I saw the colonel going up through the wire, and my telegraphist being in that moment in the middle of a message, I told him to follow up as soon as he had finished, and I sprinted up the cliff after the colonel. As it later appeared, MG fire from a new position on the hill behind the fortified house on the left and of, and above, the sea wall, closed the gap in the wire and prevented any more men from reaching the top. The colonel and his small party were now cut off from the remainder of Charlie and Dog Cos on the beach. It was now 0700, British time. Sounds of firing on the left flank had now died completely away.

9-MM Sten MK-II

British WWII Mills Bomb No. 36M MKI GrenadeFrom the center and from the right flank also, we could hear intermittent bursts of German automatic fire and the steady detonations of their mortar bombs. From this we inferred that Able and Baker Cos had been knocked out and that the survivors of Charlie and Dog Cos were still pinned down in the angle of the cliff, being cut up by mortars. We discovered that we could not get back to the beach, nor could we get back to the cliff edge because of LMG fire from the left flank, up on the hillside. Just at this moment, Lt Ryerson saw a strong patrol coming along the road through the trees toward us from the direction of the fortified house on the left flank. The decision was made to move toward the Salvation Beach westward along the cliff top by the walled road under cover of the trees as far as they went. We would try to contact the HMS Essex. Accordingly, we struck through the small wood immediately to the west and above the beach, toward Notre-Dame de Bon Secours.

We pressed through the wood, following the line of the walled road under the trees, turning gradually south until we came to the road running between Puits and Notre-Dame de Bon Secours. Ahead of us to the west across the walled road, and beyond an open field of about 100 meters were the billets and gun positions on the German 88-MM Battery of the air photos. On our right, along the cliff edge, 200 or 300 meters to the north were the LMGs at that moment firing on aircraft. Behind us was the patrol, which Lt Ryeson had estimated at 2 platoons. Also behind us, at the junction of the Berneval, Puys, Neuville lès Dieppe roads were the six and eight-wheeled armored cars of which we later told by Lt T.D. Archibald (RCA), was led past the AFVs after his capture. On our left, across the Puys, Notre Dame de Bon Secours road were 4 positions of 75-MM gun battery and a detachment of 88-MM AAA gun, whether two or four I could not discover. These may have been the guns which I later saw (four) at Bellengreville the following morning with their half-tracked tractors. It was then getting on toward 1000, and the Infantry guns were firing on the beach. They had previously been engaging the destroyer, with, I was told, considerable accuracy, for, when the HMS Garth came close in to engage shore targets at a direct fire, she was forced to withdraw by bursts of gun-fire from this battery which fell to hazardously to close to her. One shell, it was rumored, appeared to have struck her on the bow.

Notre-Dame de Bon Secours

September 1942, Picture Post, Dieppe



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