Dieppe, August 1942

By 1942 the Allies were planning a cross channel invasion of occupied Europe . The Soviet union were desperate for the Allies to open up a ‘second front' to relieve the pressure of the Nazi invasion of Russia .
The Allies decided on a limited incursion into France and a raid was planned under the codename ‘Jubilee' and Dieppe was chosen.Lieutenant-General Montgomery was chosen to carry out the assault and he turned to the Canadians, who immediately began amphibious training for the operation.
The raid took place early morning of 19 th . August 1942 and from the start the raid was a disaster.
The element of surprise was lost and the Germans were ready for them. Many Canadians did not get off the beach and the new Churchill tanks of the Canadian tank battalions were knocked out by devastating fire from the defenders, and many tanks lay crippled on the beach.
The raid was called off at 10:50 am and of the 6,086 mainly Canadians which took part in the raid 3,623 were killed, wounded or taken prisoner.
The RAF lost 96 aircraft while the Royal Navy lost 33 landing craft and one destroyer. Although a disaster, the Dieppe raid taught the Allies many important lessons which would be later used in the D-Day landings of 1944.