Dieppe 1942
The Jubilee Disaster
by Ronald Atkin
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Pub Date Apr 21 2016 | Archive Date Aug 22 2017
Description
In the summer of 1942 the war was almost at the end of its third year and the position of the Allies was desperate, both in Europe and on the Middle and Far Eastern fronts. The hard-pressed Russians were urging Winston Churchill to open a Second Front, about which he was understandably cool. Eventually it was decided to mount a “reconnaissance in force” against the French coast and at dawn on 19 August five thousand soldiers, mainly Canadians, were landed at and around Dieppe. The venture was doomed from the outset as en route the raiding force blundered into a German convoy heading for the same destination, alerting the port’s defenders. What followed was nine hours of carnage. Ronald Atkin has pieced together the full story of that day from all sides and the result is a masterly account of one of the most extraordinary – and tragic – episodes of the Second World War.
Advance Praise
“Vivid with eye-witness accounts, probing sensibly and impartially into the claims, confusions and recriminations, this book is a model of its kind.” – The Observer
“Well researched and very readable...Mr Atkin is of the Cornelius Ryan school of historian, bringing his canvas to life by innumerable interviews with participators.” – Daily Telegraph
“A Fleet Street journalist, Mr Atkin has scrupulously avoided the temptations of his craft. He is neither vulgarly dramatic nor breezily speculative but simply offers, within a sensible framework of fact, a litany of the lost and the lucky who lived... a plain tale, blood-drenched by survivors’ memories.” – The Times
“A thoroughly researched piece of work with a keen eye for the human and humorous aspects.” – Birmingham Post
“A starkly evocative picture of a landmark of carnage which was later described as ‘one of the great failures of history’” – Daily Mail
“Ronald Atkin is a journalist whose book is in the best tradition of his profession: the telling use of official and regimental papers and the inclusion of information from survivors of the landing combine to make this an exciting and readable history of the operation.” – British Book News
“A mature assessment of the strategic issues involved....the reader is left in no doubt about both the cost and the value of this day-trip.” – The Bookseller
Available Editions
| EDITION | Paperback |
| ISBN | 9781910670521 |
| PRICE | $16.99 (USD) |
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Featured Reviews
John P, Media/Journalist
The Dieppe Raid of 19 August 1942 (Operation Jubilee), when two brigades of 2 Canadian Light Infantry Division and three British commando units landed near the French town, was designed not only to harass the Germans but also to relieve demands for a Second Front and investigate how difficult it would be to capture a Channel port. The answer was literally bloody difficult.
Poor intelligence, strong defences, and inadequate naval and air support meant that the operation was a fiasco, costing 3,367 Canadians killed, wounded or captured from the 4,963 who took part, together with 825 British casualties and the loss of 106 aircraft, a destroyer and 33 landing craft. The Germans, by contrast, lost 48 planes and suffered just 591 ground casualties.
This is the story told graphically by Ronald Atkin in ‘Dieppe 1942. The Jubillee Disaster’, first published in 1980 and now reprinted. He offers a very readable account of the operation’s origins and course, and of the lessons which both sides attempted to draw from it.
Although Atkin refers to Beaverbrook’s blaming Mountbatten (the Chief of Combined Operations) for the butchery, he is far too willing to take Mountbatten’s self-defence at face value, and thus this book really needs to be supplemented by reference to B. L. Villa’s 1989 book ‘Unauthorized Action: Mountbatten and the Dieppe Raid’.
PETER C, Reviewer
A well researched and fascinating book. To be honest, even though I am a military historian, I had very little prior knowledge of this disastrous event, The author was able to give a very detailed and exciting account of the action from both the Allied and German perspectives.
The events that took place were extremely badly planned by the British and Canadian High Command. The senior officers somehow escaped official retribution. The vignettes of the actions of the individual servicemen on the ground were extremely graphic and shocking. There were many acts of extraordinary bravery, as well as understandably, apparent cowardice. The author captures these individual stories very well, bringing the reader onto the front line of the action.
The author succinctly captures one of the only redeeming feature of the raid, the aspect of lessons learned for the Normandy invasion in July 1944. It is impossible to calculate the many thousands of lives that were saved in Normandy by more detailed planning, better equipment, specialist training, overwhelming resources and the use of heavy naval guns.
Ronald Atkin, also highlights the incredible compassion shown by the German troops in attending to the horrific injuries suffered by the Allies.
Without a doubt this is one of the best military history books I have read recently. In my opinion, the author ranks with Antony Beevor.
Neal F, Reviewer
Very interesting and well-written, covering the buildup, landings and aftermath from both sides. Lots of very relevant quotes from many participants help bring the events to life. My only criticism is a shortage of maps and photos to help properly visualise the operation across each of the landing zones - even photos of present-day Dieppe would help illustrate the geography of the town and beaches.
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