Remembering Dieppe

As we mark the 75th anniversary of the Dieppe Raid, the sacrifice of Canadians who fought there will never be forgotten

- Tim Fletcher, Grimsby, Ont.

August 19, 2017, marks the 75th anniversary of the horrendous raid on Dieppe, France, where Canada suffered its largest single-day number of casualties in all of World War II—916 were killed and thousands more wounded and/or captured by the Nazis.

Only 21 years after the horror of World War I, the world went mad again. World War II began on September 1, 1939, when Nazi Germany invaded Poland. Poland’s allies Britain and France declared war on Germany and Canada supported Britain.

Germany conquered The Netherlands, Belgium and France by June 1940. Italy also invaded France and Libya, and with Germany tried to capture Egypt and the vital Suez Canal from Britain.

In June 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union and advanced to Moscow before being halted in December 1941. In the Pacific, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941, then captured or attacked Allied territories in the Pacific and Southeast Asia and advanced to the borders of India and Australia.