Sometimes it is His Turn of Phrase or the Particular Words
Many Poignant Passages Surface in DIEPPE: August 19
C5886. ROYAL AIR FORCE BOMBER COMMAND, 1942-1945. Vertical aerial
photograph taken during a daylight raid on shipping in Dieppe, France, by 12 Lock-
heed Venturas of No. 487 Squadron RNZAF. One group of bombs is straddling the
Quai du Hable and the entrance channel to the docks, while another group explodes
on the cliff top above the Avant Port. Photo - No. 487 Squadron RAF.
Air Ministry Official Collection WWII, Imperial War Museum (IWM)
[For more information and photographs related to the Dieppe Raid please visit the following (lengthy) series - Photographs: Dieppe Raid 1942 - Operations RUTTER/JUBILEE (Parts 1 - 10)]
In the previous post I review briefly some aspects of Eric Maguire's book DIEPPE: August 19. I concluded by recommending Maguire's book highly and now hope interested readers live close to a good used book store. (If you can get one 'near mint' (VM) as I did for $10 I think you will be very happy).
Maguire's writing style is excellent and poignant passages appear in every chapter - sometimes it is his way of turning a phrase, other times it's his use of particular words. He also shares information related to the German and Dieppe citizens' point of view, as interested readers will soon read.
Below I share a few excerpts to highlight the quality of Maguire's writing as well as encourage interested readers to search out the book, add it to their library and by so doing learn more about the planning, results and many challenges related to the Dieppe Raid.
August 18: Tomorrow - In the Morning - They Would Die
In the defence posts and look-outs
covering the shoreline there was no relaxation of tension,
all positions were manned as usual and keen eyes peered seawards
scanning the dark water for a sign of movement. A quarter moon
was dropping towards the horizon, its intermittent, wan light
seeming to accentuate the darkness below.
The beach and sea verge, a faint glimmer in the dimness,
were silent but for the sough and swash of the surf.
As each sentry was relieved
the invariable report
was 'All quiet'.
Away across the Channel in England,
August 18th had a very special significance for many men...
All that day, these men were assembling in various South of England ports and
embarking on the large troop-carriers and R. boats which would take them to sea.
Further inland, at many airfields, young pilots and air crews were being briefed
for the major effort that lay ahead of them on the morrow.
By early evening every ship was loaded and ready for sea,
and without fuss they slipped their moorings and set off. Once at sea
the men were served a hot meal, and settled down as well as they could.
They had been through this performance many times before, making
practice landings on different beaches, and about six weeks before*
had been at sea and briefed as to their objectives when they were
returned to port and disembarked.
Now they were off again, and any doubts about this particular mission
were quickly dispelled when they were told where they were bound for.
The men were incredulous - Dieppe again, and so soon after the last time?
It seemed impossible that the top brass could be so stupid
as to think the Germans hadn't got wind of the first attempt...
(Surely) the enemy would be sitting waiting for them.
The briefing said it was believed there were not many troops in the area.
'Get off the beach quickly and it will be a push-over.'
For many of these men, this day,
now drawing to its close,
had a very special significance.
They could not know it, but
for more than a thousand of them
this was their last day.
Tomorrow - in the morning -
they would die.
Pages 20 - 21
Click here to read about a Canadian sailor (manning a landing craft)
learning he was heading toward Dieppe, early A.M., August 19, 1942
Click here to link to the sailor's full 25-page memoir, incl. Dieppe
This Was Something Big
the inhabitants of Dieppe were awakened
by the noise of gun-fire coming from seawards.
Those whose houses commanded a sea view to
the north-east and who took the trouble to get out of bed saw
gun-flashes on the horizon about ten miles out from the coast.
The time was just past a quarter to four, and by 4.15
the firing has ceased and all was quiet once more.
(Please go to the online book St. Nazaire to Singapore: The Canadian Amphibious War Volume 1 pages 60 - 61, to read about Canada's first casualty - at 03.45 hours - linked to the Dieppe Raid)
Although they did not know it, the people of Dieppe
had just heard the opening bars in a symphony of death
which was to rage about their ears for the next nine hours.
