Today is the anniversary of Dieppe, one of the first efforts to land a large scale force on the coast of France and hopefully bring an end to the war. An Allied force of 7,000 men carried out the doomed daytime raid against German positions that tried to gain a foothold on the beach.
The force was largely made up of Canadian troops (5,000 Canadians) but also had 2,000 British soldiers, and a handful of American and Free French troops. Well they gained a small foothold, but not for long.
During nine hours of fighting, the Allies failed to destroy more than a handful of their targets and suffered the death of 3,600 men. More than 100 aircraft, a destroyer, 33 landing craft, and 30 tanks were also lost. Just about every boat in England was mobilized during the retreat.
Despite its failure, it proved to be a test run for the huge successful allied landing that took place on D-Day in 1944.
No comments:
Post a Comment