WW2: The Dieppe Raid Disaster
Warfare
History Hit
4.5 • 943 Ratings
🗓️ 19 August 2022
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
80 years ago today on 19 August 1942, a 6,000 strong combined Allied landing force took part in a raid on Dieppe, Northern France.
Tragically, no less than 67% of these fighters - most of them Canadians - became casualties in what has gone down in history as an unmitigated catastrophe conceived chiefly by Lord Mountbatten.
In this episode to mark the Dieppe Raid's 80th anniversary, James is joined by David O'Keefe who has uncovered declassified material proving how the disastrous raid concealed a secret pinch mission to steal one of the Nazis' Enigma code machines.
David's book One Day in August: Ian Fleming, Enigma, and the Deadly Raid on Dieppe is available here.
Edited by Aidan Lonergan.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Today marks 80 years since the Allied raid on the German occupied French port of Diep. |
| 0:05.6 | Canadians made up the great majority of Allied forces involved. |
| 0:08.8 | Nearly 5,000 of the 6,100 troops were Canadians. The remaining troops consisted of approximately 1,000 |
| 0:16.0 | British Commandos and 50 American Rangers, and they were all supported by eight Allied |
| 0:20.9 | destroyers and 74 Allied Air Squadrons. |
| 0:24.0 | And actually those Americans who were attached to the Canadians and the British |
| 0:28.0 | were the first of any American troops who would see ground combat in Europe and their first experience will be to witness the disaster at Deere. |
| 0:38.0 | I'm your host James Rogers and with all this in mind I asked an old friend of the |
| 0:42.1 | podcast Canadian military historian, |
| 0:44.4 | television presenter, writer, and veteran of the Royal Highland Regiment, Professor |
| 0:48.9 | David O'Keefe, onto the podcast. David is not only an old friend of the Warfare Pod but his |
| 0:54.9 | perspectives help us cast light on Canadian actions at Diat and the secret |
| 0:59.5 | reason why it all took place. Now if you are passionate about Second World War history |
| 1:04.4 | then you can now watch my latest documentary on the incredible history of |
| 1:08.1 | HMS Belfast, one of the world's most iconic ships which is now free to access on the history hit |
| 1:14.0 | YouTube channel and of course while you're clicking through the internet |
| 1:17.3 | spare a second to drop us a five-star review on Apple podcast Spotify or |
| 1:21.5 | wherever you get your podcast as it helps us to get out there to everyone who loves history |
| 1:26.0 | and keeps me and the team bringing you this podcast twice a week every week. |
| 1:30.0 | But now here is the ever fantastic David O'Keefe on Diep. |
| 1:34.6 | Enjoy. Hi David, welcome back to the Warfare Podcast. You are our resident Depp expert. How are you doing? |
| 1:57.0 | Well, thank you very much. Yes, I guess there aren't too many of us. So yeah, thanks for having me back. |
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