Cold Open

It’s just before midnight on August 18th, 1942, on the south coast of England, three years into World War II.

British Commander Ian Fleming boards the HMS Fernie, a backup command vessel for the largest amphibious mission of the war so far. In the water ahead are over 200 ships. Their voyage across the English Channel marks the beginning of Operation Jubilee, the Allies’ latest plan to assault German-occupied port of Dieppe in northern France.

Once the Fernie is less than half a mile from the French coast, Fleming holds a pair of binoculars to his eyes.

Off in the distance, he sees the frenzy of combat has already begun at Dieppe. Bombs compete with the crackle of machine guns, decimating the early morning silence. Confused though, Fleming checks his watch, which confirms his suspicions: Their meticulously planned raid has escalated prematurely. And he has no idea why. Fleming paces the ship trying to discern where most of the firepower is coming from. He blanches as he realizes that the Nazis’ flashes of gunfire don’t just come from the beaches, but high above in bunkers overlooking the sands. From the looks of it, the Germans are completely ready for any kind of incursion. And it’s clear that the element of surprise, so vital to the success of this mission, has somehow been lost. All Fleming and his shipmates can do now is look on in horror while the failing military operation plays out in front of them.

As the sun rises, Fleming sees the extent of the carnage at Dieppe. It’s a killing field, and the sand is already littered with the fallen.

The sky lights up with gunfire, as British aircraft join the fight, trying to give cover to the outnumbered men on the beach. But German planes quickly respond and the Allied soldiers below are once again easy targets for an efficient German force expertly trained to defend against any invaders.

The air attack escalates. Fleming is assaulted by the acrid of gunpowder and the smoke rising from damaged ships. The deafening boom of anti-aircraft guns continues to fill the air, but it's clear that Britain and Canada's air forces can't provide the cover their soldiers need.

Then as shells begin to strike the HMS Fernie, Fleming and his peers have little choice but to around and head for home while they still can.

The failed mission will have a profound effect on Ian Fleming, who will go on to use it and other wartime experiences to create one of the most popular franchises of all time: James Bond. Fleming will even set the eponymous Casino Royale of his first novel just north of Dieppe. For him and all who witnessed it, the raid on Dieppe will be unforgettable.

The bloodshed that results from the failure of ‘Operation Jubilee’ will see it dubbed one of the most disastrous missions of the entire Second World War. Over half of the men involved will be killed, wounded, or captured. And as those lucky enough to survive return home, the disheartening extent of their losses will be downplayed to maintain morale. But the truth of the tragedy won’t stay hidden for long, and eventually, it will become clear the size of the sacrifice made by the men who set off to capture Dieppe on August 18th, 1942.

Introduction

From Noiser and Airship, I’m Lindsay Graham and this is History Daily.

History is made every day. On this podcast—every day—we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world.

Today is August 18th, 1942: The Disaster at Dieppe.

Act One: A Hunger for Combat

It’s August 23rd, 1941, at a Canadian military camp in Aldershot, England, one year before Allies will try to capture Dieppe.

Canadian Lieutenant General Harry Crerar stands in the pouring rain on an unseasonably cold and wet summer’s day. He watches as his soldiers put on a display of athletics, pushing past the damp and soggy conditions as they run around a track. Today is their day to show off.

Accompanying General Crerar is a legion of dignitaries he’s showing around the army base. Among them is Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King. As the officials leave the track, they head to an outdoor stage where Prime Minister King decides to make a speech in hopes of inspiring the troops. But his address doesn't go to plan.

In the crowd, General Crerar and his fellow Canadians listen as the Prime Minister espouses the importance of Canada’s mission to help defend Britain from the Nazis. The sentiment is appreciated, but as the speech drags on, so too does the rain, and some soldiers grow restless. Their impatience turns to anger as Prime Minister King makes it clear Canada will always have a say in when and where they fight, unintentionally hitting upon a current point of contention.

Despite being stationed in England since 1940, Canadian soldiers have seen little in the way of combat. The British are reluctant to use unseasoned soldiers from foreign lands in major missions, and the Canadian government wants to limit the amount of its soldiers put into harm's way trying to avoid hard conversations back home.

