#Dieppe Raid

[theworldatwar]

Grateful British soldiers smile as they arrive back in Britain after the disastrous raid at Dieppe - Aug 1942

[archivist-crow]

Dieppe Raid Case - 1951

Reports of the hearing of ghostly sounds of a bloody World War Il air and sea battle fought near Dieppe, France. The case, documented and examined by psychical researchers, attained fame in the 1950s. It is considered to be an example of paranormal collective auditory hallucinations.

The case was reported by two Englishwomen on holiday at Puys, near Dieppe, in late July and early August 1951. The women, identified pseudonymously in reports as Dorothy Norton and her sister-in-law Agnes Norton, stayed in a house that during World War II had been occupied by German soldiers. Dorothy Norton was accompanied by her two children and a nurse.

On the morning of August 4, at about 4:20, the women were awakened by loud noises that started suddenly and at first sounded like a storm arising at sea. The sounds ebbed and flowed, and then they could distinctly hear sounds of gunfire, shellfire, divebombers, and men shouting and crying out. The women got up and went out on their balcony, where they could not actually see the sea, but they detected nothing that could account for the noises. Meanwhile, the noises came in from the direction of the sea, loud and intense, and still seemed like gunfire, divebombing and voices shouting. The roaring abruptly stopped at 4:50 A.M. and resumed at about 5:07 A.M. The noise became so intense that the Norton women were amazed that other occupants of the house were not awakened. As the sky grew light, they heard a rifle shot on the beach below. The noise became more distinct as the sound of divebombing planes that came in waves. It stopped abruply at 5:40 A.M. The noise resumed at 5:50 A.M., not as loud, but stil sounding distinctly like planes. The noise died away at 6 A.M. and resumed at 6.20 A.M., much fainter. The women heard nothing at all after 6:55 A.M.

Both women knew that a battle had taken place in the vicinity during the war, but neither knew the details. They consulted a French guidebook and, during the experience, sat and read the account of the battle. They concluded they might have heard ghostly sounds of the real battle, and agreed to write independent versions of their experience. With a small discrepancy in time (probably due to a difference in watches), their reports matched. Later, they asked several persons if they, too, had been disturbed during the night, but received negative answers.

The sounds bore a remarkable correspondence to the fierce battle that took place in the Dieppe environs on August 19, 1942, at precisely the times experienced by the Nortons. The Royal Regiment of Canada launched a predawn assault on German forces from Puys, about 1.5 miles east of Dieppe, to Berneval, about 5 miles east, to Purville, about 2.5 miles west of Dieppe and to Varengeville about 3 miles further west. Flank landings were scheduled to make surprise arrivals at 4:50 A.M. to destroy coastal batteries. At about 3:47, the Canadians encountered a small German convoy off the coast, and the two forces exchanged fire until after 4 A.M. The Canadians arrived at Dieppe a few minutes late, at 5:07. At 5:12 A.M., destroyers started to bombard Dieppe with shells, and at 5:15 Hurricane planes attacked, at Puys as well as Dieppe. At 5:20 A.M., main landings at Dieppe were made, covered by a bombardment of shells from destroyers and by heavy air attack. A second wave went ashore at about 5:45 A.M. At about 5:50 A.M., new air fighters from England arrived, and German planes were in the sky as well.

The Germans, who were able to man their beach defenses, waited until the landing craft nearly touched shore before opening heavy fire with rifles, machine guns and howitzers. The Canadians were trapped by a high sea-wall. Within two or three hours, the Royal Regiment of Canada was nearly destroyed. Thirty-four officers and 727 men were killed. Two officers and 65 men, half of whom were wounded, were rescued and taken away, and another 16 officers and 264 men were captured by the Germans.

A comparison of the Nortons' experience with the phases of the Dieppe raid showed consistencies between times and the changes in the noises they heard, with a few exceptions. The information in the French guidebook was not specific enough for them to have subconsciously matched their description to the real event after reading about it.

The Nortons, interviewed by psychical researchers G.W. Lambert and Kathleen Gray, came across as well balanced individuals who displayed no tendency to embellish their accounts, and no desire to prove they had had a paranormal experience. Dorothy Norton said she had been avakened by similar, but fainter, noises on the morning of July 30, but had not mentioned the experience to Agnes (who had not heard the noises) because she had not wanted to spoil the holiday with something mysterious.

