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 72 artifacts. Casualties were so high in the Dieppe Raid (Operation Jubilee) 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. Mike MacBeth, a collector in Uxbridge, Ontario, provided a very special artifact for the exhibition by way of the Canadian War Museum. At 1:40pm on August 19th, 1942 Major-General John H. Roberts, the land-force commander for Operation Jubilee, sent the following message by carrier pigeon to his superiors back in England: “Very heavy casualties in men and ships. Did everything possible to get men off but in order to get any home had to come to sad decision to abandon remainder. This was joint decision by Force Commanders. Obviously operation completely lacked surprise.”
Lieutenant-Colonel John D. Macbeth, the ranking Canadian signals officer on the raid, kept a copy of the pigeon service message that he signed off on in the immediate aftermath of the failed raid. Mike Macbeth, daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Macbeth, told the Juno Beach Centre that “seeing the pigeon book that notified the British War Department that Dieppe was a failure will remind people how difficult and tenuous sending messages was during WWII. Although four pigeons were dispatched, only one bird made it home. There was no other way to communicate for that particular raid.”
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 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.
- 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.
