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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1942-09-03, Page 7THURSPAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 194a T SEAWORTH NEWS PAGE SEVEN Nothing could stop the Canadian force as they head ed for the French coast and Dieppe to land by assault methods, (top photo). Months and months of stead training had prepared them for any reception. Asault landing craft, (in centre photo) loaded with Canadian troops speed for the shores of France for' an assault landing, and for a difficult task. The landing was completed and the Canadians destroyed artillery poste and radiolocation centres near Dieppe. In bottom photd are the men, Tough, well trained, hard-hitting and dogged fighters all. Strolling on the beach beside their invasion craft, as they go through the final exercise prior to the assault landing at Dieppe. • The World's News Seen Through THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR An International Daily Newspaper is Truthful—Constructive—Unbiased—Free from Sensational- ism—Editorials ensational-ism—Editorials Are Timely and Instructive and Its Daily Features, Together with the Weekly Magazine Section, Matte the Monitor an Ideal Newspaper for the Home. The Christian SciencePublishing Society One, Norway Street, Boston, Massachusetts Price $12.00 Yearly, or $1.00 a Month. Saturday Issue, including Magazine Section, $2.60 a Year. Introductory Offer, 6 Saturday Issues 25 Cents. Name Address__---_---------w--- SAMPLE _---SAMPLE COPY ON REQUEST Canadians at Dieppe An eyewitness account by Bob Bowman of the CBC, one of the cor- respondents permitted to accompany allied forces on the combined opera- tions raid on the occupied French port of Dieppe ou August 19, Al- though Bowman's transport did not reach shore, his account of Canadians in action is a definite contribution to the records of Dieppe. I am broadcasting now about the Dieppe raid. At a time when details are just becoming available, I would like to say this to you in Canada. We have suffered heavy losses and I saw our men die—but never have I seen men die more bravely or fight with such great heart as our Canad- ian troops. The word ^Dieppe may rank with Vimy Ridge in our history and our hats are off to the Royal Canadian Engineers, and the Royal Canadian Army Medical. Corps, and the 'South Saskatchewan Regiment,. and the Queen's Own Cameron High- landers of Winnipeg, and the Royal Regiment from Toronto, and the 'Es- sex Scottish from Windsor, and the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry, and the Fusiliers from Montreal. A lot of these men wilt never re - ,turn to Canada, and more will not return until after the war if the Ger- man announcement of 1,500 prisoners, is correct. And added to the above. are the officers and men of the Cal- gary Tanks whose story is one of the greatest that can be told about our Canadian part in this action. inoperation, This was a combined and I have spoken about the Army play- ing an equal part with otu' troops, with the Air Force, the Marines, the Commandos and the Navy. What a marvellous job they did iu the face of intense fire from accurate and powerful German shore and ack-ack batteries. Our losses have not been sustained without reason. We have Learned a most valuable lesson which may en- able us to free the continent of Eur- ope and end the war. We know now how the German system of coastal defences operates and how best to atack. We know the tremendous weight of artillery the enemy can bring to bear on the beaches. That was the purpose of the raid as set out officially and told to us before we set sail—to destroy .defencesand kill Germans and to obtain information, We did all these things—things which the Germans have never been able to do to us, We moved large forces across the Channel unnoticed by the enemy. We landed men on all six beaches and we landed tanks in our new tank -carrying vessels, one one of which I was a passenger. Costly as it has been to Canada the raid was definitely a suocess., Now let me start from the begin- ning. The plan, of course, ,was a closely -guarded secret and the men weren't briefed until they were on board the ships. Although I did not travel with the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry I was present when their Colonel—a fines figure of a man, from London, Ontario—came on board and told them: "Men, we are going into action. We are going to do what we came over to do—get a crack at Jerry." And then he told them the nature of the operation and what was expected of each man. There were no heroics, no delighted yells of whoopee. The men were quiet and asked questions, It, struck me that the questions were those that a gen- eral might ask when being told of an operation far the first time. What were the coast defences likely to be? What aircraft protection would they get I liked the spirit. We set sail in craft of all types under the cover of darkness. I was with the Calgary Tanks in one of the new tank -carrying craft. It was a lovely , night and reminded me of bcme. Hardly had we set sail when our padre coleoted all the men to- gether in the bow of the ship stand- ing in front of a new type of tank they were using, and he read from the sixth chapter of Dphesian s with the aid of a flashlight. . . Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lorcl, and in the power of his might. Put on lite whole armour of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, For we wrestle not against flush and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in. high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness." , In a few Words he told us 'that in a few hours we would be striking out flrat blow to bring a sign of Olivet - Mice to the people of Europe, and the reason for this service was be- cause we would know God's help. The men were quer a9 We flailed out into the darkness under the love- ly stars. I cQuid lead my watch in the light°of the half 10000, and 0000 we said good-bye to the shore of Britain, I hada chat with the officer commanding our partioular troop of tanks, and he told me about the hard work that had been put in for weeks to get them ready for this action. He Was confident in them and in his men to whom he said the credit ]rust go, And now I ant just going to quote frons the notes I took as we went along—some written ilk the darkness, and some wrtten under heavy gun- lire so they are now smeared and dirty from the cordite. "AA tracers, like red sparks, and there is a heavy red glow extending down the Coast. Our bombers are at work„ .store heavy flashes of coast- al guns and bombs. Our aircraft are flying in close to the water and over us, and now dawn is breaking, also like a heavy barrage to the east. There are puffs of smoke in the sky, evidently from heavy German ack- ack batteries, and the ships are weaving in, Our lads are cahu and the tank men wearing black berets and sitting comfortably anywhere, are watching the action. The Sky is becoming full of aircraft and the bombardment is becoming intense. Heavy thuds are shaking us even this far out to sea, The Captain is calmly steering us "Port 10, , . Midships". One bright fire is burning on the port horizon. Our medical vie' have put on their steel helmets and the guns are cialeter. Perhaps the Commandos have landed and are fixing them. The destroyers are holding their fire and aro slink- ing along beside us. The ships are spread out behind its in long lines with gun crews mounted, each flying a black flag and a white ensign. There are fighter -patrols like • flocks of geese high up and the bombers are scurrying home in the low haze over the water. The fighters look like swallows but in geese formation. It is now 5.50 in the morning. Fast troop -carrying ships are starting to pass us now. And there is a French chauueur carrying French com- mandos. The coast has suddenly loomed up in front of us with its white hills and its cliffs, and it looks. like a race to see who will get into action first. The sky is streaked with "flying fools" and so is the ocean, The destroyers are laying a smoke screen to windward and now they are turning broadside and are plast- ering the town with their guns. The smoke screen is lifting and I can see ships everywhere, The small troop - but we hear that We have lander ou. every beach, .i;vidnetiy the Bnglneet's have suffered heavily, and were un- able to blast a way for the tanks for about tin hoer. The tanks formed, a square on the field and they are pro- tecting our men while being re - embarked. The Gorman Drive to the Caucasus 93y Brigadier General H. S. Sewell. For some weeks the Germau com- muniques have claimed almost daily advances south of the Don towards the Caucasus. At the moment of writing, the spearheads of their at- tack are said to have reached the great city of Krasnodar iu the west, the oil wells at Maikop and the im- portant railway center of Armavir in the east. The Russian armies are stilt intact and are continuing their fight- ing retreat towards the mountains, destroying everything in their wake, but ther tis little hope that they will be reinforced from south of hte Cau- casus, and it does not seem possible for them to counter-attack from that direction. Three Roads Across Caucasus If Krasnodar has fallen to German arms any Soviet forces that remain. in 'Novorossisk may be isolated, and