Notes

Fortress Europe
- By the summer of 1942, the Second World War had been raging for almost three years and things looked grim;
- Nazi Germany had pushed east deep into the Soviet Union,
- enemy forces were advancing in North Africa and u-boats were making the Atlantic a deadly place for Allied shipping.

Other Stuff
- The Soviet Union was pressuring the Allied forces to open a second front in Western Europe
- The Allies, however, needed more time to build up their military resources before undertaking such a massive effort.
- Canadian soldiers had been training since the outset of the war in 1939 and, except for the Battle of Hong Kong, had yet to see significant action
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Operation Jubilee
The main attack was made across the pebble beach in front of Dieppe.
- The Dieppe Raid, code-named “Operation Jubilee,” saw more than 6,000 men come ashore at five different points along a 16 kilometre-long stretch of heavily defended coastline
- Four of the attacks were to take place just before dawn at points east and west of Dieppe, while the main attack on the town itself would take place half an hour later
- he raiding force was made up of almost 5,000 Canadians, approximately 1,000 British commandos and 50 American Army Rangers.
- Things immediately went wrong for the landing force on the eastern flank.
- They encountered a small German convoy and the ensuing firefight alerted the enemy. The soldiers that came ashore at Berneval and Puys consequently were met with overwhelming fire and some of the heaviest Allied losses took place there.
Other
- Lieutenant-Colonel Cecil Merritt earned the medal for courageously leading his men from the South Saskatchewan Regiment across the River Scie at Pourville in the face of heavy resistance
- Once the regiment could go no farther, he then led a dangerous retreat that allowed most of the men to escape back to Britain. Merritt himself was captured and spent the rest of the conflict as a prisoner of war.

Sacrifice
- More than 3,350 Canadians became casualties, including a total of 916 who lost their lives as a result of the raid and approximately 1,950 more who were taken prisoner.
- A total of 210 British and American personnel also lost their lives.
- Those who were captured faced especially harsh treatment in prisoner of war camps and most would remain in captivity for more than two-and-a-half years
- The Dieppe Raid also took a considerable toll on the ships and aircraft that supported the assault. August 19, 1942, saw the Allies’ worst single day losses for aircraft of the entire Second World War, with 119 of their warplanes being shot down as they tried to protect the landing force.