During World War II, a disastrous Allied attack on August 19, 1942 took place on the beaches of Dieppe. The Dieppe Raid was a complete failure and cost the Canadians dearly. It was not worth the knowledge that came from the raid. The raid itself was supposed to test German defences and take pressure off Russia, which were fighting the Germans on the Eastern Front. The results were disastrous as there were thousands of casualties and over a thousand died. The Dieppe Raid shouldn't have taken place because the soldiers had inadequate training, there was insufficient fire support and it was very poorly planned out.
Canadian troops who were to participate in the Dieppe Raid were to begin there training on the Isle of Wight. Training was needed because the soldiers did not have battle experience as they were in Britain for two and a half years. Canadian Troops such as the Second Infantry Division reported on the training ground and prepared a few months before the raid itself. By July the soldiers were ready to participate in the raid (code-named Operation Rutter) but due to unfavourable weather conditions and attacks on the invasion convoys by Germans the raid was cancelled (1). However, the Dieppe Raid was revived under the new code name, Operation Jubilee. Soldiers were unaware of this and so they thought the raid was cancelled. The result was a month of inactivity and time to get out of shape. Even the training given before would turn out to be useless, as the skills taught would quickly be forgotten. .
Each regiment was assigned a beach (given by colour code-names) and a mission or objective to be accomplished by the end of their assault. The main strategy for most of the troops were to have foot-solders trample down the shorelines of the beach and have tanks give them fire support as the Germans reveal their location. "The lesson of greatest importance is the need for overwhelming fire support , including close support, during the initial stage of attack.
