In August 1942, 5000 Canadian military personnel and 1000 British commandos attacked the French port of Dieppe. The raid was an attempt to invade German-occupied Europe.

The Dieppe raid lasted nine hours, resulting in the death of 1000 men and the capture of 2000 others. While the Dieppe raid was unsuccessful, it provided information later used in the planning for D-Day in 1944.

Dieppe, and the soldiers who fought there, is commemorated in Lethbridge in the Glendale-Dieppe neighbourhood, created through the work of Veterans Affairs Canada under the authority of the Veteran’s Land Act (VLA). Veterans Affairs bought land in the area to provide housing for veterans following the war. The city donated 125 acres to the project.

Land was divided into lots for 100 houses with initial lots generally sized at one acre. The minimum lot size permitted was a half-acre. The large lots were to give veterans and their families land to grow gardens and supplement their incomes. These large lots started to be subdivided around the 1970s.

Many roads in the Dieppe area have names related to the Second World War.

• Astra Street—Astra means star. The motto of the Royal Air Force and Royal Canadian Air Force was Per ardua ad astra or “Through adversity to the stars.”

• Cassino Street—Cassino was part of the Italian campaign in 1944.

• Corvette Crescent—Corvette was a small, lightly armed ship used by Canada during the war, primarily for anti-submarine work.

• Falaise Street—Falaise refers to the Battle of the Falaise Pocket which occurred in August 1944 as part of the Battle of Normandy.

• Normandy Street—The Battle of Normandy and the Normandy invasion are remembered in Normandy Road.

• Ortona Street—The Battle of Ortona, in December 1943, resulted in 2300 Canadian casualties.

Join the Galt and Dr. Stéphane Guevremont on Sun SEP 24 from 2 to 4 pm for our Café Galt lecture entitled “Dieppe: 75 Years Later.”