BACK FROM DIEPPE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 August 1942, Page 4

BACK FROM DIEPPE

SOLDIERS IN HIGH SPIRITS MORE ENEMY CLAIMS. SCOPE OF ACTION DEFINED IN BRITAIN. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day. 11.20 a.m.) LONDON. August 19. A number of the men who participated in ihe Dieppe attack returned to their be.se this afternoon. They were Fn high spirits. The German news agency, late in the afternoon, claimed that no single British, American or Canadian soldier remained on the mainland, that over a thousand prisoners had been iaken and that enemy losses in men and material were considerable. Earlier. Berlin claimed that several hundred British soldiers had been killed. Berlin also stated that German naval units participated in the action and that the Allied operation was supported by strong air and naval forces. During the raid the French people were continuously informed of the latest news of the operations and broadcasts referred to the action as a scries of Commando attacks, not associated with the British and Russian military decisions made in Moscow. It was Simply one in a series of fragmentary operations whose purpose was to test out the enemy's defences or to put out of action elements of the enemy’s defensive or offensive systems.