One Day in August: The Untold Story Behind Canada's Tragedy at Dieppe

by David O'Keefe

One of the most important Canadian non-fiction books we have published: the groundbreaking, thrilling, ultra-secret story behind one of WWII's most enduring mysteries, which fundamentally changes our understanding of this sorrowful event in Canada's past.    

The Dieppe Raid -- the darkest day in Canadian military history -- has been one of the most perplexing mysteries of WWII, when almost 4,000 Canadian amphibious troops stormed the small French port town, only to be ambushed by the waiting Germans, slaughtered, wounded or captured. This catastrophe, coupled with the 7 decades-long mystery surrounding the reason for the operation, left a legacy of bitterness and recriminations and controversial charges ranging from incompetence to conspiracy. O'Keefe's detective-like research over 15 years in the Intelligence archives of 5 countries now reveals that it was a vitally secret "pinch raid," organized by British Naval Intelligence and the Joint Intelligence Committee. The mission: under cover of a raid to secretly steal the German code books that would unlock the Enigma cipher machine that held the key to the German High Command's plans. One of the key figures behind the mission, along with Mountbatten and Churchill, was Commander Ian Fleming, waiting in a ship off-shore for the code books that might have saved countless lives and shortened the war by some years.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, World War II, War, Canada, Military Fiction, France

488 pages, Paperback

First published October 29, 2013

Reviews

[8stitches 9lives · Rating 4 out of 5]

One Day in August reveals in full for the first time the “Ultra Secret” story behind one of WW2’s most controversial mysteries—and one of Canada’s most sorrowful moments. In a narrative as powerful and moving as it is authoritative, David O’Keefe rewrites history, connecting Canada’s tragedy at Dieppe with an extraordinary and colourful cast of characters—from the young Commander Ian Fleming, later to become the creator of the James Bond novels, and his team of crack commandos to the code-breaking scientists of Bletchley Park (the closely guarded heart of Britain’s wartime Intelligence and code-breaking work) to those responsible for the planning and conduct of the Dieppe Raid—Admiral John Godfrey, Lord Louis Mountbatten, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and others. The astonishing story critically changes what we thought we knew.

For seven decades, the objective for the raid has been one of the most perplexing mysteries of WWII. In less than six hours on August 19, 1942, nearly one thousand Canadians—as well as British and Americans—lay dead or dying on the beaches around the French seaside town, with over two thousand other Canadians wounded or captured. These awful losses have left a legacy of bitterness, recrimination and controversy. In the absence of concrete reasons for the raid, myriad theories ranging from incompetence to conspiracy developed. Over almost two decades of research, sifting through countless recently declassified Intelligence documents, David O’Keefe skillfully pieces together the story like a jigsaw puzzle to reveal the prime reason behind the raid: a highly secret mission designed, in one of Britain’s darkest times, to redress the balance of the war.

Magnificent and engrossing, this is a deep dive into one of the most fascinating and clandestine mysteries, which O’Keefe has cracked open. With extensive research, he produces a captivating and revealing narrative full of intricate detail and written in an accessible and flowing manner. Much of the information is new and I can safely say this will appeal to those interested in history, in particular, that of WWII, and those who find strange and enduring mysteries compelling. A compulsive, informative and eminently readable book, One Day in August is a multilayered and deeply thrilling expose.

[Gordon Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

My dad was a soldier with the Canadian army who fought in World War II. Every time I read a book about the Canadian Forces in that war I think of him. He came into the war after the tragic raid on Dieppe, which I am thankful for as if he had been there, I might not be here. So many Canadian men died on the beach that day. If he had been there that day, he too might not have made it out.

When he was alive and I was young, I remember asking him why the raid even happened. Joint Canadian and British forces were to land in Dieppe France, take the town, hold it for a few hours, then return back to England. To me, it sounded pointless.

He told me what many have said in the years after it was a practice invasion to know everything that would be needed for when the D-Day invasion took place. I was never satisfied with that answer. To me, it was a senseless waste of life.

