They felt that a large raid on the coast of France, however, could force the Germans to divert more of their military resources away from the Soviet Union and also help in the planning for the full-scale Allied assault that would eventually have to take place.Ĭanadian soldiers had been training since the outset of the war in 1939 and, except for the Battle of Hong Kong, had yet to see significant action. The Allies, however, needed more time to build up their military resources before undertaking such a massive effort. The Soviet Union was pressuring the Allied forces to open a second front in Western Europe. Many factors contributed to the decision to mount a large raid into occupied Europe in 1942. It truly was on its way to becoming “Fortress Europe.” Why Raid Dieppe? The continent’s west coast was studded with enemy troops, machine guns, artillery, barbed wire, concrete pillboxes and offshore obstacles. The British Isles were the only Allied holdout after the Germans had invaded and occupied much of Western Europe in 1940. "Fortress Europe"īy the summer of 1942, the Second World War had been raging for almost three years and things looked grim Nazi Germany had pushed east deep into the Soviet Union, enemy forces were advancing in North Africa and u-boats were making the Atlantic a deadly place for Allied shipping. The Dieppe Raid during the Second World War was one of the darkest chapters in our country’s military history but it was also marked by great courage and helped lead to important lessons being learned. Canada’s experiences in times of war have been marked by great triumphs but also by harsh setbacks.
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