'For eight hours, under intense Nazi fire from dawn into a sweltering afternoon, I watched Canadian troops fight the blazing, bloody battle of Dieppe. I saw them go through the biggest of the war's raiding operations in wild scenes that crowded helter skelter one upon another in crazy sequence. There was a furious attack by German E-boats while the Canadians moved in on Dieppe's beaches, landing by dawn's half-light. When the Canadian battalions stormed through the flashing inferno of Nazi defences, belching guns of huge tanks rolling into the fight, I spent the grimmest 20 minutes of my life with one unit when a rain of German machine-gun fire wounded half the men in our boat and only a miracle saved us from annihilation.' Ross Munro of The Canadian Press, 'I was gone off the tank landing craft and had the job of plugging the plug to blow the waterproofing around the turret of the tank ; this really stunned me for a few seconds, then the dive bomber, bombing and the flames coming through the slits and burning my eyelashes, after this happened I did not have any fear and I felt sure ; they could not damage, so I keep going the best way I could.' Andy Nyman, 'Disembarked in dreadful conditions on the beach in Puys, I went through the most dramatic part of this day. Within two or three hours, the Royal Regiment of Toronto suffered the greatest loss of men among all the Jubilee units (of the 554 men disembarked, 225 were killed, 147 were wounded and 280 were taken prisoner). Only 64 men managed coming back to England.' Joseph Ryan,
The Dieppe Bar is awarded to those who participated in the Dieppe Raid on August 19, 1942, and is worn on the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal ribbon. A silver bar, to be attached to the ribbon of the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal (CVSM), has been designed featuring the word DIEPPE in raised letters on a pebbled background. Above this, the bar bears an anchor surmounted by an eagle and a Thompson sub-machine gun. The design was created in consultation with the Dieppe Veterans and Prisoners of War Association. 'The second wave of landing crafts bringing the other half of the armour of the Calgary Regiment was not able to land its tanks. The situation ashore, as it was possible to see it from the landing crafts coming close to the beach seemed dramatic. Boats on fire, the beach full of dead soldiers, the intense German fire, the whole thing wrapped in a thick smoke, let foresee the disaster .' Ron Gervais, 'I landed between the casino and the cliffs. I landed first passing behind a burning landing craft tank. I sent walking wounded to boats to be evacuated. I had to surrender with 75-80 wounded when the tide came in. Padre John Foote was with me, till we surrendered. We were both taken to German headquarters and were no doubt the first officers to be interrogated.' Wesley Clare, 'I belonged to Lord Lovat's troop. We attacked the German battery in the rear, over the wire under fire. I blew up N° 3 and N° 4 guns. I was a demolition man carrying 85lb of explosive. I was glad to see the explosives gone. We withdrew down the gully and sailed for Blighty.' Bill Portman,
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