Video: Rare Footage re the Dieppe Raid.

German and British Newsreels. 

Photo - A11245. The British Navy's part in the Combined Operations daylight
raid on Dieppe. 20 August 1942. The end of HMS BERKELEY.

Photo Credit - Lt. L. Pelman, Royal Navy photographer,

Admiralty Official Collection, Imperial War Museum

Introduction:

Fortunately in this modern era, there are many resources available at our disposal to provide more information and details about events from the past. Excellent books, memoirs, photographs, videos and more are coming to the fore.

While assembling a few resources and links connected to the Dieppe Raid I came across the videos and audio reels listed below. If readers find other resources please do not hesitate to contact me so that I can display them here as well. Email - gordh7700@gmail.com

1. Video from online source, Net Film.

Original link - https://www.net-film.us/film-57603/

Three reels are provided, from the unified newsreel series released in the cinemas of Nazi Germany. Reel No. 1 is about the Dieppe Raid and is approx. 11 minutes long.

Click on one of the four thumbnail videos under the heading ‘Reel No. 1’ or on any of the short phrases (a list of two dozen are provided) under the tiny photos, i.e., thumbnails.

2.  Video link to Imperial War Museum (IWM) - War Pictorial News No. 76. Some relates to ship production and training on West Coast, USA.

Part 3 of video concerns the Dieppe Raid, sounding a bit too positive about the results.

Original link - https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1060007049

Description re Dieppe (Part III):

'DIEPPE RAID.' RAF ground crews perform early morning maintenance tasks on Douglas Boston bomber aircraft. Early light conditions silhouette Bostons as they taxi for take off on a bombing mission to Dieppe. The commentary highlights the inter-service cooperation that was evident during the raid on Dieppe. A Royal Navy (RN) rating stands ready at a 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft gun, silhouetted against the rising sun. Bombs dropped from high altitude enemy aircraft fall around landing craft (LCA) packed with Canadian infantry, raising plumes of sea water as they explode. 

Tank landing craft (LCT) move towards the beaches in the first stage of the assault. The commentary states that the RAF fighters found equal numbers of enemy aircraft opposing them over scenes of RAF Supermarine Spitfire fighters (Mk V ?) flying at height and an unidentified single engined aircraft crashing into the sea. An RAF flier is picked up from the sea having bailed out of his aircraft, he is helped aboard a RN ship by a rating who has climbed down scramble netting almost to the waterline. The commentary outlines the Dieppe aerial operations stating that fighter sorties were flown in relays and that the aerial combat amounted to the largest engagement for the RAF since the Battle of Britain.

RAF Douglas Boston Bombers, watched by ground crews, overfly an unidentified British airfield on their way to form part of the "air umbrella" over Dieppe. Bostons fly over the Allied task force at very low level with Luftwaffe airfields and dispersal points as their target destinations. Air to ground footage shows Douglas Bostons making a bombing run on a forested area, Flak bursts are evident around the attacking RAF aircraft.

The commentary highlights the efficiency of the RAF air cover stating that as a result, few landing craft were even damaged by Luftwaffe attack in the nine hours of the "Armed reconnaissance" at Dieppe. Smiling Canadian infantry disembark from LCA's for the return trip to England. The commentary stresses that the Canadians outnumbered every other contingent taking part in the raid and as such "Canada has never had better cause to be proud of her sons." Canadian infantry have their wounds tended to on board ship.

Commandos, wearing woollen cap-comforters disembark at a dock on the South Coast of England following the Dieppe raid. A wounded soldier gives the "thumbs up" from the back of an ambulance. The commentary states that "Dieppe proved that the one thing Germany fears above all else is invasion in the West and it proved too that the Allies have the organ, the power and the gallantry for a war winning combined operation on the European continent."

3. WARWORK NEWS NO 3 [MAIN TITLE]. Video (9min.42sec.) is similar in many parts to above, but much is new. Same with commentary, still overly positive.

Original link - https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1060006032

Description:

"British Enter France."

