This August 19, 2022, we commemorate 80 years of an operation that was Canada’s first major ground contribution against Nazism during the Second World War. A fatal name in Canadian memory, Dieppe was an amphibious raid for which the Canadians provided the majority of the troops.
Mounted by the British, this raid responds to political and military considerations: testing enemy coastal defenses, obtaining information and recovering prisoners, destroying coastal armament, testing amphibious equipment and tactics, and maintaining pressure on the enemy to respond to the concerns of Stalin, who had been fighting the Wehrmacht since June 1941.
Once the goals were achieved, the men had to re-embark. In a Europe occupied by the German army since the summer of 1940, Dieppe is only one amphibious raid among others organized by the British with elite troops (ancestors of the special forces) with precise mission objectives. and limited in time and space.
Of these amphibious raids of the Second World War, if that of Dieppe is the best known, it is because, from the start of the operation, nothing works as planned. The Germans, alerted, awaited the Canadians who were to land on the beaches of Dieppe. The magnitude of the failure is such that censorship cannot hide the facts for long.
Allied propaganda tries to make a defeat a “victory” by affirming that this raid makes it possible to draw lessons for the landing which will have to liberate Europe (idea taken up after the success of the landing in Normandy, in June 1944, but postponed questioned today by historians).
If we compare this raid with the current situation in Ukraine, Dieppe reminds us that, in the military field, a difficult tactical situation does not predict the strategic outcome: losing a battle does not mean losing the war. In a conflict, alongside the military deal, there are indeed political and economic elements to consider, which will play in the long-term balance.
War effort
We forget it, but the year 1942 is a pivotal period for the Canadian war effort, and this, on several levels: conscription, engagement of women, abused minorities, German threat in Canadian waters and involvement of French Canadians.
In 1942, the Canadian Prime Minister submitted to a referendum the question of whether or not to send Canadian conscripts overseas, whereas at the start of the conflict he had promised that they would serve only at home. The yes wins in English Canada while the no is the majority in Quebec. To temporize and attenuate the tensions, the sending of conscripts is done only in 1944.
For Canadian women, 1942 saw them join the Royal Navy (from 1941 for the army and the air force) to carry out non-combat tasks, in order to free up soldiers for the front. This is a first step towards the inclusion of women in the Canadian Armed Forces.
In society, 1942 saw the establishment of rationing, with booklets allowing coupons to be exchanged for food, while housewives put pressure on shopkeepers to ensure that food price inflation was controlled.
1942 was also the confinement of Canadians of Japanese origin after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the British colony of Hong Kong in December 1941. The Japanese-Canadian community was then seen as an enemy, and its members were interned in camps until 1945, while their property was confiscated.
At sea, 1942 was the year that saw German U-boats venture into the St. Lawrence to sink ships loaded with war material for the Allies coming from the ports of Quebec and Montreal. This episode of the Battle of the Atlantic was foiled by the development of radars along the river and by aerial observation.
In aviation, 1942 was the year in which the 425 “Alouettes” Escadrille was born, a French-Canadian bomber unit which, within the 6e Group of the Royal Canadian Air Force, participates in Europe in the bombing of enemy territory. In the post-war period, the unit provided skilled French-speaking Canadian manpower in aeronautics.
Thus, beyond Dieppe, 1942 was a turning point for Canada, with a “total” commitment to the Second World War.