The Dieppe Raid

The Dieppe Raid; What Happened?

The Dieppe Raid, also known as the Battle of Dieppe, Operation Rutter and, later, Operation Jubilee, was a World War Two allied attack on the German occupied beach of Dieppe, France. The raid took place on August 19th 1942 before the crack of dawn (at around 5am). Little did they know the Germans had discovered the assault and were prepared with the beach locked down. By 11am the 6000 men that had gone into battle, around 5000 of the Canadians, were forced to call a retreat

Objectives:

Despite being widely considered the worst

Ethical Dimension:

Change & Continuity:

Historical Significance:

Why is the Dieppe Raid such a significant event? The Invasion of Normandy which was said to be one of the most significant battles that ended WWII had taken place on a beach and it wasn’t known at the time but the Dieppe Raid paved the way for beach raid tactics which obviously held a very important role in the victory of D-Day. When the Dieppe Raid took place the Allies had limited knowledge of how to actually go through with one of these raids.

The raid on the coast of France at the town of Dieppe, in August of 1942, was the first time that the Canadians fought directly against the Germans, on land. They had been active in the air, with many RCAF victories by fighter planes and massive bombing raids by heavy bomber groups, flying from their bases in Yorkshire, England.

The raid wasn’t intended to be “The Invasion of Europe” as some call it. It was planned to be a test. A test of methods, equipment and tactics. It was a failure, due to a number of reasons, not the least of which was the breakdown of operational security due to a number of changes and re-scheduling of the date of the raid.

When it did take place, the amount of air cover was severly reduced as was the naval gunfire , and the landing took place in full daylight, rather than in full darkness. This meant the troops were completely exposed to the German’s gunfire and they suffered heavy casualties on and approaching the beach. The tanks could not get over the seawall and were trapped on the beach aswell.

Of the about 5,000 Canadians who took part in the raid around 3000 were killed, injured or taken prisoner. Entire squads were wiped out that morning, dead or on the way to a POW camp.

The after action briefings confirmed that this was definately not the way to launch a successfull invasion and the “lessons learned ” at Dieppe, were applied to the Normandy landings as stated above two years later, with much more success.

At home, in Canada, there was great sorrow that so many young guys had died, apparantly for very little gain.

*One of the Battles that won the war

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