Dunkirk and Dieppe

Several days ago, we left the WWI battlegrounds of northern France and Belgium and headed to the coast to explore some of what occurred in WWII.  Our first destination was Dunkerque (Dunkirk).  The drive there from Ypres was not far and we were there in about 1 1/2 hours.  Our hotel was close to the port where so much happened in July, 1940.  

Once we’d settled in, we started to explore the town.  We walked along the old port and out toward the lighthouse where the Musee Dunkerque 1940 is located.  

We spent well over an hour there watching a film and looking at the displays.  While there wasn’t as much emphasis on “the little boats of Britain” than we had expected, I guess we need to realize it is a museum in France so it is from that perspective.  Regardless, it was sobering to see what happened here – both in the port and on the beaches.  By the end of it all, Dunkirk had basically been completely destroyed with few buildings left standing.  The statistics on the number of soldiers – both British and French – rescued was staggering.  Around 1,400 British and French vessels of all kinds, including pleasure boards, were to evacuate 340,000 men to England in 9 days. 

Essentially, the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was being driven back by the Germans so Operation Dynamo was planned to rescue the trapped troops.  This event has been well documented in books and films.  Some of the details were unknown to me before now.  For example, initially the plan was to only rescue British troops even though the French soldiers were allies.  So, an additional day of evacuation was planned to rescue the French soldiers after the Brits had been removed.  Later, the Vichy Regime used this as propaganda against the British.  

We walked back along the banks of the port taking photos of the lighthouse and some of the boats in the harbour before heading into the old town.  We saw the city hall, Kath visited the Eglise St. Eloi, we saw Place Jean Bart.  

By then it was around 3 pm and we hadn’t had lunch so decided to stop for a drink and maybe have a snack.  We tried a couple of bar/tabac places but they were smoky and rather shabby looking.  Then, we happened on another small bar which seemed a bit better.  So, we went in and found a booth.  Suffice it to say, the rest of the afternoon was a bit of a blur!  I think we both were reacting to all the suffering and misery we had heard about in the last days.  Without going into details, we ended up knowing a number of the locals - Martine, Guy, Daniel (and his 10 year old daughter), Simon and the bartender.  At one point the music was cranked up and they all started dancing in a conga line behind the bar.  Both my sister and I did dance with Guy - who was rather a crazy person.  If you have seen the movie, Bienvenue Chez les Ch'ti, it was a little like a scene from it!  We left before we got into too much trouble and pretty much everyone had bought us drinks by the time we'd left.  At one point, they were all singing Les Champs Elysee and I have to admit we sang along and also danced - it was only 7 pm by the time we'd left!  Later we went for dinner at a restaurant near our hotel.  Then, the next day, we headed to Dieppe - another tragic place, especially for Canadians!

Dieppe was not that far from Dunkirk so we were there by about 1 pm.  We really liked the feel of this town.  Aside from its war history, it had gained a reputation during the Belle Epoque for people to come to the seaside here.  In addition, it attracted a lot of English people during the same time.  The seafront is lined with hotels, some of which seemed to have survived 1942 or maybe they were restored.

While I knew Dieppe was important in the war, I am not sure I knew any of the details here.  Apparently early in the morning of August 19, 1942, 1197 Allied soldiers, mostly Canadian, sacrificed their lives during an offensive raid over 14 kms along the beaches of Dieppe.  It was called Operation Jubilee and it was a disaster.  

We had planned to visit the Dieppe Memorial here but were told at the TI that the museum is only open now Friday through Sunday.  So, there was no chance of us visiting as we needed to be on the road in the morning.  We headed to the port where we saw the place where Pisarro painted his famous painting of Dieppe.  The sun was out and it was so nice to be able to sit outside for a late afternoon snack and then return hours later for dinner, again outside.  It was also cool that there was a big Canadian flag hanging in the entrance to the Tourist Information Office.  Next up was finding a restaurant for dinner.  The sign on the restaurant we chose said "Les Saint Jacques sont arrives" meaning it was scallop season.  So, no need to guess what we had for dinner!

The following morning, we drove along the beach front stopping at many of the memorials to the Canadian solders.  Before leaving here, we also visited the Canadian military cemetery.  It seemed like something we needed to do!