Being there . . . at 3:47am on August 19, 1942, for the commencement of supposedly an
ordinary, routine sea assault, but within an hour turned out to be the saddest, nay, deadliest,
most costly Allied invasion effort in British or American history. The “raid” was the initial act of
“Rutter”, now known as “Jubilee”, a joint Canadian and British surprise military operation, with
100 American expert invasion strategists observing. Consisting of a major amphibious thrust
into the French seaport of Dieppe, north of Rouen, with a population of less than 13,000 on the
Seine, the onslaught wasn’t supposed to fail. Everyone of the Allies realized the cross-Channel
violent force could neither be concentrated nor able to achieve hoped-for results. Furthermore,
the British had vivid, bitter memories of World War I’s bitter trench battles at Passchendaele
and Vimy Ridge. In fact, from the start, the incursion did not promise any significant
penetration of the hinterland. That it would result in a high percentage of Canadian lives
struggling unsuccessfully to get out of the Channel waters and off the city’s beaches was simply
taken for granted. Our American military strategists quickly noted the disaster, and, from that
hour on, wanted to avoid the high risks of stronger Channel crossing raids and invasions to
concentrate on knocking Mussolini’s Italy out of the war, relieving Malta, cleansing Greece, and
winning other campaigns in the Mediterranean. Any lessons learned from the fierce fighting
ashore would have to be put on hold. When it was all over, the controversy quietly continued,
not publicly, but only in basement planning sessions and staff meetings. “Was it an
unmitigated, unqualified, out-and-out, downright failure?”, was the main question needing
answered. Or was it true what Vice Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten argued after the war
ended in 1945, “For every soldier who fought and died at Dieppe, ten were saved on D-Day due
to our painful lessons learned.”
DURING THE HIGHLY DEBATED, CONTROVERSIAL, FIVE-PRONGED RAID ON THE NORTHERN
FRENCH SEAPORT AT DIEPPE DURING THE SUMMER OF 1942, ONLY SEVEN OUT OF 23 LANDING
CRAFT SURVIVED. IN THE HORRIFIC FIGHTING, DIEPPE HAD COST THE ALLIES 1,027 DEAD, 2,340
CAPTURED, AND THE FLAMING DEATHS OF 53 RAF PILOTS FIGHTING OVERHEAD. WHAT
LESSONS WERE LEARNED FOR THE FORTHCOMING D-DAY LANDINGS LESS THAN TWO YEARS
LATER? DID 10 AMERICAN AND BRITISH TROOPS REALLY AVOID DEATH THAT MORNING AT THE
COST OF ONE KILLED AT DIEPPE? NOW THREE FINE AUTHORS, EACH WITH HIS OWN
RESPLENDENT NARRATIVE SKILL AND LIVELY PROSE REPUTATION, SPEAK OUT
SIMULTANEOUSLY AND UNEQUIVOCALLY, AT LAST PUTTING THE QUESTION TO REST . . . .
All three books reviewed, with each highly, highly recommended, by Don DeNevi
“THE GERMANS AND THE DIEPPE RAID – – How Hitler’s Wehrmacht Crushed Operation Jubilee”,
by James Shelley. Casemate Publishers, A Pen and Sword Military Imprint: 2023, 248 pages,
hardback, 32 mono illustrations, 6 ½” x 9 ½”; $42.95. Visit, www.penandswordbooks.com, or, E-
mail: Uspen-and-sword@casematepublishers.com.
“THE DIEPPE RAID – – The German Perspective”, by Graham A. Thomas. Casemate Publishers, A
Pen and Sword Military Imprint: 2023, 264 pages, hardback, 30 black and white illustrations, 6
1/4” x 9 1/2”; $42.95. Visit, www.penandswordbooks.com, or, E-mail: Uspen-and-
sword@casematepublishers.com.
“FROM DIEPPE to D-DAY – – The Memoirs of Vice Admiral ‘Jock’ Hughes-Hallett”, by John ‘Jock’
Hughes-Hallett. Casemate Publishers, A Pen and Sword Military Imprint: 2023, 160 pages,
hardback, 32 mono illustrations, 6 1/4” x 9 1/2”; $39.95. Visit, www.penandswordnooks.com,
or E-mail: Uspen-and-sword@casematepublishers.com
Of course, all three author-historians, well-known and inordinately popular among the more
serious of the dedicated World War II enthusiasts, focus on the events of August 19, what led
up to them, what actually happened in those sad hours, and during the days and weeks that
followed. The stage that set the raid up occurred the week before at the First Moscow
Conference when Churchill and Stalin, plus U.S. and Free French representatives, discussed
opening a second front on the Channel Coast. “Uncle Joe” was politely but firmly informed it
was too soon to open a second front in France. Instead, the Allies would first invade North
Africa, drive Rommel back across the Mediterranean, and head straight for Switzerland.
Each describes how the Canadian division of 5,000 men with armor never got farther than
the waterfront. Our Ally lost three-quarters of his forces, including nearly 3,000 killed or taken
as prisoners. Even the R.A.F.’s 56 fighter squadrons, a force larger than the entire Command
which had won the Battle of Britain, lost twice as many aircraft as they destroyed. Each of the
three writers concur that although much was learned about landing a large army on enemy
territory, the cost was unmentionable: 1,000 pilots and fighter aircraft. There was no question
that Allied military planners were profoundly shaken by the heavy Dieppe casualties.
So, what say you, intelligent military reading buff in young 2024, 82 years after that tragic
day? Seriously, General . . . .
