Dieppe: An Invasion Almost Forgotten

In my last post, I talked about the landings at Normandy, perhaps the best remembered event of World War II in Europe. However, many people today don't know that Allied troops landed in France nearly two years before Operation Overlord. The name of the game: Operation Jubilee.

In 1942, the Soviet Union was suffering devastating losses at the hands of the Germans, they had gotten 15 miles outside of Moscow by December 1941, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin pleaded with the Western forces to open a second front on the European continent. Needless to say, the problem was investigated thoroughly at the beginning of 1942.

The results of this investigation found that in order for a large-scale invasion of France to be successful, a port must be controlled in order to efficiently transport large numbers of troops to the mainland. The British, however, were reluctant to pursue this operation at this time, despite the Soviet Union's repeated pleas and the recently-entered United States' repeated emphasis on a cross-Channel invasion. Nevertheless, the order was given for British Commando units to

stage a raid in order to capture the French port of Dieppe: Operation Jubilee was on.

The operation would be divided into four beaches: Blue, Red, White and Green. Blue Beach would land near the French town of Puys, and the landing force mainly consisted of Canadians. Red Beach and White Beach would land just south of Dieppe in order to capture and hold the port. Green Beach would be in charge of capturing the town of Pourville. In total, about 4,300 troops stormed the beaches on August 19, 1942.

Unfortunately, the operation was a shambles from the moment the boats left Britain. The boats intended for Blue beach were not only spotted and engaged by a German coastal convoy, but this engagement alerted the German defenders on the beach itself, so when the Canadian troop finally landed, not only were they scattered and disorganized but the Germans were ready for them. Blue Beach’s forces never made it to their objective, but the survivors were successfully withdrawn.

Red and White Beaches also encountered heavy resistance, and their tank support was almost completely destroyed before they even made it a few yards out of the water. However, a handful of tanks did make it to the town, but since most of the roads were blocked and the tanks ran out of ammunition fairly quickly, their impact was minimal. With Green Beach’s forces faring little better than the rest, the order was given to the boats to begin evacuating the men. In the frenzy, and after all was said and done, less than 1,000 troops were rescued, leaving 3,400 troops dead, wounded, or taken prisoner.

It was later learned that French double agents had alerted the German forces to increased British interest in Dieppe, leading to increased German presence on the beaches. However, in spite of the losses, the British learned a valuable lesson, that if a port was necessary for a successful invasion, they would have to bring one themselves. Also, the lessons learned from the Dieppe raid helped in the planning of the American landings in north Africa, Operation Torch, and, of course, the landings at Normandy. Until next time, take care, and thank you.