"On August 19th, 1942, at a small port on the French coast between LeHarve and Boulogne the Allied forces staged a raid". The Dieppe Raid was a waste of life as well as equipment, which in the end accomplished little. " There were many reasons for this raid, a major one was to test the capabilities of the Western Allies in a large-scale beach landing. This raid was a planned assault, it was supposed to draw German forces away from the Russian front. The outcome of the battle of Dieppe was unexpected. Some said that the defeat of the Canadian soldiers came almost before the attack began. The losses involved in this raid out weighed the accomplishments.
There were many reasons for this raid. A large one was to relieve pressure on Russia by opening another front in Europe. The raid was also provided action for troops, who were bored and frustrated after three years of training in England. This raid also allowed for the military to test the readiness for amphibious attacks. The objective in attacking Dieppe was to capture and remove German invasion barges. Radar equipment and secret papers were to be captured as well. The Allies hoped to destroy German defenses around Dieppe, such as near by air installations, radar, rail, harbor facilities, along with gasoline dumps. These were a few of the many things that the raid on Dieppe was to accomplish. "But the raid had gone all wrong as far as the plan was concerned"-a war correspondent.
was scheduled for July 1942. It was cancelled, and against the advice of some military planners rescheduled for August 19th, 1942. Six thousand men headed across the English Channel, during the early hours of the 19th. Five thousand of the men were Canadians. Things went wrong when German ships were discovered. Germans were ready as Canadians hit the beaches around five am. The disaster began immediately as German guns, had a clear line of fire onto the beaches. They slaughtered the soldiers who made it ashore. A few Canadians fought their way into town, but it was a hopeless situation. The Royal Navy managed to rescue several hundred men from the beaches. The rest were killed, wounded, or captured. By nightfall the equipment lost by the invasion included one destroyer, thirty-three assault craft, twenty-nine tanks, nine cars, three motorcycles, eighty-eight fighters, and eight bombers. This only added to the shame and disappointment of the Allied forces.
The outcome of the raid on Dieppe was astonishing. The raid only lasted nine hours, but among the five thousand Canadians involved more than none hundred were killed. Eighteen hundred and seventy-four were taken prisoner. This was more prisoners than the army lost in the eleven months of the 1944-1945 North West Europe Campaign. During the air battle the Allies lost one hundred and six aircraft and eighty-one airmen. The German casualties were light although they could not afford the loss of ...