BURLINGTON, Ontario, March 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Earlier this month the Juno Beach Centre (JBC), Canada’s Second World War museum and memorial in Normandy, France, launched the temporary exhibition From Dieppe to Juno: The 80th Anniversary of the Dieppe Raid. The exhibition, produced in partnership with the War Heritage Institute (WHI) in Brussels, Belgium and sponsored by Seaspan Shipyards, runs until December 31st, 2023 in Courseulles-sur-Mer, France.
From Dieppe to Juno features a diverse array of artifacts and personal testimonies from people who participated in or were impacted by the raid. Visitors will be thrust into the tense context of 1942, the height of the Nazi regime’s powerful grip over Europe.
From Dieppe to Juno features a total of 70 artifacts. Casualties were so high in the Dieppe Raid that artifacts are difficult to secure. “The objects we did find are quite powerful and reveal the significance of the raid,” said Marie Eve Vaillancourt, the Juno Beach Centre’s Director of Exhibitions. “Each of them is a true treasure,” she continues. “They will help the JBC tell the story of the Dieppe Raid through the individuals who experienced the raid and whose artifacts we will be showcasing. Their presence in France will help visitors understand the legacy of the Dieppe Raid and keep its memory alive for future generations.”
Eighteen of the artifacts came from Canadian loaners, either from Canadian museums or family collections. Captain Laurence Guy Alexander was a medical officer with the Calgary Regiment, the unit that provided tank support on the main beaches at Dieppe. Rob Alexander, the grandson of “Doc” Alexander, says, “My family is thrilled to have these artifacts in France as part of the exhibit. The significance to us,” he continues,” is that they help to mark or highlight who my grandfather was, what was important to him and the role he played during the Second World War.”
Doc Alexander loved the poetry of Robert Service. He used the wooden box, obtained in Germany near the end of the war, during the rest of his career in Calgary to hold medical supplies. The two little books of Robert Service’s poetry, meanwhile, were constant companions during the war. He carried them with him everywhere and would read them often, even though he knew them by heart.
“Having these artifacts on display in France helps others to connect with him and understand his role and what he felt was important,” Rob says. “The artifacts are a part of my grandfather’s story. They were important to him, and they tell me, quite literally, that he existed and that he mattered. He died shortly before I was born, so all I have of him are his some of his belongings and the stories.”
The Dieppe Raid was the Canadian Army’s first major combat against Germany during the Second World War. It was planned as a one-day operation conducted primarily by Canadian troops on August 19th, 1942, with land, air and naval support from British and American troops. Its official objective remains shrouded in mystery and is the subject of widespread mythology and controversy.
Within fewer than 10 hours of fighting, two-thirds of a force of 4,963 Canadians was wounded, captured or killed. A total of over 900 Canadian soldiers were killed in action or died of wounds, almost 600 of whom remain buried in the Dieppe Canadian War Cemetery in Hautot-sur-Mer, France.
The legacy of the Dieppe Raid extends beyond borders and time. In re-telling the story, From Dieppe to Juno explores the impacts of that legacy through the diverse experiences of witnesses from all walks of life.
The Dieppe Raid remains one of the most identifiable events in Canadian Second World War history, so much so that for many decades it occupied a greater place in the collective memory of Canadians than the Normandy landings of D-Day in 1944. It was not until recent years that the events at Juno Beach have caught up with Dieppe in Canadian memory. This new exhibition explores how the mythology linking the horror at Dieppe to the success of the Canadians on D-Day has evolved over time.
Long remembered as a tragic failure, the story of Dieppe is as complex as it is nuanced. It has been intensely studied by historians in the decades since, and continues to be debated amongst scholars and hobbyists alike. For visitors learning about the topic for the first time, From Dieppe to Juno provides an accessible, factual overview of the planning, the raid itself, and its aftermath. For more knowledgeable visitors, the exhibition will also delve into facets of the raid not often explored.