Most of them returned to their beds to snatch a few more hours
of sleep before they had to face another day of the occupation,
with its problems and perplexities, all unaware that fast approaching
their coast was an armada of 237 ships carrying a force of more than
6,000 men, about to engage in one of the
most desperate ventures of the war.
Dieppe settled back to sleep and
even the German guards in their concrete emplacements
relaxed somewhat. No general alarm had been given, so
the cannonade was none of their concern. They noticed that
the harbour lighthouse had begun to flash its subdued beam,
obviously to guide in some shore-hugging vessels - a further
sign that all was well. The time was 4.30 a.m.
Fifteen minutes later
the sound of air-raid sirens and the far-off hum of aero-engines
was heard coming from Pourville way, and almost at once the
distant thudding of ack-ack guns caused doors and windows to
rattle in their frames. Many people got up and started to dress
- early as it was it seemed likely that they would have to go to the
shelters at any moment. Looking from their windows they could see
the western sky lit by flickering patterns of light from the guns,
and as they watched, vicious stabs of flame tore the darkness
to the east, in the direction of Puys, accompanied by
a growing thunder of gunfire.
Inured as they were to the sounds of war after two years in
the front line, they were quick to detect a different note in the noise,
a growling, crackling undertone that seemed fraught with menace.
This was no ordinary air raid such as they were used to
- this was something big and they were in the middle of it.
the bridge over the Pollet channel at the entrance to the Inner Harbour. Note (top
left) four workmen running for cover, while on the right two women stroll
unconcernedly across the road. Photo from DIEPPE: August 19, page 32
Outside in the dark streets
German soldiers could be heard running
to their posts, calling excitedly to each other,
and while the citizens waited wonderingly,
the Dieppe sirens suddenly wailed out.
It was nine minutes past five o'clock,
and as the last notes of the sirens died away
the low growl of distant aircraft was heard,
rapidly swelling to a roar and then to an ear-splitting bellow
as a multitude of planes came diving out of the north
on to the town.
At once the dark sky
was split and torn by flashes and criss-crossed by innumerable
ribbons of tracer as the anti-aircraft guns roared out, adding their
staccato bark to the crash of bombs exploding on the sea front.
The noise was terrifying - a stunning cacophony of sound
which struck horror into the hearts
of all but the boldest.
DIEPPE: August 19, Pages 22 - 23
I have read several books concerning the Dieppe Raid and I found Maguire's second chapter, with much information from the 'Dieppois' (inhabitants of Dieppe) side of things very interesting:
Some Citizens Posted Themselves at Upper Windows
many people ran for the shelters, while others went to their cellars
where they crouched white-faced and trembling at the violence of
the storm raging over their heads.
For the space of five minutes
the aircraft bombed and machine-gunned the sea front
and the hotels lining it, and as the last plane roared away
over the roof-tops the dark horizon to seawards was lit with
wicked flashes of gun-fire as invisible warships opened fire on the town.
The booming of their guns and the crash of the shells exploding
on the sea front continued for about five minutes, and then was
almost drowned in a deafening uproar of gun-fire close at hand,
the thunder of heavy artillery mingling with the mad chatter of
machine-guns and the incessant thump of mortars.
What was happening nobody could tell,
but some of the more courageous or foolhardy posted themselves
at upper windows in an endeavour to see what was taking place.
Those whose vantage points commanded a sea view could see little
because the whole of the mile-long beach was obscured by thick fog
or smoke, but overhead in the grey light of dawn, illuminated by flares
and shell bursts, could be seen myriads of aircraft flying just above
the chimney-pots. The sky seemed full of them, and the continuous roar
of their motors formed a background of noise which was to last for hours...
The shelters were now full of people in various stages of undress,
The shelters were now full of people in various stages of undress,
among them many German soldiers, some without their helmets.
Old men, veterans of the 1914-18 war, were positive that the German
guns commanding the beach were in action, and that
could mean only one thing - the British were landing.
Outside, the gun-fire seemed louder than before.
