The following is an excerpt from the prelude to Ted Barris’ Juno about the Canada’s disastrous attack on Dieppe in August 1942.
Minutes after [Stephen] Bell began shooting, the German defenders homed in on their position and another anti-tank shell slammed into the Churchill right over their heads. Tank-track debris came splintering down on the two of them. This time both were wounded, shrapnel striking Booker in the legs and Bell in the back; the latter discovered his ears were bleeding from the concussion of the shell explosions, so he stuffed field dressing into them. Nearby, the rest of Bell’s tank crewmates were faltering too. Gunner Charlie Provost was shot in the head and died. Then driver Bill Willard was hit in the ankle, knee, and shoulder, and as he lay wounded, a mortar shell landed next to him.
“Willard got opened up from his breastbone down to his crotch,” Bell said. “Earl Snider and I had this first-aid kit. We got a couple safety pins, stuck everything back inside, and pinned him up.”
By eleven o’clock the beleaguered Canadians began to retreat off the beach into the returning landing craft. Orders to the crews were to pull back to their tanks, if possible; otherwise the men were to destroy them. Stephen Bell and his remaining crewmates had little choice. Their vehicle had been hit more than a dozen times. Booker and Bell joined the rush for the boats, trying to pull some of the wounded down to the landing craft with them, but before they could make it to the water’s edge German troops poured over promenade and the seawall.
Dead Canadian soldiers and destroyed tanks
“Down behind one of the [landing craft] they’d hoisted a white flag,” he said, “because the tide was coming in and they knew that if they stayed they’d drown, and if they moved they’d get shot… Besides, every boat except one or two got blown up in the water.
“Talk to anybody on that beach and they’ll tell you that the water was like red ink. The blood. Bodies like cordwood rolling in the water. The water coming up on the beach was foaming red.”
By midday, Bell faced German troops in the middle of the chaotic wreckage of tanks and landing craft and the groups of other huddling Canadian survivors. The Germans shouted at him to surrender and pointed at the revolver on his waist. He loosened his gun belt and let it drop to his feet. For Stephen Bell, the war was over.
German officers survey the battlefield after their victory
Of the 5000 Canadians that stormed the beaches of Dieppe that day, 907 were killed and a further 1400 were wounded and/or taken prisoner. Canada would eventually get revenge on the Germans, assaulting and seizing the Dieppe beachheads, but in 1942 that victory was still years away.
5 Responses to “August 19, 1942, 11:00 am, Dieppe”
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I often read it was a murderous test for future amphibious landings. I am tempted to say British or American soldiers should have done it, I always had the impression the Canadians were cannon fodder.
Dieppe was a harsh lesson for the allies to learn, and pretty much any country’s soldiers would have died horrendously following the battle plan that had been cooked up by the military brass. There were simply too many faulty assumptions and too much bad reasoning at the highest levels.
Also note: 1000 British marines and 50 American commandos participated in Dieppe as well. The Brits took a beating along with the Canadians.
I’m sure the Canadians WANTED to be the ones taking Dieppe – the odds of them being there against their better judgment are slight. (I think I remember reading that we were jockeying for the lead role in the invasion…. )
Canada has always – especially during WW1 and WW2 – punched above its weight, militarily speaking. Our soldiers often got some pretty tough assignments done that Euros had failed at first. (See, for example, Vimy Ridge.)
It’s also been said that the Germans executed Canadians on the battlefield more often than others due to their ferocity in battle. In particular, the PPCLI was said to have earned the nickname ‘Red Devils’ for their ruthlessness.
I know of quite a lot of massacres in France, especially by the SS Division Hitlerjugend. Many Wehrmacht soldiers and officers feared to get treated equally.
Indeed, Canadian soldiers are unfortunately mentioned much more often as victims of such atrocities than British or Americans.
Now I wonder, what made the Canadians such fierce fighters in WW1 and WW2? And how did this Corps Spirit get created? I also know of ANZAC troops in North Africa that also got quite a reputation. I often wondered if this was about political influence or just some sense of doing *much* more than your duty to the Commonwealth.
Dieppe was originally conceived to test the Germans, but it’s end result was to test the allied forces. The lessons learned at Dieppe were instrumental to the victory on D-Day a couple years later.
Indeed. The book this excerpt was taken from – Juno – focuses on the Canadian involvement in the D-Day landings, and mentions Dieppe precisely because it taught the Allies some excruciatingly valuable lessons.