Episode 243: Eighty years ago, on August 19, 1942, in Operation Jubilee began as the Allies attacked the French port of Dieppe on the English Channel Coast. Of the more than 6100 troops involved, five thousand were soldiers of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division and a thousand British, many commandos, with a handful of others including Americans. The hope was to gain a foothold in Europe, breaching Hitler’s heavily-fortified Atlantic Wall. But unfortunately, the Germans were ready for them, and things did not go as planned.
After nine excruciating hours of brutal fighting along the shore, the allied force retreated. Almost 1000 Allied troops lay dead, and at least 2000 more were prisoners of war, making this one of Canada’s darkest days ever in a time of war.
Sources:
Dieppe – Veterans Affairs Canada
The Dieppe Raid – Historical Sheet – Second World War – History – Veterans Affairs Canada
WarMuseum.ca – Democracy at War – Dieppe Raid, 19 August 1942 – Operations
Dieppe: a German Learning Experience – James Shelley – King’s College London
WWII: The Dieppe Raid – Canada at War
The Dieppe Raid : Juno Beach Centre
Cpt. Romuald Nalecz Tyminski, Polish Canadian Hero
Prisoner of War: A Story from Dieppe : Juno Beach Centre
HyperWar: Six Years of War: The Army in Canada, Britain and the Pacific Chapter 11
HyperWar: Six Years of War: The Army in Canada, Britain and the Pacific Chapter 12
DIEPPE: “They Didn’t Have To Die!” – Legion Magazine
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