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Please do not watch this achieve footage if you are easily upset because it does show the consequences of war, including brave Canadian and allied soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice.
The Churchill? tanks marooned on the beech was just one of the many things that went wrong with this raid.
Canadian Raid On Dieppe Aka Dieppe Landings (1942) - YouTube
The Dieppe raid was a disaster. One of those bad decisions that often occur in wartime; and young men pay the price.
However it is possible that it made D-Day safer. Finding out how NOT to do something is often a part of the process in learning how to do it right!
"...The Churchill? tanks marooned on the BEACH..." Yep. Nobody bothered to go look at the beaches to see what the ground was like. Tanks and assorted wheeled vehicles really dislike loose rocks(shingle). Nobody thought they should go look either. That being one of the lessons learned from the Raid. The primary previous experience at amphib ops was at Gallipoli in W.W. I.
Knew a guy who was there. He walked off the beach with 8 bullet holes in him. One of which caused a compound leg fracture. Johnny, all 5 foot nothing of him, didn't know that until the MO on the ship asked him how he got off the beach.
"...The Dieppe raid was a disaster..." Not really. A great deal was learned about amphibious ops. It was also learned that attacking a fortified harbour was a bad idea. And that open boats make lousy landing craft.
Because the Raid was ill planned and canceled then re-upped by Mountbatten with no changes, the security was bad. Fortunately, the Germans had no idea what was going on.
My late Grandmother once said, to me, that the "Canadians" had a very rough time on the Dieppe raid.
I have heard it claimed, in a documentary, in recent years that the real reason for the Dieppe raid was to create a cover for "pinching" (stealing) the German Enigma code books. The claim went onto say that the large scale raid was in order to disguise the fact that the actual reason for the raid was to steal the code books. If the code books were to be taken they had to be taken in such a way that the Germans didn't realise they had been taken or the codes would be changed. However, it would seem that any attempt to obtain the Enigma codes, on this raid, were unsuccessful.
Although my Regiment knows all about failure they always drummed into you the follwoing on NCO course regardless were the 6 "P"s:
Proper Preparation Prevents **** Poor Performance.
There is always more to these failures then meets the eye, and it is only best listening to those who were actually there to learn the true lessons of Dieppe!
I'm currently reading Churchill's The Second World War in six volumes. It is June 1940, Britain is on its heels and back on their own island, and Churchill is setting the tone for prosecution of the war. He adopted a philosophy that struck me and made me think of the Dieppe raid in particular. Churchill feared Britain becoming militarily entrenched and wholly defensive so he directed that attacking forces be created to make spoiling raids on the outer crust of the German defenses of Europe in order to force THEM to be on the defensive. Attack, attack, attack, don't simply defend.
Right after this he became aware that a Canadian division had just been sent to Iceland and was troubled that such a fine division should be wasted off in garrison duty on a remote territory.
Could Dieppe have been intended as the first of his smash and grab raids to keep the Germans off balance and the results have sort of put the rest of the plans on the shelf?
Bob
I am still trudging through his books on his early life and WWI to match the six volume set on WWII (I have those as well) you have to partner them up with the Chester Wilmot book "The Struggle For Europe" (Have that) Then to really wrap it up get the 4 book set on The strategic air offensive Against Germany to see what Churchill did on that front I'll never get through my books but they are a good source if a question pops up and I've read it in one of my books.
The Dieppe raid taught the brits allot hence why they sent Subs to the coast with divers to get the low down on depths, gradients and sand/soil samples for the D-Day adventure, yes the Churchill tanks failed but they did on D-day as well the Shermans launched to far out and swamping thank goodness the Tigers were 200 Klm away and Hitler was asleep.
Anyway get this book I have on the air war on that day as without air superiority your going to be hard pressed to win the day the Allied fighter pilots gave the navy ships a wide berth on that raid as they were apt to fire on anything remotely resembling a plane rather than finding out if it was a friend or foe!
In the Dieppe raid there was another raid inside that one which was meant for a group to discover the Germans radar capabilities in a book called "Green Beach" By James Leasor its a very good read a one way mission for the radar expert.
His minder for the raid on that station at Dieppe had it looked like they were about to be captured then the minder was to kill the British radar expert from memory as I read the book a while ago I do not think the radar tech was privy to that part of the mission.
Anyway given you a few good reads to get on to.
Bob,
It was Operation Biting, the pre cursor to Dieppe, also known as the Bruneval Raid, which was a British Combined Operations raid on a German coastal radar installation at Bruneval in northern France, on the night of 27–28 February 1942.
It was masterminded, planned and well executed by Major John Frost who was later at Arnhem to lead from the front yet again to great aclaim.
C Company of the newly formed 2 PARA and an RAF Boffin called Flight Sergeant Cox parachuted into the location on top of the cliff, took apart the most important piece of the Wurzberg radar unit that the British needed to ensure theirs had the same effect against the waves of German Bombers that continually bombarded English Towns with such immunity.
Our radar system was very basic, and it was known the Germans had mastered short and long wave interceptions, clearly forecasting ALL our day and night time raids, and sending up interceptors to curtail Bomber Command and the USA's 8th Airforce attacks with a great deal of success.
It was this successful raid I believe, that gave Churchill his "head".
Against advice from Lord Mountbatten, Head of Combined Operations, Churchill issued orders to get the job done regardless.
I have read the actual orders of those two nights in February 1942 many times at our museum, as it was, the Parachute Regiments very first Battle Honour after formation during WW2.
This was really ideal for a Commando raid, but one has to assume a seaborne attack by landing craft could have been a lot harder to achieve with the cliffs before them, so a parachute drop was favoured by Major Johnny Frost which switched it to the newly formed Parachute Regiment.
They were successfully picked up as well by landing craft with the most valuable prize of prisoners and the Wurzberg radar controller.
I have more intelligence than to believe or indeed disbelieve everything that I see on television or the internet.Quote:
Originally Posted by Gil Boyd
However, the claim in the documentary was made, in part, by a former British commando who took part in the Dieppe raid and was part of the team, according to the claim, tasked with pinching the Enigma code books etc from Dieppe. At the time that the documentary was made, he was the sole surviving member of the commando team tasked with pinching the Enigma code books.. This commando team, it is claimed, attempted to land at Dieppe, several times, from HMS Locust because it had shallow draught and could get right in to Dieppe harbour.
The Dieppe Raid Canadian Military History
Breaking German codes real reason for 1942 Dieppe raid: historian - National | Globalnews.ca
The enigma of Dieppe – was the raid part of a bigger game of espionage? TheSpec.com
There then is the part ......................more to it than meets the eye!
The facts should have now been released now after 74 years since the end of WW2