The Brussels Post, 1942-9-30, Page 6Six hours in Dieppe Baia cit,;.
t-' ; ,attUSk:+.,S eon
ttt n about those Foeke-.WulCs, t•rafl lighter,
r,owlx::•e uu that beater You have heard people say often
you couldfeel that you were enough, "Thank God we have the
Cur:tinted from Page One
Wait a weapon in each hand he
net 011 'track t0 the .Own, saying 11
lie treat :'•Pitt goring to get even
'um:u ars 10r what
they te`4u,te to nw reSlalellt"
In thestreetsthere was One young
French boy who must have reau
'Many books on the enthralling
sstseeet of cowboys and Indians.
Aa saapere Peppered the streets
lir ea au.iy. I noticed this boy
dodging .n and out among the
ryas wearing a blue claret.
Hiding behind the edge of the
building he put the beret on: a
stiok, held it out round the edge
of the bu.ldinu, then having assured
himself that the Least was clear,
put the beret on his head and
dashed across. the street,
These snipers were an incessant
' aliace Keyburn ,
slaty."
-• . the bort wart out into 1 have often felt that w1Y loo, but
done their juts tee Camerons got C1. • Der a t1 ^, and to'd1'r waY, 1\'e - 11 1,1 .t realize jltri the sort
taro:telt, :1::,.,• p -1"r udtiing a stir- pulled oumelvos. up over the side .jury Brei.ein lute, As we lay in
ting skirl to the cougluuleratiun of 1 '9e• bout, these who had enough :flat boat getting all worked un at
trot 311 left, the ptospeet of this craft sinking
tuoise, r ! \Vt lay Pee d'ownwartle on top of -"x 1 -, tco. a little guy in blue
The dola at 4,20 and Regi•
mete, had landed;4.50 and It was the boat and Pelt here at last we <- r.:.,, . u 3acket dungarees, white
,;,w 0, and we ami this 4:aanerotis wer. ' .'ttl'tvr for Erel nd, lent rubber rlloes, wee running up a1rc1
!tail done our work. Messages were after we had gone only :trout fifty ma the hold helping men on to the
e..•. to her:deserters in the ships yards the try went np. "We're 'l r +. n�e 2:11113 •-11eve13 r' wateseer,
e+'n°trrr.g!„ m any ane quite
out its the Channel Inca we were
\\'
ready to leave. e all jt'mptel Melt into the is Win an that. boy. Bullets pinging
We learned that landing craft water and looped erettad for an- - e, .•1 Brim and II. E. bursting just
would arrive+ at eleven o'clock to other boat. There was one about l'01:11 mean a Ching to hint, He had
:wet ty ^ar-'n away, a job to do and he hasn't going to
take us off. Wounded ItIrti deed I grabbed the rope hanging from lot Jerry melte him less eP(iolont,
ed of the promenade in retidtuess the side of it sial pulled myself np I deal. knew why, but looking at
to leave, ever the edge. But 'with the top that hey. seeing his courage and
i
1 was with battalion headquarters part of my body on the deck and eats, 1 felt. T wanted cry—maybe
in a houso lift, ,eros away, the
Mr legs still deluding over the side that was because I felt humble.
barrage now Prpm Jerry mortars, ars,
I was too exhausted to set, any Moon a small fink ship name
farther, A'onets'cle and we p11ed on .board
artillery and aerial Uombing was A soldier on the boat grabbed and lay down on the wooden deck
descending to a hellish scale as we one oe my hands and started pulleig etterly exhausted.
stood there in the doorways of the me tip. Hut as he did so, somebody It was a funny thing that we
trouble to us. despite the excellent house waiting for the boats to come
in the water grabbed my leg and didn't think at ell about enemy fire
house clearing by Canad4aus. ie. startett . tryirg to heave himself up. flying around us. We were to worn
I ercotmtered one sergeant from ' Certain companies of the troops I ge't a feeling .of desperate hope- out that we ,d`eln't care about any-
Saskett•irewan, the jeeke ei his were fighting a rearguard action to
lerenee.s. The harder: the man on China except a cigarette. I have
battle dress was bulging with hold up German lsard reinforce duck pulled, the heavier seemed to never enjoyed a cigarette In my life
imcen'arles. When. 1 asked him '.cents that were now pouring M. be the weight of hire man below as much es that one,
where he was going be replied: These were getting closer and and draegfug rate 8larck How 1 d d
"There is a goddam sniper along ; closer. We looked out to ill no sign of the boats, eventually get on to that boat I
that road there who is picking our (there was don't know•
boys oft, I am going to smoke him i Rifle and machine gran lire from
"Iebalilgoao n' oe n, fi �r:l T crawled- to the
eat the approaching German was now r.
