May 4, 2008 by Rick.

TAKEN FROM A PLAQUE AT THE CANADIAN CEMETERY IN DIEPPE.
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The Dieppe Raid on 19th of August 1942 was the only large-scale assault on the coast of German occupied France prior to the allied landings in Normandy in June 1944. Entrusted largely to Canadian troops, it’s objective, to be accomplished within one day was not to hold a bridgehead, but to test the feasibility of seizing a harbor intact, then considered a prerequisite to the landing of the vast allied force needed to liberate Europe.

Of the six thousand soldiers who embarked from the English South coast 5000 were Canadian and the remainder, British Commando troops with 50 American rangers and 20 free French. Eight destroyers (7 British, 1 Polish) escorted them.

Although complete surprise was not achieved on the Eastern flank owing to an encounter between the landing craft and a German convoy, the initial stages of the raid saw some success. Assault groups landed, mostly unopposed, on the Western flank to disarm as many as possible of the German batteries and machine guns posted on the cliffs in advance of the main landing on the beaches and seaway. From orange beaches I and II 250 men from No. 4 commando surrounded, stormed and blew up the six 6 inch guns at Varengeville. Because of the earlier encounter with German shipping, only seven out of the twenty-three landing craft carrying No. 3 commando touched down, but 20 men on yellow II beach scaled the cliff and for more than 2.5 hours prevented any effective fore from the seven gun battery at Berneval. There 120 comrades on Yellow Beach I, where the Germans were by now alerted, were overwhelmed. The landing of 550 Canadians on Blue Beach was delayed and the Germans were able to pin down the whole of this force except for 20 men who reached the cliff top. A larger Canadian force of over 1000 men which landed on Green beach, part of it also delayed and part on the wrong side of the River Scie, nevertheless had considerable success, some units penetrating as far as Petit-Appeville.

By 05:20 hours, when the main Canadian force, with supporting bombardment from both sea and air, had started to land on Red and White beaches below the sea wall and on the espanade of the main sea front of Dieppe town, the firing on the flanks had brought the German defenses in the central sector to full readiness. From batteries and machine gun and mortar posts concealed in and protected by the cliffs a concentrated fire was directed upon the landing craft and troops on the beaches below. Little could be done to support the infantry or stop the German fire. Twenty-seven tanks provided some covering fire from behind the seawall; but the destroyers’ 4 inch guns could not suppress the batteries which the flank attacks had failed to reach. Bombing and cannon fire in frequent air sorties, at heavy loss, gave only temporary relief and the infantry, apart from a few groups which got some way into the town, could make no headway despite the commitment at 06:40 hours of reserves which included part of the Royal Marine Commando.

At 09:00 hours the force commander ordered withdrawal. After some delay landing craft went in under air cover; but many were sunk. Few of the men awaiting evacuation could get to those crafts which reached the beaches and many were taken prisoner. Shortly before 14:00 hours the raid was over.

The royal air force and the Royal Canadian Air Force had been heavily engaged throughout in bombing and cannon fire attacks and on reconnaissance, all under constant attack by German aircraft; United states, New Zealand, Polish, Norwegian, Czech, French and Belgian squadrans also took part. 106 allied aircraft were lost and 167 air crew, including 67 pilots were killed. The Royal Navy had 550 casualties, many from the crews of landing craft of which 33 were lost. The destroyer HMS Berkly was sunk. the commandos had 247 casualties of whom 43 were killed, while the Canadians suffered over 900 dead and lost nearly 1900 prisoners. Nevertheless the lessons learned at Dieppe were of inestimable value when the time came in June 1944 for the successful allied landings in Normandy which were to lead to final victory within a year.

Dieppe Canadian War Cemetery.

The 955 burials in this cemetery comprise:
Canada 707
United Kingdom 232
New Zealand 4
Australia 2
India 1
Other Nationalities 6
Entirely unidentified 3

Of these 783 were killed in the Dieppe raid, the remaining 172 being casualties of other operations. Some of the dead from the raid are buried in Brookwood military cemetery in England; others who have no known grave are commemorated on the Brookwood memorial.