David O'Keefe claims to know the real reason behind this mini invasion and details it in his book, One Day in August.

One of the most important Canadian non-fiction books we have published: the groundbreaking, thrilling, ultra-secret story behind one of WWII's most enduring mysteries, which fundamentally changes our understanding of this sorrowful event in Canada's past.

The Dieppe Raid--the darkest day in Canadian military history--has been one of the most perplexing mysteries of WWII, when almost 4,000 Canadian amphibious troops stormed the small French port town, only to be ambushed by the waiting Germans, slaughtered, wounded or captured. This catastrophe, coupled with the 7 decades-long mystery surrounding the reason for the operation, left a legacy of bitterness and recriminations and controversial charges ranging from incompetence to conspiracy. O'Keefe's detective-like research over 15 years in the Intelligence archives of 5 countries now reveals that it was a vitally secret "pinch raid," organized by British Naval Intelligence and the Joint Intelligence Committee. The mission: under cover of a raid to secretly steal the German code books that would unlock the Enigma cipher machine that held the key to the German High Command's plans. One of the key figures behind the mission, along with Mountbatten and Churchill, was Commander Ian Fleming, waiting in a ship off-shore for the code books that might have saved countless lives and shortened the war by some years.

Then book is both meticulous in detail, interesting and thrilling to read. O'Keefe details Britain's success early in the war in cracking German codes and messages, with the clever theft of German Enigma machines that gave the British navy the knowledge of where German subs were so supply convoys from Canada could safely make it across the Atlantic. When the Germans came up with a revision to the machine, Britain was blind and the convoys they desperately relied on came through in far fewer numbers. The country was starting to starve.

Britain needed to get a hold of the new Enigma machine and its codes and that was the secret target of the Dieppe raid. I am not giving anything away here as it is easy to tell from the first few pages what the mission was. O'Keefe tells the story well of how it got to that point.

I enjoyed the read but was appalled by the horror the men suffered on the beach. The story is so well told.

One thing he mentions early on in the book and in the closing chapter was a quote by one of the men who survived that day but saw many friends fall, "now I can die in peace. Now I know what my friends died for ..."

A compelling book worth reading.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well researched and reads like a novel. We finally understand the real intent behind this flawed and extremely ambitious operation. We also discover more about Ian Fleming as a naval intelligence officer. I just wish my father in law, a soldier from les Fusiliers Mont-Royal would have known about the real purpose of Jubilee before he died more than twenty years ago. He was captured and sent to a prisonner camp near Stuttgart for three years. He participated to a few escape operations and was severely beaten more than once following his recapture; he suffered from a post traumatic syndrome for the remainder of his life. And at the time we did not really understand the impact of such stress on individuals so proper care was not readily available. He always said that there was something behind all this that does not make sense, having felt a sense of having been sacrificed for some unknown goal. When you are twenty one running for your life on a beach with hundred of comrades falling to the ground within less than an hour it can certainly be a very traumatic experience. At least I will be able to share a summary of these findings with our family, especially with my mother in law.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author bases the book on the premise that the reason for the raid on Dieppe was that it was a pinch raid to capture a four rotor Enigma machine. The actual raid is only covered in the last 70 pages of the book. The bulk of the book goes into Ian Fleming's involvement, cryptographics, other pinch raids and the importance of having up to date Enigma information.

The raid has long been shrouded in conjecture but as one Dieppe veteran said "Now I can die in peace. Now I know what my friends died for."

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

On the 9th August 1942 over 6000 infantry launched an attack on the French Port of Dieppe. They were supported by a regiment of tanks as well as naval and air cover. They were to capture the port and hold it for a short period of time, test various landing operations and gather intelligence on German defences. On leaving they were to cause damage by destroying buildings.

It turned out to be a bit of a disaster though, after 10 hours around half of the men had been killed, wounded or taken prisoner. The naval and air support was not as effective as it was hoped and they lost 106 aircraft and 33 landing craft and one destroyer. Whilst they learned important lessons that would serve them well when they came to invade in the Mediterranean and later in Normandy, the raid was a complete disaster.

