"I will make it short and say I will remember it as a
complete, useless waste of good Canadian blood and
no one - even those who say we learned a valuable
lesson there - will ever change my mind."
complete, useless waste of good Canadian blood and
no one - even those who say we learned a valuable
lesson there - will ever change my mind."
("DAD, WELL DONE", Doug Harrison's Navy memoirs)
Nothing Stirred Except the Sea
August 19, 1942
["All quiet before the first German convoy star shell illuminated
at 0347 and the fight was on": Charcoal sketch by David Lewis,
pg. 54, St. Nazaire to Singapore Volume 1
At five in the morning,
the sea front at Dieppe lay brooding and hushed.
To the casual eye, there were no signs of life.
But from hundreds of vantage points all around
the sea front, the enemy searched the horizon
for the first signs of invasion.
They felt it must come soon.
To the east and west the sky was illuminated
by intermittent bursts of gunfire and tracers.
The atmosphere was tense. Nothing stirred
except the sea, lapping the shore at full tide.
The invasion fleet was then only three miles
away from Dieppe and forming up in the dark-
ness for the final approach and touchdown.
page 63
The Miserable Little Beach
Later the same morning
There was little point in landing
hundreds of additional men to be slaughtered,
but the attempt had to be made if the troops landing
on the main beaches were not to be wiped out.
The batteries of howitzers above Blue Beach
were even at that moment firing hundreds of shells
in the direction of the main beaches as the Essex
Scottish and Royal Hamilton Light Infantry landed
at 0520 hours - on time and at the right places.
[Photo: Department of National Defense]
As the second wave stormed
the miserable little beach,
they were exposed to the same murderous fire
from the clifftop. If anything, the fire had greatly
increased and was now reinforced with dozens
of heavy mortar bombs and shells.
On all sides the water erupted into huge geysers
with the occasional direct hit on an assault craft.
The craft that survived this initial bombardment
reached the beach only to be subjected to
a hail of machine-gun fire.
page 55
["A Dieppe Eightsome: Back From the Shores of Death",
i.e., seamen (RCNVR, Comb. Ops) who manned assault craft
i.e., seamen (RCNVR, Comb. Ops) who manned assault craft
pg. 80, St. Nazaire to Singapore Volume 1]
Blood Ran in Red Streams
Earlier the same morning
No. 16 Platoon charged out of their craft
in the half light and disappeared into seven feet of water.
Private Jack Poolton reached the shore totally exhausted
and without his rifle. Most of the others drowned.
Private Steve Michell had to roll aside the bodies
of his comrades before he could jump onto the beach.
As he did so, he noted with horror that one of them
was his platoon commander, Lt. Walters. His batman
lay at his side with his arms over his officer's body.
In this boat too, the entire centre row of men had been
wiped out. Blood ran in red streams in all directions
before filling the scuppers.
["The entire centre row of men had been
wiped out": Dept. of National Defense]
Private Michell jumped into chest-deep water and
waded into shore with his rifle held high above his head.
In the surf he found the very young lad
known as "Smiler" trying desperately
to stuff his intestines back through
a great gaping hole in his stomach.
He was still smiling as he whispered,
"I'm done for Steve. Look after yourself."
Michell ran for the shelter
of the cliff
page 54
Some men in high places, including Winston Churchill and Lord Louis Mountbatten, have said valuable lessons were learned at Dieppe, without which the later invasions in North Africa, Sicily, Italy and Normandy would not have been successful.
Something was learned. Much more was lost, said my father.
I lean toward my father's words.
Photos by GH
Link to WW2: Ten Poignant Stories (4)
No comments:
Post a Comment