Account of the combined operation against Dieppe relies heavily on the commentary to present this raid as a success. Bostons take off in the dawn and cross the Channel, flying above the naval armada which has already been spotted by an enemy patrol vessel. "Bombs, shells and landing parties were doing their work" according to the commentary, as the film shows Tank Landing Craft and other RN vessels under aerial attack. RAF planes which return to Britain to refuel take off again and weave through the flak above Dieppe "pasting enemy airfields." Re-embarkation of invasion forces "was completed within a few minutes of the arranged time; Canada has never had greater cause to be proud of her sons." Over film of empty Tank Landing Craft and the wounded being disembarked in Britain commentary admits that many did not return. Men on board a large landing craft wait to be disembarked one is a US army sergeant of the 1st Ranger Battalion. A Canadian survivor praises the excellent equipment which was used in the operation and adds "If there had been more of us I am sure that Canadian tanks would be driving through German streets today." Lesson of Dieppe raid is therefore: "We have the quality, now we want the quantity from you (the workers)."

4. Audio Reel, PORTEOUS, PATRICK ANTONY (ORAL HISTORY)

Original link  to IWM - https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80009842

Description:

British officer served with No 4 Commando during Dieppe Raid, France, 19/8/1942, for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross

Content description (29:20min/sec.):

REEL 1 - Aspects of enlistment and training with No 4 Commando in GB, 1940-1942: background to volunteering for commandos, 1940; character of men who joined commandos; training accidents. Recollections of operations as officer with F Troop, No 4 Commando during Dieppe Raid, 19/8/1942: plan for raid and role of commandos; character of channel crossing; sight of No 3 Commando's fight with German convoy; forcing way up gully in cliff; avoiding German mines; destruction of German gun pit; isolating German observation post on lighthouse; characteristics of beach and coping with German barbed wire; organisation of unit; unit's enveloping movement; penetrating German Hess battery's defences; killing of truck load of Germans; taking command after officer casualties; wounding in hand; bayonet charge on German gun pits; his collapse after action. 

REEL 2  - Continues: withdrawal to beach; behaviour of German POWs; re-embarkation aboard destroyer; recovery from wounds; award of Victoria Cross; question of tying up of German POWs; attitude towards failure of Dieppe Raid; unit casualties during raid; degree of contact with French civilians including information obtained from French eyewitness post-war; question of potential breach of security prior to raid.

4. Audio Reel, THOMAS, TONY (ORAL HISTORY)

Original link to IMW - https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80011322

Description (29:36min./sec.):

British NCO served with 2nd Bn Durham Light Infantry in GB, 1939; served with 3 Commando during Dieppe Raid, 8/1942; served with 156th Bn Parachute Regt at Arnhem, Netherlands, 9/1944; served with 2nd Bn Parachute Regt in Palestine, 1945-1947; officer served with 1st Bn Parachute Regt at Suez, Egypt, 11/1956

REEL 1 - Aspects of operations as colour sergeant with 156 Bn, Parachute Regt at Arnhem, 9/1944: his participation in action; his escape across River Rhine; unit casualties; reasons why operation failed; estimation of German forces; contact with Dutch civilians. Aspects of operations as sergeant-major with C Coy 2nd Bn Parachute Regt in Palestine, 1945-1947: plight of Arabs; blowing up of King David Hotel; opinion of Arab Legion. Memories as motor transport officer with 1st Bn Parachute Regt during Suez Operation, 1956 including opinion of Egyptian Army. Memories of period with 2nd Bn Durham Light Infantry at Brancepeth Castle, 1939. Memories of operations as staff sergeant with 3 Commando during Dieppe Raid, 8/1942.

Finally, I will add the following link here (and will likely find a good home for the link in another spot on the blog as well) though it is not video or audio, but may lead interested readers on other valuable searches re the Dieppe raid.

5. ww2Today - many fine photographs and details about the raid, with a link to video.

Original link - http://ww2today.com/19th-august-1942-operation-jubilee-the-raid-on-dieppe 

Many valuable details concerning the raid are found on the website World War II Today. One video is provided as well! The video is presented at the bottom of the entry's page.

As well, three comments are presented. One could be mine if it passes 'moderation' : )

More videos re Dieppe will hopefully follow as more books, memoirs etc., come to the fore.

Please link to Video: At Imperial War Museum (IWM) - Sicily, 1943 (2).

Unattributed Photos GH