For the past seventy years, no one has really understood why it took place at all. The horrific losses of the Canadian, American and British Troops have left a bitter taste with those who did make it back and there has been much speculation bordering on conspiracy theories at the time as to why it ever went ahead.

David O’Keefe has long been fascinated by the reasons behind this raid and it was the chance find of some comments in some declassified documents that piqued his attention. The first said: The party concerned at Dieppe did not reach their objective. It was then followed by: ‘No raid should be laid on for SIGINT purposes only. The scope of the objectives should always be sufficiently wide to presuppose normal operational objectives.’ The document concerned was talking about pinch raids, small scale operations that had the aim of obtaining cipher and code bodes and ideally a new four rota Enigma machine.

As clever as the boffins were at Bletchley Park, they could only do so much. To fully be able to understand and be able to reverse engineer the messages that had been coded using the four-rotor Enigma machines they needed to get their hands on one. This is where Commander Ian Fleming’s Intelligent Assault Unit came in. They would assess various targets and see if they were viable places to get their hands on the equipment that they desperately needed. Was these statement in the document the real reason behind the raid? It was the beginning of a search that would take O’Keefe another two decades to completely tease the story out from the secret documents.

This book is that story. It is a multi-layered story and convoluted as you would expect from the rummaging around in the secret world. He writes about each of the people involved in the raid, From Fleming to Lord Mountbatten and of course, Churchill and how they did their best to shape the direction of the war at the time. There is a monumental amount of detail in the book and quite a lot of build-up the actual raid in Dieppe, which is only detailed in the final two chapters of the book. It does occasionally lose the narrative in all this detail, but it is still worth reading, in particular for the very powerful last paragraph.

[Bill Kupersmith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once I lost my way in Windsor Ontario and found myself at a war memorial called Dieppe Gardens. Being a military history buff, I knew it commemorated the men of one of the worst botched operations of the Second World War. But I’ve long wondered why that memorial is in Windsor. Now I know: Windsor was the home of the somewhat confusingly named Essex Scottish Regiment, one of the Canadian units virtually annihilated in this action. But we also finally learn why this military and naval debacle happened in the first place. Was it simply an experiment leading to useful lessons for D-Day, when it finally arrived almost two years later. Or was a monument to the recklessness of the head of Combined Operations, Lord Mountbatten, a dashing aristocrat with the brain power to match his movie-star looks. And it seems somehow appropriate that the creator of James Bond should also have played a leading role as the principal aide to the head of naval intelligence. In fact, the whole enterprise was desperately serious and well-conceived. Nothing less than the U-boat war in the North Atlantic was at stake. Early in 1942 the German navy adopted a new version of their Enigma coding machine, one that the code-breakers at Bletchley Park couldn’t decipher. Dieppe was to be one of a series of commando raids the British were conducting up and down the Atlantic coast to ‘pinch’ signals intelligence, leaving no one and nothing behind to tell the tale, to acquire clues for the boffins to read the naval cyphers and stop the U-boats. The presence of the 2nd Canadian Division at Dieppe was largely an afterthought and not Mountbatten’s idea. They had been sitting in England for two years with nothing to do except to prepare to repel a German invasion that never arrived. (I’ve long wondered whether it was for logistical or political reasons they’d not been sent to North Africa to fight Rommel.) The principal actors in this smash-and-grab operation were the commandos of the Intelligence Assault Unit, Flemings private army. There were also supporting commando forces, including fifty US Army Rangers from the British commando school getting some work-study experience. (I found online a marvellous after-action photograph of a British commando lighting the cigarette of an American sergeant, clearly recognisable by his chevrons and M1 rifle.) Reading the elaborate plans for the landing operations and objectives to reach, I kept wondering why some junior officer didn’t dare interrupt with the cheeky question, “Excuse me, Commander Fleming, but what are the Germans expected to be doing whilst all this is going on?” Like Operation Market-Garden two years later, the smaller Operation Jubilee suffered by badly underestimating the Germans, whose even second-line units reacted with ruthless efficiency and speed. The few Canadian successes in reaching the harbour only served to mislead their commander into reinforcing failure by sending in the Fusiliers Mont Royal and more tanks to be destroyed on the beach.

