Raid on Dieppe (August 1942)

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The Dieppe Raid, also known as the Battle of Dieppe, Operation Rutter and, later, Operation Jubilee, was a Second World War, Allied attack on the German-occupied port of Dieppe. The raid took place on the northern coast of France on August 19th, 1942. The assault began at 5:00 a.m. and by 10:50 a.m. the Allied commanders were forced to call a retreat. Over 6,000 infantrymen, predominantly Canadian, were supported by limited Royal Navy and large Royal Air Force contingents.

The objective of the raid was unclear, and has largely been attributed to the personal ambition of Vice-Admiral Louis, Lord Mountbatten, then Chief of Combined Operations. Mountbatten apparently acted without specific authorisation and therefore without access to the necessary resources and intelligence. Possible objectives included seizing and holding a major port for a short period, both to prove it was possible and to gather intelligence from prisoners and captured materials, while assessing the German responses. The Allies also wanted to destroy coastal defences, port structures and all strategic buildings. The raid could have given a morale boost to the troops, Resistance, and general public, while assuring the Soviet Union of the commitment of the United Kingdom and the United States.

No major objectives of the raid were accomplished. A total of 3,623 of the 6,086 men (almost 60%) who made it ashore were either killed, wounded, or captured. The air force failed to lure the Luftwaffe into open battle, and lost 96 aircraft (at least 32 to flak or accidents), compared to 48 lost by the Luftwaffe. The Royal Navy lost 33 landing craft and one destroyer. The events at Dieppe later influenced preparations for the North African (Operation Torch) and Normandy landings (Operation Overlord).

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British Churchill Mk. III Infantry Tank with Extended Exhaust Pipes - "Beefy", 14th Canadian Army Tank Regiment (Calgary Regiment), Operation Jubilee, Dieppe, 1942 (1:72 Scale)

The "Churchill" began life as a 1939 requirement that envisaged a return to trench-warfare, and was therefore slow and heavily armored like the Russian KV-1 series. That said, the final Churchill prototype was much lighter than had first been thought acceptable, although it still resembled a World War I tank in appearance.

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