Commemoration - Dieppe

When I was eight, and fascinated with all things World War Two, we went on a family holiday to Normandy. This was back in 1972. We got the ferry over to Dieppe, and our visit to the town happened to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the Dieppe Raid. I was naturally highly excited, especially as I got talking with some of the veterans of the battle who had travelled back for the commemoration that was taking place. There are pictures in the family photo pile of me standing next to one fellow, who seemed old at the time, but must have been in his fifties or early sixties.
He’ll probably be dead now, but he was very lucky to be alive then. The raid was a complete fiasco, designed to test out the Germans’ coastal defences. They were found to be extremely strong. 1,027 Allied soldiers, mostly Canadian, died that day, with another 2,340 captured, many of them wounded. Of the 6,090 soldiers who made it ashore, fewer than 3,000 made it back to England. The whys and wherefores of the raid have been discussed at length since. At best it was a misguided risk which gave the Allied commanders valuable information about their enemy. At worst it was a calculated sacrifice in order to appease Stalin, who was pushing for a new front to be opened to divert troops from the battle against his troops. This afternoon, a week before the 65th anniversary of the raid (oddly), there will be a commemoration in Newhaven from where many of the troops disembarked to their deaths. Their bravery should not be forgotten. AL