As a Canadian historian, one of David O’Keefe’s purposes was to assure the few remaining veterans of the Dieppe raid that their sacrifices were in a serious and worthwhile cause and the failure was due neither to carelessness or poor planning. Still, the Dieppe raid smacks more of American hubris than Anglo-Canadian attitudes–I was reminded of Jimmy Carter’s Desert-One in its over-elaborate and over-optimistic assumptions. Surely there had to be a simpler way to get hold of the fourth wheel for an Enigma machine than to send an infantry division to attempt an opposed landing on a heavily defended beach.

[Michael Kerr · Rating 4 out of 5]

"This was too big for a raid and too small for invasion: What were you trying to do?" So opens Okeefe's first chapter, quoting a German interrogator questioning a captured Allied Major. This question has long been a puzzle, and the conventional answers about testing Nazi coastal defences as a precursor to D-Day has never made sense. After all, pretty good intelligence was already available - there was no need to sacrifice 907 lives, with almost 3,000 more wounded or taken captive in order to demonstrate that the Nazis intended to stay in France.

This well-researched book finally provides a rationale for the Dieppe fiasco, namely the pressing need to capture cypher materials necessary to win the battle of the Atlantic. However, this reason is far from satisfactory. Raids are typically small and nimble allowing for rapid action and retreat; Dieppe by contrast involved thousands of men, multiple branches of the military, multiple national forces, and relied on an absurdly optimistic degree of luck.

Okeefe's carefully constructed analysis shows the arrogance and Machiavellian willingness to sacrifice the lives of others demonstrated by Fleming, Mountbatten, and the secret service generally. It's a warning from history; Canada must beware of participating in military action directed by others.

[Ross Armstrong · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little background before the review. On August 19, 1942, approximately 5000 Canadians supported by 1000 British Commandos and 50 U.S. Rangers attacked the French resort port of Dieppe. In the ensuing slaughter nearly 1000 soldiers were killed and 2000 were wounded or captured by the German defenders. Ever since the disastrous raid, Canadians have wondered why the raid was ever mounted. Canadian General Roberts became the scapegoat for the raid but none of the explanations of why it was undertaken have satisfied both the soldiers and the historians.

But now, after 70 years, the truth may have started to come to light. Due to declassified documents over the past 20 years, David O'Keefe has pieced together a tale fit for a story by one of the major contributing designers of the Dieppe raid, Commander Ian Fleming, later to create the enduring spy James Bond.

At the outset of war, Britain had to reinvent its Intelligence networks and found themselves trying to decode the German Enigma machine. This was a three rotor encryption device used by German naval forces. The scientists of Bletchley Park, including Alan Turing, were trying to crack the Enigma, but they needed keys and other documents to help with this decoding. British naval forces. John Godfrey, the head of Naval Intelligence Division, recruited Ian Fleming who would eventually become Godfrey's number two and one of the few people in on all the actions of the NID. Some of what they were doing was to co-ordinate "pinch" operations. These were both by opportunity, such as the capture of a U-Boat and codes and cyphers or by design. The British raid on the Lofoten Islands off the coast of Norway succeeded in capturing a three rotor Enigma and many of the papers and cyphers to help the British read the German messages. But the Germans figured out their codes had been compromised and introduced a four rotor Enigma device. In the ensuing information blackout through 1942, Allied shipping suffered incredible losses both in British vessels but also American vessels and threatened the convoys being sent to support Stalin's Russia against the German Invasion.

In the wake of the building pressure from Russia and America's desire to be included in the Intelligence gathering process perfected as well as several failed pinch operations culminated in the development of Operation Rutter, the precursor to the Dieppe raid. This would eventually morph into Operation Jubilee. Originally, the Canadians were not to be involved, but pressure from the Canadian superiors wanting to get into the fight eventually talked the top most officers, including Montgomery, into replacing the Royal Marines with the Canadian forces. The book culminates with the ill-fated raid using post-battle inquiries as well as the remembrances of some of the surviving soldiers from that fateful day.
A truly fascinating account of what may possibly be the truth after 70 years of obfuscation.

