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The Regiments in Action.
When the Canadian regiments rolled out of Headley, they passed out of sight of the villagers, but not out of mind. With the strict censorship during the war it was difficult if not impossible to know how individual units were faring, and while this book is not intended to cover events which occurred outside Headley in any great detail, it will interest a number of people to know where the troops eventually went:鈥�
The Tragedy of Dieppe.
On 19th August 1942, a force consisting mainly of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division mounted a sea-borne raid on Dieppe. In this they were supported by the Calgary Regiment, using the Churchill tanks which had been issued to them in Headley the previous year. The purpose and timing of the raid remains controversial, and many pages of analysis and comment have since been published on it.
Essentially it seems to have been designed as a test of the Allies鈥� readiness to take a French port and the German鈥檚 readiness to defend it. There was no intention to follow up with a full-scale invasion at the time; the orders were to take and destroy key objectives in the area, and then execute an orderly withdrawal. In the event, it was a disaster. Every tank that landed was lost, and over 65% of the 5,000 Canadians involved were either captured or killed.
Barbara Boxall鈥檚 Canadian cousin, Ralph Spencer, who was billeted in Headley during the war, landed in Dieppe and was one of the lucky ones to return. Survivors were given 48 hours leave afterwards to recover. In a taped message sent to Barbara in 1979, he told her: 鈥淚 managed to get invited to Buckingham Palace for a decoration, which amazed me, and I鈥檓 still trying to figure out what happened.鈥� Apparently it was for shooting a German sniper who was causing problems there.
He went back to France on D-Day, at H-Hour on Juno Beach, with the Regina Rifle Regiment, and was almost immediately wounded in the legs by machine gun fire. After 鈥渜uite a few operations鈥� and a long period of convalescence in England, he returned to the continent in time for the war to end while he was in Germany.
About four weeks after the raid, the Germans dropped propaganda leaflets over Headley. Sue Allden and Jim Clark both kept copies (see photo) which they picked up then. These show photographs of the wrecked Churchill tanks, and of dead, wounded and captured soldiers 鈥� some recognisable as men who had been in the village not so long before.
In passing, it has become almost a legend in Headley that the tanks 鈥榮uddenly left鈥� the village to go on the Dieppe raid; but, as mentioned, the Calgary Regiment had moved away from the area some eight months previously and, according to their 鈥榮hort history鈥�, were not stationed here again. However the Fort Garry Horse and Lord Strathcona鈥檚 Horse regiments did leave the village suddenly at that time, though for a different purpose, and the village would indeed have seemed deserted then.
The Canadians suffered a higher casualty rate at Dieppe than they did in Normandy. Most of their tanks were destroyed before they could get off the beaches, and from this experience it is said many lessons were learned, including the need to develop 鈥榝loating鈥� tanks for D-Day.
Lord Mountbatten, then Chief of Combined Operations, said after the war: 鈥淭he Battle of Normandy was won on the beaches of Dieppe. For every one man killed in Dieppe, at least ten more had their lives spared on the beaches of Normandy.鈥� Nonetheless, the Dieppe raid remains one of the most tragic and contentious events of the Second World War.
As a postscript, on 1st September 1944, during the rush to the Seine and Belgium following the defeat of the German Seventh Army in the 鈥楩alaise Pocket鈥�, the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division captured Dieppe without a fight. This division consisted of the same brigades and the same regiments that had suffered on the raid two years previously, with one notable exception 鈥� the Calgary Regiment was then fighting in Italy.
To 鈥楯uno Beach鈥� and Beyond.
In December 1942, a decision was made to reorganize the Canadian armoured regiments in preparation for specific roles in Normandy and elsewhere. The immediate effect of this, as far as the village was concerned, was to bring the Garrys back for their second visit to Headley (and the 1st Hussars back to Elstead). They were now destined to play an infantry support role in the D-Day landings on 鈥楯uno鈥� beach, forming the 3rd Canadian Tank Brigade (subsequently re-named 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade) along with the Sherbrooke Fusiliers.
Meanwhile, units of the 4th Canadian Armoured Division had already passed through. Four regiments of this Division, the Governor General鈥檚 Foot Guards, the Canadian Grenadier Guards, the British Columbia Regiment, and the South Alberta Regiment were destined to land in Normandy about a month after D-Day, to join up with and reinforce the 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade forming the 2nd Canadian Corps and eventually the 1st Canadian Army. From then on they battled virtually side by side through France, Belgium and Holland to Germany. The Elgin Regiment was responsible for delivery of armoured vehicles to the combat zone.
It should be mentioned here that John Boxall, a long time resident of Headley after the war, also landed at Juno Beach on D-Day. He was in the RASC and part of a DUKW unit, bringing in troops and supplies in these amphibious vehicles. His widow Barbara tells us they had a live duck as their mascot which they took to Normandy with them. Just after the Canadians had landed, she says, the duck disappeared in mysterious circumstances, and nearly started World War III among the Allies. So come on you Canadian guys 鈥� you can safely admit it now 鈥� who did for the RASC鈥檚 duck?
The 鈥楴orthern Ireland鈥� Campaign.
The Straths, previously colleagues and friendly rivals of the Garrys, and with them in Headley earlier in 1942, got what they considered at the time to be the better treatment 鈥� retained in the 5th Canadian Armoured Division as the 5th Canadian Armoured Brigade along with the British Columbia Dragoons. On 12th November 1943 they boarded the 鈥淪cythia鈥� at Avonmouth, thinking they were going to Northern Ireland 鈥� and arrived in Algiers at the start of the Italian campaign!
The Calgary Regiment, severely depleted after Dieppe, was 鈥榬einforced, reorganized and retrained鈥�. Their Short History records that they were given Rams in place of Churchills in November 1942 (presumably these were replaced by Shermans later) and in June 1943 the regiment embarked from Greenock for Sicily. There they distinguished themselves, fighting their way up through Italy as part of the 1st Canadian Armoured Brigade. At the end of the Italian campaign they moved to NW Europe until the end of the war.

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