Rendezvous at Dieppe

Sidney Allinson is the editor at the Royal Canadian Military Institute
and author of The Bantams: The Untold Story of World War I.

In the 51 years since Canadian soldiers charged ashore at Dieppe in
August 1942, there have been scores of books written about that gallant
tragedy, but remarkably few novels based on it. Perhaps more than any
other incident in our country’s past enthusiasm for military combat,
Dieppe has somehow now become symbolized as an anti-war event. As a
result, most Canadian books about the raid are nonfiction, presented as
either factual documentary or revisionist moralizing. Such laudable
approaches cannot offer us the simple pleasure of reading a story with
the historic dawn raid as dramatic background. As part of Canada’s
heritage, it warrants a major novel.

Unfortunately, this is not it. Langford’s short book does give us a
fictional story based on the adventures of four typical young men from
British Columbia who eventually storm ashore as part of the raid. These
protagonists are suitably different from each other in background, and
gradually form a bond through the rigors of training, overseas service,
and battle. The author tells a straightforward tale, and tries to
reflect a soldierly atmosphere through obligatory foul language and
sexual descriptions. Strangely enough, considering the entire focus of
the book, the actual raid on Dieppe itself is glossed over in a mere 12
pages. A fictional opportunity that disappoints.