that port will have to be abandoned by the Russian fleet, which will then be reduced to the use of Tuapse and Batum, and the smaller harbors be- tween those two places. But, though the Russians are not in a positiou to strike back at the invaders, they should be able to hold the Germans in the mountains. There are three roads by which the Caucasus barrier can be passed --on the west along the shores of the Black Sea from Tuapse to Batum— in the center by the Kristovi Pass between Ordzhonikidze and Tiflis— and on the ast along the shores of the Caspian Sea between Makhach Kala and Baku. The German troops in Norway and the Balkans perform- ed specacular feats of mountain climbing, but they have never been confronted by so formidable an ob- stacle as the Caucasus, and it is questionable if they ,will attempt large operations beyond the moun- tains so late in the season. Fleet's Last Remaining Hold Thei'e is, however, an objective on the shores of the Black Sea which' may outweigh all other considera- tions. The Russian fleet is based on the 300 -mile coastline between Nov - carrying landing craft are moving in orossisk and the oil port of Batum on lines under the artillery barrage. A. the Turkish frontier. This is their Spitfire has just crashed off our star -last remaining hold; and if the Ger- board bow, and into the sea like a mans can occupy this coast, the Rus - We could see the . Sian warships will face destruction The troops are heading for the or internment in neutral Turkish beaches on either side of the town— ports. the Royal Regiment to the left and The Germans have fought for the the South Saskatchewan and the control of the Black Sea ever since Queen's Own Camerons to the rlght.Ithey launched their first atack in the The Hamiltons and the Essex Scot-; Ukraine. They paid a heavy price in tisk are going into the centre and we are following. Two Messer schtnidts have just tried to attack us and a ship behind us has just shot one of tlient into the sea. Our tank troop captain has Colne up to the bridge to warn the captain, and it is only a few minutes until our zero time. Ise wants to got going, so we hoist our signal now meaning we're shore -bound, and in we go. It is now 6.45. Planes are every- where overhead, and the shore guns are firing at• us and at the small troop -carrying craft ahead of it. I can see casualties—men are in the water. Our tanks are warming up and they are starting to climb the ramp which will go down like a drawbridge when we reach the beach. Machine-gun bullets are whining around us, but our guns are cracking too at the aircraft over us. A tank landing craft is getting its' tanks off behind the troops storming the beach, and heavy bombs have just dropped astern us. It is a heavy Junkers and he is trying to stagger into shore, He is full of lead front our guns. The tank landing craft ahead of us got her tanks ashore but site is sinking now trying to get out, and we aro being stopped by orders from going in, with destroyers laying a smoke screen around us. There is a heavy German gunfire from a tobacco factory. I cat see it sweeping the beach, Our tank men are disappointed, but now comes an order to try and come in again and they are delighted. The German shore batteries are still active, They are firing at ns, Four Focke-Wulf bomb- ers have just dived on us and two of them disappeared in flames. Our bar- rage is unbelievable and I ani cov- ered in black soot, Shells are falling ou all sides of us, but we cannot get into the beach, and we are ordered again to retire. Our aircraft are suffering heavily, and I have seen several of them come down in flames over Dieppe. The wounded are being brought off,, killed and wounded for Odessa, and their losses in the Crimea and at Sevastopol must have been even greater. anti they will not count the cost if they think that now is a fav- orable 11101120111 to storm the Black Sea coastline road past Tuapse and Adler. The Russian army of the Caucasus is virtually cut off from Timoshen- ko's forces defnding Stalingrad in the Kotennikov area and in the bend of the Don, and the Germans need have no fear of interference from the north with any operation Which they may undertake on the shores of the Black Sea. Should they succeed in eliminating the Russian fleet, their transports from the mouths of the Danube and from the Rumanian ports will be able to traverse the Black Sea from west to east to the coast of North Caueasta, and the supply line to their army before Stal- ingrad will be shortened by huudreds of miles. The twi prongs of the German of- fensive cowards Stalingrad in the east and the Caucasus in the south have driven deeply into Russia's richest wheat and oil