Narayan SenGupta

Disaster at Dieppe Narayan SenGupta

On August 19, 1942, 5,000 Canadian, 1,000 British, 50 American and 24 French troops attacked Dieppe, France. This was Operation Jubilee, World War II's first large amphibious operation. The Allies had hundreds of vessels, Churchill tanks, Commandos, Spitfires, Hurricanes, P-51 Mustangs, B-17s, Typhoons, etc. They expected an easy win. However, they met S-boats, determined German troops and hundreds of Luftwaffe aircraft including superb FW-190s, Stukas, Me-109s, Ju-88s, Do-217s and He-111s, flak and artillery. The sky flooded with aircraft, making it the Western Front's biggest air battle. Germany's pilots were superb. Though outnumbered, they shot down over 100 Allied aircraft. In hours, the landing Canadians had a massive defeat, losing five out of six men and all their tanks. But the lessons learned at Dieppe saved 10 times as many lives at Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944. "Disaster at Dieppe" is a well-illustrated fast read. 167 pages, 9"" x 6"", 66 photos and maps.