INTRODUCTION

The Canadian Forces in England had grown steadily since the troops of the 1st Canadian Infantry Division landed in December 1939. They waited and trained for the time when they could spearhead an allied attack to regain the Continent. There were only occasional breaks in the weary routine. A small Canadian-British expedition was sent to Spitzbergen beyond the Arctic Circle and Canadian tunnelers went to Gibraltar to strengthen defenses there. On 23 May 1940 General McNaughton went to France to study the battlefield and moved the Canadians to Dover but then he advised London there was no way of his Division to rescue the situation and the soldiers were sent back to Aldershot. Anxious to get into the fight the Canadians sat discouraged and unhappy in their barracks while the events transpired at Dunkirk. "The Great Retreat from Dover" or "the Portsmouth Panic" as the troops called their abortive mission.

The miraculous rescue of most of the British Expeditionary Force known as the Miracle of Dunkirk. As a great flotilla made up of ships of the Royal Navy and hundreds of small civilian crafts evacuated 338,000 British and French soldiers back across the channel to England.

On 12 & 13 June 1940 a Canadian Brigade of Infantry and a Regiment of Artillery, about 5,000 troops in all landed at Brest on the western tip of France. They started to move inland but wisely the troops were ordered to return to the coast and were told to abandoned equipment and guns and return to England. The Commanding Officer of the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, Lieutenant Colonel J.H. Roberts flatly refused to destroy his precious guns and brought them back to England. Most of the vehicles were ran off cliffs or burned but if there had been less panic they could have also been brought back. The bitching among the troops at that time was that the CASF (Canadian Active Service Force) really meant "Canadians Almost Seen France". In April 1942 a small, unsuccessful raid was attempted near Boulogne, France.

The first major contact with the enemy had come on the other side of the world in Hong Kong and had ended in disaster. The next major contact was also to have disastrous results as Combined Operations Headquarters decided to launch a raid-in-force on the French port of Dieppe on August 19, 1942, with the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division providing most of the assaulting troops. It turned out to be a massacre. Their losses were catastrophic. Of the almost 5,000 Canadians who formed the assault force, 3,367 became casualties including 907 killed in action and 1,946 made prisoners of war.

THANK YOU TO CANADA AND IT'S SOLDIERS

It was to these Canadian Prisoners of War that Momignie, a small town in the southeastern corner of Belgium near the French border, paid tribute with the dedication of a new monument. Prior to this day the annual ceremony was held at the town hall.

Early in the morning of 29 August 1942, the Canadians taken prisoner at Dieppe were loaded aboard a train that would take them to Stalag 8 in Lamsdorf, Germany. They will be incarcerated there for 36 months, chained day and night for the first 13 months.

The Canadian prisoners remember that day of 29 August 1942, ten hours under the hot summer sun, fifty men crammed into a cattle car, many of them wounded, mutilated, left without medical care, no air, no water, no food, open barrels for latrines. The scandalized population through the scarce openings of the boxcars could hear their screams of distress. Yet in spite of this appalling situation through the small openings in the cattle cars, the prisoners could be seen flashing the "Victory Sign" to the population whom tried to help them.

They went through disaster on the beaches of Dieppe and yet their sacrifice gave birth to hope of the oppressed population. It has been recorded that militarily speaking it was a great victory although I don't think anyone that was there would agree but one thing it did accomplish was that from the 19th of August 1942 Hitler would have to be aware of a landing in the channel. Consequently Hitler would move ten of his elite Divisions from the Russian front to the French coast which ultimately played a role in the Stalingrad Blockade being a failure to the Germans.

Late in the afternoon of 29 August 1942 as the train made its way across the border into Belgium the train engineer refused to continue until the prisoners were given food and the wounded attended too. He contacted the officials in the town of Momignie and under pressure from the town Mayor Mr. Louis Bonte the person in charge of the convoy finally granted the request and allowed the towns people to bring the prisoners fresh water, milk and bread. After which the train left for Germany and on the side of the boxcar was painted "Canadian Swine" and "Churchill's second front Kaputt".

THE DEDICATION CEREMONY

On this day 29 August 2001 the town of Momignie dedicated a new monument at the site along the rail line where this event took place. We were officially invited to bring a Legion Colour Party to the dedication. The Zone Commander and I arrived in the town that morning, surveyed the area and met with the Colour Party provided by Branch 003, Geilenkirchen.

We went for lunch where we met two Canadian Veterans of the Dieppe Raid from the Les Fusillers Mont Royal. They were invited guests of the town representing the Dieppe Veterans and since they had official functions to perform at the ceremony they asked us if we would carry their Dieppe Flag on the parade to which we were honoured in accepting their request.

The ceremony officially got underway with a reception at the town hall after which we laid a wreath at the monument in front of the town hall. From here we were paraded with a band through the town to the newly erected memorial where the main ceremony took place. The ceremony was well attended with dignitaries representing Canada, Belgium, and France including Military representatives and local Mayors from the surrounding areas with many speeches followed by wreath laying.

Today the rail line looks almost deserted but just as the ceremony got started a freight train edged along into town behind us, I don't know if this was planned but the sound effects sure fit in well with ceremony.

After the ceremony a reception was held in a large tent set up near by for the occasion which offered comradeship, food, drink and music. We had a delightful time for a couple of hours even though the language was somewhat of a barrier but we were fortunate to have our Belgium Comrades Daniel Van Landschoot and his wife Iris with us to assist. We were able to chat more with the two veterans and their wives from Canada and agreed to meet again next year in Dieppe at the 60th Anniversary Ceremony in 2002.

As it was getting late and we had a long drive to get home we bid our farewells and started on our way home.