The Dieppe Raid is One Day Away, But Who Knew?
News From The Winnipeg Tribune, Aug. 15 - 18, 1942
This spit of land was (is) known as The Spit or Goose Spit, Comox, B.C.
There was life after Dieppe, but for many Canadian sailors it was darker.
Introduction:
Many young members of the RCNVR trained for and/or participated in the Dieppe Raid. A small handful were killed in the company of many hundreds of soldiers who were also killed - mowed down, butchered, while in the water, never touching the beach - or taken prisoner on August 19, 1942. And newspaper reports from that day are upcoming.
What follows is another collection of news clippings, editorials, product ads to provide context, to give a sense of the times.
As well, I include three photos of men (members of RCNVR and Combined Operations) who survived the day. Some were fortunate to drop off troops near or on the beach and retreat to safety, and survive the day; some were on leave - like my father, I'm glad he was - and were on hand when shattered landing crafts and survivors returned to Newhaven, Portsmouth, etc.
I share the photos here to demonstrate that life went on... to some degree. These men served after the raid in such places as the invasions of North Africa (Operation Torch), Sicily (Operation Husky) and Italy (Operations Baytown and Avalanche). They returned to Canada in December 1943 and volunteered again - after being offered opportunities to return to Europe or General Service - and ended up on The Spit on Vancouver Island.
They seem pretty happy as they "played a lot of ball, with good coaches" and enjoyed "heavenly" surroundings up to the time of their discharge, September 5, 1945.
They were invited to enlist for the Pacific theatre but turned it down. "We had had enough of war," said one. Unfortunately, as is often the case with those who experience times of war, war does not let go of its players easily.
Back Row (L - R): Unknown, unknown, Doug Harrison, Chuck Rose,
Joe Malone, Bill Grycan, Art Varny.
Doug Harrison, my father, sits on the hood, far right. End of The Spit.
Before Discharge. 1945. Back (L - R) Don Westbrook, Chuck Rose, Joe Spencer
Front (L - R) Joe Watson, Doug Harrison, Art Warrick.
Link to The Winnipeg Tribune to peruse more details, clippings, editorials, ads, etc., at your leisure.
* * * * * *
The Winnipeg unit highlighted in the headline participated in the Dieppe Raid. Other Canadian regiments are named as well, and it should be known that Canadians in Combined Operations were sprinkled among the Royal Navy crews. The Canadians Navy formed their own flotillas in the next action, i.e., the invasion of North Africa.
The invasion flotillas may have been involved in practice exercises known as Yukon I and Yukon II:
Two or three RCNVR officers must have been asked (or they volunteered!) to write reports about certain actions. Here is an article by Lt. Tate we could call "Action Stations!":
In an earlier entry, I mentioned that a film (The Commando Strikes At Dawn) was made on Vancouver Island during WW2. Article about the movie's star follows:
Good news related to U-Boat attacks:
During the 'Four-Day Talks', was an upcoming raid mentioned, a raid that might appease Stalin's repeated cries for a second front in the west?
Buck-a-beer might sound good to some readers. How about four bottles for less that a dollar, or ten cents a glass!?
Hitler had his eye on the Caucasus region (please note the oilfields adjacent to the centre mountain range) but the battle for Stalingrad, to the north, slowed his advances.
Casualty lists appear regularly in The Winnipeg Tribune. I search them for the names of a few men my father (RCNVR, Combined Ops) mentioned in his memoirs. No luck on that front yet.
That being said, we can see that families across Canada were affected weekly, if not daily.
HMS Eagle was mentioned in an earlier entry, and more details of it sinking follow:
The English Channel was a busy place, with British and German patrols getting to face off on occasion. Unfortunately, an incident similar to the one mentioned below, occurred on August 19, as landing craft approached positions offshore of Dieppe:
Please click here to view Context: Dieppe Raid 1942 - Operations RUTTER/JUBILEE (12)
Unattributed Photos GH
No comments:
Post a Comment