Posted in 2008-03 to 05, Europe | No Comments »

May 4, 2008 by Rick.

While in Dieppe today we followed the well posted signs to The Canadian Cemetery. It’s so difficult to tie in the significance past wars, and particularly the two world wars, to our family, especially since it was over even before my mother was born. The cemetery was quite lovely, and adjacent to some sleepy houses on the edge of town on one side, and rolling pastures on the other three sides. While we reverently walked up and down all of the rows reading the headstones, I was especially pleased with two things. First was how well maintained the area was. All the grass recently cut and all of the headstones were rooted to long rows of weed free dirt with all sorts of flowers and perennials planted in it. Secondly were the other visitors. During our two plus hours there, about six other “groups” or families came by for a total of about 14 other people. Granted it was a Sunday afternoon, but it was still pleasing to see so many local French people come out and walk around for whatever their reasons were. We also found a full register and guest book which made for interesting reading. There were many visitors from Alberta in the past month which was pretty cool. After leaving we drove to the cliff tops for an ocean view. There the old German gun bunkers are bricked up, but it was a stark contrast to the stunning view of the Atlantic Ocean. Their thick, gray concrete impassiveness helped really sink home to Alex & Luke (indeed, all of us realistically) how formidable a task the soldiers had in taking back Europe.

We are heading in two days to Vimy where my Great Uncle is buried in a WWI cemetery. My Uncle Steve had done a good bit of research digging up his information and readily sent it to us. So we look forward to making that somewhat distant yet vastly important family connection there. At this cemetery today on a plaque was the story of the Dieppe attack, and the final chapter of the lives of over 900 men buried there. We grabbed the laptop and retyped that story to post here. Every November 11 we think or say to ourselves “LEST WE FORGET” and yet I know I do. Posting this brief story on our blog is our meager contribution for our own remembering, and hopefully that of our friends and family reading as well…

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May 4, 2008 by Claudette.

I’ve come to the realization after traveling around the world, that it really doesn’t matter where you go and who you meet; we are who we are! This reality stuck me as I gazed upon these beautiful house with their view of the Atlantic ocean and realized that I liked what I was doing and what I had done but there is no place like home!

Now that my philosophizing is done back to reality. We have been in Europe for just over a month, and the countdown (10 Days) to returning to Canada is on. Eventhough we’ve spent quite a bit of time in Europe with family (Rick’s mom, Vi and my dad, Ray) and then met my sister Monique and her husband Greg, and Aunty Viv, Uncle Chris and my cousin, Mik; I think we’ve hit the wall, and the four of us universally agree that we looking very forward to getting back home. Also I don’t think our credit cards can handle much more. Even though I know that we’ve been averaging about $100 Euro/night for a room, it’s the food which is outrageous, as an example in Euros (last time I checked the exchange was Can. $1.83for 1 Euro) it’s usually $25-40 for breakfast, $35-50 for lunch and $85-130 for supper. I’ve decided that my coping mechanism will be not to check my credit card balances until we’re back in Canada.

As some of you may have heard already we are now the proud owners of a 2007 Ford Freestyle Limited AWD in gold (Um, not sure if I’ll like the gold part). So we have finally decided that we are driving across Canada and into part of the US. (Rick HAS to see Crazy Horse in South Dakota and that was the only way he’d agree to drive across the continent.) So with that said, we are OPEN TO ANY INVITATIONS for free beds, couches, and/or floor space since we have no money.

Here’s the quick plan so far; land in Halifax (visit Marc & Wendy) visit Cape Breton on our way to Newfoundland (find someone to take us in there) it’s also the only province I’ve never been to. Visit Frank & Sylvia in the Miramichi in New Brunswick, then on to Quebec City, before visiting Ottawa. From there we will probably head into the states (returning to Canada in Manitoba or Saskatchewan) or possibly staying in the US all the way to Vancouver Island before returning through BC to Edmonton, where we will send a couple of weeks before returning home mid July.

Anyway hope you’ve enjoyed my little rant and catch up post! Take care and miss you all, Claudette

Posted in 2008-03 to 05, Europe | 2 Comments »