Dieppe: the Valour and the Horror

Dieppe: the Valour and the Horror

When examined closely, the Dieppe raid can be seen for what it truly was- a politically
motivated disaster which, due to poor planning and over zealous British leadership,
sacrificed needlessly the lives of Canadians for no practical reason at all.   In reality, the
Canadians who died at Dieppe had no real chance at victory and the British high command
knew it, but preferred to martyr the men, rather than look bad in the eyes of their Russian
and American allies.   As such, Dieppe should not be seen as a dress rehearsal for D-Day,
but rather as a tragic comedy of errors which led to the annihilation of over 900 Canadian
soldiers.
The raid itself was primarily a British venture.   In 1942 things were still going
poorly for the allies.   The British were retreating in Africa and Burma, and the Americans
were trying to stop the advance of the Japanese in the Pacific.   At this time, the Germans
were also pushing the Russians back to Moscow and Stalingrad (Steubing, 2).   As such,
the high commands of the Russians and Americans believed that something needed to be
done, and soon.   Molotov, the Russian foreign minister had visited Britain before the
original planning for the Dieppe raid, and had suggested that if a second front were not
opened, Russia may be forced to surrender.   This would have been a disaster for the
British, as it would have freed up the entire German, Romanian, Italian, Bulgarian, and
Hungarian armies to fight in Africa and even the Middle East and India, and would have
allowed the Germans to put more attention into an invasion of Britain (Steubing, 3).  
There was also pressure from the Americans to make the raid.   The Americans had
originally planned for a second front to be created by the British, which would then be
supported by newly created American divisions.   The British knew that with their army
fighting in Africa and Burma they had nowhere near the strength to create a new front, but
wanted to satisfy their new ally, so...