Dieppe Uncovered: Yesterday & History channels, times vary
Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2012 1:21 pmOn 19th August 1942 Allied forces attacked the French port of Dieppe. The disastrous mission resulted in the deaths of nearly 1,000 men and 2,000 men taken prisoner.
For 70 years many have asked what happened and why the mission was such a failure. To mark the 70th anniversary of the event, Yesterday is finally able to reveal the truth behind one of the biggest secrets of World War II.
Dieppe Uncovered brings back to life the raid thanks to dramatic reconstructions and talks to those who really know the truth.
Fifteen years ago Professor David O'Keefe, an expert on ULTRA - the highly secretive and classified intelligence the Allies gathered during the war - was searching through formerly secret ULTRA files. He found out something extraordinary. The previously unknown 30th Assault Unit was behind the raids, and the man leading the group was none other than Sir Ian Fleming, the man who would later go on to become a celebrated novelist.
Could the man who created James Bond been behind one of the blackest days of World War II?
I wasn't convinced. The feature length docu-drama was over dramatised, repetitive and presented as a series of very short cliffhangers padded out by commercial breaks. There were too many convenient 'new discoveries' for a subject which has already been researched in depth by prominent military historians. Much of the content was supposition and basic premise - that the raid was cover for a code machine snatch operation - could easily have been covered by a five minute news report.
Alternative explanations for some of the events portrayed in the programme were not even examined. I suspect for example that HMS Locust may have been packed with explosives similar to those used in the earlier raid on St Nazaire.
And here's a tip for anyone trying to recreate scenes from wartime intelligence offices, don't show people using modern day felt tip marker pens!