Skeptics proposed other explanations for the experience, such as surf sounds, noise from commercial airplanes flying a nearby route across the English Channel, or noise from a dredger. Agnes Norton had served in the women's Royal Naval Service during the war, however, and she probably would have been able to distinguish the sounds of the sea and of a single commercial aircraft, had those been the natural sources. The dredger was not in operation at the times corresponding to the Nortons' experience.

Both women were familiar with the Versailles Haunting, a similar case in which two Englishwomen on holiday in France felt they had paranormal experiences in encountering the ghostly past. Skeptics also suggested that this familiarity may have subconsciously primed the Nortons to have their own experience. The possibility is remote, since the Norton women were not previously acquainted with the details of the Dieppe case.

Text from The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits, Third Edition by Rosemary Ellen Guiley (Checkmark Books - 2007)

[historydailyfrancischappellblack]

The Dieppe Raid August 19, 1942

Subscriber Content Add content here that will only be visible to your subscribers. Payment One pilot, rescued. August 19 1942, during the Dieppe Raid (Operation Jubilee). #DieppeRaid https://amzn.to/46R8Jvq If you enjoy my Canadian military history content, you can support it with a donation at https://buymeacoffee.com/CanadasMilitaryHistory The Dieppe Raid was an Allied operation designed…

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"'Civilian Turned Soldier,' Says Kin," Toronto Star. October 2, 1942. Page 14. ---- SGT. JOHN CARROLL, EXTREME LEFT, AND SIR JOHN DILL, RIGHT --- "I think they should all get medals." declared Edward Carroll, Columbine Ave., when he was informed today that his brother, Sergt. John M. Carroll of the Royal Regiment, had been mentioned in dispatches in connection with the great raid on the French port of Dieppe." "John is a perfect example of acivilian made into a fine soldier." his brother said. "Before the war, John had absolutely no interest in military matters, but within two weeks of the declaration of war he was in the army. He said he just had to get in and help get rid of that guy Hitler.' He went into the first recruiting office he came to and it happened to be that of the Royals." Announcements following the Dieppe raid listed Sergt. Carroll as "dangerously wounded." Letters received by his mother, Mrs. Margaret Carroll of Kitchener, said he had been wounded by gunshot to the abdomen and the left thigh in the storming of the beaches.

"John left home at the age of 18 to join a carnival that came to town," Edward told The Star. "He was always adventurous, but very quiet about his accomplishments. He never mentioned his part in the raid except to say that he was wounded. This news will be welcome to his mother." Sergt. Carroll joined up in September, 1939. and went to England before his regiment to take a special course in trench mortar operation. Later he went to Iceland as an instructor.

[1953anewhope]

Dieppe?

[majorhortonisonleaveinlondon]

An updated (November 11, 2024 3:40pm pst) list of WW2 movies and TV shows in chronological order

thought out WW2 -(Imitation Game 2014) -(The Book Thief 2013) -(The Zookeeper’s Wife 2017) -(The Pianist 2002)

1937

October 26, 1937 Defence of Sihang Warehouse (The Eight Hundred 2020)

December 13, 1937 Nanjing Massacre - (John Rabe 2009) - (The Flowers of War 2011)

1938

Fall of 1938 (Munich – The Edge of War 2022)

1939

Summer 1939 (Six Minutes to Midnight 2020)

September 3, 1939 King George VI first wartime speech (King’s Speech 2010)

September 17, 1939, Soviet Union Invitation of Poland (The Way Back 2010)

November 30, 1939 Soviet Union invades Finland (The Winter War 1989)

1940

April 9, 1940 Operation Weserübung -(April 9th [movie] 2015) -(King’s Choice 2016) -(Narvik 2022) -(War Sailors 2023)

April 27, 1940 (Into the White 2011)

June 4, 1940 -Churchill gives “We Shall Fight on the Beaches” speech (Darkest Hour 2017) -Dunkirk Evaluation (Dunkirk 2017)

July 10-October 31, 1940 Battle of Britain (Battle of Britain 1969)

