Fowler - Allies at Dieppe: 4 Commando and the US Rangers

Whats the DS solution?

In a British military training exercise the DS solution is the definitive answer to a tactical problem. In a TEWT Tactical Exercise Without Troops after students have walked the ground and have given presentations, discussed the problem and offered their solutions, they often pose the question to the staff in the spirit of curiosity or even as a challenge.

DS are the Directing Staff officers senior in rank to the students, who with a wealth of practical experience and theoretical knowledge plan and run the exercise, and their decision the DS solution is final.

However, there is a higher authority than any DS the reality of war.

When I first wrote about No. 4 Commando and Operation Cauldron over ten years ago I realized that there were lessons that soldiers in the late 20th century could learn from the planning and implementation of the raid.

The plan was flexible, simple, and in modern parlance had plenty of redundancy like backup communications, extra demolition stores, and alternative ways of achieving the aim the destruction of the German coastal battery code-named Hess. Every possible problem that could arise, such as casualties in the chain of command, had been addressed, a solution proposed, and it had been rehearsed in training. Attached troops like US Rangers and French Commandos were integrated into the force and assigned roles in the operation that made use of their strengths or knowledge.

Using the lessons of history as a teaching aid for the soldiers is not a new approach to training. In the rather grand terminology of the Army, officers and NCOs using this training technique do not take a battlefield tour perhaps that sounds rather too like a holiday they take a Staff Ride.

On a Staff Ride students are given the facts as available to the planners and asked to give their solution within the constraints of the weapons, vehicles, and equipment in use at the time. What makes the lesson much more effective is that it takes place on the ground where the original action was fought the critical ridgeline, bend in the road, or the marshy riverbank are all there literally at the students feet.

Standing on a beach or at the edge of a wood, students make their estimate and issue their orders. It is then that they learn what actually happened on the day and how true the old military adage No plan survives contact with the enemy was then and is today.

I have had the privilege of taking several military groups to Dieppe to study Operation Cauldron and test their ideas and concepts against the reality of history. Among them were the officers and NCOs of both 21 and 23 SAS, the British Armys volunteer Special Forces regiments that have seen recent action in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Walking across the field that was once the site of No. 813 Battery to the men of No. 4 Commando, Hess battery an officer from 23 SAS asked me how old Lord Lovat was when, as a lieutenant colonel, he led No. 4 Commando in Operation Cauldron.

He was 31, I replied.

There was a pause and the troop commander looked at me.

Thats my age.

It was a salutary reminder to us both that in World War II heavy responsibility was often laid on some very young shoulders.

This is the story of some of these young men their humor, comradeship, and outstanding professionalism and courage.

On my first visit to the site of Operation Cauldron I was without question blessed with two ideal companions. One was James Dunning, who as a 22-year-old was the Troop Sergeant Major (TSM) of C Troop 4 Commando; the other was Emyr Jones. There will be more about TSM Dunning in the book but it was he who put men in touch with Emyr Jones.

Operation Cauldron and No. 4 Commando were a passion for Emyr. He had corresponded with veterans, amassed documents and photographs, and by painstaking and diligent research had compiled the nominal role with the parent unit or formation of each man. Emyr was enormously generous with his time, knowledge, and the material he had collected it was therefore with great sadness that late in 2011 I learned the news that this modest and scholarly man had died.

Walking around the site of Hess battery, Emyr and Jimmy talked me through the action and gave me unique insights that have served me well on subsequent battlefield studies.

We looked at the gap in the hedge where the sniper Dickie Mann had picked off the German gunners. Then it was into the woods to see where Jimmy had sited his 2in mortar.

Turning right down the road past the Hotel de la Terrasse we made the hazardous descent down the Port de Vasterival, the gully pathway leading to the sea. Stepping off the concrete steps on to the sand and pebbles, we were on Orange Beach 1. It was low tide the conditions in which the Commandos had departed following the successful attack.

Returning, we paused at the old Hotel de Ville in St Marguerite in the Place de No. 4 Commando, where the human cost of the action is remembered by the names of 16 Commandos on the memorial on the brick and flint wall of the old building.

Down the hill to the mouth of the River Sane and were on Orange Beach 2. A fine rain was falling and there was an onshore breeze; the sea, shingle beach, and river looked uninviting. In the years that followed, I would walk the route taken by Lord Lovats party and feel a real respect for men who with weapons, equipment, and in some cases heavy Bergen rucksacks ran this route.

Returning to Dieppe I dodged the rain squalls to visit the plaque commemorating the dead Rangers on the site of the casino at the seafront. They were the first American soldiers to be killed in action on European soil in World War II.

Prior to the visit to France I had contacted one of the two surviving US Rangers who had been attached to the Commando. Alex Szima proved a lively and knowledgeable correspondent who had never succumbed to the temptation or demand to throw out all that old stuff from the war. His archive of cuttings, letters, and reports was informative not only about the establishment and history of the US Rangers, but also about American domestic reaction to Dieppe.

Alex, now in a wheelchair, would return to Dieppe for the 60th Anniversary and meet Jimmy, but sadly, like other veterans of Operation Cauldron, would not live to see the 70th. Alex died on September 13, 2006.

Back in Hampshire, England, as work progressed Jimmy was generous with the loan of books, documents, and photographs. Without these, and his advice and guidance, much of the detail in this book could not have been included.

He put me in touch with two Commando veterans, Bren gunner George Jones and demolition expert John Skerry. I am grateful to John for details of the makeup of the charges used to destroy the guns, and his recollections of the operation and fellow Commandos.

In Hampshire, military historian and antiquarian book dealer Ken Ford generously supplied me with books and other references from his extensive collection.

The Imperial War Museum Sound Archive provided a unique record of interviews with the men who fought at the Hess battery. To listen to the tapes is to hear not only firsthand accounts, but also to receive a lesson in a non-intrusive but effective interview technique.

The busy staff at Romsey Public Library, a branch of the Hampshire County Library Service, were a great help, tracking down titles long out of print and checking publication dates. Since I began writing about No. 4 Commando they have assisted me with other books and projects I have undertaken.