And while fighting featuring Allied forces is well underway in Northern Africa, the armies there are mostly made up of British, Australian, Indian, and South African troops. Meanwhile, 170,000 Canadian soldiers are waiting restlessly in England.

So far, only one mission to Norway has seen any Canadians utilized. With zero casualties reported, the mission is considered an overwhelming success, and the Canadian soldier's hunger for more action has grown. For over a year, the Canadian forces have been told that their job is to defend Britain from invasion, but a full-scale attack seems a distant possibility.

In the meantime, Canadian soldiers have had to make do with endless training for only small-scale amphibious raids. They are, as General Crerar has assumed, getting bored and agitated. For most, seeing action for the sake of combat isn’t the goal. They just want life to return to normal. And getting to fight means the opportunity to win and go home.

As Prime Minister King’s speech goes on, one soldier in the crowd expresses his frustration with a heckle. Then a boo rings out from the audience, followed by another, and another. A chorus of jeers and a cacophony of shouts soon drown out the Prime Minister, who chooses to cut his speech short.

General Crerar is alarmed by the reaction, but not completely surprised. In fact, he has something of a gleam in his eye as he considers what the uproar could mean. Once the Canadian Prime Minister leaves, General Crerar quickly calls for a meeting with one of the most senior officers in the British army, eager to leverage his soldiers’ display of discontent and to discuss how to get his troops into combat as soon as possible.

In the following spring, General Crerar and his men will get their wish. Summoned to the offices of a British commander, Crerar is presented with a plan for a raid on an unidentified port somewhere in France. The details are light but the British officer tells him, there’s space for his division if he wants in.

This is the moment General Crerar has waited for. So, he replies in the affirmative with a short and sweet: ‘You bet.’

General Crerar has no idea that he signed on to participate in a disaster. As the months that follow are taken over with meetings and plans for the raid, the wheels will be in motion for the war’s largest amphibious attack on Europe so far – an assault that will take thousands of Canadians to Dieppe on a mission few will return from.

Act Two: Blue Beach

It’s late at night on August 18th, 1942, off the south coast of England.

Under the cover of darkness, 237 ships make their way across the English Channel, bound for the Normandy Coast. On board are over 6,000 men, 5,000 of whom are Canadian. Out on deck, the night is black as coal.

As midnight passes and the fleet draws closer to France’s shores, Nelson Longeuay is served a very early breakfast aboard the Queen Emma. But he struggles to keep the food down as he thinks about the battle that lays ahead.

Part of the twenty-four gunners that make up the Royal Regiment of Canada’s C Company, Nelson has just been informed of today’s mission. He and his men are to help capture German anti-aircraft guns at Dieppe as part of a larger assault on the Nazi-occupied town. The plan is to envelop Dieppe’s port with flanking attacks, eliminating German defenses before landing, and paving the way for troops to hit the beaches. As long as the element of surprise is maintained, Nelson's superiors maintain there is a good chance of success.

It’s the first time Nelson’s been told what they’re doing and where they’re going. The scale of the raid is intimidating. But with the French coast quickly coming into view, there’s no going back now.

After finishing his rations, Nelson climbs into one of the landing crafts circling the Queen Emma. There, he’s told he and his men will be in the attack’s second wave, following behind the regiment’s A & B Companies. The boats begin their covert journey to Dieppe, eager to catch their enemy by surprise, but reports come in that a small German convoy has been sighted. Wanting to take care of the issue quickly and quietly, Allied forces send a small number of ships to engage. But, though the skirmish is small, the noise it creates has disastrous results.

On shore, a Nazi commander interprets the clash as routine but orders his men to be on high alert. He also decides an anti-raid drill isn’t a bad idea. Though the Nazis still don’t anticipate a major assault, now every German in Dieppe has taken up battle stations and are unwittingly awaiting the Allied forces. This cataclysmic stroke of bad luck for the Allies means the beach they plan to land on will be a death trap, even if the timings of the landings are spot on.

But even then the timings aren’t. Ships that were ahead of schedule by one minute, follow the wrong vessels and find themselves behind time. Boats that need to be perfectly synchronized are scattered by the earlier skirmish with the German convoy. And while some battalions have alternative beaches to land on should things go wrong, those in the Canadian companies do not.

