WWll: Raid of Dieppe. A Lesson or Massacre?

[Zythus]

A great debate for historians, is that the Dieppe Raid was purely pointless and resulted in complete failure of an operation with extremely high casualties. Other historians argue that it was a lesson for the success of Operation Overlord, also known as D-Day. A brief summary for those who aren't familiar.


Quote: Wikipedia_________________________________________________
The Dieppe Raid, also known as The Battle of Dieppe or Operation Jubilee, during the Second World War, was an Allied attack on the German-occupied port of Dieppe, Seine-Inférieure on the Northern coast of France on 19 August 1942. Over 6,000 infantrymen, predominantly Canadian, were supported by large British naval and Allied air force contingents. The objective was to seize and hold a major port for a short period, both to prove it was possible and to gather intelligence from prisoners and captured materials while assessing the German responses. The raid was also intended to use air power to draw the Luftwaffe into a large, planned encounter.

No major objectives of the raid were accomplished. 3,623 of the 6,086 men who made it ashore were either killed, wounded, or captured. The Allied air forces failed to lure the Luftwaffe into open battle, and lost 119 planes, while the Royal Navy suffered 555 casualties. The catastrophe at Dieppe later influenced Allied preparations for Operation Torch and Operation Overlord.
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After reading Official war documents and testimonies, it is my opinion to say that Dieppe was indeed an useless slaughter that accomplished nothing, not to even mention practice for D-Day. Here are some of my factual arguments.

-Assault on Red/White beaches came 20min late. By then, German forces were on full alert waiting for the British/Canadians.
-British Troops Retreated after penetrating German Defense Lines.
-More than 50% of solders were killed, wounded, or made Prisoners of War (POW)

There are many more arguments that I have, but I must reread articles once again to remember them. So what do you think?


This is my personal website that I've uploaded and complied all the official documents and reference onto. To answer, please cite your argument using the sources. (If you think reading the whole page is long, read the highlighted yellow and the image at the top of every source to get a better understanding.)

http://zythus.net/project/dieppe/dieppe.html

(The page may look distorted depending on your version of Internet Explorer and resolution. If you use Firefox and at 1024x768, then it is displayed the way it was meant to be.)