HISTORY

OPERATION JUBILEE / THE DIEPPE RAID

Period propaganda understandably called Operation Jubilee a victory, but

at best, that’s a half truth. In actual the fact, the Allies had to swallow some

tough pills. Ground forces were not able to meet all their objectives, and

they suffered massive losses in the process. Out of the deployment of around

6,100 men, 4,260 were lost, a rate of 70%. Of these, 1,179 were known

killed, another 891 were wounded, and 2,190 were taken as German prisoner. All twenty-eight Churchill tanks that were unloaded on the beach had

to be abandoned. The Navy had to write off one destroyer, 33 other vessels

and 550 men. The Germans, on the other hand, suffered a loss of ‘only’

311 dead and missing (some of which were taken across the Channel into

custody), and 280 wounded ground troops. Even the RAF, although having

been somewhat successful, did not get off all that well. In the support and

cover of the operation, 2,955 sorties were flown (2,494 fighter missions, 103

bombing missions, 72 reconnaissance flights and 351 rescue missions), for the

loss of 103 aircraft written off, with 59 damaged. The RAF committed a total

of 840 aircraft to the operation (over 700 of which were fighters), translating to losses at 19%, 12% of which were irreplaceable. Personnel losses of

the RAF amounted to 69 killed or missing, 30 wounded and eighteen taken

prisoner out of a total of 1,179 men committed to the operation. The largest

portion of losses were suffered by fighter units of the RAF, which committed

672 aircraft and 730 pilots. They lost a total of 87 destroyed and 46 damaged aircraft, fifty pilots killed, twenty wounded and thirteen captured. In

other words, Fighter Command lost almost three complete Fighter Wings over

Dieppe. This was the greatest loss for Fighter Command over the course of a

single day. Against the 2,955 sorties flown by the RAF, the German Luftwaffe

flew a total of 945, of which 800 were fighter missions and 145 bomber

F/Lt Mrazek at readiness. (family archive)

flights. About a third of the effort was very successful, but even their losses

were not insignificant. Although Allied pilots claimed 98-42-185 victories,

actual Luftwaffe losses over Dieppe were less than half that: 48 lost and 23

damaged aircraft. Half of these losses, specifically 23 written off aircraft

and fourteen pilots killed, were suffered by the Jagdwaffe. While the Allies

had to write off 103 destroyed and 59 damaged aircraft, the Germans

claimed 112 kills, which very close to the actual number, even if we take

into account that certainly, some of the British losses were due to flak (which

claimed thirty victims) or bomber crews (4). Although German losses (48

aircraft) were substantially below the number of British losses, they can still

be considered heavy. They accounted for only 3% of committed strength, but

15% of all available aircraft. Once we factor in damaged aircraft, German

strength by nightfall were at half strength. For the next several days, this

would seriously limit German efforts. So, it seems that even if the Germans

were able to achieve a loss rate of 1:2 in their favor, they would be starved

of assets sooner than the RAF.

Norman FRANKS: The Greatest Air Battle. Dieppe August 19, 1942. Grub Street, London 1999, pages 156 and 193199, Donald L. CALDWELL: The JG 26 War Diary, Vol 1: 1939-1942. Grub Street, London 1996, page 277, Jaroslav

HRBEK: Námořní válka vrcholí. Naše vojsko, Prague 1995, page 156. K účasti čs. stíhačů na operaci Jubilee viz

Jiří RAJLICH: Na nebi hrdého Albionu. Válečný deník československých letců ve službách britského letectva 19401945. 3. část (1942). Svět křídel, Cheb 2001, pages 506-541.

This Spitfire Mk.IIA P8274 (RY-S) Baltic Exchange was frequently flown by B-flight leader, F/

Lt. Stanislav Fejfar. In the morning of September 6, 1941 he almost paid the ultimate price

due to the genuine English fog. Because of the bad weather he aborted the convoy patrol

and due to the poor visibility landed hard at fog engulfed Portreath airport. The aircraft with

broken off landing gear ended up in the repair shop, pilot with sprained left leg on medical

leave. „Readiness from 5 am, then fog moved in shortly after so it became quiet“, he logged

in his diary. „Scramble! I took off as the first section. Result? After take off we flew into the

fog, I have an urge to return to homebase, I even found the airport but after the turn to final

everything disappeared in the surrounding white „milk“. The airplane is damaged and my right

leg hurts. They sent me for 8 days long medical leave.“

No. 313 Squadron Spitfires Mk.Vb at Portreath

airport. On the left biplane trainer Tiger Moth Mk.II

featuring the hood for instrument flying practice.

20 eduard

INFO Eduard - January 2021