Evening star., 1942-08-20
Raj Continuing
Raids on Dieppe;
Commands Home
By the Associated Press,

saults on Hitler's Europe, mighty
attacks to make ruined Dieppe a
mere sample of what full blown
invasion will be, already were
being predicted today with the
shock troops of four nations
barely ashore again after the
flercest smash yet made against
the Nazis' gun-studded coast.
Power driven barges and other
vessels arrived along the home coast
throughout the night bringing the
tired troops back. The last wounded
Commands were brought ashore
during the morning, while squadrons
OF SpitfireS and Hurricanes kept up
their droning patrols overhead.
Even after dawn, small British
fighter forces were seen streaking
over the Channel, some of them
headed for Dieppe.
The Allied raiders brought back
number of German prisoners, in
tluding officers.
A Canadian officer said, "They
gave in and came along quietly,
which surprised us. We had thought
they'd fight until the end"
Six Minutes OF Schedule.
That Dieppe, once a bastion of
German anti-aircraft defense and
sally port for Nazi submarines, lay
flaming and shell-torn was of sec
bndary interest to the British.
What mattered was that assault
forces-United States Rangers, Ca
hadian British and Fighting French
Commandos-had stormed that for
midable coast and had achieved
every goal in nine-hour battle en-
gineered with such precision that it
wound up within six minutes of
schedule.
What mattered was that the Ger
mans had been dealt a jolting blow
where they had boasted they were
invulnerable, that the Allies had
massed fighting men and tanks and
ferried them ashore at strong
point of the Nazi defenses under
cover of perhaps the greatest aerial |
umbrella in history.
The strength in manpower and |
air-naval might sent against Dieppe
still is an Allied secret, but the
British announced in advance that |
the time still had not come for the
liberation of France and that only
a Commando raid was intended.
Both Sides Suffer Heavily.
Only the Germans, apparently to
sugarcoat the bad news at home that |
the Allies were showing their
strength in greater measure than |
ever before, pretended to believe
that this was the actual start of the |
second front.
Both sides suffered heavily, ashore
and in the air. The British dis
closed today that 81 enemy planes
definitely were destroyed in addition
to some 100 others counted as prob
ably shot down or damaged.
The Raj reported the loss of SO
planes, representing the total Allied
loss so far announced out of prob
ably 1000 aircraft in action on the
Allied side. Thirty of the RAF
pilots who were shot down are
known to be safe.
All of "a United States Army Air
Force Flying Fortresses which
pounded the big Nazi air base at
Abbeville returned, with only few
bearing scars and one man slightly
wounded.
But many of the Commandos,
whose bulk apparently was supplied
by Canadians, came back with
wounds, the majority minor. This,
too, was to be expected; the storm
ing of an enemy shore is one of the
most difficult of all military opera
tions-so forbidding that the Ger
mans, even at the crest of their
strength and at the depth of British
power, never ventured such Chan
mel crossing.
Step Singing From Barges.
The Americans were all volunteers
from the Ranger battalion specially
hardened and trained, and were be-
lieved to have been relatively few
In number, fighting as individuals
rather than as a group, attached
to the other outfits.
nlbiiouSll llOo-
pital trains carried off some of the
men from the waterfront, and the
floor Of former dance hall soon
was filled with the slightly wounded,
many of the others stepped ashore
from their power driven, sea going
barges elated and singing despite
their fatigue and the CRIME of battle
on their uniforms.
Allied military leaders already
have begun analyzing the results
and British military experts said
that if investigation bears out the
first indications of success, the un-
easy Nazis on guard along the coast
line Of Western Europe might be
pounded by more heavy attacks by
land, sea and air
Each assault, they said, probably
will seek to eliminate a modal point
Of German defense-like Dieppe-in