Imperial Valley press., 1942-08-20
British Newsmdn
Describes Attack
On French Coast
Continued from Page one)

The guns which were the objec-
tive of the raid were never silent
This initial setback was felt
throughout the whole operation and
was partly responsible for the later
difficulties.
A demonstration of complete
mastery of the sea and sky was
given lis by the navy and RAF.
The navy did superlative job of
getting the large and complicated
convoy in the right spots at the
right time. This was accomplished
without incident. So dominant was
the navy's supremacy that during
the entire raid. while the fleet lay
two or three miles off Dieppe, not
one attempt was made by the
enemy to attack with surface craft.
The dimensions of our air support
defy adequate description, Only a
relative handful of bombers ever
reached cur ships and good so
per cent of these never reported
/ back to their base. Not once did
the Luftwaffe attempt to fight it
out with the Spitfires.
ATTACK BA1 TERIES
In special craft carrying tanks,
which were to be the third wave
| of armor to land, we arrived soon
after the commandos launched their
attack against the coastal batteries
of Berneval abou four and half
miles east of Dieppe and at Var
engville- r-Mer.
The attack at Berneval was dis
covered before it could be made and
was defeated.
The surviving commandos drop
ped back to the beach for embark
alton of many wounded and dying.
At Varengville, however, the
ccrmandos-many of them on their
first raid-carried their objective
trbimphantly.
They captured and destroyed a
battery of six-inch naval guns with
relatively light losses and were
withdrawn soon afterward.
Two Canadian commando parties
made ground-sneak landings on the
flanks of Dieppe. AS they did so
the whole coast line was springing
into activity and the Germans
threw up enormous quantities OF
ammunition against imaginary air
craft.
simultaneously Berneval battery
opened fire.
A few minutes later great
fountain of flame spurted upward
from the cliff. The commandos
had completed taking Varengvllle.
The guns had been destroyed.
REFORMED LINES
A royal regiment of Canadians,
landing at points east OF Dieppe,
were beaten back by beach de-
fenses on the first rush. They re-
formed and swept through. Under
naval bombardment landings were
made on the Dieppe beach. AS the
bombardment subsided ramps CT the
landing craft we're dropped and the
tanks crunched their way across
| the beach
With the tanks went the engi-
neers assigned to clear the way for
entry into the town. There also
was an infantry assault on the
beach by canadians. There the
thunder of battle sounded and the
Sky was filled with aircraft-Brit-
ish aircraft. bombers and fighters.
They were like bees around bee
hive.
Equally amazing was the scene
at sea. From close inshore and
for three miles out lay an armada
If all types of craft.
AS the battle progressed reports
came in from tanks such as I'm on
promenade near the casino"
Promptly the promenading tank
received reply:
Watch the pillbox on your left
So it went n-cannonading
smokescreen and the whir of Brit
ish propellers. The commando
sustained heavy losses at Berneval.
The Canadians. too had been
severely handled.
Then the tank radio gave the
word that everybody had been ex-
pecting for sometime. Men on the
beach and some deep into the town
had had a hard fight but they
stuck to it until the order came.
"Evacuate," said the radio.
The show ended.