1941

May 1941 (Call to Spy 2019)

June 22, 1941 Operation Barbarossa -(Fortress of War [The Brest Fortres 2010) -(Defiance 2008)

September 8, 1941, Siege of Leningrad begins. -(Battle of Leningrad [Saving Leningrad] 2019) -(Leningrad 2009)

October 1941 Battle of Moscow (The Last Frontier [The Final Stand] 2020)

October 1941 Battle of Sevastopol (Battle for Sevastopol 2015)

December 7, 1941, the Empire of Japan attacks Pearl Harbor (Tora! Tora! Tora! 1970)

December 8, 1941 Japan invades Shanghai International Settlement (Empire of the Sun 1987)

1942

January 20, 1942, Wannsee Conference (Conspiracy 2001)

February 1942 Battle of the Atlantic (Greyhound 2020)

February 1942 (The Railway Man 2013)

February 19, 1942, Bombing of Darwin (Australia 2008)

Spring 1942 (U-571 2000)

April 18, 1942 The Doolittle Raid (In Harm’s Way 2018)

June 4, 1942 Battle of Midway (Midway 2019)

1942 Summer Occupation of Jersey Island (Another Mother’s Son 2017 Prime)

July, 10 1942 Easy Company Trains in Camp Tocca (Band of Brothers 01x10 Currahee 2001)

July 21, 1942, Kokoda Track Campaign (Kokoda: 39th Battalion 2006)

August 7, 1942, 1st Marine Division land on Guadalcanal (The Pacific Ep. 1 Guadalcanal/Leckie 2010)

August 19, 1942, Dieppe Raid (Dieppe 1993)

August 23, 1942 Battle of Stalingrad begins (Stalingrad 1993)

September 1942 Formation of Troop 30 (Age of Heroes 2011)

September 18, 1942, 7th Marines Land on Guadalcanal (The Pacific Ep. 2 Basilone 2010)

Autumn of 1942 Battle of the Atlantic (Das Boot 1981)

October 18, 1942, Operation Grouse (Heavy Water War Ep. 2 2015)

November 8, 1942, Operation Torch (The Big Red One 1980)

November 10-17 1942 Vasily Zaytsev kills 225 German Soldiers during the Battle of Stalingrad (Enemy at the Gates 2001)

December 1942 The 1st Marine Division on Guadalcanal is relieved (The Pacific Ep. 3 Melbourne 2010)

December 15, 1942, Battle of Mount Austen (Thin Red Line 1998)

1943

March 13-14 1943, liquidation of the Kraków Ghetto -(Schindler’s List 1993)

April 17, 1943 Operation Mincemeat (Operation Mincemeat 2021)

April 19, 1943, beginning of the Warsaw Uprising (Uprising 2001)

May 4, 1943, Final Mission of The Memphis Bell (Memphis Bell 1990)

May 15, 1943, Salamo Arouch and his family arrive in Auschwitz Concentration Camp (Triumph of the Spirit 1989)

May 27, 1943 Louis Zamperini plane crashes on a search and rescue mission (Unbroken 2014)

May 30, 1943 first All-American Girls Professional Baseball League game played (A League of Their Own 1992)

June 25, 1943, 100th Bomb Group flew its first 8th Air Force combat mission (Master of the Air: Part One 2024)

July 1943 -(The Tuskegee Airmen 1995) -(The Liberator Ep. 1 2020) -(Heavy Water War Ep. 5 2015)

July 16, 1943, The 100th Bomb Group bombed U-Boats in Tronbhdim (Masters of the Air: Part Two 2024)

August 17, 1943 the 4th Bomb Wing of the 100th Bomb Group bombed Regenberg (Masters of the Air: Part Three 2024)

September 16, 1943, William Quinn and Charles Bailey leave Belgium (Masters of the Air: Part Four 2024)

September 18, 1943 John ‘Bucky’ Egan returns from leave to join the mission to bomb Munster (Master of the Air: Part Five 2024

October 14, 1943, John ‘Bucky’ Egan interrogated at Dulag Lut, Frankfurt Germany (Masters of the Air: Part Six 2024)

December 26, 1943, 1st Marine Division lands on Cape Gloucester (The Pacific Ep. 4 Gloucester/Pavuvu/Banika 2010)

