Operation Jubilee | royal-hamilton

Operation Jubilee - Personal Excerpts and images! August 19, 1942

Operation Jubilee was the first official raid against the Third Reich (Germany) during World War 2. After Germany failed to crush Britain's resolve during The Battle of Britain in 1940, Germany turned their attention on their Eastern Ally, Russia. Germany was allied with Russia, but they invaded Russia during Operation Barbarossa in 1941. Joseph Stalin of Russia urged Britain to attack Germany. Without proper organization, Britain chose the Canadian 2nd Division to commence the first attack on Dieppe, a coastal city in France, which was currently occupied by Germany. Below are personal excerpts from the tragedy that was Dieppe.

D-Company. Fred Woodcock.

"When we were within range, I said 'Koremblum, take the Bren.' He went forward and fired a clip at the flashes on the cliff to the right. Then just before we landed, the guns from the destroyers switched from the Casino to the headland. It was timed perfectly, and then the Hurricanes came in and plastered the Hell out of everything. Then we were hit. The Bangalore torpedoes exploded among the toggle ropes and grappling irons, I only remember the sound, because I was blinded. The boat filled with water and I was soon up to my neck. I couldn't hear at all after that for a long while, but later there were faraway noises as if I were listening to something over a very poor connection on a long distance phone call. It seemed that my limbs wouldn’t move. I wanted to brush the blood from my eyes, and I couldn't. Then, a long time later, I would feel something touching my face and I realized that it was my hand."

Note: Fred Woodcock, and Korenblum were the only survivors of the 17 Platoon D-Company.

Private E. Merrell, A Bren gunner in 16 platoon.

"We landed on the beach but could go no further because the mortar fire and machine gun fire was so intense and accurate. We could see the enemy on the cliff in front of us but could not seem to touch him. Then a mortar bomb dropped and many of the boys were badly hit. Private Pringle, although badly hit in the face, went on firing. Corporal Comfort went to help him and was wounded in the legs doing so. He still carried on, and was again hit. This man did some wonderful work and looked after the wounded even though he had to drag himself around. I moved to the cover of one of the assault landing crafts, and I had the Bren gun blown out of my hands and was hit in the hands and face with shrapnel. We had to keep on moving as the snipers only missed once with any of their weapons. Their mortar fire was very accurate. Private Fenner of the Regimental Aid Post was behind the ALC and although badly hit kept on his job. Private Cornelius was badly hit in the face when the Bren magazine was hit and exploded in his face. We fixed him up and then a sniper got him through the heart. We then moved to the tank Landing Craft under of smoke canister."

Lance Corporal P. Sandy, 12 Platoon.

"Just in front of us was a row of barbed wire. Lietuenant Webster, and Corporal Cox blew a gap in this and we ran ashore in a straight line with the left hand side of the Casino. Not more than ten feet to our right was a pillbox full of enemy… Corporal Wilkinson and Sergeant Walker were closest to the pillbox and they each dropped 36 grenades which temporarily stopped the fire from this point. Just beyond the pillboxes, against the casino, near the corner, was a round barricade or pillbox of sandbags. There was no roof over it. By this time at least seven of the boys were either dead or dying. I made a dive into the sandbag position where Lieutenant Webster, privates Wheeler, and Addis and about six more men were. Lieutenant Webster’s legs were badly shot up form shrapnel. Private Wheeler had got the fingers of his left hand shot off while aiming a Bren. Private Addis had a wound near the left eye. Private Minnet had a wound on the left side of his Mouth."

Private Jim Telfer of C. Company,. Helping a German officers wound.

"I slapped a field dressing on him, propped him up against the wall and kept on going into a big room to the right of the west hallway. Bullets were ricocheting all over the place, making one hell of a racket. There was a pile of sandbags in one corner of the room facing the beach. Just then Eddie Boles yelled ‘grenade’ and a potato-masher came tumbling out from behind the bags. The ceiling came down, but by the time I got up, Eddie and a couple of others had finished the job."

Lucien Dumais

"The wounded and dead lay scattered on the beach. Some of the wounded were trying to swim out to the boats, many were bleeding heavily, reddening the water around them… Mortar bombs are bursting on the shingle and making little clouds which seem to punctuate the deafening dim."

LABATT, Robert Ridley, Lieutenant-Colonel

Colonel Robert Ridley's surrender of the Canadian forces at Dieppe.

