Dieppe Raid eightieth anniversary
IN LATE August 1942, 80 years ago, dawn was about to break above the northern French port of Dieppe, when a German sentry on the Berneval battery cried out: “Tracers out at sea!”
His call to arms heralded the beginning of the raid on Dieppe. Nine hours later the fighting was almost over. An Allied force of some 6,000 men landed around the port of Dieppe. The majority were Canadians, with support from British No 3 and No 4 Commandos, and even 50 recently arrived US Rangers.
It was an exercise to test the strength of Hitler’s vaunted Atlantic Wall, but also to prove to Russia an attempt to open a second front in Western Europe would be premature at that point, something discussed a few days earlier when Churchill had met Stalin in Moscow.
Supported by the Royal Navy, the large raiding force landed in the early hours on the shingle beaches below the town. Above flew Royal Air Force bombers and fighters, including two Norwegian squadrons. Polish pilots from four fighter squadrons recorded nine Luftwaffe planes destroyed. The target of Dieppe was selected because the RAF could provide air cover and deny the German Luftwaffe access to the Allied ships, men and tanks below. However, the Dieppe raid met far greater resistance than had been anticipated.
During the following weeks, the raid was announced in newspapers as “Singeing the Nazi Beard” in newspapers:
“The raid proved that a large force of ships, given proper air cover, can be maintained within a few miles of the enemy coast despite the defences.” Later Dieppe was framed as a practice run for D-day, with many of the bitter lessons learned helping to reduce casualties in the actual June, 1944 invasion.
In October, 1942, The Birmingham Mail ran a brief, yet fascinating, account by a Balsall Heath man, Seaman Albert Hoskins, who a year earlier had been a waiter at the Midland Hotel in Birmingham, and “had the distinction of being the first member of the raiding party to set foot on the beach at Dieppe. He came through the hazardous engagement with no worse an injury than a shrapnel-torn hand.
He was at home on leave when interviewed and his parents had not known he was among those listed to receive the Distinguished Conduct Medal. He was a former student at St Catherine’s School, Horse Fair.
The Birmingham Mail of August 26, 1942, carried a story from another Birmingham man, Richard Trevithick:
“In a letter to his parents at 46, Underwood Road, Handsworth Wood, Sick Bay Attendant Richard Trevithick relates some of his experiences of the Dieppe raid. An old Handsworth Grammar School boy, aged 19, he entered the Royal Navy 18 months ago and further volunteered as a naval commando about last April.
“When he and others embarked on a tank-landing craft on the night of Tuesday of last week, each was given nearly half a loaf, some cheese and a cup of tea. They were told that they were going on an exercise.‘we headed straight out to sea, and there were several other craft around us.’ he writes.
“‘That night we slept under a tank until five the next morning, when, in the dawn, I saw a most inspiring sight. The sea seemed full of ships. Suddenly, at a given signal, it seemed the air was full of planes ready to escort us. France came into sight, and then the gunfire started. There was a terrific roar and the craft I was on seemed to fall apart. An Me.109 had dive-bombed us, but, luckily, the bomb fell into the water. The explosion threw me off my feet, but that was the nearest we had all day. The sky was full of Jerries then. I saw one make straight for one of our destroyers, but it was hit by flak and bits and pieces of the plane flew in all directions. There was no more sign of it after the smoke had cleared. Having landed on the beach our job was to help with the wounded. Tanks thundered off the barges and were firing over our heads. The fighting went on, and I remember seeing people hit by bullets, but I seemed to have impersonal interest in things, just as if it were a dream. The Canadians were marvellous. So were our destroyers in keeping the enemy planes away. I myself saw many Jerries go up in pieces, some of the crews making parachute descents. I was busy all the time and got terribly tired and thirsty, but upon our return a good meal and hot bath awaited us’.”
Lieutenant Commander Redvers Michael Prior, later to become MP for Aston, received the Distinguished Service Order for his actions at Dieppe, where he was a senior beachmaster. He was badly wounded, captured and, while en route to a prison camp in a hospital train, managed to escape and make his way to Paris. He was recaptured but escaped again.
The Birmingham Post of September 23, 1942, contained another report: “Acting Squadron Leader Smallwood is described as an ‘exceptionally keen and skilful pilot who has rendered excellent service, especially in night flying operations’.
“In the recent combined operations at Dieppe, he led his squadron on two low-level attacks on gun emplacements in the face of strong opposition from ground defences. His leadership proved a valuable asset. Squadron
Luckily, the bomb fell into the water. The explosion threw me off my feet, but that was the nearest we had all day
Leader Smallwood lives in Solihull. He is the eldest son of Mr and Mrs F.W. Smallwood, Forest Road, Moseley. He was born in 1917 and educated at King Edward’s School. He decided to make a career in the RAF and was granted a commission in 1937. He was Mentioned in Despatches in June last. He married, two years ago, Miss Jeanne Needham, Wake Green Road, Moseley.”
Another story printed revealed the part played by 29-year-old Birmingham bred commando Maurice Hol- land, who survived.
The article stated: “Driver Hol- land is the youngest child of Mr J.T. Holland, of 20, Arden Croft, Sheldon. Interviewed at Messrs. Burman, Cooper and Co., Corporation Street, where he is overseer of the compos- ing department, his father said, ‘My boy is full of adventure. He is keen on anything with a thrill in it. He joined the Worcestershire Regiment two years ago and, after six months’ service, volunteered for the Commando force, being one of the first to join. He took part in the Vaagso raid on Norway last Christmas and nearly lost his life there. He was a member of a Bren gun team and was having a bit of food when a bullet crashed through a box he was sitting on two inches away from his hand’.
“In peace-time, Driver Holland was employed as a line and commercial photographer with Birmingham Engravers Ltd, of Vesey Street, where he had worked for 10 years. ‘He was always interested in photography,’ said his father, ‘and he has now put in an application for transfer from the Commandos to the Army Film Unit’.”
It was a costly disaster, especially for the Canadians. By the time the Allied forces were withdrawn several hours after landing, over 4,100 men had been lost, alongside 28 tanks, 33 landing craft, 107 aircraft and one destroyer, the destroyer HMS Berkeley. Three Victoria Crosses were awarded for actions that day, to two Canadians (both of whom became prisoners) – Captain Reverend John Foote the only VC awarded in WWII to “a burly chaplain who, with no regard for his safety, repeatedly ran out onto the exposed beach to carry over thirty wounded soldiers back to safety” and who briefly picked up and fired a Bren gun to cover the evacuation, and Lieutenant-colonel Charles Merritt, plus Scottish Captain Patrick Porteous.
In total 345 Germans were killed and 268 wounded, although British newspapers claimed in excess of a thousand wounded. One German defence battery was put out of action (by the British Commandos commanded by Lord Lovat), and 48 enemy aircraft destroyed. The raid had been the brainchild of Chief of Combined Operations Louis Mountbatten. Shortly after the bloody nose suffered at Dieppe, Mountbatten was packed off to the Far East.
Barely two years later, along five sandy beaches on the Normandy coast, one of the most significant lessons – do not attack shingled beaches, combined with dominating the skies above would lead to a successful fullscale invasion of Occupied Europe.