RAIDING CRAFT INTERCEPTED

Southland Times, Issue 24829, 22 August 1942, Page 5

RAIDING CRAFT INTERCEPTED

BATTEKIES_WARNED LONDON, August 20. A special correspondent with the raiding forces who saw the attack from a tank barge off the town writes: “For eight hours I watched Canadian shock troops, squadrons of British tanks, naval vessels and an armada of Royal Air Force fighters battling in the daylight against concentrated German opposition. “A thousand to one chance caused some of the raiding craft to be intercepted by an enemy patrol just before they were due to land. The result was that not only were the commando vessels severely damaged by German fire from close-range, but the German coastal batteries were also warned and when the commandos landed on the beach they walked into a curtain of fire from everything the Germans could muster, including anti-aircraft batteries. Against this the commandos, who had needed some measure of surprise to succeed, spent themselves >in vain. The guns, the first vital objective of the raid, were never silenced, despite the greatest efforts and sacrifices of the attackers. This initial failure was a setback, which was felt throughout the whole of the operations and was partly responsible for later difficulties. “To land and stay nine- hours was a brilliant feat, but a demonstration of even greater might was given by the Navy and the Royal Air Force, who mastered the sea and the air. The Navy did a superlative job in getting the large, complicated and almost cumbersome convoy to the right spots at the right times, and it did it entirely without incident. No peace-time crossing of the Channel could have been quieter and during the whole time the convoy lay off Dieppe no attempt was made by the Germans to attack it with surface craft. The dimensions of the air support defied adequate description. BRITISH AIR “UMBRELLA”

“Only a relative handful of _ enemy bombers reached the enemy ships and a good half of those were shot down. Even the fighters showed the utmost respect for the British air ‘umbrella’ and never showed any inclination to fight it out with the Spitfires guarding the vessels. “The tank-carrying craft slipped across the moonlit Channel like great black slugs on the surface of the water carrying hundreds of tons of tanks, while file tank crews slept in their hammocks. The second wave of tanks arrived about an hour after zero hour. It was discovered that the attack at Bruneval had failed and many of those who had returned* to the beach for reembarkation were wounded and dying. At Varengeville the faiders carried their objective triumphantly and captured and destroyed a lottery of 6-inch guns with relatively light losses and were then withdrawn. “‘Sneak’ landings were made on the flanks of Dieppe by the South Saskatchewan Regiment at Pourville and the Royal Regiment of Canada at Puits. By that time the whole coastline was aflame and the Nazis were flinging up immense quantities of shells at imaginary aircraft. All the batteries opened up and kept up continuous shelling throughout the nine hours and even after the commandos had left. “Squadron after squadron of bombers swept in to reply to the German batteries and the cliffs shook to explosions. The Saskatchewans had a comparatively easy task, but the Royal Canadians were swept back by the beach defences. However, they reformed and swept over the defences. The tanks crunched their way across a once popular peacetime playground while the engineers went before them to clear a way to the town. Meanwhile the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry and the Essex Scottish joined the battle with the coast defences. “By the time the sun rose over the scene the sound of battle had moved inland and the Bruneval guns which had eluded capture opened fire on the anchorage, which was then covered by a smoke-screen. However, the guns had found the range as a second wave of tanks prepared to land under the command of Major Robert Taylor, a Calgary accountant. The major received radio reports from the beach which recorded damage to the tanks already landed. HEAVY LOSSES SUFFERED

“At 7,45 o’clock a brief period of quiet descended upon everything and the craft off shore moved to and fro while they received reports of the position ashore,” says the correspondent. ‘Heavy losses had been suffered at Bruneval. The Royal Canadians had had a mauling, the Essex, Scottish and the Hamiltons had been severely handled and the Saskatchewans had run into heavy opposition. The Navy had not escaped. One tank-landing craft was down by the stern, another had great holes in its bows and one motor landing craft was listing. One craft taking the commandos back to England was manoeuvred to rescue an American pilot who had baled out. At this stage the reports from the shore were not good. The Casino was a strong fortress find a nearby tobacco factory was strongly held. The Germans had assembled about 100 British prisoners near the Casino and the men on the boats were quite restless because they were unable to do anything. “A few minutes later they circled slowly towards the beach and at the same time the first German bomber raid was made on the massed ships, but all missed and a second raid a quarter of an horn- later was also without result. “Before the tanks afloat reached the shore,” the correspondent continues, “the order to withdraw was given and they moved along the coast which was concealed for several miles by smokescreens. As the convoy turned across the Channel reports, still being received by radio, indicated that the men on shore were still fighting and dying.”