Disaster at Dieppe

On August 19 1942 5000 Canadian 1000 British 50 American and 24 French troops attacked Dieppe France. This was Operation Jubilee World War II's first large amphibious operation. The Allies had hundreds of vessels Churchill tanks Commandos Spitfires Hurricanes P-51 Mustangs B-17s Typhoons etc. They expected an easy win. However they met S-boats determined German troops and hundreds of Luftwaffe aircraft including superb FW-190s Stukas Me-109s Ju-88s Do-217s and He-111s flak and artillery. The sky flooded with aircraft making it the Western Front's biggest air battle. Germany's pilots were superb. Though outnumbered they shot down over 100 Allied aircraft. In hours the landing Canadians had a massive defeat losing five out of six men and all their tanks. But the lessons learned at Dieppe saved 10 times as many lives at Normandy on D-Day June 6 1944. Disaster at Dieppe is a well-illustrated fast read. 167 pages 9 x 6 66 photos and maps.