Dieppe Visit?

[peleliuexplorer]

Has anybody visited the coastal town? If so, is it worth visiting to see where the Canadians landed? Any pics?

Thanks, Eric

[FestungSpanien]

Hi Eric
I went there last year and there was nothing left except for a nice small museum, some memorial plaques and several bunkers.
In terms of normal sightseeing it is worth visiting as well.
Ace

[Kelly w]

Has anybody visited the coastal town? If so, is it worth visiting to see where the Canadians landed? Any pics?

Thanks, Eric

Oh my YES!!!. Still has machine gun & artillery cement bunkers overlooking cliffs etc.

I have 2 great pictures to show. And also this Dieppe town attack was not only invasion point. Other landing groups to the north and south of this stretching over 5 km long I think.

[Kelly w]

2 pictures. One from the WW2 history photos from 1942 and another I took in 2006 from same spot.

[pzrwest]

That was a sad day for the RRC's and the RHLI's. My good friends uncle Manly Maracle was captured in the raid, he was with the RHLI(Royal Hamilton Light Infantry). Manly said he was knocked out and when he came to he was staring into the muzzle of a k98 rifle, he remarked at that instant the muzzle looked as big as a cannon. Sadly Manly is no longer with us but with his departed comrads.

[tracman]

I would endorse the below quote as well: if you do some research into the battle (OPERATION RUTTER/JUBILEE), then visiting Dieppe is a very interesting experience, as the general landscape and topography have not changed much at all. Anyone with a moderate to good ability to visualize can easily follow the battle from his/her mind's eye when standing on the boardwalkl, or on the cliffs at either end of the town. It's quite easy, from the town, to climb up to the chateau overlooking the beach and town from the west to get a full view of the main landing areas, keeping in mind - of course - that the buildings on the boardwalk are all post-war.

If you have a car, two things worth visiting are the beach at Puys (Blue Beach), a few kilometers east of Dieppe itself, and the radar station turned museum at Varengeville immediately to the west of Dieppe. The former was where Canadian forces faced a completely intractable tactical problem with predictable, fatal, results: the latter is more interesting, as it is close to the Hess Battery, which Lord Lovat attacked with his Commandos and which was arguably the only successful Allied action that day. I can't speak to the museum directly, having last visited it over twenty years ago, but I recall it being very interesting then, and assuming it's still there, definitely worth a visit (in fact, being a poor student back then, I walked to it from Dieppe, so it's not that far away...).

Dieppe was not levelled, as happened to many other French cities where there was combat in WW2 (such as most towns and citiies in Lower Normandy), so the town retains its charm. It was a major tourism destination in the pre-war years for those in Paris looking for a day at the beach, and there is still a direct train line from the St. Lazare train station in Paris. Post-war developments have made other beaches and parts of France a lot more accessible, and so Dieppe is a bit of a backwater, which makes it all that more interesting for someone with interest in this operation to visit, as the visual queues are all there.

Oh my YES!!!. Still has machine gun & artillery cement bunkers overlooking cliffs etc.

I have 2 great pictures to show. And also this Dieppe town attack was not only invasion point. Other landing groups to the north and south of this stretching over 5 km long I think.

[peleliuexplorer]

Thanks for the report. Excellent before & after pictures and thanks for posting. Looks like a nice area to visit and I'm surprised that the pier is still intact! Very cool. How far inland did the Canadians advance from the beach here?

-Eric

[Kelly w]

Thanks for the report. Excellent before & after pictures and thanks for posting. Looks like a nice area to visit and I'm surprised that the pier is still intact! Very cool. How far inland did the Canadians advance from the beach here?

-Eric

Not very far if at all from what I remember reading. Most wiped out on the beach or taken prisoner. The other landing zones made it more inland.

PS the beach still has the hardball sized stones. Not covered over with sand for the tourists.

Glad you like the before and after photos. Just to the right of where I took the photo is a machine gun turret in cement type bunker.

Kelly