Passages: From 'Combined Operations'

Dieppe: The Landing by Robert McRae, LT, RCNVR

[Lt. McRae became a POW at Dieppe, 1942. Above is

"the drawing of my experiences as a POW pianist."]

The following passages are taken from a story or piece of prose found in a Combined Operations book entitled St. Nazaire to Singapore: The Canadian Amphibious War 1941 - 1945, pages 61 - 62.

Toronto made me, Dieppe undid me;
26, RCNVR, ordinary seaman to lieutenant
by '42, RN destroyers and mine-sweepers
in the North Sea, then from May the same year
hitched up to a new RCN flotilla
learning Combined Operations, 100 men, 15 sub-lieutenants
working our butts off up in Scotland making landings
in anything that floated - then in August ordered to Southampton
where persuasive talkers wanting men and boats
for a mystery job took us in hook, line and sinker,
our officers and men sprinkled through the fleet,
not going in as a unit, the price to be paid
for a chance at some close-in action...

[St. Nazaire to Singapore: The Canadian Amphibious War, Volume 1]

At Dawn we seemed to be near the French coast,
but it was mostly invisible behind a heavy smoke-screen.
The sounds of war just beyond us were unlike anything
I'd ever heard before - particularly the frightful whine
of mortar shells. Our flotillas of R-boats stood about in the outskirts
of the thick smoke-screen until about 7:30 AM,
when, as the reserves, we got orders to go in, land our troops
(again, I only discovered much later, this was action to reinforce failure
on the seafront of the town, contrary to all rules of war
that I'd ever heard of). So as quickly as possible we formed up in line
abreast and went through the smoke-screen.

Coming out on the other side with a full view now of the coast,
we found we were fatally headed toward the beach under the steep cliffs
to the right side of the town instead of the town front,
with the ominous heads of the enemy clearly visible
lined along the top of the cliffs. And now they began to pour
machine-gun fire down into the boats. In our craft, Campbell,
who was at the wheel, received a line of bullets across his thighs
{later as a POW he lost his legs to amputations
and died before Christmas from gangrene).
Cavanagh, standing beside him, was shot in the chest,
and died an hour later thrashing in torment while his lungs filled up.
My third crewman, Brown, took something in the stomach
that damaged him for the rest of his life. But although wounded,
he took over Campbell's place at the wheel,
and for his action received a gallantry award
after the war. As it was my place to stand behind the man at the wheel,
Campbell had stopped the machine-gun bullets
I might otherwise have received...

More to the story appears in the book, as does the following brief note:

AB Lloyd Campbell, #17138 was from London, Ontario. Richard Cavanaugh, V6678, was from Ottawa, Ontario. AB Joseph McKenna, V1540, from PEI, was also killed that day, as was S/Lt.Clifford D. Wallace, from Montreal. Recorded by Doug Harrison, L/Sea, RCNVR of Norwich, Ontario (page 121)

Link to Books re Combined Operations

Photos GH