[John Winchester · Rating 5 out of 5]

For many years I was extremely lucky to have Jack Poolton, a survivor of the Dieppe raid, speak of his experiences to my Canadian History students. One of the puzzles, left unsolved when Jack passed in 2005, was why such a number of highly-trained regiments were sacrificed for what appeared to be impossible objectives on that morning. Now we have an answer. As stated by Ron Beal, a fellow member of the Royal Regiment, 'Now I can die in peace: now I know what my friends died for'.

[Neil Mudde · Rating 5 out of 5]

"When will we ever learn"

I have just finished reading this horrific, painfully sad story well documented . David O'Keefe let me relive the horror of August 19th 1942and the scheming it took to set this up, albeit poorly, it took only 6 hours for approx 1000 men to die mostly a horrific death, no back up for retreat Germans on the elevated position of Dieppe
I cannot help, and not that it makes any difference now that some of those persons in charge Mountbatten, Ian Fleming yes the same guy who wrote the James Bond stories !!! Churchill the whole uppercrust of the powers to be who in order to break the Enigma code were willing to risk these young men's lives,in fact they had a total disregard for those young men's lives, one will note that these persons in charge only had their own egos to polish, they lied, or simply did not tell all, blamed others when writing their diaries lied or blamed the other person. one wonders about secrets and our recent development with the revelations through Snowdon, how little we know even today of the real behind the scenes schemes that go on, often those persons in charge had nothing to lose, their children were safely living the good life away from the horrors of war.
Wow this was some read...........knowing how many Canadian families suffered a loss of their children for what?
The truth is all these above mentioned "Heroes" were manipulators, this book tells it like it really was, the history of these egocentric characters, that were shrouded in lies has now become an open book.
Have never read anything by Mr O'Keefe before but as horrific as the story is, it was well written I am still overwhelmed by sadness, of si many wasted lives, and will get a hold of the documentary "Dieppe Uncovered"

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

POSSIBLE SPOILERS - While O'Keefe has found proof that Ian Flemming was a major planner in the Dieppe Raid of August 1942, I do not feel that he has found the definitive smoking gun for the entire purpose of the Raid. I agree that we can now say that a part of the raid was a "Pinch" by design mission; in hope of finding Four-Rotor Enigma components (the machine itself, or documents). I feel that O'Keefe largely focused on the background of "Ultra" and Flemming. The Raid itself is not discussed until about 1/2 through the book. If you know nothing about the Dieppe Raid, and the larger intelligence war of World War Two, then this book is for you. If you are a Military historian, and have a large interest in World War Two, then you will feel that O'Keefe is reaching in some of his conclusions, largely because not all the "Ultra" documentation is public. He has found a handful of documents that say Flemming and his 30th Commandos where present during the Raid - but no smoking gun which says exactly why the Dieppe Raid was planned, as Operational Commands said that no Raid should be the sole purpose of a "Pinch"

[Mac · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bust.

Generally well written but repititive and a rehashing of major aspects of the war best covered elsewhere. Yes this is about Dieppe, but much more about Ian Fleming, Ultra and more. I found it extremely frustrating to read a book about "one day in August" which then tried to cover nearly the entire war and cryptology.

[Michael Koch · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book (written in 2013) more than I expected to. Books on Dieppe can be detailed, dreary, and downright despondent. While O’Keefe is a historian and an academic, he has been a soldier and is also a journalist and broadcaster. This background has given him a soldier’s eye when it comes to interpreting plans, orders and post-action reports. It has also given him the skills to tell the story in an interesting and gripping manner even though we know the outcome. The raid on Dieppe occurred August 19, 1942 and was one of the worst days (most casualties) for Canadian arms in the entire Second World War even though only about five battalions were involved. Casualties that day rank with the worst days of the Great War when all four divisions (48 battalions) fought together. O’Keefe notes frequently that much of this story is only known now because the supporting information and records began to be declassified in 2011. Without this new information available to historians, we would still not know this story. What we really do not know is why this battle and why this plan.