along the road setting =ptattering the upper storeys of hold and dived head. first down into
each house on are until I get hitt our house. it, Lying there among the other
or he gets ,me. He will come From the ;ea side Focke-Wulfs men, all of them as exhausted as 1
running out of doors and I will were com'ng in at us from a low wss, henry of them badly injured, I
pick the bastard oft with this Sten level, spitting machine gum and felt a feeling of relief such as I have
gun' , cannon fire at us. never had before in my life.
Our boys, courageous and Lull of But soon a shoat went. up,
These was a determined set to guts,them all of thedetermined guys, Lighten the boat. There are too
Ings raw as he said: "50 long ' got on to the streets, where they
many of us on board! We're sink-
lioys," and set off down the road. could see the aircraft clearly and let
1 deln't see this sergeant again
•
fly at them with their rifles. Sten
until several hours later, when He guns and Brett guns. e'' ,
were making for the beach. I
recognized me and said; "Oh, by • We looked out to sea and still no
the way, newspaperman, S got that , sign of the boats. The minutes
sniper all right" "' • '`' ' crept by ansi the hands of our
' Our object in landing on this watches moved with the slowness of
beach 15as 10- clear the way fora watched kettle coming to the boil.
the Caerons who were coming atter Would they never get round to
m
to through behind the eleven o'clock? At last a shout
there. went up, the boat are here.
The wounded were taken off and
Saskatchewan had
and were
the town to
The
boys
go
abiec'tives
from
B.
F04
MEN
The lien "Ea
quire" — hand.
Dams and roan`
Han. lust as
!Rosin.
tooPew Ergo 42750
model In the
smart coral
shade. '$23755
then Colonel Merritt ordered an-
, other hundred men to go to the
beach. He said: "Don't run, men.
'Shoulder arms .and march." And
they did, every one of them.
When another call for men to" go
to the beaches came, I went with
thein.
As I ch•onned down the twelve -
foot parapet to the beach, I paused
there momentarily and enrveYed
the scene. Tire • tide was practically
fall out.
The sight I saw there 'brought
back to mind pictures I bad seen
04 Dunkirk; it was the same thing
all over again an a smaller scale.
There were the men out there
knee deep in water wading out to
boats. there were showers of water
es shells exploded, basy smoke from
tires from the bltrnimg buildings of
Dieppe. au as the smoke screen
dropped by our aircraft.
When i had seen these pictures
of Dunkirk Iel never thought that
some day I'll have part in the same
sort elf timing. Samebady called it
the Little Dunkirk.
The amount of fin. power that was
launched on that stretch of beach
was colossal. All hell was tet
loose, From each end of the beach
we were rafted by machine gun fire,
art'llery shells from the batteries
behind the town exploding on the
beach and in the water, Mortar
shells seemed to be exploding every-
where.
Aircraft were bombing us, Pocke-
Wuifs swooping dower on the beach
and sweeping us with machine gun
and cannon fire.
You just thought there and then
that yen e•ouldn't get across that
three hundred yards of sand to the
boats and survive. The odds were
too much against it.
I
(Melted forward and ran just as
fast as my legs would carry me.
We got to the 'landing craft only
to find it- stack in the sand sad we
hate to push it into deeper water.
We pushed. shoved, and heaved
at that landing craft as. bullets
splettereui on the steel sides around
our heads. We Pushed the craft
out a few yards, only is have a
wave: push it lack again.
I remembered figuring out
quickly in Me, mind that if miff 1
toe11l got roturc1 on to the side of
the craft Mat woo away Trona the
shore -I would stand less chance
Of heti% bit. -
1 remember, too, may enrolee
whets holding on to the rope An, the
FOR
LADIES
C.