1944

January 22, 1944, Battle of Anzio -(The Liberator Ep. 2 2020) -(Red Tails 2012) -(Anzio 1968)

February 20, 1944, Hydro Ferry bombing (Heavy Water War Ep. 6 2015)

March 7, 1944, Stalag Luft III Sagan, Germany, Germans find the concealed radio Bucky was using to learn news of the War (Master of the Air: Part Seven 2024)

March 24/25, 1944 Allied Mass Escape of Stalag Luft III (The Great Escape 1963)

June 1944 (Cross of Iron 1977)

June 6, 1944, 00:48 & 01:40 First airborne troops begin to land on Normandy (Band of Brothers 02x10 Day of Days 2001)

June 6, 1944, 06:30 D-Day landings -(Storming Juno 2010)

-(Saving Private Ryan 1998)

June 10, 1944, Easy Company Takes Carentan (Band of Brothers 03x10 Carentan 2001)

June 15-July 9, 1944 Battle of Saipan

-(Windtalkers 2002)

-(Oba: The Last Samurai 2011)

July, 1944 The Monuments Men land in Normandy (The Monuments Men 2014)

July 20, 1944 Operation Valkyrie (Valkyrie 2008)

August 12, 1944, The 332nd Fighter Group attack Radar stations in Southern France (Masters of the Air: Part Eight 2024)

September 15, 1944, U.S. Marines landed on Peleliu at 08:32 (the Pacific Ep. 5 2010)

September 16, 1944, U.S Marines take Peleliu Airfield (the Pacific Ep. 5 2010)

September 17, 1944, Operation Market Garden

-(Band of Brothers 04x10 Replacements 2001)

-(A Bridge Too Far 1977)

October 2, 1944 Battle of Scheldt (Forgotten Battle 2021)

October 12, 1944, Battle of Peleliu, Assault on Bloody Nose Ridge (the Pacific Ep. 7 Peleliu Hills 2010)

October 13, 1944, Rovaniemi public buildings were destroyed (Sisu 2022)

October 14, 1944, Erwin Rommel is arrested (Rommel 2012 Prime)

October 22/23, 1944, 2100 – 0200 Operation Pegasus (Band of Brothers 05x10 Crossroads 2001)

November 1944 middle of the Battle of Hürtgen Forest (When Trumpets Fade 1998)

December 16, 1944, Battle of the Bulge (Band of Brothers 06x10 Bastogne 2001)

December 1944 (Hart’s War 2002)

1945

January 2, 1945 (The Liberator Ep 3 2020)

January 10, 1945 (Attack Force Z)

January 13, 1945, Battle of Foy (Band of Brothers 07x10 The Breaking Point 2001)

January 30, 1945 The Raid at Cabanatuan (The Great Raid 2002)

February 14, 1945, David Webb rejoins the 506th in Haguenau (Band of Brothers 08x10 The Last Patrol 2001)

February 19, 1945, Battle of Iwo Jima starts. - (Letters from Iwo Jima 2006) - (The Pacific Ep. 8 Iwo Jima 2010) - (Flags of our Fathers 2006)

March 21, 1945, Operation Carthage (The Bombardment 2021)

April, 1945 (Fury 2014)

April 5, 1945, 506th Finds abandoned Concentration Camp (Band of Brothers 09x10 Why We Fight 2001)

April 17, 1945 Lee Miller arrives at Concentration Camp Buchenwald (Lee 2023)

April 26, 1945, near the end of the war in Europe (A Woman in Berlin 2008)

April 29, 1945, 45th Infantry Division liberated Dachau Concentration camp (The Liberator Ep. 4 2020)

May 2, 1945, Fall of Berlin -(Downfall 2004) -(Jojo Rabbit 2019)

May 1945 Battle of Okinawa -(Hacksaw Ridge 2016) -(The Pacific Ep. 9 Okinawa 2010)

May 7, 1945, Germany Surrenders V-E Day - (Master of the Air: Part Nine 2024) - (Band of Brothers 10x10 Points 2001)

July 30, 1945, USS Indianapolis sank. (USS Indianapolis 2016)

August 15, 1945, The Empire of Japan surrenders end of the War. -(Oppenheimer 2023) -(The Pacific Part Ten: Home 2010)

September 11, 1945 US Military search and Arrest Japanese Leaders for war crimes (Emperor 2012)

1946 April 29, 1946 Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal (Tokyo Trial 2016)

[captain-price-unofficially]

A group of haggard Commandos walk by a collapsed Goatley boat upon returning to New Haven U.K. after the failed Dieppe Raid, 19 August 1942.

