Combing The Winnipeg Tribune
[A painting by Canadian war artist Charles Comfort, of the Allied raid
Introduction:
The first raid on Dieppe, known as Operation RUTTER, was attempted on July 7, 1942, but was very quickly cancelled.
Operation JUBILEE, the more well-known of the two operations concerning the seaside city in France, took place five to six weeks later, on August 19, 1942. Should it have been cancelled as well? My father definitely thought so.
About 100 Canadian sailors, my father included, members of the Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve (RCNVR) and the earliest to join Combined Operations* trained for these actions. Many participated in them, never to forget.
(*Combined Ops was a British organization focussed on offence, including Commando raids on Germany's western front (e.g., in Norway and at St. Nazaire, France) and then subsequent invasions in the Mediterranean, e.g., Operation TORCH, invasion of North Africa, November 1942 for starters. The raids and invasions required 100s of sailors to man the small landing crafts (larger ships made larger targets and would never reach or tie up on shore), a call went out to the Royal Navy Reserve and Canadian Navy for volunteers ("for dangerous work overseas, on small crafts, nine days leave thrown in"), and men from across Canada stepped forward, so to speak.
The first two volunteer drafts of about 50 Canadian sailors each, joined Combined Operations in late 1941 and sailed to Scotland in January 1942. They were soon involved in training aboard landing crafts in southern England and then northwest Scotland.
Eight Canadians in Combined Operations at Northney III, their first training
camp on Hayling Island. Photo Credit - Joe Spencer, circa Feb. 1942.
L - R: Al Addlington, Joe Spencer, Chuck Rose, Doug Harrison, Art
Bradfield, Don Linder, Joe Watson, Jake Jacobs. All from SW Ontario
Some very good material (news articles, stories, photographs, etc.) can be found related to RUTTER, and much more can be found about JUBILEE. Though some links to material are already found on this site, I now add more and hope that readers are encouraged to send other links and offerings as well.
I share news clippings from The Winnipeg Tribune (digitized) that are dated at least two weeks before the official date for RUTTER in order to supply context for the times. Some articles relate to action on other war fronts, about the need or call for a Second Front, and other topics that might have been part of conversations or the thoughts of the Canadian sailors. At the very least, the clippings add a bit of timely flavour and a springboard for other items I will share from Navy memoirs.
For example, I start with clips from June 22, 1942, because the date is mentioned in my father's memoirs. He and other Canadians in Combined Ops were sailing toward Southampton and the Isle of Wight to prepare (unbeknownst to them) for Operation RUTTER.
In Navy memoirs Doug Harrison writes:
Chapter FOUR. A TASTE OF DIEPPE, 1942
It is very difficult to put a finger on where I was and when I was there because I have only my service sheet and memory to go by and neither seem to be up-to-date. However, I believe we went from Irvine to H.M.S. Quebec (very near Inveraray, Scotland) then to H.M.S. Niobe and then aboard the oil tanker Ennerdale at Greenock in late April, 1942. Our barges were loaded on the ship too, by use of booms and winches. I do recall that before leaving Greenock one of the ship’s crew said to me, “I wish we weren’t going on this trip, matey.” When I asked why he said, “‘Cause we got a bloody basinful last time!” We got our basinful this time too.
During the trip down the west coast of England it seems we pulled into an Irish seaport one night; however, farther down the coast of England we headed south past Milford Haven, Wales, and all was serene.
We usually had a single or maybe two Spitfires for company. There were eight ships in the convoy; we were the largest, the rest were trawlers. Of course, the Spitfires only stayed until early dusk, then waggled their wings and headed home.
On June 22, 1942, my mother’s birthday, O/D Seaman Jack Rimmer of Montreal and I were reminiscing on deck. We must remember there was daylight saving time and war time, and to go by the sun setting one never knew what time it was. Jack and I were feeling just a little homesick - not like at first - and it was a terribly hard feeling to describe then.
Our Spitfire waggled his wings and kissed us goodnight though it was still quite light, and no sooner had he left when ‘action stations’ was blared out on the Klaxon horn.
Eight German JU 88s came from the east, took position in the sun and attacked us from the stern. It was perhaps between eight and nine o’clock because I had undressed and climbed into my hammock next to Stoker Fred Alston. When the Klaxon went everybody hit the deck and tried to dress, and being the largest ship, we knew we were in for it.