Monsieur G. Guibon, like everybody else in the town,
had been awakened by the naval engagement in the small hours
of the morning, and later, disturbed by the gun-fire coming first
from the west and then from the east... sought to follow the course of events
from a top window. Nothing could be seen to seawards, but overhead there
seemed to be hundreds of aircraft flying low and skimming the rooftops
in a terrifying manner. They were directing their attack on the waterfront,
and soon clouds of smoke, black against the grey of dawn, were
billowing up from the burning houses on the Boulevard Verdun.
M. Guibon's house in the centre of the town
did not command a sea view, but it was obvious,
from the terrible din coming from the beach, that fighting
was taking place there, and that could only mean one thing
- the British were landing, it was the Invasion.
DIEPPE: August 19, pages 23 - 26
"You Don't Have to be a Brass Hat"
A few people (Dieppois) had got through
from the Rue de Sygogne and streets near the sea front,
where it seemed most of the houses were wrecked and on fire.
Some of these people had met and spoken to small groups
of British soldiers, who had given them cigarettes
and in some cases money. The British were searching
for snipers and shooting them off roof-tops
whenever they were located...
As the morning wore on, the pattern of events
appeared unchanged - the heaviest fighting was still
concentrated on the beach and the noise of gun-fire
seemed to be growing louder and nearer.
Aircraft continued to fly over the town in large numbers
and the crump of bomb-bursts mingled with the incessant bark
of anti-aircraft guns, while over and above these noises
swelled the roar of battle from the waterfront,
rolling in great waves of sound and fury over the town,
booming, crashing, crackling, as the various instruments
in the great orchestra of death took up their parts...
Many made their way in and out of their neighbours' houses,
picking up news and rumours of the battle raging so close at hand.
By nine o'clock it was becoming all too clear to the knowledgeable
that things were not going well for the invaders. The steadily growing
volume of gun-fire, the sight of artillery pieces proceeding at speed
towards the beach instead of away from it, brought no reassurance
to the populace. There was no sign of any large-scale infiltration
of British troops into the town. Indeed, there were more German
soldiers than ever in all the streets leading to the beach,
many with machine guns, and in some places large
field-guns were firing from the roads out to sea...
By eleven o'clock people had become accustomed
to the infernal racket, and in the safer quarters of the town
many housewives endeavoured to prepare lunch for their families...
About this time a changing tempo was noticeable in the sound of the guns.
The incessant hammering of machine-guns had died away, except
for occasional bursts, but there was much more artillery fire,
the heavy detonations merging into a rolling, vibrating thunder
that beat upon the brain and kept doors and windows rattling...
New stories were circulating among the people
- the Casino had been captured by the British,
the gas-works and the tobacco factory had been destroyed,
many prisoners had been seen wearing Canada flashes on their shoulders,
all the houses near the sea front were burning...
Quite suddenly the cannonade ceased and the crackling
of small-arms was heard from the western end of the Promenade...
For about five minutes the guns fired, then fell silent once more.
Now there was nothing but occasional rifle shots from the
beach and the ever-present aeroplanes roaring overhead.
Spasmodic bursts of anti-aircraft fire came from inland and
the faint sound of cannon-fire could be heard from Pourville.
Dieppe itself was quiet with a strange, uncanny quietness.
People gathered about their doorways in little groups, talking excitedly,
relating their experiences and asking about friends and relatives.
Some people who had brought injured relatives
to the hospital said conditions there were ghastly.
The corridors were filled with wounded soldiers lying on the floors,
awaiting attention, and more were being brought in every minute.
British, German and civilian wounded were mixed up
in a frightful pattern of torn flesh and shattered limbs...
Here was the dreadful aftermath
of the battle in all its horror...
Regarding their battered town
and reflecting on the events of that tragic day,
the Dieppois were of the opinion that the
whole enterprise was ill-judged and crazy.
As one Frenchman put it,
'You don't have to be a brass hat to know
that to land on a beach like Dieppe, where
the natural features so favour the defences,
is asking for trouble.'
DIEPPE: August 19, pages 26 - 42
Part 2, with poignant passages or tragic details concerning some of the Canadian landings, will soon follow.
Please click here to read Passages: Combined Operations - The Official Story of the Commandos (2)
Unattributed Photos GH
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