So, at 4:40 AM, Nelson, two miles offshore from Dieppe, sees red flares streaming down from the German positions on the cliffs in front of him. With the Germans aware of the approach, Nelson wonders what they’re heading into. But the attack isn’t called off.

Nelson watches in horror as the first wave of landing crafts hit the beach and are immediately met by a wall of bullets. Then as the cover of darkness yields to the breaking of dawn, the Allied forces are made easy targets for the snipers and machine guns' nest posted and waiting on the cliffs. The surf turns red as the A & B Company are torn apart. It’s clear the mission has already failed, but no one is calling off the attack. 

At 5.30 AM, in full daylight, Nelson’s landing craft is sent in. They’re struck immediately and Nelson watches, helpless, as his own company is felled. One of the last to leave the vessel, Nelson is forced to climb over his fallen friends, men he’s lived with for the past two and half years, as he jumps out and scrambles toward land.

On the beach, he grabs an abandoned weapon and fires, trying to prevent the Germans from setting up more artillery to bombard the coming boats. As he does, an evacuation boat approaches to collect the wounded. When a naval officer calls out for any stricken soldiers to make it to the boat, Nelson is shocked to see dozens of men he thought were dead, spring up and make a run for it. Horrified, Nelson watches as these men are all gunned down by German soldiers the moment they try to make their escape.

Just three deadly hours after Nelson’s boat hit the already bloody shoreline, the Allies will raise a white flag. Of the landing force of approximately 5,000 men, more than 1,000 will be killed and 1,900 will be captured by the morning’s end. Due to everything from human error to over-complicated plans to poor intelligence, to bad luck, Operation Jubilee will be a failure. But that will be only one part of the story of Dieppe, where even with all hope of victory lost, there will still be time for acts of heroism.

Act Three: The Chaplain

It’s August 19th, 1942.

The Allies’ battle for Dieppe has already been lost, but the ground surrounding their forces is still under fire. Bullets and shells continue to rain down from all corners of the seafront.

In the beach’s shallow water, Canadian chaplain John Weir Foote helps to tend to the injured at an aid station. As the Regimental Chaplain, John always saw his job as being with the troops. He preached seldom, knowing there is only so much formal religion his companions could take. But even at the age of thirty-eight, he took part in all the arduous tasks of his fellow soldiers. In almost every way he is one of them, and now, as they lay dying, a strong sense of duty takes over John. The men losing their lives all around him have been part of his life for the past three years. But one by one he’s had to watch as they get picked off by snipers and ripped apart by mortar fire.

While some soldiers around him stand still or play dead, John does neither. Without even a weapon to defend himself, he steps out from his shelter to grab men from the battlefield and drag them back to the Regimental Aid Post. He delivers morphine to those in tremendous pain; he dresses the wounds of those injured; and he gives solace to the dying, even as battle rages on around them.

When evacuation boats finally come to collect as many men as possible, they tell John to board, but he refuses. There are still other men to look after. And when the final surrender is given and the last boat is ready to disembark, John again turns down the chance to go back to the safety of England. He climbs down from the landing craft and walks straight into the German position to remain with his men in captivity, until his release by Allied soldiers on May 5th, 1945.

While the Germans will lose 311 men, over 900 Canadian, 275 British, and several American soldiers will be killed, with thousands more injured. The failed raid on Dieppe will be a costly blow to the Allies. But they will recover from it. Using lessons learned from their mistakes at Dieppe, they ensure success when they storm the beaches of Normandy less than two years later, on D-Day. But despite their reversal of fortune, there will be no forgetting the tragedy that was set in motion when Allied soldiers left for the sands of Dieppe on August 18th, 1942.

Outro

Next on History Daily. August 21st, 1911. An Italian handyman steals Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa from the Louvre, turning what was once a little-known painting into one of the most famous artworks in the world.

From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily, hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham.

Audio editing by Muhammed Shahzaib.

Sound design by Mollie Baack.

Music by Lindsay Graham.

This episode is written and researched by Owen Paul Nicholls.

Executive Producers are Alexandra Currie-Buckner for Airship, and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.