Dieppe Raid (1942): Operation Jubilee and Canada's Costly Lessons

The Dieppe Raid, codenamed Operation Jubilee, was an Allied amphibious attack on the German-held port of Dieppe on the coast of northern France on 19 August 1942. About 6,000 troops took part, nearly 5,000 of them Canadians. Within about ten hours the attack had failed, with more than half the force killed, wounded or captured, but the lessons drawn from it shaped the planning of the D-Day landings two years later.

Background

By the summer of 1942 the Soviet Union was bearing the main weight of the German army and was urging Britain and the United States to open a “second front” in western Europe. The Western Allies were not ready for a full invasion of France, but they wanted to show action, test German coastal defences and learn how to capture a port, which was then thought essential for supplying any invasion army.

Combined Operations Headquarters, led by Vice-Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten, planned a large raid on Dieppe, a small port and resort town. The first version, Operation Rutter, was cancelled in July 1942 because of bad weather and German air attacks on the assembled ships. It was revived in August as Operation Jubilee, a decision whose exact authorisation historians still debate. The 2nd Canadian Division, under Major-General John Hamilton Roberts, provided most of the troops. Canadian soldiers had been in Britain since 1939 without seeing action, and their commanders were keen for them to fight.

The plan

The town of Dieppe lies in a gap between high chalk cliffs, with a long shingle beach in front of the sea front and promenade. It was defended by German troops of the 302nd Infantry Division, with artillery on the headlands on both sides of the town.

The plan called for four flank attacks before dawn, followed half an hour later by the main frontal assault on the town beaches. British commandos were to destroy the large coastal batteries at Berneval and Varengeville on the outer flanks. Canadian battalions were to land at Puys to the east and Pourville to the west to take the headlands overlooking Dieppe. The main landing on the town beach would be supported by Churchill tanks of the Calgary Regiment. The heavy aerial bombing originally planned was dropped, and the naval support consisted mainly of destroyers.

What happened

The raid went wrong early. At about 03:50 on 19 August part of the eastern flotilla ran into a small German convoy, and the gunfire alerted coastal defences. Only a few boats of No. 3 Commando reached the shore near Berneval; a small party under Major Peter Young kept the battery’s gunners occupied with rifle fire for a time but could not destroy it. On the western flank No. 4 Commando, under Lord Lovat, landed as planned near Varengeville and destroyed the battery there, the one complete success of the day.

At Puys the Royal Regiment of Canada landed late, in daylight, on a narrow beach overlooked by German positions. Almost the entire force was killed, wounded or captured on the beach. At Pourville the South Saskatchewan Regiment and the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada got ashore and pushed inland, but could not take their objectives. Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Merritt led his men across a bridge under fire and was later awarded the Victoria Cross.

On the main beach in front of Dieppe, the Essex Scottish Regiment and the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry came under intense fire from the headlands and buildings. Many of the Churchill tanks arrived late, and some could not get off the shingle or over the sea wall, though they gave covering fire to the infantry. Unclear and over-optimistic signals reaching the headquarters ship led Roberts to send in his reserve, Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal, and later Royal Marine commandos, into the same deadly fire.

By about 09:00 it was clear the raid had failed, and the withdrawal began around 11:00. Many men could not be taken off the beaches. Above the coast one of the largest air battles of the war took place; the Royal Air Force lost about 100 aircraft, considerably more than the German Luftwaffe. The destroyer HMS Berkeley was sunk.

By the numbers

Figures follow the Canadian official history and later studies; sources differ in detail.

Key people

• Louis Mountbatten (1900–1979): Chief of Combined Operations, responsible for planning the raid.
• John Hamilton Roberts (1891–1962): commander of the 2nd Canadian Division and the military force at Dieppe; his career did not recover.
• Lord Lovat (1911–1995): led No. 4 Commando in the day’s only fully successful attack.
• Charles Merritt (1908–2000): commanded the South Saskatchewan Regiment at Pourville and won the Victoria Cross. The chaplain John Weir Foote, who stayed on the beach to care for the wounded and was captured, also received the Victoria Cross.

Consequences and lessons

Dieppe was the costliest single day for the Canadian Army in the Second World War. Nearly 2,000 Canadians spent the rest of the war as prisoners in Germany. A dispute over orders found on the beach, which said that prisoners’ hands should be tied, led Germany to shackle Allied prisoners for a period in reprisal.

For Allied planners the raid showed that a strongly defended port could not be taken quickly by direct assault. This contributed to the decision to invade Normandy over open beaches and to build artificial Mulberry harbours. Planners also stressed overwhelming naval and air bombardment, specialised armoured vehicles to clear obstacles, purpose-built headquarters ships and better communications. Mountbatten and others later argued that the lessons of Dieppe saved many lives on D-Day; critics reply that many of these lessons could have been learned at lower cost.

In Canada the raid quickly became a subject of grief and controversy. Newspapers at first presented it as a valuable rehearsal, but the long casualty lists shocked the public, and veterans and historians later asked why so many inexperienced soldiers had been sent against such strong defences. In Dieppe itself, the townspeople buried and honoured the Canadian dead, and the Canadian War Cemetery near the town and memorials along the sea front keep the memory of the raid alive.

Historians continue to debate the raid’s purposes. One argument, set out by the Canadian historian David O’Keefe, holds that a major aim was to capture German naval code materials for the codebreakers at Bletchley Park; this remains one interpretation among several.

Timeline

• 1942, April–May: Combined Operations begins planning a raid on Dieppe.
• 1942, 7 July: Operation Rutter is cancelled.
• 1942, 19 August, about 03:50: Ships of the eastern flank meet a German convoy.
• 1942, 19 August, about 04:50: Flank landings begin at Berneval, Puys, Pourville and Varengeville.
• 1942, 19 August, about 05:20: The main assault reaches the beaches in front of Dieppe.
• 1942, 19 August, about 11:00: The withdrawal begins.
• 1942, 19 August, early afternoon: The evacuation ends; the troops left on shore surrender.
• 1944, 6 June: The Normandy landings apply many of the lessons of Dieppe.

Why it matters

Dieppe was a costly failure that left a deep mark on Canada, where it is remembered every 19 August. It exposed the strength of German coastal defences and the dangers of a frontal attack on a port. The lessons drawn from it helped shape the far larger and successful landings in Normandy in 1944.