producing country, but they have not yet gained a decisive victory over the Soviet 11y. The situation is very grave, and the next few weeks will show how Hitler and bis military advisers eau exploit their gains, and to what extent they can cripple Russia's power to switch from the defensive to the offensive as they did in October 1941. The mill foreman came upon two • colored men walking slowly up the road, single file. "Say, you, why ain't you working?" "We's working, boss, sho'nuff. We's carrying this plank up to the mill." "What plank ? I don't see he plank." "Well, to' de land's sake, Abe, ef f We ain't gone an' forgot de plauitt" Duplicate Monthly statements EINEMIWIIIIIMI save you moneyon Bill and can sa We Y Charge Forms, standard sizes to fit Ledgers, white or colors. . It will pay you to see our samples. Also best quality Metal Hinged Sec- tional 'Post Binders and Index The Seaforth News PHONE 84 Canadians at Dieppe An eyewitness account by Bob Bowman of the CBC, one of the cor- respondents permitted to accompany allied forces on the combined opera- tions raid on the occupied French port of Dieppe ou August 19, Al- though Bowman's transport did not reach shore, his account of Canadians in action is a definite contribution to the records of Dieppe. I am broadcasting now about the Dieppe raid. At a time when details are just becoming available, I would like to say this to you in Canada. We have suffered heavy losses and I saw our men die—but never have I seen men die more bravely or fight with such great heart as our Canad- ian troops. The word ^Dieppe may rank with Vimy Ridge in our history and our hats are off to the Royal Canadian Engineers, and the Royal Canadian Army Medical. Corps, and the 'South Saskatchewan Regiment,. and the Queen's Own Cameron High- landers of Winnipeg, and the Royal Regiment from Toronto, and the 'Es- sex Scottish from Windsor, and the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry, and the Fusiliers from Montreal. A lot of these men wilt never re - ,turn to Canada, and more will not return until after the war if the Ger- man announcement of 1,500 prisoners, is correct. And added to the above. are the officers and men of the Cal- gary Tanks whose story is one of the greatest that can be told about our Canadian part in this action. inoperation, This was a combined and I have spoken about the Army play- ing an equal part with otu' troops, with the Air Force, the Marines, the Commandos and the Navy. What a marvellous job they did iu the face of intense fire from accurate and powerful German shore and ack-ack batteries. Our losses have not been sustained without reason. We have Learned a most valuable lesson which may en- able us to free the continent of Eur- ope and end the war. We know now how the German system of coastal defences operates and how best to atack. We know the tremendous weight of artillery the enemy can bring to bear on the beaches. That was the purpose of the raid as set out officially and told to us before we set sail—to destroy .defencesand kill Germans and to obtain information, We did all these things—things which the Germans have never been able to do to us, We moved large forces across the Channel unnoticed by the enemy. We landed men on all six beaches and we landed tanks in our new tank -carrying vessels, one one of which I was a passenger. Costly as it has been to Canada the raid was definitely a suocess., Now let me start from the begin- ning. The plan, of course, ,was a closely -guarded secret and the men weren't briefed until they were on board the ships. Although I did not travel with the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry I was present when their Colonel—a fines figure of a man, from London, Ontario—came on board and told them: "Men, we are going into action. We are going to do what we came over to do—get a crack at Jerry." And then he told them the nature of the operation and what was expected of each man. There were no heroics, no delighted yells of whoopee. The men were quiet and asked questions, It, struck me that the questions were those that a gen- eral might ask when being told of an operation far the first time. What were the coast defences likely to be? What aircraft protection would they get I liked the spirit. We set sail in craft of all types under the cover of darkness. I was with the Calgary Tanks in one of the new tank -carrying craft. It was a lovely , night and reminded me of bcme. Hardly had we set sail when our padre coleoted all the men to- gether in the bow of the ship stand- ing in front of a new type of tank they were using, and he read from the sixth chapter of Dphesian s with the aid of a flashlight. . . Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lorcl, and in the power of his might. Put on lite whole armour of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, For we wrestle not against flush and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in. high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness." , In a few Words he told us 'that in a few hours we would be striking out flrat blow to bring a sign of Olivet - Mice to the people of Europe, and the reason for this service was be- cause we would know God's help. The men were quer a9 We flailed out into the darkness under the love- ly stars. I cQuid lead my watch in the light°of the half 10000, and 0000 we said good-bye to the shore of Britain, I hada chat with the officer commanding our partioular troop of tanks, and he told me about the hard work that had been put in for weeks to get them ready for this action. He Was confident in them and in his men to whom he said the credit ]rust go, And now I ant just going to quote frons the notes I took as we went along—some written ilk the darkness, and some wrtten under heavy gun- lire so they are now smeared and dirty from the cordite. "AA tracers, like red sparks, and there is a heavy red glow extending down the Coast. Our bombers are at work„ .store heavy flashes of coast- al guns and bombs. Our aircraft are flying in close to the water and over us, and now dawn is breaking, also like a heavy barrage to the east. There are puffs of smoke in the sky, evidently from heavy German ack- ack batteries, and the ships are weaving in, Our lads are cahu and the tank men wearing black berets and sitting comfortably anywhere, are watching the action. The Sky is becoming full of aircraft and the bombardment is becoming intense. Heavy thuds are shaking us even this far out to sea, The Captain is calmly steering us "Port 10, , . Midships". One bright fire is burning on the port horizon. Our medical vie' have put on their steel helmets and the guns are cialeter. Perhaps the Commandos have landed and are fixing them. The destroyers are holding their fire and aro slink- ing along beside us. The ships are spread out behind its in long lines with gun crews mounted, each flying a black flag and a white ensign. There are fighter -patrols like • flocks of geese high up and the bombers are scurrying home in the low haze over the water. The fighters look like swallows but in geese formation. It is now 5.50 in the morning. Fast troop -carrying ships are starting to pass us now. And there is a French chauueur carrying French com- mandos. The coast has suddenly loomed up in front of us with its white hills and its cliffs, and it looks. like a race to see who will get into action first. The sky is streaked with "flying fools" and so is the ocean, The destroyers are laying a smoke screen to windward and now they are turning broadside and are plast- ering the town with their guns. The smoke screen is lifting and I can see ships everywhere, The small troop - but we hear that We have lander ou. every beach, .i;vidnetiy the Bnglneet's have suffered heavily, and were un- able to blast a way for the tanks for about tin hoer. The tanks formed, a square on the field and they are pro- tecting our men while being re - embarked. The Gorman Drive to the Caucasus 93y Brigadier General H. S. Sewell. For some weeks the Germau com- muniques have claimed almost daily advances south of the Don towards the Caucasus. At the moment of writing, the spearheads of their at- tack are said to have reached the great city of Krasnodar iu the west, the oil wells at Maikop and the im- portant railway center of Armavir in the east. The Russian armies are stilt intact and are continuing their fight- ing retreat towards the mountains, destroying everything in their wake, but ther tis little hope that they will be reinforced from south of hte Cau- casus, and it does not seem possible for them to counter-attack from that direction. Three Roads Across Caucasus If Krasnodar has fallen to German arms any Soviet forces that remain. in 'Novorossisk may be isolated, and that port will have to be abandoned by the Russian fleet, which will then be reduced to the use of Tuapse and Batum, and the smaller harbors be- tween those two places. But, though the Russians are not in a positiou to strike back at the invaders, they should be able to hold the Germans in the mountains. There are three roads by which the Caucasus barrier can be passed --on the west along the shores of the Black Sea from Tuapse to Batum— in the center by the Kristovi Pass between Ordzhonikidze and Tiflis— and on the ast along the shores of the Caspian Sea between Makhach Kala and Baku. The German troops in Norway and the Balkans