[pastlivesandpurplepuppets]

For some strange, unaccountable reason, the wearing of wool-knit caps in the 101st Airborne Division was apparently considered a crime more heinous than rape. If the general caught a man taking a break in one of these knitted affairs with stiff little visors, he stopped the problem and personally scolded the bewildered miscreant and his immediate superiors. British commandos might raid Dieppe in socklike caps and British parachutists wear red berets to Sicily, but we slept in our helmets and hid our wool-knit caps under their iron lids. This was a source of constant friction, with men continually trying to wear them and the officers, goaded from on high, on the lookout to snatch them off. Wool-knit caps became a command phobia of such proportions that the colonel had to devote a large portion of his firm talk to this tender subject. D-Day was tomorrow, and he was talking about wool-knit caps. The thought of it made me laugh. “Now, men,” the colonel said, rubbing his hand over his face and moving his overseas cap back and forth, “I don’t care what else you do, but for God’s sake, don’t let the general catch you in a wool-knit cap! Steal a tank, rob a German payroll—anything but a wool-knit cap. He caught one of you wearing one on the last jump and gave me hell for it. “Now, I don’t like to catch hell, and I know you don’t, so if you have to wear a wool-knit caps."

~ David Kenyon Webster

[usafphantom2]

Spitfire AB910’s last wartime operational sortie – 15th July 1944

Header image: Spitfire Mk Vb AB910 (Photo: Jim Dooley)

Eighty years ago this month, on 15th July 1944, BBMF Spitfire Mk Vb AB910 flew its last operational sortie of the Second World War, with 402 Squadron Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). This was a two-hour shipping protection patrol of four Spitfires, covering convoys to France, with Pilot Officer Ken Heggie RCAF at the controls of AB910.

402 Squadron was now re-equipping with Spitfire Mk IXs, although not for long as they were soon to receive new Griffon-engine Mk XIV Spitfires. The Spitfire Mk Vs had almost seen their day in the front line and AB910’s operational flying came to an end after 58 operational sorties with 402 Squadron and 143 in total. During almost three years of front-line duties AB910 had played a significant part in the war, including being involved in the fierce aerial battles of the Dieppe Raid on 19th August 1942, and the D-Day operations in June 1944. It was now to serve in a training role with No 53 Operational Training Unit at Hibaldstow for the rest of the war, allowing new Spitfire pilots to find their feet with the type before joining an operational unit, and also achieving infamy by flying with a WAAF on the tail!

Spitfire AB910 is currently undergoing a ‘Major’ servicing with The Spitfire Company at Biggin Hill, which is progressing well, and she is expected to be returned to the BBMF at the end of September. On her return she will be painted in the markings she wore with 402 Squadron RCAF during the D-Day invasion period. Watch out for a feature on AB910’s time with 402 Squadron in the forthcoming Club Autumn Journal.

On its return from its ‘Major’ servicing, Spitfire AB910 will, once again, be in the markings it wore whilst serving with 402 Sqn RCAF during the period of D-Day and for its final wartime operational sorties. (Artwork: Chris Sandham-Bailey inkworm.com)

@classicwarbirds via X

[fantastictyphoonpeanut]

Salute the Brave: Lt. Col. Simon Fraser, 15th Lord Lovat. DSO, MC CdeG (Fr.). One of the founder members of the Commandos so-much-so he had a 100,000 Marks bounty on his head. A fearless and popular commander, he was badly injured by a shell a week after D-Day. Pictured here after the Dieppe raid, his No.4 Commando was the only fully successful unit that day in 1942 in a 'lessons' learned' precursor for D-Day 2 years hence. (FTP)

[pesoglav]

Kreigsmarine next to an abandoned Churchill tank left during the failed Dieppe Raid, 1942

[bray-tech]

Y’ ever thought about what a fucked-up thing immortality would be?