O’Keefe begins with a status of the war at the time of Dieppe and the crucial role of intelligence, especially code breaking, cryptography as he calls it. Germany started the war with a small number of U-Boats but quickly discovered that they were the best weapon for strangling Britain and ensuring she was unable to fight back. As Germany’s fleet of U-Boats grew in 1940 and 1941, Britain was able to break the three-rotor coding device known as Enigma used throughout Germany’s secret communications network. With the ability to decode, Britain was able to do two important things. First, she was able to reroute convoy traffic and avoid most of the U-Boat danger. Second, she was able to begin to find and sink the U-Boats. This all ended early in 1942 when Germany upgraded Enigma to a four-rotor version which Britain was unable to decode. At this time, the USA had just joined the war and was pouring more and more materiel into Britain. Convoys began to be sunk at a rate that exceeded the early part of the war. The US and Britain were both extremely concerned. If the convoys could not be protected, a future re-invasion of Europe could not occur. A four rotor Enigma device was desperately required so a decoder could be built, U-Boat signals decoded and the unsustainable bleeding halted. Even the US with her “a ship a day” manufacturing could not build ships faster than the U-Boats could sink them.

Much of the book is devoted to British infrastructure put in place to obtain, by any means necessary, a four rotor Enigma. The only practical way would be by theft “pinching”. It needed to be taken in such a manner that the Germans did not suspect that it was gone or that it was the objective of a particular action. Enigmas were known to be in Dieppe in ships based there and at various German headquarters. The plan was to use surprise to prevent destruction of the device or its code books as required by Germany if these items were at risk. In brief, the raid called for destruction of at least one headquarters in town and the taking of a couple of small ships docked in the harbor. The early morning would bring surprise but also find these locations uncrewed or lightly crewed prior to the workday. The destruction of the HQ would mask the theft of the Enigma and the taking of the ships and their subsequent sinking would look like the Enigmas were not the target and in any case were lost to the ocean. The sinking to be made to look like they were hit by the Germans as they fired at the escaping British.

This book does not spend much time on the landing and chaotic battle itself. However O’Keefe does describe the two or three things that resulted in loss of surprise and the resulting preparedness of the Germans. First, we are reminded that Mountbatten and company were charged with raiding all up and down the coast. The Germans were aware of this and had faced a number of raids already during their occupation. Consequently, they had developed an anti-raid protocol and practiced it zealously. It would be difficult to get more than a few minutes of surprise. Second, the left arm of the raid’s convoy ran into a routine German convoy resulting in a brief pitched battle and scattering its own ships thus causing them to be late and unsuccessful. Others, early to land, initially went in the wrong direction arriving late at their target after surprise was lost; they too were unsuccessful. The tanks too were late, leaving the infantry at the main beaches in hazardous situation. A number of minor errors resulted in leaders not being able to find their planned locations on time, in the dark, and from unexpected directions. These all resulted in loss of surprise and doom to the raid. This largely resulted maybe not from incompetence but from a perceived need to maintain security. This in turn meant fewer people knew the location details and had less time to learn all the coastal features in sufficient detail. Some landing locations were successful, and troops made their way into town which was unfortunately of no help. The essential landing locations were unsuccessful, and troops could hardly get off the beach let alone into the harbour area.

O’Keefe includes an Epilogue (10 pages). There are not a lot of lessons related to the Dieppe raid that he brings to the table. He re-confirms the objective to pinch an Enigma. More importantly, he talks to Dieppe veterans who thank him for allowing them to say “. . . now I can die in peace. Now I know what my friends died for.” Fortunately for the Allies, a damaged U-Boat failed to sink after it was abandoned by its crew in October of 1942. The information gathered from this U-Boat was sufficient to allow full Enigma decoding for the rest of the war without German knowledge.

