Dieppe: Remembering one of the worst disasters in Canadian military history

It was the bloodiest day for Canadian soldiers in the Second World War. On Aug. 19, 1942, a commando battalion of 5,000, mostly comprised of Canadian and British troops, attempted a surprise attack in Dieppe.

The Canadian forces included the Essex Scottish Regiment, the Royal Regiment of Canada, the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry, Les Fusiliers Mont-Royal, the Calgary Regiment, the South Saskatchewan Regiment and the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada.

The official version of Operation Jubilee at the time was that the British command wanted to seize and destroy a French port occupied by the Germans.

But it was a failure.

There were not enough navy ships and no air support to weaken German defences.

Amphibious troops landed in the morning rather than during the night and lost the element of surprise.

The Germans were ready to face them.

In less than 10 hours, nearly 1,000 Canadian soldiers were killed.

Two thousand more were taken prisoner by the Germans and would spend the rest of the war trapped in POW camps.

But yet, for decades, the Dieppe raid was barely mentioned in our history books, said Westmount High School history teacher Chantal Clabrough.

"The Dieppe raid was very difficult and disastrous carnage for all Canadians," she said. "It wasn't initially reported as a failure. It was reported first as a victory. It was the first engagement of Canadians in Europe, but it came out after that, the losses were tremendous, 2,000 men taken prisoner. It's not a victory as other events in the Second World War."

For decades, Canada accepted that the only thing Dieppe achieved was preparing the ground for the Normandy landing two years later since it prepared the allies for what to expect when facing Germany's defence along the coast, labelled the "Wall of the Atlantic."

But when the British opened their archives a decade ago, historians quickly understood that Canadian soldiers were sent to try to retrieve the Enigma communication system used by the Germans, a technological tool that, if cracked, could turn the tide of the war.

After the unsuccessful Dieppe raid, the Allies had to wait until October that year to find the device in a sunken German U-Boat.

Mathematician Alan Turing eventually cracked the code, brought to the screen in the movie "The Imitation Game."

"It turns out the Fusillier Mont-Royal, The Black Watch, and other regiments at that time were playing an absolute vital role in the pinch," said professor Davide O'Keefe, a writer and historian who currently teaches at Marianopolis College.

The new information has allowed Canada to reassess the sacrifice and heavy losses the country suffered in a more positive light.

Clabrough and a Quebec veterans education initiative called Je Me Souviens are launching a travelling exhibit meant to teach young Canadians about the significance of the Dieppe raid.

"The Dieppe raid, unfortunately, is not in the history book curriculum for high-school students, but the lessons learned at the raid are invaluable," said Clabrough.

The bilingual boards are filled with easy-to-understand explanations. They can be loaned to participating schools, where history teachers can engage with students about the meaning of the Canadian efforts during the war.

The official launch of the exhibit will take place next Wednesday, at the Fusillier's Museum on Henri-Julien St. in the Plateau.

"These are all free activities online which really allow students to explore many points of view," she said. "As adults, we need to add that too."

Montreal's Leslie Hart, whose father David Hart took part in the raid, said she recalls his stories growing up.

"He said he spent his days going through training drills. One day, his commanding officer told him that the next day, the operation would not be a drill," she said.

As she grew up, he shared the most gruesome details with his family.

"As soon as the (amphibious) vehicles got close to the beach, my dad's best friend next to him was decapitated by the shelling. He recalled the noise, the dead bodies," she said.

As a radio operator, the young sergeant insisted that he should get permission to warn his fellow soldiers that they would be sitting ducks.

"His brave action saved hundreds of lives," she said.

Hart was eventually awarded the Military Medal directly from King George VI at Buckingham Palace.

O'Keefe is in Dieppe this week with the families of veterans.

He said the story of the raid needs to be highlighted in our history books

"You can't simply look at it in hindsight and say it was simply a tragedy, and we'll never discuss it again," he said. "In fact, because it was a tragedy, we should be studying it. It doesn't have to mean we have to champion it, but we have to learn the correct and appropriate lessons for Dieppe."

He said the fallen soldiers still see this battle as a heroic one, 80 years later.