But not just any immortality, the specific kind where when you die, you just… respawn. Like ten feet away. GTA Respawns. Or for simplicity, you wake up a lil' bit later, exactly where you were. so like, as an example, say you’re a WW1 soldier, drilling to place one of the bombs along the Somme for the allies.

You don’t know what set it off, but the world around you goes up in flames instantly and…

Somehow

somehow you don’t.

You wake up buried in the rubble, or in a newly opened tunnel, or crawling out of a fissure of water deep underground.

So you spend the next week stumbling around collapsing every so often from dehydration before inexplicably standing back up. until suddenly you find

Trenches

 At the surface.

But of course, you don’t have the good fortune, no sir, no fortune here. These aren’t your trenches.

They’re your enemy’s.

So you fight like a mad dog, trying to get back across to your guys

You make it

Despite the gas,

Despite the shelling

Despite the hell around you

And your boss calls it a miracle

Sends you back to medical for some much-needed rest

So, you make it through the rest of that war

Confused as hell when people die around you and you just… don’t.

You get a reputation among the others;

You’re unkillable, unsinkable. Somehow, unshakeable. They must not hear your mind in the dark.

You find out towards the end that your wife and child were informed that you had been killed at the Somme.

It’s the British intelligence agency, or what will become it. They invite you to come to them.

You accept and begin sending your paychecks as ‘death benefits’ to your grieving family.

It’s probably better this way. The war changed you.

So you find your way to the front again.

You’re now a British officer.

You volunteer, in WW2, for the disastrous Dieppe raid. You heard the plans. You just want to get out as many as you can.

This earns you a rep as ‘insane’ among the British. You’re hailed as ‘a good one’ among the Canadians.

You work with them, mouse-holing up Italy.

Eventually, you make it through that war.

Not without incident, of course. More than once, you took grenades for your men to prevent them from dying.

They don’t know how to explain your survival, so they call you a hero.

After the war, you retire.

You get bored.

To cover your tracks, you take a job as an actor with the Globe. You get cast as older men; frequently you portray Richard III.

Sometimes you portray Macbeth.

Eventually, that grows stale.

On a trip to America, you meet the son of a doctor you met once in Europe. His name is unimportant; he’s now a doctor himself. The man mentions being in need of a butler.

You took that training as part of your British intelligence work.

You offer.

He accepts.

Ten relatively quiet years pass.

You’re pulling the car around to pick up him and his family.

He and his wife are murdered in front of their eight-year-old son.

You resolve to help the child.

Your name is Alfred Pennyworth. Your ward hasn’t figured out that you can’t die. World’s Greatest Detective, my ass.

[archivist-crow]

On this day:

BATTLE TIMESLIPS

On August 4, 1951, two English women were abruptly shaken from their sleep by the sound of fierce gunfire—from nearly nine years earlier!

Dorothy Naughton and her sister-in-law, Agnes, were vacationing at the seaside village of Puys, near Dieppe, France. They were staying in a house where German troops had lived during World War II. The women experienced an audio replay of the fierce fighting that took place in the area on August 19, 1942, during the Dieppe Raid (also known as Operation Jubilee).

The first burst of battle sounds took place at 4 a.m., the actual time when Canadian and British troops had attacked the German-held post. Once awakened, the two ladies went out onto their balcony, where they heard sounds coming from the beach. For the next three hours the cries of soldiers shouting over a storm of gunshots and bad weather rose and fell, interspersed with uncanny silence. Then came the roar of dive-bombing planes, followed by explosions. The report of the sounds the two women heard matched with official military records of the previous battle.

On August 4, 1642, a pamphlet printed in London reported:

“A Signe from Heaven, or a Rearful and Terrible Noise heard in the Ayre at Aldborow in the County of Suffoke, on Thursday, the 4th day of August, at 5 of the clocke in the afternoone--wherein was heard the beating of Drums, the discharging of Muskets and great Ordnance for the space of an houre or more.”

The small publication continued by stating that the eyewitnesses, "many men of good worth," would be giving evidence before the House of Commons as well as displaying a large stone which fell from the sky during the phantom battle.

