Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!sdd.hp.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!att!cbnews!military From: jpulliam@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Jacqueline Pulliam) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: Invasion attempt at Dieppe 1942 Message-ID: <1990Jul16.030828.5341@cbnews.att.com> Date: 16 Jul 90 03:08:28 GMT References: <1990Jul12.025658.19017@cbnews.att.com> Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker) Organization: Indiana University, Bloomington IN. Lines: 71 Approved: military@att.att.com From: jpulliam@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Jacqueline Pulliam) >From: ap542!mike@siemens.siemens.com (Mike Hoffmann) > >Can anyone give me information about the allied attempt at an invasion >at Dieppe in 1942? I know of two sources of information for the raid: Anthony C. Brown's _Bodyguard_of_Lies_, and David Eisenhower's _Eisenhower_at_War: __1943-1945_. Here's a summary of what the second source has to say: (The political mood among the Allies was at a low point. For more about the politics surrounding the action, get the book; it's enough to say here that Stalin was pushing to get Brits and Americans onto the continent in '42, while the Western powers were reluctant to move too hastily. The TORCH-SLEDGEHAMMER debate was just winding down.) ". . . on August 18 [1942], Combined Operations under Lord Louis Mountbatten hurled the Canadian 2nd Division against the French coastal port at Dieppe. Except for consultations between Mountbatten and Eisenhower in July, the "Dieppe raid" was a purely Commonwealth action, independent of ETO. Officially the British government would call the Dieppe raid a "reconnaissance in force," a probe to test German reaction time and defensive techniques, and to rehearse for the eventual invasion against northwest France. Another stated purpose was to draw the German Luftwaffe away from Russia. "In 1975, however, Anthony Cave Brown, in _Bodyguard_of_Lies_ drew upon newly opened British Special Intelligence files to build a persuasive case that the Dieppe raid had, in fact, been a planned failure, a sacrificial expenditure of 3,000 lives to embarass opponents of North Africa . . . ." (This is followed by a consideration of some of the possible political motivations of the raid. Then:) "The objective set for the raid was hazardous: a frontal assault on a coastal city held by the German 110th Field Infantry Division, with confirmed knowledge that the 10th Panzer Division nearby at Amiens was capable of reinforcement within a matter of hours. According to Brown, British deception measures drew attention to the Dieppe area instead of away from it, as would routinely be expected. Commando raids were launched in the vicinity of Dieppe ninety-six hours before the scheduled attack, ensuring that the defending 110th Division would be at maximum alert when the attack came. "In the late evening and early morning of August 18-19, 1942, the Canadian 2nd Division, consisting of six battalions, attacked seven points along the beach, including the Dieppe Casino. The assault force encountered a fully prepared enemy. The Canadian 2nd was quickly pinned down under hostile fire at the breakwater, and most units never reached the beaches. Hundreds died aboard landing craft, and of 6,150 men who landed, 3,500 were killed or captured in the six-hour engagement. "The raid would influence techniques and tactics chosen for the OVERLORD plan presented to Eisenhower on January 17, 1944. The raid also impressed planners with the efficiency of German defenses, the dangers of frontal assault on a port city "and the consequent need for concentrating the greatest possible weight on the initial assault." But evidently the main point of Dieppe was not to test techniques for 1944 but to demonstrate the futility of further argument over SLEDGEHAMMER in August 1942." (all the above from pp. 95-96 of _Eisenhower_at_War:__1943-1945_, by David Eisenhower. New York: Random House, 1986) By the way, 50 U.S. Army Rangers did take part in that raid. Hope this helps! John Pulliam