CWGC marks 75th anniversary of the Dieppe Raid

Saturday 19 August will mark the 75th anniversary of the Dieppe Raid in 1942. The raid was a highly significant Second World War battle for Canada, with many of the units involved and the majority of casualties Canadian.

To mark the anniversary, CWGC cemeteries in France and the UK will be hosting a number of commemorations. The first will take place today at CWGC Brookwood Military Cemetery, with around 60 descendants and veterans in attendance. Commemorations will also take place at CWGC Dieppe Canadian War Cemetery on Saturday and Sunday (19 and 20).

Background

By the spring of 1942, Nazi Germany had conquered much of mainland Europe and was battling Allied forces in Russia and North Africa. In the Far East, Japanese forces had launched a devastating surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and the Allied colonies in Southeast Asia.

Under political pressure from Stalin, but as yet incapable of launching a full-scale invasion of Europe, the Western Allies planned a large-scale raid on the Normandy coast. It was hoped that the raid would result in German unease, divert troops from other fronts and provide valuable operational experience for the invasion to come. Codenamed Operation Jubilee, it would be the first significant Allied action on the continent since the withdrawal of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk in 1940.

The raid

At dawn on 19 August 1942, Allied forces launched a large-scale amphibious assault around the port of Dieppe. Attacking at five different points on a 16 kilometre front, the raid would involve 6,100 servicemen of the 2nd Canadian Division including 50 tank crews and British Commando units (with attached American and Free French personnel), supported by more than 250 naval vessels and some 1,000 aircraft.

While Commando units hit the German artillery batteries on either flank of the town, the 2nd Canadian Division attacked the ports aiming to destroy the coastal defences, port structures and other strategic buildings including radar and aerodrome installations, and if possible a nearby German divisional headquarters.

However, an unexpected encounter with a German convoy as the first assault force was being landed meant that defences, the strength of which had been severely underestimated, were alerted. The crucial element of surprise was lost and in the ferocious fighting that followed, only the raiding parties on the extreme flanks came within reasonable reach of their ambitious objectives. By early afternoon, the raid was over and casualties were heavy. The survivors were either escaping back across the channel or taken prisoner.

The aftermath

By days end, some 3,600 of the Allied raiders had been killed, wounded or captured. Naval causalities numbered some 550 and more than 100 aircraft were lost. The raid itself was a costly failure. However, the lessons learnt, the improvements in tactics, equipment and intelligence gathering that followed, were vital in ensuring the later success of the D-Day landings.

The commemorations – related cemeteries and memorials

Dieppe Canadian War Cemetery in France commemorates some 950 commonwealth servicemen of the Second World War of whom some 187 remain unidentified. It was the first CWGC cemetery to be completed after the Second World War. More than 730 servicemen who died during the Dieppe Raid are buried in the cemetery, while others lie in various locations along the coast, 30 at Calais Canadian War Cemetery, 21 at St. Sever Cemetery Extension, 11 at Boulogne Eastern Cemetery, nine at Dunkirk Town Cemetery and five at Abbeville Communal Cemetery Extension, plus small numbers in other communal sites along the coast.

Brookwood Military Cemetery is the largest CWGC cemetery in the United Kingdom. Among the 4,000 servicemen and women of both world wars are 40 who died during the Dieppe Raid.

Brookwood 1939-1945 Memorial commemorates nearly 3,500 men and women of Commonwealth forces of the Second World War who have no known grave, including nearly 200 who died during the Dieppe Raid.