From Training Exercises to the Real Thing in 1942
Library Archive Canada, Slideplayer Map, and More
[Photo: LACB2. Canadian infantrymen disembark from a landing craft in England
during a training exercise before Operation Jubilee, the Raid on Dieppe, France, in
August 1942. Photo Credit - Library Archive Canada, Ottawa (MIKAN 3194482)]
Introduction:
No doubt, the best source for the most high-quality photographs related to the Dieppe Raid or World War II will be - for interested readers or detectives - the collections found at the Imperial War Museum (IWM). That being said, sources closer to home (i.e., where I live, in Canada) are also available and worth an online or personal visit.
Several of the photos presented in this entry can be found at the Library and Archives Canada Blog (LACB), accompanied by an informative story re the raid.
Seventy-five years ago today (i.e., August 19, 2017), Canadian soldiers landed on hostile shores in France to conduct a “reconnaissance in force.” Despite careful preparations, an armada of naval support and squadrons of aircraft overhead, the landing was a failure.
Operation Jubilee was the code name for the Raid on Dieppe, an enemy-occupied port near Le Havre on the coast of France. The plan was for a large fleet of landing craft and other ships to depart from England at night and to land soldiers in the early morning of August 19. Destroying the port’s fortifications would help to evaluate the strength of defences along Hitler’s Atlantic Wall. Other objectives included attacking a nearby German airfield and radar facilities, and seizing prisoners for interrogation. The force would then return to the landing craft in an orderly manner and depart from France....
For more information, please link to - https://thediscoverblog.com/2017/08/19/the-raid-on-dieppe-france-august-19-1942/
(Do not be surprised if the photos presented here are also associated with IWM.)
I have been providing excerpts from a very rare account of the Dieppe Raid by Al Kirby (RCNVR, Combined Operations, 1941 - 45), and his story continues here:
Once we were out of sight of France we encountered no activity at all, neither air nor sea. The weatherman gave us the best that he could find in his inventory. The sun poured down on us out of a clear blue sky as our little plywood wonders porpoised along over a gently rolling Channel swell.
As our boat slowly rolled from side to side, little spouts of water came in through the bullet holes along our starboard side, but our bilge pump had no trouble handling this small amount. Looking up and down the line of craft both ahead and behind us, things did not look so rosy. Some of them had torn canvas covers, some without windshields, others sat low in the water as though they were taking water fast enough to tax their bilge pumps. I watched for opportunities to get a glimpse of either McKenna's or Lantz's boat but was unable to recognize either one.
The pain of my burned hand seemed pretty slight as I thought of the carnage we had left behind us. I didn't even dare mention it to anyone for fear that I would be looked upon as some kind of a sissy. Eventually we had to slow down to about six knots to keep in station with some of the damaged boats. Then I noticed that two of them were in tow.
The sun was resting on the horizon when we finally caught sight of dear old England. What a wonderful sight to see. We now felt we could relax, as no matter what happened now, we were certain of getting back home. The last ten or fifteen miles seemed to take forever and it was beginning to become dark as we tied up at the jetty alongside the big freight shed in which we had been sleeping for the last few nights.
The sun was resting on the horizon when we finally caught sight of dear old England. What a wonderful sight to see. We now felt we could relax, as no matter what happened now, we were certain of getting back home. The last ten or fifteen miles seemed to take forever and it was beginning to become dark as we tied up at the jetty alongside the big freight shed in which we had been sleeping for the last few nights.
What a mixture of feelings went through my body as I climbed up to the jetty and surveyed the shambles throughout the harbour. So relieved to be home. So happy to be in one piece. So ashamed to have come home alone. So proud of the way the Camerons went to their deaths. So sad that they seemed to have been wasted. So angry that I was even a part of something so confusing, agonizing, demanding and apparently unrewarding, without even knowing what I was doing or exactly where I had been.
As darkness began to deepen, the whole harbour became ablaze with flood lights as hundreds of troops engaged in the gory business of unloading dozens of ships and small craft of their mutilated cargo of sailors and soldiers.
After about half an hour I ran into Lawrence Lantz coming along the jetty. As we met, we said simultaneously, "Have you seen Joe McKenna?" We both answered "no, not since we left here Tuesday night." Neither of us saw any comedy in this coincidence as we suddenly felt a great fear for Joe's safety.
Together we went up and down the jetty looking for his boat and were appalled by the sight of a tank landing craft unloading dead and wounded men by the dozen as they were piled upon wooden skids and lifted by crane onto the dock where they were put on stretchers, examined quickly by doctors, and the live ones carried off to a waiting ambulance train, while the remainder were loaded on trucks.
During our search, we came upon a Supply Officer and a couple of assistants handing out free rum from a Navy rum keg, just as is done on the regular ships at noon hour each day. We both lined up twice for a free ration, although neither of us were drinkers.
We continued our search until about 2200 then went into the town of Newhaven for something to eat....
From pages 57 - 58 Combined Operations, by Londoner Clayton Marks.
Link to this specific map, Slide 19 at Slide Player website.
More photographs related to the Dieppe Raid will follow.
Please link to Photographs: Dieppe Raid 1942 - Operations RUTTER/JUBILEE (7).
Unattributed Photos GH
* * * * * *
LACB1. Bodies of Canadian soldiers lie among damaged landing craft and
Churchill tanks of the Calgary Regiment after Operation Jubilee, August 19, 1942
Photo - Library and Archives Canada (MIKAN 3192368)
LACB3. Major-General J.H. Roberts, who commanded the 2nd Canadian
Infantry Division at the time of Operation Jubilee; a military censor has
removed all unit markings from this photo. (MIKAN 4232358)
LACB4. Group photo of pilots for the Raid on Dieppe (MIKAN 3592320)
LACB5. Dieppe Canadian Military Cemetery, September 1944.
LACB6. Abandoned Churchill tanks including “Buttercup” on the beach
at Dieppe, August 1942. (MIKAN 4969643)
LACB7. Civilians recover the bodies of soldiers killed in the Dieppe Raid
and prepare them for burial. (MIKAN 4969646)
Link to this specific map, Slide 19 at Slide Player website.
For more slides, please click here - https://slideplayer.com/slide/6621766/
Landing sites for Commando units and Canadian regiments.
Photo credit - Malcolm Malcolm
View of the waterfront of Dieppe, France, following the British raid. A knocked out
Churchill tank is visible in the center. German propaganda photograph, Dieppe
Raid, 19 August 1942. Photo credit - Wikimedia
A casino on the beach destroyed during the Dieppe Raid on 19 August 1942.
Photo Credit - ALAMY. More details at The Telegraph
Operation Jubilee: The Disaster at Dieppe.
Photo Credit - Link to History of War
Caption: WORLD WAR II: DIEPPE RAID. Hundreds of helmets of dead
Canadian troops lying on the beach near Dieppe, France, one day after the
attempted Allied landing on 18 August 1942, with the wreckage of an
Allied tank in the background. Photo Credit - Link to Granger
Photo - Forces1. Map of the Dieppe Raid.
Link - Forces War Records for details.
Photo - Forces2. German soldiers are inspecting a landing beach at Dieppe
Photo - Forces3. Wounded in Dieppe but undismayed, this man (left)
chats with a comrade on the quayside on arriving back in England.
Please link to significant details provided at Combined Operations Command
The Royal Regiment of Canada surrendered a few hours after the raid was
launched. Photo Credit - Toronto Star Press Reader (75th anniversary)
Please link to Photographs: Dieppe Raid 1942 - Operations RUTTER/JUBILEE (7).
Unattributed Photos GH
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