perform- ed specacular feats of mountain climbing, but they have never been confronted by so formidable an ob- stacle as the Caucasus, and it is questionable if they ,will attempt large operations beyond the moun- tains so late in the season. Fleet's Last Remaining Hold Thei'e is, however, an objective on the shores of the Black Sea which' may outweigh all other considera- tions. The Russian fleet is based on the 300 -mile coastline between Nov - carrying landing craft are moving in orossisk and the oil port of Batum on lines under the artillery barrage. A. the Turkish frontier. This is their Spitfire has just crashed off our star -last remaining hold; and if the Ger- board bow, and into the sea like a mans can occupy this coast, the Rus - We could see the . Sian warships will face destruction The troops are heading for the or internment in neutral Turkish beaches on either side of the town— ports. the Royal Regiment to the left and The Germans have fought for the the South Saskatchewan and the control of the Black Sea ever since Queen's Own Camerons to the rlght.Ithey launched their first atack in the The Hamiltons and the Essex Scot-; Ukraine. They paid a heavy price in tisk are going into the centre and we are following. Two Messer schtnidts have just tried to attack us and a ship behind us has just shot one of tlient into the sea. Our tank troop captain has Colne up to the bridge to warn the captain, and it is only a few minutes until our zero time. Ise wants to got going, so we hoist our signal now meaning we're shore -bound, and in we go. It is now 6.45. Planes are every- where overhead, and the shore guns are firing at• us and at the small troop -carrying craft ahead of it. I can see casualties—men are in the water. Our tanks are warming up and they are starting to climb the ramp which will go down like a drawbridge when we reach the beach. Machine-gun bullets are whining around us, but our guns are cracking too at the aircraft over us. A tank landing craft is getting its' tanks off behind the troops storming the beach, and heavy bombs have just dropped astern us. It is a heavy Junkers and he is trying to stagger into shore, He is full of lead front our guns. The tank landing craft ahead of us got her tanks ashore but site is sinking now trying to get out, and we aro being stopped by orders from going in, with destroyers laying a smoke screen around us. There is a heavy German gunfire from a tobacco factory. I cat see it sweeping the beach, Our tank men are disappointed, but now comes an order to try and come in again and they are delighted. The German shore batteries are still active, They are firing at ns, Four Focke-Wulf bomb- ers have just dived on us and two of them disappeared in flames. Our bar- rage is unbelievable and I ani cov- ered in black soot, Shells are falling ou all sides of us, but we cannot get into the beach, and we are ordered again to retire. Our aircraft are suffering heavily, and I have seen several of them come down in flames over Dieppe. The wounded are being brought off,, killed and wounded for Odessa, and their losses in the Crimea and at Sevastopol must have been even greater. anti they will not count the cost if they think that now is a fav- orable 11101120111 to storm the Black Sea coastline road past Tuapse and Adler. The Russian army of the Caucasus is virtually cut off from Timoshen- ko's forces defnding Stalingrad in the Kotennikov area and in the bend of the Don, and the Germans need have no fear of interference from the north with any operation Which they may undertake on the shores of the Black Sea. Should they succeed in eliminating the Russian fleet, their transports from the mouths of the Danube and from the Rumanian ports will be able to traverse the Black Sea from west to east to the coast of North Caueasta, and the supply line to their army before Stal- ingrad will be shortened by huudreds of miles. The twi prongs of the German of- fensive cowards Stalingrad in the east and the Caucasus in the south have driven deeply into Russia's richest wheat and oil producing country, but they have not yet gained a decisive victory over the Soviet 11y. The situation is very grave, and the next few weeks will show how Hitler and bis military advisers eau exploit their gains, and to what extent they can cripple Russia's power to switch from the defensive to the offensive as they did in October 1941. The mill foreman came upon two • colored men walking slowly up the road, single file. "Say, you, why ain't you working?" "We's working, boss, sho'nuff. We's carrying this plank up to the mill." "What plank ? I don't see he plank." "Well, to' de land's sake, Abe, ef f We ain't gone an' forgot de plauitt"