This was a good book if occasionally a little repetitive. Everybody who has an interest in knowing what that terrible thing in Dieppe was really all about should read this book. Four stars

[Carrie Drake · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was recommended to me as my father was at Dieppe. In 1998, he wrote a " memoir" of his time in the armed forces and his WW2 experience. David O'Keefe's telling of the Dieppe raid confirmed much of what my father had said about the raid. A note about the first part of the book. Previously to reading this , I had read The Rose Code, a fictional novel about the work at Bletchley Park. Had I not read The Rose Code and without any previous knowledge of British Intelligence, code breaking, Enigma machines I would have been lost by all the excellent technical background in the first few chapters. It was a good read and great insight into a sad chapter in Canadian military history

[Pete · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really well researched, organized and presented. After reading this the reader will want to learn more about Ian Fleming, Ultra, Camp X and the Royal Marines which is a good indication of the talent David O'Keefe possesses as a story teller. I was impressed that O'Keefe resisted the urge to lay blame or criticize other Dieppe accounts. His agenda was to make sense of the apparent madness for veterans like Ron Beal and for that he must be commended.

[Laura Litchfield · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story but written as though for one of those television shows where they recap the story after every commercial.

[Bernie Charbonneau · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Now I can die in peace: now I know what my friends died for."
Private Ron Beal, Dieppe veteran

[Lyle Lawson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very well researched book that fills in the gaps of a decades old mystery!

[Bret Kinghorn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Growing up I had heard all the rumours about the botched raid of Dieppe. That it was a test run for a future invasion, that it was poor planning, that it was to test the defensive abilities of the Germans, and so and, and so on...
There were dozens I had heard from various sources. None really seemed to be the front runner overall, but everyone had their favourite. For me, the most likely (and only one at the time that had made any sense for the loss of life) was that it was an early attempt at creating the second front desired by the Soviets and Americans.
From the start, David O'Keefe gives you the goal: a pinch raid to get much needed intelligence documents to try and open up an intelligence blackout that had been on going for moths, costing many lives and much needed supplies. Since the Germans had brought the four-rotor enigma machine into full use, the Allies had been struggling, especially (manly) at sea. All prior attempts were unsuccessful. They decided to bring out all the stops and create a raid to disguise their true goal of seizing the intel. This book takes you step by step of how they got to that point, and O'Keefe lays out very clearly how he reached his conclusion. all of it leads up to the final two chapters which chronicle what occurred that August day.
Most Canadians are, sadly, well aware of the horrible events that occurred that day and the terrible loss of so many lives. This book, masterfully, and painstakingly, researched, shows that the goal was one that was hoped to have saved both lives and supplies, for both the Island of the UK, and the supplies that were being funnelled into Russia to keep them fighting.
It doesn't matter if you are a Canadian or not. This book is a must read, if for no other reason than to see just how close we were to losing step with the Germans and to see that these deaths, although very tragic, were an attempt for the greater good.
I don't know if I could make such a choice, knowing that many would be killed and that their deaths would fall upon me. And here, in this book, O'Keefe doesn't hold back on his assessments of the planning and battle, good or bad. Its all laid out, bare for the world to see. The fact that so many died after the war ended, never knowing what they had been fighting for, what their friends had died for.
Like Ron Beal, a veteran of that horrific battle, said, rather emotionally (which was understandable-I found myself trying to get some dust out my eye reading his words)after O'Keefe had revealed his findings: "Now I can die in peace. Now I know what my friends died for."

