Dieppe Canadian War Cemetery, Hautot-Sur-Mer

View cemetery images

Description

The cemetery was easy to find with GPS. Parking is on the side of the road, which was surprisingly busy. This was the first Commonwealth all-new cemetery built after WW2. Well kept, it sits amongst farmland; cows were grazing in the fields next to it. The cemetery houses many of the man killed in the disastrous August 19, 1942 raid on Dieppe. Perhaps it is climate related, there weren't as many roses as green shrubbery, which in truth, makes it easier to see the gravestones.

History

The Dieppe Raid of 18-19 August 1942 was the first large scale daylight assault on a strongly held objective on the Continent since the Allied withdrawal of 1940. The objectives of the raid were the destruction the Dieppe defences and neighbouring radar and aerodrome installations, the raiding of a German divisional headquarters close by and the capture of prisoners. The largely Canadian military force undertook the main assault on Dieppe itself, with flanking assaults by Commando units and additional Canadian battalions to the east and west of the town intended to neutralise batteries that commanded the direct approach. Support was provided by more than 250 naval vessels and 69 air squadrons.

Only the assaulting parties on the extreme flanks came within reasonable reach of their ambitious objectives and casualties were very heavy, with more than 3,600 of the military force of 6,100 killed, wounded, missing or captured. Naval casualties numbered 550.

Many of those who died in the raid are buried at Dieppe Canadian War Cemetery, where 948 Commonwealth servicemen of the Second World War are now buried or commemorated, 187 of which are unidentified. There are 7 non Commonwealth and 2 non World War burials here. Other casualties of the raid are at Rouen, where some of the wounded were taken to hospital.

Dieppe Canadian War Cemetery, designed by Philip Hepworth, was the first new cemetery of the 1939-45 war to be completed in 1949.

Burials by nationality

Nationality Burials Images Missing Images
Canadian 582 581 1
United Kingdom 174 119 55
New Zealand 4 4 0
Polish 3 3 0
Australian 1 1 0
Indian 1 1 0
Unknown / not in imported casualty list 183

Imported named records: 765. Cemetery total graves: 948.

Recorded Grave Information

Unknown graves 128
Images with epitaphs 446
Images left to check 401

Age at death

Known ages: 537 of 765

Youngest: 18, oldest: 56, average: 26.4, median: 25

Date of death