Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!cbnews!military
From: davecb@nexus.yorku.ca (David Collier-Brown)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Invasion attempt at Dieppe 1942
Message-ID: <1990Jul23.201550.5112@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 23 Jul 90 20:15:50 GMT
References: <1990Jul12.025658.19017@cbnews.att.com> <1990Jul17.031857.22645@cbnews.att.com>
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Organization: York U. Computing Services
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From: davecb@nexus.yorku.ca (David Collier-Brown)

dps@otter.hpl.hp.com (Duncan Smith) writes:
>Basically, a small force was landed under air cover but faced ferocious
>opposition. Casualties were very high, losses of equipment substantial. The
>British (and Canadian?) forces didn't make it further inland than the beach.

	Well, it was a larger force than that.  Three batallions
up, plus armour. Basically the forward elements of 1 CDN DIV.
	Support was air and naval (and immediate support by own armoured
vehicles), against a prepared defensive position at a port city.  The results
were unimpressive.  We got off the beach, but not far into the city, and at
a very high cost in troops killed and captured.
	My regiment, the Essex Scottish, managed to evacuate a reinforced
company at the end of the operation.  The rest of the batallion went into
the bag.

	Said company eventually got used in a mildly famous formation later
(1 CASF), but its members had a poor opinion of frontal attacks on prepared
positions ever thereafter.
	The lessons learned led to a "beach" landing well away from
german reserves, the creation of the "Mulberry" artificial harbours to
make the beachhead worthwhile, and different uses of air power, notably
for dropping blocking forces behind the front lines and interdiction
of troops and ammunition flowing toward the beachhead.

--dave c-b

1 CASF was the First Canadian-American Special Service Force, who
	were supposed to be used as ski/mountain troops to destroy a
	certain heavy water plant.  They actually got used as light
	and mountain troops in Italy.  They're one of the "fathers"
	of the american green berets.  They're certainly the source
	of the silly hats (:-)).
references: second-hand, filtered through a faulty memory. real references
	would be welcomed.
-- 
David Collier-Brown,  | davecb@Nexus.YorkU.CA, ...!yunexus!davecb or
72 Abitibi Ave.,      | {toronto area...}lethe!dave 
Willowdale, Ontario,  | "And the next 8 man-months came up like
CANADA. 416-223-8968  |   thunder across the bay" --david kipling