I went when I was really young. I think I mainly visited resorts and amusement parks.
Dieppe
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Given that this week we mourned the 60th anniversary of Dieppe - a day when 5000 soldiers, the vast majority Canadian, fought bravely on the beaches of Dieppe France, I thought it appropriate to post here now. A late uncle survived the slaughter at Dieppe to be placed in a POW camp for 3 years (the same that “The Great Escape” was about - a camp filled with Canadians and very few Americans - but you know Hollywood). My father knew a man at the same POW camp - happened to know my late uncle.
Apparently during the war the British were bringing back to Britain a large group of German POW’s. The transport was sunk by a German U-boat. The POW’s were chained for the journey due to a shortage of guards. When these men washed ashore still in chains following the attack Hitler was furious. He had the men in the POW camps chained. My father’s friend suffered considerably from being chained in solitary confinement during his time in the German POW.
Although I am a Mennonite and a pacifist, i am nearly tearful when i think of the sacrifices made by Canadian (and British, and American etc.) soldiers in doing what they did to secure freedom for us. Dieppe was one of the greatest tragedies suffered by the allies (with respect to the other allies - for a country our size the scale was immense), and yet many, including Earl Montbatten believed that the victory of Normandy was realized on the beaches of Dieppe.
Enough sermonizing from me on this. Clearly i feel quite emotional about this. -
Cheer up, CC. The sacrifices your countrymen made on the beaches of Dieppe helped secure the victories in North Africa and Normandy. Many American lives were saved in North Africa because of the knowledge your hero’s aquired. Their sacrifice was great (3350 out of 5000 killed, wounded, and missing), but remember, it was made in the defiance of tyranny threatening freedom in the entire world. We salute your fallen hero’s…
Viva Canada !!!
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Good job.
“For victory still stands afar, but for now your battle is over.”
“And for when this battle is mentioned many years from now, the suvivors will stand tip toe in rapt attention.” -
Many people call Dieppe the “dress rehearsal for DDay” and many people call the Spanish Civil War the “dress rehearsal for World War 2”. Couldn’t the Allies get anything right on the first try? Too many dress rehearsals in my opinion, especially Dieppe. It was not well planned at all.
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An imagine how poorly “planned” D-Day might’ve turned out without it.
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Many people call Dieppe the “dress rehearsal for DDay” and many people call the Spanish Civil War the “dress rehearsal for World War 2”. Couldn’t the Allies get anything right on the first try? Too many dress rehearsals in my opinion, especially Dieppe. It was not well planned at all.
AFAIK the spanish civil war was the rehearsal for the axis.
And imagine Hitler’s disappointment when the spanish kept out of WWII (and did not take Gibraltar … that would have changed a bit) -
Smart Franco.
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@F_alk:
Many people call Dieppe the “dress rehearsal for DDay” and many people call the Spanish Civil War the “dress rehearsal for World War 2”. Couldn’t the Allies get anything right on the first try? Too many dress rehearsals in my opinion, especially Dieppe. It was not well planned at all.
AFAIK the spanish civil war was the rehearsal for the axis.
And imagine Hitler’s disappointment when the spanish kept out of WWII (and did not take Gibraltar … that would have changed a bit)It was the rehearsal for the Allies as well. The Soviets provided the Partido Communista Espanola, a party in the Republic, with aid. Soviet tanks and planes fought alongside the Republic and in the Communist 5th brigade of the Republican Popular Army that was formed after the individual militias failed to be effective.
Franco was very smart. He knew that fighting Russia, the United States and Britain would be a hopeless fight and he decided to remain neutral. But being neutral in the war didn’t benefit him at all. The Allies shunned Fascist Spain after the war and began economic sanctions against it.
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Those Russians Generals apparently didn’t learn much from it. After the Civil War, the Russians decided that massed tanks were useless and, as a result, disbanded their tank divisions in Russia and parceled the tanks out to infantry companies. As you can see, it cost them dearly when the Germans invaded 1941.
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@TG:
Those Russians Generals apparently didn’t learn much from it. After the Civil War, the Russians decided that massed tanks were useless and, as a result, disbanded their tank divisions in Russia and parceled the tanks out to infantry companies. As you can see, it cost them dearly when the Germans invaded 1941.
The Russian generals most likely didn’t live long enough to use massed tanks Stalin had many of his generals executed because he was afraid that they were a threat to his power.
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Franco was very smart. He knew that fighting Russia, the United States and Britain would be a hopeless fight and he decided to remain neutral. But being neutral in the war didn’t benefit him at all. The Allies shunned Fascist Spain after the war and began economic sanctions against it.
Still, he made it deep into the 70s AFAIR…
And Salazar was getting there as well, wasn’t he ? -
Didn’t we give economic aid packages to Franco (Spain) after the war? I think it was 1 billion or something like that.
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@TG:
Didn’t we give economic aid packages to Franco (Spain) after the war? I think it was 1 billion or something like that.
No, Spain was shunned by the Allies and wasn’t admitted into the UN until the late 50’s. Any aid she got was because of Franco’s anti-communist feelings.
Yes, F_alk, Franco lasted until November of 1975 and Salazar until 1977, but they are not remembered very well. Many blame Franco for the problems between Morocco and Western Sahara and for many other things that he did not do well.
He is also a very big contrst to Manuel Azana, PReisdent of Spain’s second Republic. The SPanish Civil War is very interesting. You should readu p about it.
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