naval Forces:A fleet of 237 ships and landing barges, including 6

destroyers, brought them near the seashore of Air Forces:

Air Forces:Royal Air Force and Royal Canadian Air Force bombers

& fighters

The plan called for attacks at five different points on a front of roughly ten miles. Four simultaneous flank attacks were to go in at dawn, followed half an hour later by the main attack on the town of Dieppe itself

Landing craft of the Eastern sector unexpectedly encountered a small German convoy. The noise of the sea fight which followed alerted coastal defenses, particularly at Berneval and Puys, leaving little chance of success in the eastern sector.

This beach was extremely narrow with high cliffs where German soldiers were strategically placed.

Success depended on surprise & darkness, neither happened

The naval landing was delayed, and as Canadians neared shore at dawn, German’s were ready with violent machine-gun fire

Germans were ready! German artillery were able to fire on soldiers as they

left landing craftsAllies in a tough position since they could not get their

heavy equipment up the slippery rocks of the pebble stone beach.

Allied sea & land support not enough to protect soldiers on the beach

Some forces reached town,

but most killed.Holiday pictures had been used

as basis for planning

By the early afternoon, approximately 900 Canadian troops were dead or dying

Over 1000 Canadian troops wounded

1900 taken prisoners of war by Germans

The Dieppe fiasco demonstrated that it was imperative to improve communications at all levels: on the battlefield, between the headquarters of each unit, between air, naval and ground forces.

Raid on Dieppe showed how important it would be in the future to:

- Use advance air bombings to destroy enemy defenses as much as possible

- To support assault troops with artillery fire from ships and landing crafts

- To improve techniques and equipment to remove water & beach obstacles for men & tanks.