Dieppe Artifact 3: De-Classified Canadian Soldier Reports

  This document is a preliminary narrative from the Directorate of History at the National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa, Canada, which was released to the public in July 1986. It provides an account of events from the Dieppe Raid from the perspective of soldiers reporting on what happened leading up to and after the raid.

  This collection of primary sources is extremely valuable to historians as it provides first-hand accounts of what the soldiers experienced on the battlefield rather than the inaccurate news reporting from the time.  The Canadian government did not allow these documents to be released for years after the war due to the skewing of information from media on the Dieppe raid to paint the tragedy in a more positive light. The documents were also sealed because they contained battle plans, machinery and weapon specifications, and a plethora of other data about the Canadian military that could prove dangerous if released to the public until the data was not applicable anymore.

  Although the document acknowledges that it has not been fully verified for accuracy and its interpretations may not represent the truth, these documents are some of the only first-hand accounts accessible to the public.

References:

Defence, National. “Government of Canada.” Canada.ca, March 12, 2019. https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/services/military-history/history-heritage/official-military-history-lineages/reports/military-headquarters-1940-1948/operation-jubilee-raid-dieppe-19-august-1942-part-ii.html.