The Calgary Tank Churchills From Dieppe

[Mark W. Tonner]

Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra

What I gleaned from forums like https://forum.axishistory.com//viewtopic.php?t=27180, is that the German Army was able to make up one running Churchill Mk.III from the Dieppe wrecks and used it for instruction and training. I reckon they were able to get more running out of the total of 53 which landed at Dieppe.

"53 which landed at Dieppe?" . . . Hanno - Of the 30 Churchill tanks of the Calgary Regiment that attempted to land, two were drowned and 27 others made it ashore, while the remaining tanks returned to the United Kingdom, having been unable to land.

Cheers

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Mark W. Tonner

"53 which landed at Dieppe?" . . . Hanno - Of the 30 Churchill tanks of the Calgary Regiment that attempted to land, two were drowned and 27 others made it ashore, while the remaining tanks returned to the United Kingdom, having been unable to land.

Mark, apologies: I should have checked my sources better!

As the author of this book (http://www.servicepub.com/churchill.htm), could you fill in some of the blanks?

Cheers,
Hanno

[Jordan Baker]

29 tanks landed, 15 got off the beach and spent the day going back and forth on the promenade until they either fell into holes or had a track shot off. Once the "vanquish" order was given the tanks that were able to we recalled to the beach and tried to line up parallel to the water. This was done to help provide cover for the withdrawal of the infantry.

No tanks were able to ever exit into the town. All of the exit roads except for one (Rue de Synagogue) had been blocked by concrete walls. The exit road had a concrete wall with a large steel gate in it. This was also covered by an anti tank gun further up the road away from the beach.

In some original source documents from the RHLI war diaries there is some mention by a couple soldiers under Cpt Hill, who encountered this gun while in the area of the Dieppe post office a few blocks into town away from the beach.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

This is worth a read as well:

https://servicepub.wordpress.com/201...9-august-1942/