Cheroinolp
styled Boa
be new . eeeai
,215
This is the baauf hal
Eton "Plana":-iinr. $7
y'K depenaoble
EASY CREDIT Ti1RMe
SOB at
Savin+ + '
IT PAYS
SEAFORTH, ONT.
Otrr 21iarnonrf Raoul Afters* { far aide of His teat B !airbag cit
Privacy When Buying bnilete or/rayed on to the erect stele
v .test abOre ay' IteaT, I 11141 ior•
Wednesday, Septdrtaber :10th, 1942
hen in Listowe
— AT w+ua
eston's `'' est Iur& '1t
o e Away r 'Ate
t)0n1P0rtable and 1''alri1 i11 an emeY
chair 1 felt: 1`A,h, now at last we
are on our wily back Lo England."
But It was'. going to be as simple
ae
We didn't leave that beach. until
three hours later. In those three
hours we were :dive bombed over
anti over again by evenly aircraft.
Foeke'Wulfs flew back and forth
the ship's length, peppering the
men clustered together in hundreds
on the open decks. .
Minutes ticked by and still we
went round and round in small
circles, picking up survivors.
Down iu the ward roam we felt
"Here we are, rammed in the in-
nards. of the ship, and any minute
she ma.y be blown hp"
'Bat again we were to change A near ,miss buret right at the
ships. In fact I was on four ships side of the grip and a thundering
getting out of Dieppe. The new one crash was followed by showers of
we came alongside was a destroyer. water spurting through the doorway
of the Ward room,
The deters were crowded with
troops., some lying flat on their I said to myself: "This is it!
backs, others ,standing up and cheer- tShete going to sink. This is the
ing us. I nhnmbled through a door- end," but then the cheery face of
Way hid an officer said "This way, a red-headed steward popped into
war correspondent, down the steps ' the doorway and he said "It's all
to the ward room. right, lads, they tiidv't get us."
"You will find some of your pals Lt's only the sprinkler system, that's
there Quentin Reynolds for one." I teem punctured by a splinter, It
will only put your cigarette's out."
ingr.,
I slithered clownthe stairs and
Those of us still wearing helmets collapsed flat on my face on the
ter ped floor of the ward room. A steward
threw them into th.e wa , wet .
ff our boots, slung away water brought me. a my stiff brandy, heavy
bottles, peeled off battledresses, clothes, wee taken off and a
even. underwear, anything to make blanket wrapped round me.
IN TH1
11iow is e times to clean out all theold,
clothes around the house. Rags can be
put to a hundred uses. Wool rags are
particularly valuable. Don't waste a thing.
Deep turning all the scrapmetals, rags,
paper and bones in your house into war
production material.
ISSUED NY DEPARTMENT OP NATIONAL WAR SERVICES
Eventually we got under weigh..
We were the last to leave the scene,
and I remember thinking at the
time "First iu, last out," 'because our
landing party hed been the first one
to set foot on he beaches of Dieppe
But now that we were on our WaY
1111110 Jerry didn't feel we were net
longer a target, He still 'went for
us.
Afterwards, when you're back
home and thinking about it, you
remember a lot of little things that
recorded on your mind without
you realizing it.
I remember how, while all this
was happening I thought perhaps if
T read a book from the ship's ltbrary
it might take my mind off what was
going on.
I reached for a book lying on the
shelf. It was by a tamed writer,
"Taffrail," its title. Dover to Ostend
—a Cross Channel Thriilel'.
,Steward1, were doing the rounds
of every one in that room, giving
therm brandy, whisky, anything else
they wanted to drink.
I reached, for a sodden, saltwater
logged roll of notes in the wallet of
My battle dress to pay for my drink
but with a grits the steward said.
"I don't think the Navy will expect
you to pay for this 0110, chum."
2"
..
3 Allan A. Lamont .3°
'3` Agent tor—Fire, Windstorm, and Automobile insurl:ttce. ♦30
yGet particulars of our Special Automobile Policy 444
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tit> and r
O• , GENERAL INURANCE OFFICE
s4. MAIN STREET, — — ETHEL, ONT.
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ALL RINDS OF
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