"I quickly made the most unpleasant decision of my life. I warned the nearby tanks to cease fire and set out a captured German airman with a white towel. Never before have I seen such a pleased expression come over a man's face. He had an exhilarating day. Firing died down, mortar shells ceased to fall, 30-40 Germans leaped up on the sea wall and covered us with Tommy Guns, light machine guns and rifles. We stood up. Then occurred an incident which disgusted me. Five or six or the Germans threw stick grenades amongst us. We came forward with our hands behind our heads and were throughly searched. Personal property was immediately returned to us (except for Bill Southam's camera, no private property was reported to me as stolen) which speaks well for the discipline of the German troops. Tin hats and of course all weapons were removed.

We filed through the wire onto the esplanade and joined others already there. Here the officers were separated from the men and sent back to the beach to help with the wounded. From first to last, the German treatment of our wounded was excellent. As we moved towards the water, a flight of Spitfires and Hurricanes roared in, as if to attack us. Fortunately it swung right and, to my undying delight, blasted to pieces everything on West Clifff. It was late but lovely. I looked at my watch, it was exactly 1500 hours."

Corporal G.A. McDermott

"I saw three enemies, one of them had his rifle pointed my way. I left and worked my way close enough to throw a grenade. They didn’t seem afraid, and threw one back, hitting me on the right foot. I ran about 25 feet before it went off, knocking the rifle from my hand. I came back and threw another grenade. When I moved ahead this time, they had gone, leaving a pool of blood, a rifle, three grenades and two bayonets."

Private Arthur Liss of B-Company.

"Captain Hill led us over the courtyard and up to the Regina Hotel. Machine-gun fire was heavy and I even saw the tracers passing in front of us. We went through the hotel to the cinema, and then up a narrow street. The sniping was bad. We couldn’t see the flash of the rifles and couldn’t locate them. Some women waved to us as we went by and one civilian was waving with one hand with a pistol in the other. We killed him with riddle fire. Near the church (of St. Remy) we ran into a group of enemy and CSM Stewert dispersed them with the Bren gun fired form his hip."

Hon LCol John Weir Foote, VC, CD

The London Gazzete describing his heroic actions.

Upon landing on the beach under heavy fire, he attached himself to the Regimental Aid Post which had been set up in a slight depression on the beach, but which was only sufficient to give cover to men lying down. During the subsequent period of approximately eight hours, while the action continued, this officer not only assisted the Regimental Medical Officer in ministering to the wounded in the Regimental Aid Post, but time and again left shelter to inject morphine, give first-aid and carry wounded personnel from the open beach to the Regimental Aid Post. On these occasions, with utter disregard for his personal safety, Honorary Captain Foote exposed himself to an inferno of fire and saved many lives by his gallant efforts.

During the action, as the tide went out, the Regimental Aid Post was moved to the shelter of a stranded landing craft. Honorary Captain Foote continued tirelessly and courageously to carry wounded men from the exposed beach to the cover of the landing craft. He also removed wounded from inside the landing craft when ammunition had been set on fire by enemy shells. When the landing craft appeared, he carried the wounded from the Regimental Aid Post to the landing craft through heavy fire. On several occasions ,this officer had the opportunity to embark but returned to the beach as his chief concern was the care and evacuation of the wounded. He refused a final opportunity to leave the shore, choosing to suffer the fate of the men he had ministered to for over three years.

Honorary Captain Foote personally saved many lives by his efforts and his example inspired all of those around him. Those who observed him state that the calmness of this heroic officer as he walked about, collecting the wounded on the

fire-swept beach, will never be forgotten.

Sources used

1. Brown, Kingsley. Semper Paratus: The history of the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry (Wentforth Regiment) 1862-1977. Hamilton: Brereton Greenhous, 1977.

2. Ford, Ken. Dieppe 1942: Prelude to D-Day. Osprey Pub Co, 2003.

3. The Royal Hamilton Light Infantry, "History." Last modified 03/23/2013. http://www.rhli.ca/historical/history-intro.html.

In Conclusion

Operation Jubilee was the first attempt to breach the Western European defenses. Unfortunately, the Dieppe raid was a failure and the lives sacrificed were Canadians. 5000 Canadians entered the shores of Dieppe, and 3,337 of them remained there. 179 RHLI soliders were killed, while 174 were taken prisoner, which included the commander of the RHLI Colonel Labatt. Only 214 RHLI soliders made it back to England to fight another day. It wouldn't be until 1944 that the RHLI would again walk on the shores of France.

Dieppe Documentary

Images of Operation Jubilee

1/16