The+Battle+of+Dieppe

Code named “Operation Jubilee”, the Battle of Dieppe was Canada’s chance to shine. It was a world war two attack on the German occupied port of Dieppe on the northern coast of France, August 19, 1942. Over 6,000 infantry men, mostly of who were Canadian, supported by a small part of the Royal Navy and large RAF contingents planned to attack the port at 5 am in the morning. Their objectives were clear; to seize and hold a major part of the port for a large period of time in order to both prove its possibility and to gather intelligence from captured prisoners and materials while also assessing German responses. The allies also aimed to destroy coastal defences, port structures and strategic buildings in order to weaken the Germans. The raid was intended to boost the morale of the troops and the public while also assuring the Soviet Union of the commitment of the United Kingdom and United States as the Soviets wanted a two war front for the Germans. The battle was planned by Vice-admiral Lord Mountbatten of combined operations headquarters. The attack consisted of 5,000 Canadians, 1,000 British troops and 50 US rangers. The Royal navy was to supply 237 ships and landing craft, the royal air force 74 squadrons of aircraft of which 66 were fighter squadrons. The plan included British parachute units attacking German artillery batteries on the headlands on either side of the Canadians who would carry out a frontal assault from the sea, though the parachute attacks were later cancelled. In June, the BBC broadcasted warnings to the French of a likely war and urged them to vacate. This put the German armies on alert and in turn gave them warning to the operation planned, extinguishing any chance of surprise from the allies. There were also French double agents spreading the word of the secret planned attacks.

It was under the pressure of the Canadian government wanting their troops to see some action that the 2nd Canadian infantry division, commanded by Major general John Hamilton Roberts, was selected for the main force. Armoured support was provided by the 14th Army tank regiment with 58 new “Churchill” tanks to be delivered along with the new landing craft tank. Attempting to ensure success, 3 of the Churchill’s had flamethrowers and all had adaptations enabling them to operate in the shallow waters of the beach. Though in some ways, nothing could ensure a victory as the beaches were assessed for their gradient and suitability for tanks all by old holiday photos, in turn leading the allies to underestimate the German strength of the terrain.

//The Beaches//
In total there were four beaches; red, green, white and blue. The royal regiment of Canada was to take the blue beach though the main landings were planned on the red and white beaches. The allied fleet left the south coast of England August 18 preceded by minesweepers clearing the channel. Thought the initial landings were 4:50 am on August 19, certain fleets ran into complications. The Canadians challenging the Blue beach ran into small German convoys and exchanged fire at 3:48 in the morning, a full hour and 12 minutes before the scheduled attack. This alerted the German defenders and because of the 20 minute delay, the smoke screen that was suppose to hide the allies entrance was lifted, rendering them helpless to German attack. The allies were annihilated and of the 556 men, 200 were killed and 264 captured.

//Losses//
Overall, 3,623 of 6,086 ( almost 60%) men were killed, injured or captured. The allies lost 96 aircraft compared to the 48 lost by the Luftwaffe and the Royal Navy lost 33 landing crafts and 1 destroyer. These unfortunate events later influenced the planning of several other attacks, allowing the allies to learn from there severe mistakes; North Africa, Operation Torch and the Normandy Landings, Operation Overlord, are two of those whose plans were altered because of Dieppe.

//Successes//
Though no major objectives succeeded, one goal of discovering the importance and accuracy of a German radar station was uncovered. RAF flight Sergeant and radar specialist, Jack Nissenthal, was able to crawl up the rear of a radar station under enemy fire and cut all the telephone wires leading to it, making the German crew susceptible to penetration and forced them to use radio transmissions to talk to their commanders, therefore allowing the allies to listen in and asses their position. These transmissions were interpreted by listening posts on the south coast of England and allowed the allies to learn a lot about German radar because of this simple act. Though there is much criticism about Canada and her troops inexperience that led to the negative results of the raid, scholars say that anyone would have found it hard to win this battle. Because of the Germans prior knowledge of the attack, the element of surprise was eliminated and left the allies with no possible upper hand. Winston Churchill was quoted saying that “the Canadian contribution to the greatest significance to final victory” inferring that this battle helped achieve success in future attacks. []