I got my socks on, put my sweater on backwards and got the suspenders on my pants caught on the oil valves. I was hurrying like hell and nearly strangled myself - scared to death. They needed extra gunners so Lloyd Campbell of London, Ontario (later to die of wounds suffered at Dieppe) said, “Let me at him.”
The bombs came - and close. They really bounced us around. The gun crew on the foc’sle of the ship was knocked clear off the gun by the concussion and fell but were only bruised.
The attack was short and sweet but it seemed an eternity. A near miss had buckled our plates and we lost all our drinking water. I ventured out on deck immediately and picked up bomb shrapnel as big as your fist. I noticed the deck was covered with mud from the sea bottom. I kept the shrapnel as a souvenir along with many other items I had but, alas, they were all lost in Egypt.
We arrived at Cowe (Isle of Wight) the next day with everyone happy to be alive and still shaking. It indeed had been a basinful. Incidentally, two German 88s were shot down. Norm Mitchinson of Niagara Falls was credited with two planes shot down during the course of the war; one at Dieppe and one at Sicily. Both were low flying bombers. His weapon was a strip Lewis 303.
The next evening, June 23*, 1942 there was terrific activity. Motor launches by the dozen headed out to see what was going on, and it turned out to be the aborted attempt on Dieppe.
(*The date listed may be as much as two weeks off, if he was in fact referring to Operation RUTTER).
The next one on August 19, 1942 should have been aborted too. I wasn’t there because I was on leave but came back early (because, though I didn’t know where, I knew there was a raid coming) and was in position to see the Duke of Wellington carrying barges, my oppo and other buddies to Dieppe and certain death for the soldiers.
There was a mishap before they even got to sea, i.e., soldiers were readying hand grenades and one somehow exploded and four were killed and many injured. It was an ill omen.
(Pages 19 - 20, from
"Dad, Well Done")
News clippings from
The Winnipeg Tribune, June 22 - 27, 1942:
My father wrote about a clash on the southern shore of England on June 22 as his ship approached Southampton. That city is mentioned at the end of the following article.
Talk about, and hope for, a Second Front is definitely in the air.
Though most of the war activities took place miles from Canada, there were several incidents that kept Canadians on edge:
Photos related to the Dieppe Raid, from other sources:
Wrecked Allied tanks and landing craft lie strewn across a beach at
Dieppe, France, following the failed raid there in 1942.
Bodies of Canadian soldiers of the Calgary Regiment lie dead on the beach
at Dieppe following the disastrous Allied raid there on 19 August, 1942.
Infantrymen of The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada
boarding landing craft before the raid on Dieppe on 19 August, 1942.
Editor: A caption did not accompany this photo at
The Canadian Encyclopedia website (see below)
There we read the following:
During the Second World War, on 19 August 1942, the Allies launched a major raid on the French coastal port of Dieppe. Operation Jubilee was the first Canadian Army engagement in the European theatre of the war, designed to test the Allies' ability to launch amphibious assaults against Adolf Hitler's "Fortress Europe." The raid was a disaster: More than 900 Canadian soldiers were killed, and thousands more were wounded and taken prisoner. Despite the bloodshed, the raid provided valuable lessons for subsequent Allied amphibious assaults on Africa, Italy and Normandy. (More details available at website).
The beach at the village of Puys, east of Dieppe, where Canadian soldiers
landed on 19 August, 1942.
A photograph on an interpretative panel in France, showing the bodies of
Canadian soldiers piled up on the beach at the village of Puys,
following the raid on Dieppe on 19 August, 1942.
The graves of Canadian soldiers -- buried head-to-head in the
local style -- at the Canadian War Cemetery at Dieppe
Enemy fortifications are examined two years after the raid. Photo Credit -
KEN BELL, LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA—PA134448
The call for Canadian involvement in a Second Front is getting louder, and coming from 'the top'.
We know from history that when the Dieppe Raid took place (affected by loud calls and strident urgings for a Second Front?), the majority of soldiers involved were from Canada. Canadian political and military leaders were in full support of Canadian involvement in subsequent operations, and were in fact pushing for it:
Ten days before Operation RUTTER was to occur, the above headline and next article appeared in Canada. Is the idea of diverting German strength away from the Russian Front and toward "coming operations" connected to the Dieppe raid? The answer appears to be, "apparently so."
Hitler apparently has his ear to the ground:
During the course of WW2, recruits for RCNVR came forward from across Canada in large numbers, almost a 10 to 1 ratio compared to recruits for the RCN.
From Central Canada: One sailor turned left, the other right!
More articles and photographs to follow.
Unattributed Photos GH
