The Combined Operations Daylight Raid Had Some Highlights
for Commandos. Very Few for Canadian Troops and Sailors
A11234 - Light naval craft covering the landing during the Combined
Operations daylight raid on Dieppe. MGB 321 is nearest the camera (partly
obscured by some sailors in the foreground) whilst submarine chaser Q 014
can be seen in the middle distance. Photo Credit: Lt. L. Pelman, Royal Navy
official photographer. Imperial War Museum (IWM)
A few notions and opinions that were held by my father (Doug Harrison, RCNVR, Combined Operations, 1941 - 45) about the Dieppe Raid were shared in Part 1 of this series related to photographs taken by Lt. L. Pelman, Royal Navy official photographer. (A link to his full collection of over 1,200 photos is also provided in Part 1).
Doug strongly felt that the raid "on August 19, 1942 should have been aborted too" - as Operation Rutter had been about five weeks earlier. More from his memoirs follow:
I wasn’t there because I was on leave but came back early (because, though I didn’t know where, I knew there was a raid coming) and was in position to see the Duke of Wellington carrying barges, my oppo and other buddies to Dieppe and certain death for the soldiers. There was a mishap before they even got to sea, i.e., soldiers were readying hand grenades and one somehow exploded and four were killed and many injured. It was an ill omen.
Much has been written about Dieppe so I will not enlarge upon it too much. My opinion is - it was a senseless waste of blood. The Germans were ready because we (i.e., the Allies) ran into a German convoy in the channel. The element of surprise was lost. The times of arrival at beaches were to be during the night, but some turned out to land in full daylight up against cliffs unable in any way to be scaled.
No softening up of defences by bombing was ever carried out. I will make it short and say I will remember it as a complete, useless waste of good Canadian blood and no one - even those who say we learned a valuable lesson there - will ever change my mind. No mock raids were held, as for St. Nazaire against home defences. It was simply a mess.
I lost my first comrades at Dieppe. Others were wounded. O/S Kavanaugh - killed. O/S Jack McKenna - killed. A/B Lloyd Campbell, London, Ontario died of wounds after his legs were nearly cut off by machine gun fire. Imagine Higgins boats made of 3/4 inch plywood going in on a beach like that.
I lost my first comrades at Dieppe. Others were wounded. O/S Kavanaugh - killed. O/S Jack McKenna - killed. A/B Lloyd Campbell, London, Ontario died of wounds after his legs were nearly cut off by machine gun fire. Imagine Higgins boats made of 3/4 inch plywood going in on a beach like that.
Credit - St. Nazaire to Singapore: Volume 1
Lieutenant McRae, our commander, Stoker Brown, and others I can’t recall were taken prisoner. And lots of people don’t even know Canada’s navy was represented at Dieppe. (The only other comrade I lost was Coxswain Owens, the man who left me stranded that night in Irvine. He was killed in North Africa, our next safari).
I was on leave at Calshot Camp in Southampton at the time, but was asked to go and clean up ALCs as they struggled back from Dieppe. I absolutely refused. I was so incensed I also refused to go to church there. I went to the door but never went in.
Nothing became of my refusals. In fact, I went through the war without one mark against my record.
A 1989 reunion of two shipmates at Dieppe. (L-R) R.W. Brown (stoker),
D. Harrison, Robert McRae (back), Art ‘Gash’ Bailey Photo credit -
St. Nazaire to Singapore: Volume 1
From “DAD, WELL DONE” Naval Memoirs of G.D. Harrison, Page 20 - 21
Please click here to read a significant, rare piece of prose by Lt. McRae concerning his eye-witness account of the Dieppe Raid. The first few lines are shared below:
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...
