August 19 marks the 80th anniversary of the Dieppe Raid.
Known as Operation Jubilee, an Allied force of about 6,200, including 5,000 Canadians, landed on the French coast on the morning of 19 August 1942. From the moment they touched the beach, they were no match for the entrenched German forces. In vicious fighting, the landing force was overwhelmed. In all, 916 Canadian soldiers paid with their lives, 586 were wounded, and 1,946 were taken prisoner. The Dieppe Raid remains one of the worst disasters in Canadian military history.
Robert D’Aoust has researched and compiled biographical information on the 916 soldiers who died. The Sacrifice We Will Not Forget, Dieppe Raid, hot of the press, consists of three volumes and more than 1100 pages with a profile of every one of the soldiers, including extensive personal and service information, photographs, where buried or commemorated and any additional information such as action and eye-witness reports, clippings, extracts from letters and much more.
These volumes tell the story of the Dieppe Raid through the service and sacrifice of those Canadian soldiers who took part
in the operation, especially those who died on that August morning eighty years ago.
Robert has produced similar books on those who died during the Second World War. His Ultimate Sacrifice (4 volumes) pays tribute to all those who died while serving with the Royal Canadian Navy, the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve and the Royal Canadian Naval Reserve. They Gave Their All (4 volumes) is a similar tribute to those were served and died with Canada’s Merchant Marine, unique as they contain information that is not generally or easily available.
The Sacrifice We Will Not Forget, Dieppe Raid and Robert’s previous books are available from Lehmann Bookbinding Ltd, info@lehmannbookbinding.com/.
You may also find the volumes at a local library. Ultimate Sacrifice is available at the Canadian War Museum and the Ottawa and Toronto Public Libraries.
Thanks to Glenn Wright, who penned this post.