Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command of The Royal Canadian Legion www.ns.legion.ca 39 The Dieppe Raid - 1942 Canada’s experiences in times of war have been marked by great triumphs but also by harsh setbacks. The Dieppe Raid during the Second World War was one of the darkest chapters in our country’s military history but it was also marked by great courage and helped lead to important lessons being learned. By the summer of 1942, the Second World War had been raging for almost three years and things looked grim; Nazi Germany had pushed east deep into the Soviet Union, enemy forces were advancing in North Africa and U-boats were making the Atlantic a deadly place for Allied shipping. The British Isles were the only Allied holdout after the Germans had invaded and occupied much of Western Europe in 1940. The continent’s west coast was studded with enemy troops, machine guns, artillery, barbed wire, concrete pillboxes and offshore obstacles. It truly was on its way to becoming “Fortress Europe.” Why raid Dieppe? Many factors contributed to the decision to mount a large raid into occupied Europe in 1942. The Soviet Union was pressuring the Allied forces to open a second front in Western Europe. The Allies, however, needed more time to build up their military resources before undertaking such a massive effort. They felt that a large raid on the coast of France, however, could force the Germans to divert more of their military resources away from the Soviet Union and also help in the planning for the full-scale Allied assault that would eventually have to take place. Canadian soldiers had been training since the outset of the war in 1939 and, except for the Battle of Hong Kong, had yet to see significant action. There was political pressure at home to finally get the Canadians into battle, as well as impatience within the army itself. Dieppe is a resort town situated at a break in the cliffs along the northwest coast of France and was selected as the main target of the raid partially because it was within range of fighter planes from Britain. The Allies’ plan was to launch a large-scale amphibious landing, damage enemy shipping and port facilities, and gather intelligence on German defences and radar technology. Recent research has suggested that the desire to capture a top-secret Enigma code machine and accompanying codebooks was also an important factor in mounting the raid. "Operation Jubilee" The Dieppe Raid, code-named “Operation Jubilee,” saw more than 6,000 men come ashore at five different points along a 16-kilometre-long stretch of heavily defended coastline. Four of the attacks were to take place just before dawn at points east and west of Dieppe, while the main attack on the town itself would take place half an hour later. The raiding force was made up of almost 5,000 Canadians, approximately 1,000 British commandos and 50 American Army Rangers. Dieppe beaches after the Raid continued ...
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