Photographs taken by Lt. L. Pelman now continue:
Heading - THE ROYAL NAVY DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR: THE DIEPPE RAID, AUGUST 1942
A11228 - Two of the landing craft, one containing a Bren-carrier, alongside a
destroyer after returning from the beaches during the Combined Operations day-
light raid on Dieppe. The landing craft mechanised are (left to right) LCM(1)
169 and LCM(1)2. Photo Credit: Lt. L. Pelman, Imperial War Museum. IWM
A11229 - Two of the landing craft, one containing a Bren-carrier, come along-
side a destroyer after returning from the beaches during the Combined Operations
daylight raid on Dieppe. The landing craft mechanised are (left to right) LCM(1)
169 and LCM(1)2. Photo Credit: IWM
A11230 - A naval motor-launch seen with four of the landing craft personnel
(large) used during the Combined Operations daylight raid on Dieppe. The landing
craft are numbered (left - right) LCP(L)85, LCP(L)41, number not visible and
R145. (IWM)
A11231 - A landing craft (possibly LCP (L) 32) approaching the shore under
the cover of a smoke-screen during the Combined Operations daylight raid on
Dieppe. Several more landing craft can be seen in the background. (IWM)
A11232 - A close view of Dieppe with light naval craft manoeuvring
close inshore. (IWM)
Heading - THE ROYAL NAVY DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR: THE DIEPPE RAID, AUGUST 1942
A11233 - Light naval craft covering the landing during the Combined
Operations daylight raid on Dieppe. MGB 321 is in the foreground whilst
submarine chaser Q 014 can be seen in the middle distance. (IWM)
The next photo in Lt. L. Pelman's series, i.e., A11234, is found at top of this page. GH
A11235 - A general view of some of the small naval craft covering the
landing during the Combined Operations daylight raid on Dieppe. (IWM)
A11236 - Wounded soldiers being brought on board a destroyer after
the Combined Operations daylight raid on Dieppe. (IWM)
A11237 - A German plane dives into the sea after being shot down
by gunfire from British warships. (IWM)
In Part 1 of this two-part series I shared a few paragraphs from my father's Navy memoirs including this note about a sharp-eyed Canadian sailor in Combined Operations (with my father and about 950 - 1,000 other Canadians by the end of WWII):
Norm Mitchinson of Niagara Falls was credited with two planes shot down during the course of the war; one at Dieppe and one at Sicily. Both were low flying bombers. His weapon was a strip Lewis 303. ("DAD, WELL DONE" page 20)
A11238 - A British destroyer rescues soldiers from a landing craft which was
sunk during the Combined Operations daylight raid on Dieppe. The men are
using nets to clamber up the side of the destroyer, they are being helped by
sailors wearing anti-flash gear. (IWM)
A11239 - A British destroyer rescues soldiers from a landing craft which was sunk
during the Combined Operations daylight raid on Dieppe. The men are climbing
out of the water and up the side of the destroyer using a scramble net. (IWM)
A11240 - A British destroyer rescues soldiers from a landing craft which was sunk
during the Combined Operations daylight raid on Dieppe. One man holds on to
a rope thrown from the destroyer whilst two more men are close by. (IWM)
A11241 - A British destroyer rescues soldiers from a landing craft which was
sunk during the Combined Operations daylight raid on Dieppe. Two men can
be seen hanging on to a scramble net on the side of the destroyer. (IWM)
A11242 - HMS BERKELEY settling down in the water after being bombed
during the Combined Operations daylight raid on Dieppe. One of the destroyers
boats is still alongside, empty but still attached to its davits. BERKELEY was
torpedoed shortly afterwards by British forces. (IWM)
Help Wanted: Why would British forces torpedo their own damaged ship? Too costly to repair? Fear that if Germans towed it to a dock they would learn of a few worthy innovations re ship-building? Comments from readers are welcomed. GH
A11243 - The last men leaving HMS BERKELEY as she settled down in
the water after being bombed during the Combined Operations daylight
raid on Dieppe. (IWM)
A11244 - HMS BERKELEY being torpedoed by our own forces after being
bombed during the Combined Operations daylight raid on Dieppe. Note how
the plume of water caused by the explosion dwarfs the destroyer. (IWM)
A11245 - The end of HMS BERKELEY. Photo - Lt. L. Pelman (IWM)
Another post featuring other WWII photographers and their photographs re "Canadians in Combined Operations" will soon follow.
Please click here to view The Dieppe Raid: Photographs by Lt. L. Pelman, RN (1)
Unattributed Photos GH
Please click here to view The Dieppe Raid: Photographs by Lt. L. Pelman, RN (1)
Unattributed Photos GH
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