ABOUT THE JUNO BEACH CENTRE
The Juno Beach Centre was established in 2003 as a permanent memorial to all Canadians who were part of the Allied victory in the Second World War, and to preserve this legacy for future generations through education. The Centre in Normandy, France, pays homage to the nearly 45,000 Canadians who died during the war, of which 5,500 were killed during the Battle of Normandy and 381 on D-Day. Almost 20 years and more than 1 million visitors later, the Centre has been designated a site of national historic significance to Canada. It is owned and operated by the Juno Beach Centre Association, a registered charitable organization based in Burlington, ON, Canada.
ABOUT THE WAR HERITAGE INSTITUTE
The War Heritage Institute (WHI) is the Belgian scientific federal institution tasked with the preservation and public accessibility of military heritage. As such the WHI manages and conserves a number of important historical military collections from the Middle Ages to the Cold War. These collections are presented to the public in the six WHI sites: the Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and of Military History in Jubilee Park in Brussels, the National Memorial of Fort Breendonk, Bastogne Barracks, the Trench of Death in Dixmude, the Kemmelberg command bunker and Gunfire in Brasschaat.
ABOUT SEASPAN SHIPYARDS
Seaspan Shipyards is proud to be Canada’s long-term, strategic shipbuilding partner for the Canadian Coast Guard and Royal Canadian Navy under the NSS. The NSS is a nation-building effort to create a sustainable Canadian shipbuilding industry, secure long-term job opportunities and build the next generation of ships for the Canadian Coast Guard and Royal Canadian Navy. Through its NSS–related work, Seaspan Shipyards is leading the redevelopment of our domestic shipbuilding industry on the West Coast and delivering on the promise of ships built in Canada, by Canadians.
Fast Facts: The Dieppe Raid
- The Dieppe Raid occurred on Wednesday, August 19, 1942.
- Originally planned as Operation Rutter, the Dieppe Raid took place as Operation Jubilee.
- Operation Rutter was cancelled in early July 1942 due to poor weather and a German airstrike on the raiding convoy.
- Lord Louis Mountbatten, Chief of Combined Operations, revived the raid with the support of the Royal Air Force and the Canadian Army.
- The 2nd Canadian Infantry Division and attached 14th Canadian Army Tank Regiment (the Calgary Regiment) provided 4,963 out of the 6,090 troops involved in the raid.
- The Calgary Regiment crewed 58 Churchill tanks in support of the operation but just 27 made it to shore (2 drowned on the run in to the beach). A dozen of these tanks never got off the beach, including as many as 7 which were disabled by the chert stones on the beach. All 29 tanks that attempted to land were lost.
- The Royal Navy assembled a force of 253 warships and landing vessels to support the operation.
- The Allies committed some 1,190 aircraft to the operation and were opposed by 313 German planes. This made the Dieppe Raid one of the largest single-day air battles of the war.
- Fifty US Army Rangers participated in the Dieppe Raid; the first time American ground forces engaged German troops in the Second World War. The United States Army Air Force also contributed approximately 150 aircraft and crews.
- Although Canadians comprised the bulk of the raiding force, British, American, Polish, Belgian, Norwegian, Czech, New Zealand, and Free French forces also participated. Most of these contributions were made at sea or in the air.
- In nine hours of fighting, the Canadian force suffered over 800 killed, with two-thirds of the force dead, wounded, or captured.
- Total Canadian Army casualties were 3,367, with 907 dead (including those who died of wounds and as prisoners of war) and 1,946 captured.
- The Calgary Regiment committed 417 troops to the Dieppe Raid. Of these 174 became casualties, including 13 killed, 4 wounded, and 157 captured (many of whom were also wounded).
- Casualty rates during the Dieppe Raid outpaced those on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, commonly understood as the bloodiest day in British military history.
- Reasons put forward for the Dieppe Raid include: a dress rehearsal for D-Day and appeasing the Soviet Union and United States in place of beginning the “Second Front” in 1942.
- New evidence suggests that the Dieppe Raid had a covert objective: to capture a German Enigma machine and codebooks to assist British cryptanalysts in breaking German cyphers.
- The Dieppe Raid failed to gather this intelligence but the British broke German cyphers in November 1942 after capturing these materials from a German U-boat.
- The overarching purpose of the Dieppe Raid, including the importance placed on “pinching” an Enigma machine and codebooks at Dieppe, continues to be debated by historians.