[Bekah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whew!!! So very detailed is this book- so much information to take in. The tragedy of the raid on Dieppe is a very sobering subject. The intelligence context adds complexity that aids in understanding the motives behind the debacle. Much light is shed on the sheer desperation, during the intelligence blackout, caused by the introduction of the four rotor Enigma machine. The losses the Allied ships suffered during this time were staggering.
Many things culminated in a plan to "pinch" crucial code materials, including the much hoped for four rotor Enigma machine, from the Germans, so that the cryptanalysts working in Bletchley Park could break the codes and end the intelligence blackout. Recently declassified papers show that the puzzling raid on Dieppe was designed around a top secret "pinch operation" to obtain such crucial code materials. Sadly, it did not obtain its objective; but has since answered the questions of the few living veterans -who fought on that bleak and bloody day- giving them a much needed reason for a seemingly senseless raid.
It wasn't until two months later that a "pinch by chance" came about off the coast of Egypt, which delivered the much sought after materials- including the four rotor Enigma machine itself.

[Nick Cox · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Dieppe incident was an interesting story and a somewhat ill-reputed action.
I've been to Dieppe and one could see rather clearly how such a landing was going to be an almost certain disaster just by the topography of the place.
It was made worse by the fact of crack German troops in northern France at the time.The D-Day landings had lots of advantages, not least the fact that the top German regiments had been moved away and most of their members killed on the Russian front.By the time of D-Day it was mainly young boys and old men defending the coastline, and without much advanced weaponry.
I wasn't totally convinced by the author's case but it was worth making.Unfortunately the writing style was really turgid.This would have been much better book written by someone with the dynamic style of Max Hastings.

[Gary Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to love this book, as O'Keefe is a very engaging speaker on YouTube channels such as WW2TV and OTDMilitaryHistory. He has done some wonderful research to show logically and clearly some objectives for the Dieppe Raid.

This book is a a worthwhile read, it gives a great picture of the intelligence situation during the early parts of the war. However, I felt for a relatively small book at 366 pages, that it quite slow paced, and repetitive. Only two chapters tackle the actual raid itself, and I felt that the author didn't miss an opportunity to bring the likes of Fleming, Turing or the Enigma into it even if it warranted it or not.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can remember my parents telling me what a disaster the Dieppe Raid was, but they thought that people had talked too much about the raid beforehand - so it was interesting to learn why it was important and how it went wrong. Having said that, I found that the book was too long. I don't suppose that Ian Fleming would have had more than a bit part if he hadn't gone on to write James Bond novels. It is based on an important and admirable work of research which really changed the historiography of the event - but it was hard work to finish it.

[Elie-Joe Dergham · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the first World War 2 stories i read in my life was about the tragic raid on a french tosn of dieppe. At the time the I had so many questions about why the raid unfolded. The more I read about the raid, the questions i had that were left many unanswered. This book and work reveals the truth behind that raid. A great work by David O'Keefe that unveils how this riad was based on a gamble undertaken by Blectchley Park, Ian Fleming, and the rest of the military leaders at that time. Amazing book 3 #book

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well researched and interesting read, O'Keefe lays out the evidence for his theory of why the disastrous Dieppe raid took place in very convincing fashion. The quotes and recollections of the actual battle (the final few chapters) are very emotional, especially as my uncle (who I obviously never got to meet) was killed on the main beach as the Essex Scottish landed and were decimated. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in WWII and Dieppe in particular.

[Scott McCarthy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've always wondered about this massive WWII raid that ended in tragedy for the allies, which included a large contingent of Canadian troops. This book although a little repetitive and wandering at times certainly explains to a well enough degree what happened, how it happened and most importantly why it happened.

[Robert burke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well researched history of the disaster that was known as the Raid on Dieppe, has all the players that were involved and what exactly why the raid was so important, and what went wrong. Excellent well written.

[Exapno Mapcase · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazingly detailed look at perhaps one of the deadliest operations in World War II. The events behind the scenes were long kept secret and Canadian historian James O’Keefe searched through mounds of documents to find the truth.

Free review copy.

[Angela Schwenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding information included in this book!

This is definitely the book to consult if you're interested in the truth behind the Diaper raid! Clearly years even decades of research went into preparing for this book. I highly recommend

[Greg Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a spectacular book. It is full of historical facts and is extremely well researched. It reads like a spy novel, not like a history of one of the most devastating periods in Cdn military history. I learned a great deal and am so glad I took the time to tackle this book.