Text from: Almanac of the Infamous, the Incredible, and the Ignored by Juanita Rose Violins, published by Weiser Books, 2009

[scotianostra]

July 8th 1911 saw the birth of Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat, the Chief of Clan Fraser, Scottish aristocrat and soldier.

Lovat was involved in the formation of the Commandos, the Dieppe Raid and D-Day. As 24th Chieftain of Clan Fraser, Shimi – MacShimidh to give him his Gaelic title – was born into leadership. It was in his genes (David Stirling, his cousin, co-founded the SAS). Shimi Lovat’s military background ran back through generations of Frasers, including Simon Fraser, known as the Patriot, hung drawn and quartered at Tower Hill at Edward I’s orders, and Simon Lovat, The Old Fox, was beheaded after the 1745 rebellion, his character featured in the Outlander series

Shimi’s leadership qualities were tested to the limit on D-Day. The mission of 1st Commando Brigade – or 1st Special Service Brigade, as it was known in June 1944 – was to break through German defences on the eastern side of Sword Beach. At lightning speed, they were to fight their way four miles inland to Pegasus Bridge over the Caen Canal, and bring reinforcements to the 6th Airborne Division, relieving the glider-borne troops who had taken the bridge at dead of night.

Shimi and his commandos arrived just after the appointed hour of midday, to the swirl of pipes. He famously apologised for being two minutes late. The bridges were crucial; at the push of a detonator, the Germans could have destroyed them. With the Allied supply lines cut, the invasion could have foundered.

Plunging into further battles, Shimi was nearly killed four days later by Allied shrapnel and was given the last rites by Father René de Naurois. His last words as he handed over his brigade were: “Take over the Brigade and not a step back; not a step back!”

More info on Shimmie here http://clanfraser.org/timeline/1911-1945/

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"MEET THE FIGHTING HICKSONS AND THEIR GALLANT DIEPPE HERO," Toronto Star. October 2, 1942. Page 14. ---- SERGEANT George A. Hickson of the Royal Canadian Engineers has been awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for outstanding valor at Dieppe. Sgt. Hickson's home is in Kitchener.

HIS WIFE AND CHILDREN smile happily at the news of Sgt. Hickson's decoration. Mrs. Hickson is the former Mary Potwarka of Kitchener. George Jr. (left) will be six in December. Larry was four last month.

PROUD PARENTS of the Dieppe hero are Mr. and Mrs. George Hickson. Mr. Hickson is a veteran of the last war. Sergt. Hickson blew in the wall of the casino at Dieppe. blasted the steel door from a gun emplacement. FOUR BROTHERS of Sgt Hickson are also in uniform. Gerald, 17 (above), is in a reserve army unit, while anxiously awaiting his 18th birthday and a call to the R.C.A.F. STAUNCH ARMY MEN are Gordon (left, above) and Robert Hickson, shown with their sister, Mrs. George Bews of Kitchener. Pte. Gordon is training in eastern Canada with the Irish Regiment. Pte. Robert is overseas with the Highland Light Infantry of Canada. Their father served through the last war.

ELDEST brother of the fighting Hicksons, Harry is a flight sergeant in the R.C.A.F., at present serving in Alaska. His home is in London.

[diocletianscabbagefarm]

Watching the WW2 channel's entire series (all 330 videos) made me gain a particular appreciation for how the western allies - through blood, sweat and tears - became the world's foremost experts in (opposed) amphibious landings. Not just D-Day, but operations like Torch (North-Africa), Husky (Sicily) and Dragoon (southern France), the Anzio landing, landing in Norway, the Saint Nazaire and Dieppe raids, the battle of the Scheldt (Antwerp), virtually every battle in the Pacific Campaign, and more. The Soviets also did some landings, but those were only supplemental to their main efforts, like landings during the liberation of Crimea - the western allies were constantly forced by the war's geography to have to (re)gain a toehold on a continent or capture an island.

So in that light it makes so, so much sense when in 1950 UN forces were being squeezed into the Pusan perimeter their first instinct was: "Hey, you see that muddy bay there (Incheon) with narrow approaches that's difficult to assault for a dozen different reasons? Let's do another fucking landing there, trust me bro."

And they fucking pulled it off.